The Tapi Project Live

Growing up in Surat, Gujarat, Yogendra found refuge in writing and music. Between 2008 and 2011, he channeled his artistic expression into the album No Hay Banda, written under the band name Odyssey and mastered by multiple Grammy winner Bob Katz; the song “B Flat Minor” became a music video aired on VH1 and MTV. A 2013 residency at Camac, Marnay-sur-Seine, France, helped shape his songwriting into his next project: The Tapi Project, named after Gujarat’s Tapi River, where he met collaborator Swati Minaxi.

Swati Minaxi is the vocalist of The Tapi Project. Described by a journalist as embodying both a “roaring tigress and an ocean of emotion,” she moves between a quiet, observant off-stage persona and an expressive on-stage one. An artist at heart, she also paints, styles, and sews. Between 2013 and 2015, she explored music with Yogendra (“Yogi”), a major source of inspiration, developing a sound distinctly her own; she resists genre labels, viewing music as ever-evolving.

Gaurav Kapadia grew up surrounded by music, from Indian classical to ’90s Bollywood, drawn early to rhythm as an instinctive beat-keeper before learning tabla and later shifting to drums. A visual thinker who perceives sound as image, he studied Fine Arts at MSU, Gujarat, and went on to design sound for films, bringing that visual aesthetic to The Tapi Project’s music. He describes himself as the band’s persistent critic and editor.

Biju Nambiar is a self-taught musician who plays drums, keyboards, and bass, and produces music independently and as part of The Tapi Project. Describing himself as an “in the moment” performer, he channels what he feels directly into his playing, finding music a space of discovery and possibility. He sees himself as bringing a fiery quality to the band, valuing its ethos of creative equality despite being its youngest member.