Ensconced comfortably amidst piles of equipment in his garret and studio, just across the Yamuna River from the main central hubbub of New Delhi, Gautam Ghosh has been continuously churning out a variegated portfolio of commercial music over the last decade and more, at a rate paralleled only in very rarefied layers of the contemporary Indian creative music scene.

This extraordinary musical odyssey began for Gautam as a vocalist with rock-bands on the Delhi live-music circuit in the fall of 1980, which in turn led on to doubling-up on keyboards and drums/percussion, after completing an Honours Degree course in English literature from Hindu College (Delhi University).

Since 1990, Gautam has been playing all instruments on his compositions and tracks from synthesizers, with the summer of '92 landmarked by conversion of his bedroom into a mini-studio with a formidable bank of MIDI-triggered devices, to allow him to continue making music in a "living-in" sense.

Seemingly anachronistic at first glance, Gautam's reliance upon a DOS-based computer platform for his music-making is actually a great example of how sharply one can/should focus oneself upon a specialization in this unique era of rapidly burgeoning computer-based generalists. In fact, here's a man so sharp in his approach to new technology that when he brought in his music for this gazette, it was aboard a DAT Walkman ~ certainly the most efficient appoach we've seen with regard to this Big-Black-Box studio-standard.

Not surprisingly, Gautam's serviced an enviable range of clients over the years, including: Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, ABB, GE Plastics, Nestle, Goodyear, Seimens, SAIL, Modi Continental, Liberty, HUDCO, the Indian Navy, Campa Cola, Telco, and Ranbaxy. Television networks he has made music for include Doordarshan, Star, Zee, Sony, BBC, Discovery, AsiaNet, ETC, HomeTV, TVI, and Eenadu. By his own calculation, this all now adds up to music composed and produced for over 60 television serials, more than a dozen documentaries/features, 6 albums, 1 CD-ROM (Panchatantra Tales), 3 music videos, about 500 commercials/jingles, and several international product-launches.

Beyond that, "Sound Syndicate" is the name given to the sound bank of his latest independent offerings before the listening public, under three diferrent categories:

TERMINALLY INSANE - produces songs in English
BANJARA DIL - produces songs in Hindi
PREM FAKIR - produces songs in Bengali
M. I. S. T (Mindscapes in Sound Textures) - produces instrumental compositions

Of these, Gautam has this to say: "Having drawn inspiration from a rich variety of diverse musical idioms from all cultures, I believe that listening to music is a human experience, both universal and unique. Each piece acquires a specific mood, attired in thought and embraced in emotions that are felt and experienced in real life ~ unpretentious,.. sincere,.. on a one-to-one basis.

"This is the music I like to make and share with others. Personal, yet open-ended. About people, places, politics, love, relationships, dejection, outrage, peace, and hope. About life. In black and white,.. and a lot of grey!"