Painting a musical portrait with words: Arpit Chourey

Music is the fuel that drives the soul. The minimalistic tunes of the young musician, Arpit Chourey from Hyderabad, takes you on a musical sojourn. "Most of my lyrics talk about day to day simple things that we lose in the daily hustle-bustle," the singer/songwriter-musician says.

Arpit recently performed for a packed audience at SodaBottleOpenerWala's flagship event 'Band it like Bawa'. On the sidelines of the show, he talked about his stint in music, relocating to Hyderabad and future projects.

A civil engineer by profession Arpit hails from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. "Music has been my passion from childhood. As I was in a missionary school, I was a part of the choir and I started singing from a very young age. When I was in high school, we started a band in Bhopal and we used to play at small venues," Arpit shares.

"After graduation, I relocated to Pune and I formed another band and we used to play gigs and take part in competitions. Later, I got a job in Kolkata and as part of the job I had to travel to a remote village in Bihar. There we had a lot of power cuts and the whole area was so peaceful…there I started to listen to a lot of singer/songwriters such as John Mayer. I also started writing lyrics for my songs there."

His rhythmic tunes and simple yet sweet lyrics contrast the daily hustle-bustle that envelops us in the contemporary world.

"As I wanted to pursue music, I had to come to a city...I was more inclined to go to Kolkata or Mumbai, but Hyderabad happened. I got a job in an MNC in Hyderabad. I came here and I started doing music and as soon as I was settled, I quit my job and music is my full-time profession now," he says with a big smile on his face.

"The best thing which I most liked about Hyderabad is the food. It is an extremely great food. When I came here, I was 75 kgs and I gained weight and was 89 kgs till last year. I am a foodie but I am controlling now from 6-7 months and now I am 81 kgs … food is just so good everywhere in Hyderabad," he says.

His band 'The Arpit Chourey Project' (T.A.C.P.) won the award for best band in Hyderabad for year 2016/17 recently at INCA India (India Nightlife Convention & Awards).

Arpit has performed at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender 2016 in Hyderabad as the only solo act. He has been featured in The Ritz magazine 2015 under top 5 musicians to watch out for in Hyderabad. He has also performed alongside Prateek Kuhad, Sukanti & Anushree, Thermal and a Quarter, The Ganesh Talkies, Baiju Oharmajan Syndicate, When Choi met Toast, Nikhil nouza and other renowned Indian bands and singer-songwriters.

"My fondest musical memory till date is performing in 'NH7 Weekender' in 2016. I was the first artist to play from Hyderabad and it was my biggest show," the 30-year-old artist shares.

Besides performing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Team and numerous stages, Arpit Chourey Project has been featured in Fields of Love Festival, Soul Sante Festival, Tangy Sessions, Hyderabad and Sofar Sounds Hyderabad.

He had released his debut EP called 'Simple Stories' in May 2017 and now the band is working on their second EP/album which is due in a couple of months.

About his future projects he says, "I am composing for a Telugu web series and also for a Telugu film. I can't reveal about it much at this stage, but I am surely looking forward to it," Arpit signs off.