Soulmate onstage with Carlos Santana

Born into music, he grew up listening to his father. She started out singing gospel songs in the local church choir. But inspired by the roots and groove sounds of the Blues, Blues-rock, soul, rock ‘’ roll, funk and R&B, Soulmate was formed in Shillong in October 2002 when Rudy Wallang and Tipriti Kharbangar (Tips) decided to form a band dedicated to playing the Blues and spreading awareness about this genre of music. Today, Rudy is one of the foremost Blues guitar players/singer/songwriter in the country with a long musical history, having been part of the country’s renowned blues rock acts, Great Society and Mojo. Tipriti, on the other hand, has earned a name as one of the finest female singers to have emerged out of Shillong and India. She vocalizes with a joy and an exuberance that is unmatched and original. Soulmate has trotted the globe, putting up gig after gig, and yet there's more. As Rudy puts it: “It is the music that dictates where we go...”

t2: Describe the journey from when you were in school... playing the guitar for an All India Radio show, playing on the school stage, playing with Great Society and then playing with Carlos Santana...

Rudy: This has been a pretty long journey! My musical education actually started when I must have been around 4-5 years old. My Dad and his friends would jam at our home and I would be in a corner listening to them make music. I would also listen to all the records of Elvis, Tom Jones, Jim Reeves, The Beatles that my parents would play, as well as having my ear glued to the radio — AIR, Shillong, Voice Of America, Radio Ceylon and the BBC. Then, when I was a little older, my grand-uncle presented me a ukulele which Dad taught me how to play.

Rudy with John Mayall at The Jakarta Blues Festival

In school (St Edmund’s), I did learn how to play the piano for about a year under Mr Menezes (Sr) and I still remember listening to the school orchestra when they were at practice. At one time when I was around 13 or 14, I even played the drums for this orchestra.

Then, around the same time, my mother (Kong Sheila) gave me a present for getting through my Class VII exams (a Reynold's junior acoustic guitar). There was no turning back for me. My brothers, Brian and Keith, and I took part in the music competition during Creation Week in school and won the first prize for a song I had written. I remember, just after I joined college, I formed a band with a few friends — John Fudge, Errol Morehead and my brother Keith (who was still in school) on drums. We called ourselves JERK (the initials of our first names). We played one concert at the St Edmund’s School hall.

In college, there were a few musical collaborations with fellow students and we won a bunch of competitions. Then came The Electric Head, a band I formed with late Arti Syiem, Don Swer and Keith. This was followed by The Rubber Band with Johnny Syiemiong, Lambert (Luh) and Robin Mitra. Then I got invited by Lou Majaw to play bass for the Great Society which I did for about six years. After this, I took over guitar duties when AJ (Arjun Sen) left. I was with Great Society for 12 years. Then came Tom, Dick and Harry, a band formed with Sam Shullai, Ferdy Dkhar, Herman Diengdoh and Bari Khonglah as our sound engineer. We played a lot of fetes and a couple of concerts for about six months before Mojo was born...that was in ’93/’94. Mojo lasted for nine years and then came Soulmate and here we are today!

t2: Your father, late Toto Wallang, was a popular musician during his days. How far has he been your inspiration?

Rudy: My Dad used to sing the popular songs of the day. He was into Elvis, Tom Jones, The Platters etc. Watching him and his band practise made me want to follow in his footsteps. Even though later, when I did join The Great Society, he did not want me to become a musician. He wanted me to get a job or maybe join the IAS/IFS. Thinking back now, I realised that he wanted the best for me because in those days, musicians did not make a living off music and he did not want me to go through life like that. He was frustrated because he was a good musician and songwriter (in Khasi) but he couldn’t support his family.

It’s a totally different scenario nowadays. I wish he were still alive to see where music has taken me. I'm sure that whereever he is, he is standing proud with a smile on his face!

t2: You are now known as the best Blues band of India. How do you see that? What do you think makes people say that?

