Tyrax V Ventura – International Music Composer

“Being told I had cancer, was like attending your own funeral but with so many people telling, what I meant to them without me actually being dead! Obviously you then have to take a look at things and put things into perspective and  be more mindful of the fact that there is often something much more profound than our day to day routine of how we often exist day to day” – Tyrax V Ventura

Tyrax V Ventura is debuting in Bollywood with Anamika Haskar’s ‘Ghode ko Jalebi Khilane Le ja Riya Hoon‘. The film has become film festival’s  favorite and shall release after completing festival rounds.

Q. You are a writer, guitarist, vocalist, producer and film maker. Can you share your journey with us ?

My mother used to take me to poetry recitals when I was about 7.  As I listened to the Poets perform, I started writing my own and thought nothing of asking, if I could get up and perform what I had just written. Maybe they were humoring a child but all the other poets were really supportive and many told me how impressed they were that a child would just get up and perform a poem that had been just written on the spot. I found that writing just came naturally to me so after a few years I realized, I was probably a writer more than anything else and loved getting people’s reaction to my writing. I used to write a lot at school and was often asked to share my writings with the class and it was then that I began to realize that I had a very different way of looking at things and a definite voice of my own. At 17 my mother sent one of my idea idea to a TV company and I signed a contract with one of the main TV companies in England at the time  to develop a sitcom. I moved on to exploring writing a musical for one of the main theatres in London before writing a novel, songs and later co-writing the award winning  feature film ‘Throw of a dice’.

Q. How the name ‘Tyrax-v-Vantura’ came to existence? Any specific reason/ thought behind it?

I woke up one day at school when I was about 17 with a very strong feeling that I wanted  to change my surname to ‘Ventura’. This was before ‘Ventura’ was made more famous by a film franchise and at that point I had never heard of the highway in America of the same name. My own name had been changed a number  of times so I wasn’t really that attached to it and now it didn’t seem to fit with the Surname I was now going to adopt so I came up with ‘Tyrax’ which was loosely based on a dinosaur!

Q. You debuting in Bollywood with  Anamika Haskar’s experimental film “Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane le Ja Riya Hoon” . The film is selected at Sundance Film Festival 2019. What would you like to say about it? What was the reason to select this film to debut in Bollywood?

I met Anamika at the Goa film festival which she attended to try and get her film made. I was immediately drawn to her and the project from the start. There are a lot of snake oil salesman at film festivals but she seemed genuine, passionate and authentic. I played her some of my music and she seemed unimpressed which is sometimes a good thing as she obviously had a clear idea of what worked and didn’t work for her. She wanted to hear something off the top shelf, some of my harder  industrial music that most people find very hard to listen to or connect with. The fact that she seemed open to this and wanted to hear harder and harder samples made me want to be involved with the film as I really only  want to do and can only do music that I find challenging and interesting. I could never take on a project where I was asked to replicate styles or genres that a lot of other people were doing or could do. That is of no interest to me. I want to collaborate with artists that push the envelope and try and create something new and give me the space to experiment to create something innovative which is exactly what this film did and is borne out by it’s selection in Sundance’s ‘new frontier’ section.  I felt that this was going to be a great film and I’m so glad that I was right.

Q. What did you learn from the journey from India to England or we can say England to India? Can you share 1 interesting experience of this entire journey?

The main thing I learnt was just how small and open the world is now and how globally we can work. Collaborating seamlessly across continents via the internet is a relatively new reality and it is the first time I was aware of just how I immediate it could be. I  was in America working with a singer and I got an email from Anamika in India with directions for a track calling for certain percussion and rhythms. Later that day I met up with a drummer and recorded him on my laptop. I then emailed the track back to India. The next day I received a video back featuring the band ‘Dharavi rocks’  from Mumbai playing along to the beats I had sent the day before. Distance now means nothing for collaboration between artists from anywhere in the world, we are now only limited by our imagination.

Q. What you enjoyed the most- Writing, Composing or Singing?

The moment of creation. Whether it takes the form of a poem, novel, screenplay, song or piece of music is actually immaterial to me. The magic occurs within those precious few moments of conception and not knowing where it comes from or where it is going. It is a state of total freedom unrestrained by the normal conventions of life.  At it’s best and purest moment,  you just create and become  a channel for an emotion, idea or feeling  free from the limitation type or genre. However music is often illicits the most emotional response immediately and I get the most feeling from it as opposed to writing which you have to re-write over and over to sometimes convey exactly what you want to convey.

Q. Can you narrate 1 incident of pain/struggle which moved you or changed you as a person?

Being told I had cancer. Before that point I would have said that I’d prefer to die than have an operation. This, like most ideas or beliefs is actually futile and meaningless because when it comes down to it and you are actually faced with a real proposition, you often react much differently to what you have spent your life telling people how or what you would do in any hypothetical situation. The human instinct to survive normally takes over.  It was like attending your own funeral but with so many people telling me what I meant to them without me actually being dead! Obviously you then have to take a look at things and put things into perspective and not get worked up about the small things and be more mindful of the fact that there is often something much more profound than our day to day routine of how we often exist day to day.

Q. Working in India and working in abroad. What difference is there in work culture and approach?

I find Indians to be more relaxed or humble, or atleast the people I have chosen to work with. However, as I say this I almost want to say the opposite! People are people the world over, some are good, some bad, I am Indian but was born abroad so am equally at home working anywhere in the world and with anyone, every experience is different, whether  you just work in India or abroad. Above all else you have to be open and always look to create something new and go with the flow and really make the most of every experience.

Q. You wrote the screenplay for ”Brown Sugar” and a “Chocolat-esque” film set in France and “Sugarpump” is your music album name. Do you like sugar? How much  sugar is there in your life?

Very good! My life as an adult is pretty sweet. Whenever I need something to happen it normally  happens but I just need to recognize and be open to an opportunity and follow my  gut feeling.

Q. What advise you give your younger self?

Do exactly what you’re doing, it will work out ok!

Q. What would you like to advise budding music composers and related talent?

Get to know your style and decide whether you just want to make money and do anything to that end or do you want to find your own voice and be known for that and have people come to you for that unique thing you have to offer. In an ideal world the two become one. But this is more likely to happen by becoming as good as you can, putting the time in, being humble and just getting yourself out there and not putting off projects for financial reasons which could turn out to be much more worthwhile in the long run and pay dividends in other ways.

Q. What is next from Tyrax V Vantura?

I have just opened a new cafe, bar and restaurant, the second one I currently own and am working on a new album. I am trying to get a collection together of all the music styles I have done to feature on one album which will serve almost as a catalogue and be a definitive document for all the diverse music I have done over the years. I am also finishing off a book about my time in France which I hope will come out this year and I am looking to collaborate with people on a new game I have devised so looking for programmers to put it together. So all in all in all a lot to come.