Given his age, one might be surprised to discover his journey didn’t start with instruments commonly associated with a teen, such as the electric guitar. Rather, it began with the tabla!
Speaking with FMT Lifestyle, Farandeep shared that he was seven when he started learning the Indian traditional percussion instrument – but he had been air-drumming way before that.
“Back when I was in school, I would ‘play’ drums on the school desk. That used to happen every day during class, even when the teacher was teaching. The person sitting beside me would be annoyed most of the time,” he said with a laugh.
“I think that was the indication for my parents that I had the potential to learn the tabla.”
From there, he moved on to western drums, the box-shaped cajón, guitar, and other traditional percussion instruments: the dhol, dholak, dholki and djembe, an African hand drum. He also recently started learning the keyboard, and plans to pick up the bass guitar next.
Furthermore, he sings and dances hip-hop: Farandeep has represented his school, Sri Kuala Lumpur, in dance competitions to the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Italy.
He also bagged gold at the National Junior Dhol Competition Malaysia three times!
“I feel that, in this industry, being multitalented is going to open more doors and opportunities for you. I figured that out at a very young age,” he said in reflection.
“So, I want to be the kind of musician who, in the studio, can see from all the other musicians’ perspectives.”
For him, the most challenging instrument to learn was the tabla, owing to the complexity of Indian classical music and the time it takes to build finger strength.
‘Berklee or nothing’
By the time he finished school, Farandeep had set his sights on Berklee. With his parents’ support, he enrolled in the American degree programme at Taylor’s University College.
“I took a risk because Berklee was the only university I applied to. It was Berklee or nothing. So, it was a high-risk, high-reward situation for me.”
The audition and interview process was conducted via Zoom in February. Uniquely, he chose to play the tabla and drums to the song “Adventure of a Lifetime” by Coldplay.
It took one month before he received the results. “In that month, obviously, my parents were very worried. I thought to myself that I’ve done whatever I needed to do; all I can do now is wait.”
That moment came soon enough: “When I saw the email that said ‘your application results are ready’, my heart skipped a beat,” he recalled.
But the anxiety turned to immense joy when he learnt that not only was he successful in being accepted into the college, he was also being offered a scholarship. “I felt an instant relief, like, ‘OK, job done. We’re going to Berklee!'”
As he prepares to leave for Boston, he is excited to see what life has in store. “The thing about music is that it’s a neverending process. There’s always something new to learn every single day. The most important thing is always to be open to learning.”
To young, aspiring musicians, he shared: “I think it’s very important to be yourself. It’s good to take advice, definitely – but at the same time, you have to spend a lot of time understanding yourself. What do you want to do?
“Because I feel every single musician has something different to offer. And in order for you to find that, you have to understand yourself better than anyone else.”