Merlin D'Souza (Merlyn) is an Indian composer and pianist from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. She is a musician whose work includes composing for film, albums, theatre and advertising. She is based at

Bandra Bandra (Indian English, æːɳɖɾa also known as Vandre (Help:IPA/Marathi, �aːn̪d̪ɾe is an upscale coastal suburb located in Mumbai (Bombay) area of the Konkan division, Maharashtra, India. The suburb is located to the immediate nor ...

, a Mumbai suburb. Formerly the Asian jazz ambassador for

Hennessy Jas Hennessy & Co., commonly known simply as Hennessy (), is a French producer of cognac, which has its headquarters in Cognac, France. It is one of the "big four" cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin, who together ma ...

X.O. – she has toured extensively, from Australia to China, from Europe to the United States (including a stint at the Blue Note, New York).

Biography

Merlin grew up in Bandra, started learning the piano at age 6, became an

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

performing artiste at 9, started playing in the church at 12 and bunked college at 18 to score and perform for Noel Godin's musical production (Blood Brothers). She is trained in western classical (

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Performer's Licentiate) and liberated by jazz. Merlin's journey in theatre as a music director has seen her score for

Alyque Padamsee Alyque Padamsee (5 March 1928 – 17 November 2018) was an Indian theatre personality and ad film maker. He played Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 1982 British period film ''Gandhi''. Besides being involved in Indian theatre as an actor and producer ...

's Romeo and Juliet,

Pearl Padamsee Pearl Padamsee (1931 – 24 April 2000) was an Indian theatre personality as a stage actress, director and producer of English language theatre in Mumbai active in 1950s–1990s. She acted a few Hindi and English language films, including '' K ...

's Godspell,

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare A ...

's Julius Caesar and Etienne Coutinho's Jazz., Raell Padamsee's: Sound of Music 2012, GREASE-2013. Merlin's foray into films as composer, arranger and vocal director has hit the right notes in

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'' (Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness), also known by the initialism ''K3G'', is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language family-drama film written and directed by Karan Johar and produced by Yash Johar. The film stars Am ...

Road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

, Bus Yun Hi, Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula, Prince of Egypt and more. She has performed with

Shubha Mudgal Shubha Mudgal (born 1 January 1959) is an Indian singer of Hindustani classical music. Her repertoire includes the genres of khyal, thumri, dadra, and Indian pop. She has received the Padma Shri in 2000. Early life Shubha was born in Allahabad ...

Trilok Gurtu Trilok Gurtu (born 30 October 1951) is an Indian percussionist and composer whose work has blended the music of India with jazz fusion and world music. He has worked with Terje Rypdal, Gary Moore, John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Joe Zawinul, M ...

Talvin Singh Talvin Singh OBE (born 1970) is an English musician, producer, and composer. A tabla player, he is known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass. Singh is generally considered involved with an electronica ...

Taufiq Qureshi Ustad Taufiq Qureshi (born 1962) is an Indian classical musician. He is a percussionist and a composer. Early life Born in Mumbai, to the legendary tabla player, Ustad Alla Rakha. His eldest brother is a tabla player, Ustad Zakir Hussain. He re ...

Rakesh Chaurasia Rakesh Chaurasia (born 10 January 1971) is an Indian flautist, who plays the bansuri, an Indian bamboo flute. He is the nephew of flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia. He was awarded 'Indian of the Year 2017. Discography *''Call of Krishna'' – 20 ...