Rudy: There is no such thing as “the best Blues band” or stuff like that...really! We play our music the way we play it with all the truth and honesty and love we can bring to our music. That’s why people love us! We don’t pretend to be something we are not and we are not in it for the competition, even though some people still like to “compete” with us...c’mon...this is music we're talking about, not sport!!!

t2: How far do you think Blues has got in India? It’s more of a rock thing in India isn’t it? Are you happy with the audience in the country?

Rudy: Soulmate is 10 years old now and when we first started, there were just one or two other bands playing Blues...Saturday Night Blues Band (at the Park Hotel, Calcutta) and maybe one other band in Bangalore. Since then, India has come a long way and I can proudly say that Soulmate did start this resurgence and interest in the Blues. Now there are at least 10-15 Blues bands all over the country. At the same time, the music scene in India has changed. There are a lot more venues to play and a whole bunch of festivals as well. Like Anand Mahindra of the Mahindra group told me when we met at the last Mahindra Blues Festival. He said “If it wasn’t for Soulmate, there wouldn’t be a Mahindra Blues Festival.” I guess that pretty much sums it all up.

The music loving audience in India has also come a long way. At one point of time, no band in India was considered any good if they didn't perform covers. Audiences would not appreciate a band if they did their own music! That has long since changed. Now they come expecting to hear new material from bands, and we have to be on our toes as well. We cannot bullshit them (laughs) which is good because as musicians are creative persons, we have a lot to offer and if people like our music then why make them sing and dance to someone else’s tune?

Tips and Rudy in the studio

t2: You rarely do covers, which is something one cannot say of most bands in the country? When did you decide to do only soul?

Rudy: We have two albums out at the moment and one on the way. That leaves us with about 32 of our own songs!! Besides other original material that we have not recorded yet! And we have been playing our own music ever since we first started (thanks to The Great Society and Mojo for showing us the way). We do play covers, too, as a lot of Blues lovers do expect to hear a couple of familiar Blues standards, say BB King or Albert King or Koko Taylor or Freddie King or Muddy Waters songs. And we play these songs as if they are our own as tributes to these Blues stalwarts without whom we wouldn't be playing the Blues! But when we play gigs, big or small...it's always very inspiring to hear our fans ask us to play our own songs!! That is one of the biggest highs a musician can get!!! (and I speak for myself!)

t2:Which are your biggest concerts? And your biggest festivals? How many gigs do you do a year?

Rudy: On an average, we would be playing close to about 50-60 gigs in a year now. We play a lot of festivals in India as well as abroad. Among the more memorable ones have been Kennedy Center concert in 2011, both the Jakarta International Blues Festivals in 2010 and 2011, the Baltic Blues Festival in Eutin, Germany, The Monsteros Blues Festival in Sweden, all three editions of Mahindra Blues Festivals in Mumbai and even the concert in Disneyland, Paris. Besides the festivals, we love to play the small clubs and pubs around the country. It’s more intimate and we get to play for longer periods of time and the audience is right up in front and we can see their faces and connect with them at a deeper level. We have had quite a few really special gigs in these last 10 years!

t2: Had to ask you this: How did Carlos Santana happen? What was the experience like?

Rudy: Well, Keith, our manager, got a call one day when we were on our way back from a gig in Mumbai, from DNA, the event company that organised the Santana concerts, asking us for our band profile, music etc, which they needed to send to Santana's management for approval as the opening act. We then waited for almost two months for news.

Meanwhile, I also wrote to Carlos’ management asking them to allow us to open for the Santana Band when they came to India. I guess our patience paid off and Carlos must have liked what he saw and heard from the stuff we sent him. We got a call saying that we were selected as the opening act! I guess the rest is history. Just the thought that we were opening for Carlos Santana, then actually being on that same stage doing a sound check, and then him coming out and jamming with us during our opening set!! What can I say...it was surreal! An unbelievable feeling...and I don’t think he's ever done that before! We were on this beautiful high after our set...we went backstage and his personal assistant/bodyguard, Chad, came to our green room and congratulated us on our performance...He then said that Carlos wanted to meet us! We jumped to our feet! Like little kids going to meet Harry Potter!

