One Sunday evening, a couple of days after Diwali, I was walking through the Sanjay Gandhi National park in Mumbai - my little escape from the big city. It was close to sunset and nature’s orchestra was just warming up to take over the sonic scape of the night. On this day, I had been in a rather brooding mood, which is particularly rare in my case…one of the few times when life had got the better of me. I was subconsciously searching for a sign that life is beautiful - as if I really needed one - a silver lining.

Then as if out of a movie scene, a kid on a bicycle with her phone in her back pocket drove past me, and from her phone speaker, ‘Pran’ by Ritviz was playing at a rather modest volume. She had an innocent and joyful abandon about her as she clumsily rode her bicycle while bobbing her head to the beat. At that moment, it appeared to me like she, I, the park, and indeed all of Mumbai was dancing to the same tune. We were one with the music and in harmony with nature.

About fifteen mins later, I saw a bunch of kids sitting in a circle on the rocks, enjoying the sunset with just one phone speaker and another Ritviz track that very evidently was leading them into an almost inebriated state of bliss. But this wasn't the effect of Old Monk or Kingfisher...it was just the music. Because it understands you. And when you understand that, then life is never the same.

So who is Ritviz, the man behind the music? A young man just hopelessly in love with life..? Read on and find out!

If you haven’t heard of Michael League, be prepared to immerse yourself into an ocean of virtuosity, joy & musical madness as there is no better time than now! The electrifying bass player and bandleader, who is very likely to be your favourite musician’s favourite musician, is the soul of the Grammy-winning outfit Snarky Puppy, and in his debut solo album ‘So Many Me’ he reveals a more intimate and vulnerable side of his creative expression.

Michael played every single instrument on the record including vocals, piano, synths, bass and Turkish percussion, as well as wrote, composed and conceptualized all of the tracks - talk about being in a league of his own! The music is fittingly poignant, uniquely uplifting and refreshing & the lyrics speak about various things like relationships, death and the cycles of life. As stated by the artist, it is above all a record about human observation, and is definitely one of my favourite records of the year so far!