. Merlin sang the Indian national anthem in the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

. She has also worked with

Ranbir Kapoor Ranbir Kapoor (; born 28 September 1982) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi-language films. He is one of the highest-paid actors of Hindi cinema and has featured in ''Forbes India''s Celebrity 100 list since 2012. Kapoor is the rec ...

by directing him to sing the Indian national anthem in the

. In October 2016, Merlin was one of the musical ambassadors for the BMW national tour in India. In November 2016, Merlin had performed a musical medley along with the acclaimed INDIVA in Bandra. Through 2018, Merlin is only pianist after Yanni to have performed at the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

Discography

* Soul Yatra (2009) – Charting a soundscape that fuses raga influenced melodic lines, Indian rhythm patterns, groovy arrangements and oodles of fluid piano work, Soul Yatra also features guest performances by the likes of

, Mukul Dongre, Karl Peters,

Hamsika Iyer Hamsika Iyer (born 12 April 1972) is an Indian singer based in Mumbai. She is a regular voice with ad world jingles and Marathi tele-serials, and has sung songs in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Bengali movies. International collaborati ...

and

Vivienne Pocha Vivian (and variants such as Vivien and Vivienne) is a given name, and less often a surname, derived from a Latin name of the Roman Empire period, masculine ''Vivianus'' and feminine '' Viviana'', which survived into modern use because it is the ...

. * Koshish by Underscore Records – Shubha Mudgal, Merlin DSouza, Sudhir Nayak, Murad Ali, Benoni Soans, and Aneesh Pradhan Released her solo album "SOUL YATRA" with Bluefrog records and Sony BMG.Recent album release as composer /producer for INDIVA with Crescendo and Universal Music Group.

Filmography

* Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... – Merlin played, arranged and conducted for Karan Johar's superhit film 'K3G' *

– With music director

Sandesh Shandilya Sandesh Shandilya is an Indian film composer, musician, and singer, working in Bollywood, most known for his work in films like ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham'' (2001), '' Chameli'', ''Road'', ''Uff Kya Jadoo Mohabbat Hai and Socha Na Tha''. Hi ...

* ''

Bas Yun Hi ''Bas Yun Hi'' () is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Raja Menon. The film stars Purab Kohli, of Channel V fame, and Nandita Das. Cast *Purab Kohli as Aditya *Nandita Das as Veda * Rajiv Gopalakrishnan as Rohan * ...

'' - with Rajeev *

Prince of Egypt ''The Prince of Egypt'' is a 1998 American animated musical drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The first feature film from DreamWorks to be traditionally animated, it is an adaptation of the Book ...

– Merlin was the vocal director for the animated feature film 'Prince of Egypt' (Hindi version). * Lion King – Merlin was the music director, arranger and programmer for the Hindi version of Disney's famous animated movie 'Lion King'. *

Bombay Boys ''Bombay Boys'' is a 1998 Indian cult comedy film written and directed by the Indian director Kaizad Gustad. It follows the adventures of three young men in modern-day Mumbai (or Bombay). The boys are of Indian origin, but were all raised in the ...

– Merlin and Asif Ali Beg teamed up to compose an OST for Kaizad Gustad's film starring

Rahul Bose Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as ''Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', '' Kalpurush'', ''Anuranan'', ''Antaheen'', ''Laptop'' and ''The Japanese Wife''. ...

, Naveen Andrews and

. * Other works where she has been vocal director, arranger and programmer – Agnivarsha: The Fire and the Rain,

Piya Basanti ''Piya Basanti'' is a Hindi album released on 28 November 2000. Sultan Khan and K. S. Chithra are the singers and Kishan Rajbhatt and Sandesh Shandilya are the composers. The album went on to become a huge success, winning an International Vie ...

Socha Na Tha Socha is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the Valderrama Province, which is a subregion of Boyacá. It borders Socotá in the east, Sativasur in the north, Tasco in the south and in the west Paz de Río. ...

Gangaajal ''Gangaajal: The Holy Weapon'' () is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language action crime drama film written, directed, co-produced and edited by Prakash Jha. Featuring an ensemble cast of 87 actors, it revolves around the Superintendent of Police Amit ...

, Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula, Band of Boys,

Tum Milo Toh Sahi ''Tum Milo Toh Sahi'' is an Indian drama film starring Nana Patekar, Dimple Kapadia, Mohnish Bahl, Amit Behl, Suniel Shetty, Vidya Malvade, Rehan Khan and Anjana Sukhani. It was released on 2 April 2010. Plot After retiring as a Law Clerk, S ...

Biography

Discography

Filmography

References

External links