Inspiring Journey of Hitesh Modak

2017-06-27

Recently, one of my favorite YouTube channels, SudeepAudio published an interview with music producer and composer Hitesh Modak. Here's an excerpt I wrote elsewhere.

His dad was an auto-rickshaw driver, whose auto got stolen. As a kid he delivered milk, newspaper, before school and worked at a PCO and as a Watchman after school. And ended up playing harmonium in the train while begging.
Hitesh Modak started from there to become one of the very successful producers in the industry (Received National award for Yeh Moh Moh Ke Dhaage).
Now being the partner-in-crime for everything that's produced by India's best jazz drummer, Ranjit Barot, having played with Zakir Hussain, and touring all over the world, this is one of the most inspiring life stories of a musician I've ever heard. A rare story that you can connect from playing harmonium in local train to John Coltrane and Miles Davis!
I hope his story is made into a film, it'll change the definition of struggle.

Part 1: Early days, childhood, formative years, The Struggle. (See above)

Part 2: The passion, drive and shaping of a musician



Part 3: Here's a peek into his work, the music production. This makes me think, in the current scenario, the music producers almost get no credit (its either the singer or the music composer), while the heavy lifting is actually done by the producers. The sound we fall in love, the interludes, be it played by live musicians or samples, are all done by them. Recently, Mikey McCleary's produced song Nashe si Chadh Gayi became the most watched Bollywood song of YouTube. When I hear the sound, the groove, effects, there's little trace of Vishal-Shekhar (Not taking away the credit of catchy tune composed by the composer). It is the genius of Mikey! But how many do really know of him?



Earlier I had also posted an MTV Unplugged Session with Neeti Mohan and Benny Dayal. The entire music was produced by Hitesh Modak and Ranjit Barot.

By far one of the most enjoyable @unplugged_mtv shows I have seen, you have to watch the session featuring @neetimohan18 and @bennydayalofficial, produced by granddaddy of 'em all, @ranjitbarot! The power sisters 👭 @dey_bass and @esani_dey are a treat to watch. @ashwinflute played some soul stirring flute, so did #HiteshModak some obscure chords on piano 🎹. #Rhys on Sax 🎷was amazing as well. Even the backup lineup, esp #Digvijay sounded so cool. The extra #percussion had #trashcan #timpanis too! Special mention of the beatboxer dude and the rapper on #megaphone, #Vishwesh. What an amazing production! Some may have been fixated at Benny's move on groove, but there's so much beyond that! Seen it a dozen times, yet can't get 'nuff! #mtvunplugged #neetimohan #bennydayal

A post shared by Guitar🎸 Bollywood (@guitarbollywood) on Feb 2, 2017 at 7:10pm PST

You can watch the entire episode here on voot.com.