Mukul Deora

Mukul Deora is a musician, singer, conceptual artist, film producer and entrepreneur ^[1] living in Mumbai.

Mukul studied Business management at Kings College, London, where he was awarded a B.Sc. in 1996. He then worked as the Assistant to the CEO of Bertelsmann Storage Media, Germany.

Mukul started his music career as a DJ with Bhavishyavani (India's first dance music collective),^[2][3] he moved to experimental sound performances and released his debut album Stray^[4] with SONY BMG in 2006.

Stray was written, composed and produced by Mukul, and reached number 12 in the Indian charts. It was also a critical success, with the UK's Guardian newspaper calling it "an uneasy, surreal new vision of India."^[5]

Pennyblackmusic said "It's a hallucinatory experience; burgeoning with sexual tension and personal angst, existential bafflement and the estrangement that can only truly occur when utterly surrounded by a metropolis of millions. Think of 'Naked Lunch' set in Bombay, remixed by William Gibson and starring a subcontinental Serge Gainsbourg with a penchant for better living through chemistry ... that's about as close as you're going to get. It's fascinating."^[6]

Whisperin and hollerin's Huw Jones says - "Constantly expanding on themes and getting ever complex, Mukul’s kaleidoscope of audio delights showcase his heritage, Djing background and innovative thinking. Whilst never outright dark, there’s a potentially deviant side to his music that slowly hangs in the balance and becomes claustrophobic, but at no point does it become too oppressive, not just yet anyway, it’s a fine balance, but one that Mukul can strike with ease."^[7]

Mukul has performed at the Tate Modern, London, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (India) and the World Social Forum, Mumbai.

In 2005, Mukul sold Mipak Polymers Limited, a packaging solutions company that he had started in 1999. Mipak had over 300 employees and 4 factories across India.

He recently launched the UK Cultural Olympics with an audio-visual collaboration called The Body Electric, with Shezaad Dawood.^[8] The duo performed under the name Dawood/Deora.

Dawood/Deora's first collaboration, The Body Electric, used the site of Breach Candy swimming pool, Mumbai, India, as the backdrop for a video and accompanying electronic track. The Breach Candy Club was built in the 1920s, at the end of the colonial period, and its salient feature is the outline of the swimming pool which, to this day, is in the shape of greater India, pre-partition – and thus presents a utopian vision of the subcontinent before it was carved up so brutally. In The Body Electric, three girls dance in an oversaturated landscape of colour. The coordinated aerobic routine is set to music reminiscent of rousing national anthems with a distinctly contemporary dance beat that freely departs and returns to the rhythmic persistence of the aerobic routine. Here, notions of development and nationalism are questioned within a context that masquerades as a celebration of unity and health, drawing attention to the haunting undertones of control and rigidity that these spectacles project. The Body Electric made its debut as part of the Cultural Olympiad, with two live audio-visual performances at Norwich Castle, September 2008.

Dawood/Deora also performed at the Serpentine Gallery, London, as part of the Indian Highway show,^[9] and released Expressway- a compilation of abstract electronica from India. Expressway was released on Dudup, Mukuls record label.

In 2009, Mukul had a solo art show titled BREAK in Mumbai.^[10] BREAK was a participative experiment. On entering the gallery, the audience was instructed to take a shuttle bus to an undisclosed location. They arrived at a derelict mill compound where they were asked to sign a disclaimer stating that they accepted full responsibility for any injury that might occur. They were then led to the scene which consisted of a car and sledgehammers. A situation was thus created, where the audience joined the experiment by smashing the car. It became an energetic, passionate, struggle, in which extremes of emotion were given free expression against that quintessential symbol of modernity, the automobile.

Mukul performed at TED India, where he collaborated with Kalaripayattu dancers to create a piece called The Wandering Arrow- a juxtaposition of an ancient Indian martial form with modern abstract electronic music ^[11]

He released his second album, What Heart,^[12] last year, and had a month-long radio show on Bob Dylan in march 2010.^[13] He also performed at a tribute gig for Dylans birthday in May at Zenzi, Mumbai.

Mukul recently made Stray available for free download,^[4] and started Watchtower Entertainment,^[14] a film production company, whose first feature film Bheja Fry 2, is a sequel to the smash hit of 2007.

References

1. ^ "BIO". http://www.ted.com/profiles/bio/id/297001. 
2. ^ "Bhavishyavani Future Soundz". http://www.myspace.com/bhavishyavanifuturesoundz. 
3. ^ "Radio and Music". http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/event/bhavishyavani-future-soundzmumbaifrance-the-citys-oldest-dj-collective-drops-new-sounds. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Stray". http://soundcloud.com/mukul-deora/sets/stray. 
5. ^ Denselow, Robin (26 October 2007). "Guardian review". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/oct/26/worldmusic.shopping1. 
6. ^ "Pennyblack". http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Review.aspx?id=5474. 
7. ^ "whisperin". http://www.whisperinandhollerin.com/reviews/review.asp?id=4294. 
8. ^ "The Body Electric". http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/image_galleries/body_electric_20080929_gallery.shtml?1. 
9. ^ "Expressway". http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2008/06/dawooddeora_expresswaymonday_1.html. 
10. ^ "Break". http://www.volte.in/shows_break.html. 
11. ^ "Arrow". http://www.flickr.com/photos/tedconference/4080150608/in/set-72157622598201757/. 
12. ^ "What Heart". http://artistaloud.com/artist-Mukul%20Deora-33800. 
13. ^ "Dylan Show". http://www.missmalini.com/2010/03/11/mukul-deoras-bob-dylan-special-on-pirate-radio/. 
14. ^ "DNA". http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_mukul-deora-s-westside-story_1424590. 

External links

• facebook
• Mukul online
• Dupup

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