Whistling Melodies makes music sound different with their power packed whistling technics, using whistling to make music. It is a performance you have to experience. Its sheer skill and talent that the members possess.

The six members literally blew us away with an amazing performance at a recent event in the city. Consisting of members from all over India who also have full time jobs, it’s the passion for music that brings them together. Verus Ferreira met up with Manoj Karam one of the key members, to know more about whistling.

How did you form this band Whistling Melodies?
Whistling Melodies is a group of musically inclined persons who share a very unique passion i.e Whistling. Most of us have been whistling individually since our childhood and in groups since the last 8 years or so. We wanted to promote whistling as a Performing Art and change the wrong, sometimes demeaning, perceptions and Taboos linked to Whistling which have been around for a long time now.
How many members make up Whistling Melodies and role does each play in the band? Whistling Melodies is an open and fairly informal group where people sharing the same passion are free to join us while promoting this artform during various performances that we keep giving be it for corporate cultural events, fund raisers, reality shows, media promotional events etc. Some of the key members are Manoj Karam, Sharad Karnad, Aditya Kothari, Priyanka Kher, Uday Patkie, Farooque Baig. We also do performances with colleagues from other groups / cities such as Uday Shirur, Jagat Tarkas and many more.

Whistling can be a tiring job especially if you are performing to an audience. How do you guys practice for this and how many hours do you devote to it?
Yes, for most of us, our professions take up at least 12 hours (if not more) of the day. Despite this, individually some of us practice couple of hours a day as–in while driving to office, while watching TV, while listening to radio. Besides this we keep honing our skills by sending recordings to each other and to music gurus in our network to get their inputs on improving further. Before a performance we usually have 3 to 4 group practice sessions including complete stage dress rehearsals.

What type of songs do you perform - Western and Indian? Also does each member have a part to come in at certain points or is it a joint effort?
Indian, Popular, Semi-Classical, Western Popular – basically any genre of melodious songs – hence Whistling Melodies  - Usually it’s a joint effort but each one does have their own special traits, whistling range, style which we use to the groups advantage. We also have trained singers in our group with whom we perform unique whistling/singing duets.

What do you guys do besides whistling? Regular jobs??
With God’s Grace, most of us are well settled in our respective jobs holding respectable positions. Manoj Karam works for the Tata Group as an AGM, Sharad works as an AGM in amulti-national Oil & Gas engineering company. Farooque Baig works as Associate GM, Electronics in one of the leading Media companies. Uday Patkie is an Instrumentation Engineer. Aditya Kothari, is DGM Marketing for West Region for Lifestyle International Pvt. Ltd. Priyanka Kher works as a Game Tester in Ubisoft Pune.

Have you met any others who love whistling and share the same love for it?
Sure, we keep coming across others who love whistling during our events or via the social networking sites and it feels great to meet “like passioned” Whistler friends.

Is there a technique you guys follow in whistling?
Whistling has various techniques and types such as Pucker whistling, In-out or Circular Whistling, Palatal Whistling, Teeth Whistling, Warbling , Trills and so on. Depending on the song rendition some of these techniques are used. Pucker whistling is most common and popular.

Where all have performed your whistling act overseas?
We have performed at a variety of events including the prestigious events like the Kala Ghoda festival in 2009-2010, Rotary Club family weekends, Lions Club functions, Corporate Events, TV Reality Shows, Radio events, Commercials, Private Musical Performances and so on. We recently performed for the Chinmaya Mission where the theme was Bhakti and Shakti – Bhajans and Patriotic Songs! A true testimony that whistling has come a long way. We recently performed at the Pulse Powai a fund raiser for the Concern India Foundation. Some of us are also part of the Limca Book of Records for maximum number of whistlers whistling "Sare Jahan se Achha" in unison. Manoj Karam and Jagat Tarkas havealso performed at the International Whistling Conventions in China and Japan and brought laurels to India.

Have you won any awards for your work?
Manoj and Jagat Tarkas were part of the team which won an award for the Allied Arts Competition at the International Whistling Convention held in China. Jagat Tarkas is the reigning champion in the Seniors Category of the International Whistling Convention held in Japan.Sharad along with other group members reached the finals of a popular TV Reality Show.

Do you use voice as well whistling in your songs, sometimes in different octaves layered on top of each other?
We perform Whistling in different octaves as well as overlaps by one or more whistlers. We do group whistling having sequential and chorus pieces some times in different octaves. Additionally we perform unique singing / whistling duets

Where do you get your inspiration for whistling......movies, songs from Bobby McFerrin)?
We are a group of music lovers and perhaps the classics from both Bollywood and Hollywood nurtured this shared passion within us in our childhood and teens. Whether it was songs like Ye Shaam Mastani from Kati Patang, Ye Dosti from Sholay, the classic whistling tune from The Bridge on River Kwai or even John Lennon’s Jealous Guy, something clicked for us that made us develop this passion of ours. Since most of us have been whistling since childhood and it comes naturally to us, we inspire each other to go to the next level. Ofcourse Bollywood songs have been a big inspiration for many of us. On the international Whistling platform there are some amazing Whistlers for whom Whistling is a full time profession. They are a great inspiration too.

Do you guys practice breathing exercises for whistling?
In depth knowledge of Sur and Taal being the fundamental and essential prerequisite, Whistling is a combination of lung power and the right mouth chemistry, and it helps develop and maintain a healthy set of lungs. This has been ratified by medical professionals in many articles and it has been researched that during whistling one utilizes upto 6 times more air as compared to singing.

What are your future plans.... an album?
While some of us have already released albums either on CDs or online, the main objective of this group is to promote Whistling as an Art form & take to a level where it is given the same respect as singing, instrumental and other music art forms. We want to break all the Taboos and Myths related to Whistling.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira