Archy jay biography how to#
Archy jay biography full#

Archy jay biography full#

But for now, her focus is on that bagpipe, for which she even gave up her full time highly paid job at an MNC. The singing has been on hold ever since she took the bagpipe. But then her singer mom made sure Archy started her music lessons early. Because of her dad’s job in the air force the family had moved pretty often through Bengaluru, Delhi etc. 'So yes I used to scream a lot,' she laughs.Īs a young girl Archy learnt to sing classical - at first Carnatic, then Hindustani, and when teenage came, she drifted to pop and rock.

Archy jay biography how to#

I knew how to read music.' She didn’t just know to read music, she was the vocalist of a metal band called RogueSaints. I first practised with a chanter that my brother bought me, learning from an e-book. Finally one person - Sean Folsom - responded and he guided me on what to do. A lot of them, who are my friends now, thought I was an Indian girl trying to get a visa. I couldn’t find a teacher in India and I began sending random emails to people who played the bagpipe. 'India has a bagpipe culture but the Scottish instrument was different. And I want to mention here that a bagpipe is not like the flute.' She explains the complex process of blowing air into the bag which can then be used to regulate the flow and the sound. The obsession began in 2012 when she saw a bagpipe artist play with the Swiss metal band Eluveitie. Before that, Archy taught herself to play it with an e-book and Youtube tutorials, and a guide in the US. Looking at this petite girl, it is hard to imagine her lifting this heavy instrument with its many reeds and a bag for the air.īut there was a time she walked two kilometers up and down the roads of Scotland, carrying the bagpipe, to learn at the National Piping Centre. I also liked the ‘charmer’ part of it,' she says. To show them the progressive part of India. 'A name I chose, to show those people who think of India as a land of snake charmers. On a bench alongside the stage at Pepper House, Kochi, she sits to narrate the story that led to her picking up this instrument and getting known as The Snake Charmer. And it’s been a tremendous lot of effort for a young woman to learn this Scottish instrument without even a teacher in India.īut Archy was single minded and four years and many performances later, she came to Kerala to play it for the first time in the land of her parents (her dad was from Mavelikkara and mom from Palakkad), as part of the Alt & Pepper Music Fest. The drummer of the band sharing her video made it worth all the effort. Archy Jay was on top of the world when she saw that post. Exactly a month ago - on August 11 - Chris Adler made a post on his Facebook page - ‘Whoa! First ever Lamb of God cover played on #bagpipes!’ And he shared the Youtube video of a young woman playing the bagpipe, covering six songs of the legendary heavy metal band.