The Bombay Royale

The Bombay Royale is an 11-piece Australian band fronted by singers Parvyn Kaur Singh and Shourov Bhattacharya and led by Andy Williamson. The band composes and performs music inspired by the soundtracks of 1960's and 1970's Bollywood movies. The band was conceived by musical director Andy Williamson who also plays saxophone. The Bombay Royale released its first album You Me Bullets Love in April 2012 and was chosen as iTunes Breakthrough World Music Album for 2012. In 2013, the band was booked to play at Glastonbury Festival in the U.K. and has played at other major festivals including WOMAD (in Australia, NZ and U.K.) and Woodford Folk Festival. In January 2014, The Bombay Royale made its U.S. debut, playing at globalFEST in New York City and at The Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C. The band released its second music video Henna Henna in May 2014 and is due to release its second album The Island of Dr Electrico in June 2014 under the HopeStreet Recording label. Musical Style[edit] The Bombay Royale is heavily inspired by the soundtracks of 1960's and 1970's Bollywood movies. Early in its career, the band performed covers of popular Hindi songs from that era such as Jaan Pehechaan Ho[9] and Dum Maro Dum.[10] However, it now composes and performs its own original music, synthesizing Indian classical and folk music with Western styles such as surf, rock and disco. The vocal lines and lyrics to The Bombay Royale's songs are written mostly by lead vocalist Shourov Bhattacharya in Hindi and Bengali. The band also performs songs in English, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi. The band composes its music collaboratively with major contributions from saxophonist and band leader Andy Williamson, keyboard player Matty Vehl, bassist Bob Knob and guitarist Tom Martin. Background[edit] The Bombay Royale was formed in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 by Andy Williamson. Parvyn Kaur Singh, the band's female lead singer, is the daughter of Dya Singh, a traditional shabad singer. She is a Bollywood dance teacher and is married to the band's multi-instrumentalist Josh Bennett.[11] The band's male lead, Shourov Bhattacharya, is a second generation Indian-Australian musician, engineer and entrepreneur of Bengali descent.