Rooting for Reggae

One-third of New Delhi based reggae group Reggae Rajahs, General Zooz aka Zorawar Shukla dons many hats emceeing, DJing and producing and writing music. Having toured over 20 countries and opening for some of the biggest names in the industry Snoop Dogg, Major Lazer, Shaggy, UB40 and Apache Indian to name few. He is a co-founder of India's largest reggae festival, Goa Sunsplash he talk to FHM about his solo projects and his latest music video ‘Mumbai Gyal’ his inspirations and more.

Q1. What inspires you to make the kind of music that you do?

Read FHM India in the digital libraryEvery issue, every shoot, on TCG Media.

Life experiences. I write songs about what I feel passionately about. I find myself writing about topics that traverse a range subjects from falling in love to speaking up for social injustices to feeling good about life.

Q2.How did you get inducted to Reggae? Whose music are you most inspired by and why?

Reggae music hit me as a teenager. After discovering Bob Marley through my parents CD collection, I started digging deeper into roots reggae artists like Burning Spear, Horace Andy, Don Carlos and Jacob Miller. At the same time, I started exploring dancehall because there was a lot of crossover into hip-hop at that time with artists like Sean Paul, Shaggy and Beenie Man gaining worldwide attention. It's difficult to choose one person whose music I am most inspired by. Reggae has so many different sub genres and I am drawn to each and every one of them because at the end of it, there is certain energy in this music which I have not found anywhere else.

Q3.Your recent video 'Mumbai Gyal' draws heavily from Hindustani (classical) music tell us more about this collaboration? Would you call your music 'crossover music'?

'Mumbai Gyal' is the first song where I have attempted fusing musical genres. The beat is actually made by a Polish producer, Dreadsquad and the Hindustani vocals are by Bawari Basanti. I would describe it as a blend between hip-hop, reggae, bhangra and Hindustani classical. I'm not sure if it's crossover music, I'm just making music that sounds good to me!

Q4.You have a lot of political references on your track 'Fyah too hot' while it is intrinsic to talk about politics through music are you planning on more tracks related to social issues?

Social issues are important to me. I do not attempt to speak for anybody else nor am I trying to create a facade that I don't live a comfortable life compared to most in our country. However, if I see something happening which I feel is unjust or unfair than I do feel the need to speak up and voice my opinion.

Q5.How different is it to perform as an individual and be part of a group is it challenging to keep up with both?

I think there is an element of comfort when you perform with a group. Knowing that there are other people with you when you take the stage can be quite reassuring, especially for big shows. However, when you perform alone, the spotlight is entirely on you! Having said that, performing alone also gives you a certain flexibility that a group doesn't allow.

Q6.What's in the pipeline for General Zooz?

I'm looking forward to releasing a couple more music videos this summer, one of which will be a collaboration with a producer from Trinidad. I'm also working with some Indian producers on a few club friendly dancehall tracks. Then there is a collaboration with a band from the UK that I'm super excited about. So it's going to be a busy year!

From the May-June 2018 issue of FHM India.