Saturday 21 / December / 2024
Muscat: For Prateek Rajgopal, music is not just a hobby, but a passion, which he recognised could be turned into a potential career.
He plays the guitar for two bands: Gutslit and The Minerva Conduct. The band Minerva Conduct was formed by Rajgopal himself. Today, Times of Oman (TOO) is featuring Rajgopal, an alumnus of the Indian School Al Ghubra, in its #OmanPride campaign.
“Music is everything to me, it can make me really happy or really depressed,” Rajgopal told TOO.
According to him, the Gutlist band plays a niche sub-genre of metal known as Death grind/Grind core/Death metal, while The Minerva Conduct plays Progressive (instrumental) metal.
He joined the Gutslit band in mid-2013 and he formed The Minerva Conduct at the end of 2014.
Speaking about how he came into the field of music, Rajgopal said, “My brother introduced me to music and of course metal too, and I fell in love with certain aspects of the metal genre and it inspired me to become a metal musician.”
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According to Rajgopal, his musical journey is breathtaking so far.
“The journey has been wonderful so far, and I have had immense opportunities of touring all across Europe twice (Switzerland, Germany, Czech, Netherlands, Belgium etc.) and India with both my bands,” he said. “I have met and collaborated with various musicians across the globe, and at my age (21), there’s no better feeling than having such a story,” he said.
Rajgopal and his bands are getting ready to record and release their new albums this year, which will be followed by an international tour.
During his days at the Ghubra School, he participated in many competitions and won the hearts of many music lovers. He completed his schooling in Oman and went back to India for his graduation.
“I don’t see myself as a guitarist, I see myself as a songwriter or a composer,” Rajgopal said.
“I love most instruments, and I always have some vision of how every instrument should fit, speak, breathe in every track I write; I don’t focus on just guitars. So I love the idea of making music in general, the idea of bringing together a bunch of different instruments or sounds and giving every instrument its space in a song,” he added.
Speaking about his future Rajgopal said, “I don’t have any expectations at all, I’ll only go with the flow because I quite expect the unexpected; I have a whole bunch of ambitions to fulfil.”
He also thanked his parents and his brother for the support they offer to his career.
Rajgopal’s message for children is that if your parents are not supportive of your passion, find a way of making them happy first and then show them that you have something to prove with your passion or what you love Prateek also participated in the world cultural festival of the Art of Living foundation in Berlin in 2011.
