Bengaluru-based artist Sanjeev T has launched his new project Kulture Cid. Photo: Seemanth Sunil
By Sanjeev Thomas’ own admission, “genre-bending” has been something he specializes in. From funky rock to groovy fusion, the artist now has a new persona with Kulture Cid. The project’s debut song “Do You Get It?” with Brampton hip-hop artist TheOriginalGurv offers slick pop that wants to have a deeper conversation about life.
Thomas also directed the music video, which revolves around metaphors of good and evil and has the visual aesthetic of a modern pop song. “Kulture Cid is a visual storyteller, combining my love for music and film,” the artist says. Although there aren’t any audible guitar elements in “Do You Get It?” we still see Thomas with a guitar in hand. He jokes about the scene as playing a “mere actor” while the rest of it introduces the world to Kulture Cid.
The song was created after Thomas – an artist who’s performed and recorded with the likes of A.R. Rahman, Pritam and most recently, Sid Sriram – had a heart attack, which he understandably describes as a “life-changing health scare.” It emboldened him to start Kulture Cid as a project “from scratch,” hoping it takes on its own identity outside of his work as Sanjeev T. He says, “I feel it’s been hard for audiences to categorize me as an artist. My music on streaming and video platforms also showcases music which is so different from each other, which makes it hard for people to follow me with their own preferences. This is why I decided to categorize my upcoming indie productions as a producer under a different name which has primarily been pop and hip-hop.”
Previously, the artist did indicate his leaning towards pop and hip-hop, with his lo-fi EP Future. Releasing songs between 2020 and 2022 like “Not A Love Song,” “Take My Life With You” and “Underdog” among others, it was a markedly different direction from the Carnatic jazz-fusion style of his 2018 EP St. “My love for R&B and hip-hop translated into Future which dawned a new chapter in my indie journey. It is this path that led me here to Kulture Cid, continuing to produce in this universe of pop, R&B and hip-hop,” he says.
Always on the lookout for new voices in these genre spaces, he came across Indian-origin Canadian artist TheOriginalGurv aka Gurveer. Thomas was introduced to the artist via fellow desi diaspora hip-hop duo Keralanka, who worked on “Sleep” off Future EP. Thomas says about TheOriginalGurv, “He is a super chill dude, and I loved his flow and singing prowess too, which led me to team up with him for this track.”
After “Do You Get It?”, Kulture Cid will continue to be an exploration of sound and visuals for Thomas. “Music has always been in the forefront of my career as an artist. Now, I’d like to create visual content where the film is king. Music will always be a part of me, but now as Kulture Cid, I intend to create music that supports a bigger idea/vision,” he says.
He’s not necessarily in hustle mode with the new project, considering that’s something he’s despised for a while now, more so after his health scare. “I’ve kind of had a semi-retired life […] Music business has in a way truly killed my motivation to create freely and I hope I can let it go and just create for the love of it,” he says. Driven more by a passion for visual storytelling now, he says he wants to remove himself “from comparison, likes and social media pressure.” Thomas adds, “I’m in a stage of my life, where I’m trying to find my passion again rather than fame and reach.”
Timelines are, in Thomas’ words, “obsolete” for Kulture Cid. “I’m thankful for all the love and support I have received so far, and I can only hope that I can keep myself creative in its purest form without any expectation of adulation,” he adds.
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