He was waiting for us in his green room which was actually white. He stood up as soon as we came in and hugged Tips and me and shook all our hands saying: “I listen to the same music you guys listen to” and he turned to me and said...”Man, I love your tone”! What more can one want? I wish that I could have told him that a part of that ‘tone’ came from him when my Dad and I first listened to Black Magic Woman when I was 11 years old...but I was dumbstruck at that point of time!

He then asked Tips to sing a song with the band to which she very happily agreed and even asked Carlos if she could do Smooth with the band to which he replied “Yes...sure!” and made his assistants change the set list to include Smooth...We all posed for photographs and he even introduced us to his wife, the great drummer Cindy Blackman Santana.

During his set, we stood at the side of the stage watching the band and Carlos perform, and halfway through the set, his wife got behind the drums to play a couple of songs. During her drum solo, Carlos saw us standing in the wings and called us to join him onstage, sitting right behind the drum riser. That became our place for the rest of the concert. He told us not to go from there. Imagine sitting through a Santana gig on stage, right behind the great Dennis Chambers!

Dreams do come true...sometimes in ways beyond your wildest imagination.

t2: What keeps Soulmate going? What would you say are the points where your band scores with the audience?

Rudy: It’s the music that keeps us going, besides the fact that we have these beautiful dreams every once in a while.

Also, I would like to give a shout out to all the musicians that have played with Soulmate over the years! Keith Wallang, Shaun Nongrum, Sam Shullai, Arwell Warjri, Ferdy Dkhar, Momo Laishram, Ambar Das, Adhiraj Mustafi, Claude Abranches, Dwight Pattison, Debu Bannerji, Amit Mullick, Raveen Panday, Ribor Kharshiing, Shaun Nonghulo, Leon Wallang, Pal Pyrtuh... I hope I have covered everyone. I am sorry if I missed out anyone. To answer the second question, like I mentioned earlier, we do not pretend when we're onstage. Whatever you see and hear is the real us and all our friends and fans can identify with that! We are the same people off-stage as well. People think of us as celebrities but I consider myself a guitar player who happens to love the Blues.

t2: What has the experience outside the region been? And abroad? Do you think Indian Blues has come of age?

Rudy: Fantastic! Always positive...I can never say that we have had a bad gig anytime...ever! Indian Blues still has some ways to go...but I think we are getting there, slowly but surely.

t2: You also do Khasi Blues. Is that what you would call it? How much of Soulmate is Khasi and how much of it pure Blues?

Rudy: Blues is Blues in whatever language you want to sing it...everyone has the Blues, whether you like it or not! We have recorded one song this time, written by Tips, which has one verse in Khasi...but that’s about it!

When we did our first album, there was the title track called Shillong (Sier Lapalang). Why we played Sier Lapalang at the end was because it is one of my all time favourite melodies ever and we chose just one verse which we felt was appropriate to the message we were conveying and still do, which is about self-respect and respecting others, irrespective of caste, creed or colour! See, I am not well versed in writing Khasi songs, but we are open to the idea of doing an all Khasi Blues album if anyone is interested! And by Blues, I mean real, down home, raw, gritty Blues!

t2: How many albums have you done so far? Any future plans?

Rudy: Two albums — Shillong and Moving On and a new one in the making.

Right now, we have not made any plans besides the release of the album which could be sometime mid-year...In the end, it is the music that dictates where we go.

TITBITS

The Musicians: When playing live, Soulmate are joined by Leon Wallang on bass guitar, Shaun Nonghulo on drums & Raveen Panday on keyboards

Soulmate Endorses: AKG Microphones, IEM's, Guitar Wireless Systems

Rudy Wallang Endorses: Fender Guitars (USA), Fender Amplification,

D'Addario Strings and Xotic Pedals (USA).

Tipriti Kharbangar: Endorses Gibson Guitars (USA)

Influences: Soulmate's influences range from Toto Wallang, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Roy Buchanan, Muddy Waters, Steve Gaines, George Harrison, Albert King, BB King, Freddie King, Koko Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Etta James, Susan Tedeschi, Jimmy Hall, Rory Gallagher, Janis Joplin to The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan…