Rudy Benitonelle Wallang


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One of the primary turn-ons of the whole computer revolution for us here at The IDEA has always been the burgeoning spread of creative empowerment being thus wrought for uncounted individuals all over the place, along with the connectivity that's slowly allowing us all to know about and share in it all. It's a phenomenon now even reaching out into what in some cases have long been deep and dark lost corners of the world, and one such is North East India, a magic space surrounded by hostile nations and/or mighty moumtains and/or impenetrable rainforests ruled by wild opum warlords on almost all sides save for the 32 kilometer wide chickens-neck of land that links it up to the rest of India and the world.

With that and the little matter of many peoples of the region being generically distinct from mainstream 'Indians', the north east is a land that's also been officially isolated for decades into India's independence, with foreigners almost entirely barred entry till very recently (and that too, conditionally). It's therefore delightful to bring aboard an electronic artist from Shillong, the capital of magic-magic Meghalaya.

Rudy Wallang's mainstream work as a musician and composer has not surprisingly always been very much a real-world affair in the beautiful little hill city that's so well known for producing and thriving upon super musicians (especially guitarists and singers) in "almost every second house". Shillong and the entire North East has always enthusiastically supported music and musicians with all sorts of shows, dances, discos and suchlike, adding up altogether to a local music industry that is vibrant enough to supply a sound studio like Rudy's with as much as two or three album-recording and mastering assignments per month for local bands. As with everywhere else, technologies of the day also now allow individuals to create and play out entire compositions solo, and that's something Rudy's been doing awhile now. Here's his story:

"I started playing ukulele at the age of 6 and guitar at the age of 8. Formed and fronted my first two bands 'Electric Head' and 'Rubber Band' while in college. In 1980, I joined 'Great Society' as Bass-guitar player and Vocalist, and then moved on to the role of Lead-guitarist and Vocalist when we recorded the two albums 'Breakthrough' and 'Dance Your Ass Off'.

"After performing with GS for more than 12 years I took a break from the band and together with fellow GS drummer Sam and bass player Ferdy formed 'Mojo'. However, while fronting Mojo since it's inception in 1993 ~and through it's "Blues For Brotherhood" album~ I was also been busy composing, arranging and recording music for a variety of artistes. Operating out of my own studio, The Springboard, I've also just completed writing songs for a full album of original material, which I'll release in time as a solo artiste.

"And my studio? Well, this here's the 'mirror-image' studio that my good friend and colleague from Great Society, Arjun Sen, spoke of in the last CD-gazette of The IDEA. AJ's gear and my gear are almost the same except for our monitors....I use the Yamaha NS10's. So that just leaves the:

Roland XP50 MIDI keyboard for instrument voices and initial sequencing
Fender Stratocaster & Telecaster guitars
Roland VS1680 Recorder
Kurzwiel K 2500 Module/Sampler
Ardvark Ark24 on the computer
assorted microphones
Mastering on computer with various software
All effects (vocals etc.), Guitar Amps and tone directly from..1680

"My musical influences vary from the Blues, R'n'B, Rock, Reggae, Country and Jazz. Albert Colins, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, Roy Buchanan, Peter Green, Carole King, Chuck Berry, The Great Society, Weather Report, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Chet Atkins, Ricky Scaggs, Willy Nelson, Frank Zappa, are a few of the artistes and bands that have influenced my music and myself over the years.

"One of my dreams is to go to Chicago and to visit all the blues clubs there. In fact, I'd really like to meet Buddy Guy and maybe jam with him at his club."