‘Experience makes a man’, the adage couldn’t hold more true in case of Sheldon D’Silva.

Sheldon son of Trevor and Rekha D’Silva was exposed to the world of music by his father who taught him to play the bass guitar when he was only 12 and has always cherished the support he received from his parents in pursuing music. Filled with an equal amount of passion, he dedicated himself to practice while quenching his sheer thirst for knowledge by observing the adroit musicians play. He believes that the Bass is a bridge between Rhythm and Melody and hence is an integral part in any band regardless of the genre. With increasing encouragement and his father’s persistence, he started performing with local rock bands that although senior to him couldn’t deny his talent. Every such opportunity felt like a major break for him and continually egged him on. By age 13, he had the opportunity to meet the legendary Louiz Banks, who has been a great mentor and support in helping him pursue his career as a bass player and 3yrs later he found himself in his own band Nexus with Sangeet Haldipur and Gino Banks doing what they did best – creating new sounds and experimenting with music. As if this didn’t take up all his time, Sheldon was a Science student at St. Andrews College and later graduated as a Commercial Artist from B.D.Somani Institute of Art & Fashion Technology. Till date, he puts all that he learnt from here as well into practice.

Inspired by renowned bass guitarists Jaco Pastorius, John Patitucci, Gary Willis, Victor Wooten right until Sting’s tasteful Bass playing, Sheldon hopes to change the way bass players are generally seen in the background and bring to the forefront the actual importance and the real sound of the Bass guitar. He doesn’t aspire to be a perfectionist, as he believes that making mistakes is not only inevitable but it is a very crucial part of growth. Inspite of having explored every genre of music right from pop and rock to jazz, funk and fusion, Sheldon still doesn’t believe in sticking to one. He believes that he can further his journey only if he continues to explore various avenues and delve deeper into this mystical and creative world of music.

 

This precocious young man started his career at the age of 12 and now in his 30's has gained invaluable experience playing his Six String Bass Guitar with adept musicians like Louiz Banks, Zakir Hussain, Taufiq Quereshi, Fazal Quesreshi, Shankar Mahadevan, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Shaan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Rakesh Chaurasia, Niladri Kumar, U Srinivas, Selva Ganesh, Colonial Cousins, Suneeta Rao, Joe Alvares and many more.

When he was 16 yrs of age he performed with a phenomenal jazz vocalist Angela Hagenbach from USA. At age 20 he performed with International legends like George Duke, Al Jarreau, Ravi Coltrane, Earl Klugh, and later with greats like Mike Stern, Trilok Gurtu, John McLaughlin, Guthrie Govan, Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Smith, Dhafer Youssef, Talvin Singh, Gypsy All Stars (Gypsy Kings), Mattias IA Elundh, Abbos Kosimov Doyra, Bugge Wesseltoft, George Brooks, Rory Stuart, Marilena Paradisi, Grammy winner Bob Belden, and The Siemens Big Band from Germany. He also had a memorable experience when he got to jam with Bob James, Patty Austin, Bobby Watson, members of the Thelonious Monk School, Bernard Purdie and has jammed with 3 time Grammy winning Latin Funk Band Ozomatli from LA as well. He is a part of bands such as SILK, SiTARFUNK, Louiz Banks Matrixx, D – Company, India’s Premier Rock Band INDUS CREED and his band Nexus.

 

Sheldon performed at the Montréal Jazz Festival 2010 with super fusion group Naad Brahma and at the Borneo Jazz Festival 2011 with D – Company.
Sheldon arrived from the United States of America after solely representing the Asian continent as a Music Ambassador to the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and has played with some of the greatest musicians in the world during this period.

He performed a five city tour playing with SiTARFUNK alongside legendary pop group FOREIGNER.
Performed at the Cape Town Jazz Festival 2014 with RAF (Rakesh Chaurasia and Friends) whose album won Best CD of 2013 Internationally in the Multi Genre Category for The Indie Acoustic Project.

Performed at the Java Jazz Festival 2016 and Festival Internacional Cervantino 2016 with Naad Brahma.

Performed at the Cape Town Jazz Festival 2018 with the Louiz Banks Matrixx.

Sheldon is one of the first Indians to perform, record and shoot on Coke Studio Pakistan with the Mekaal Hasan Band for Season 8.

Sheldon has Recorded on innumerable Bollywood Movie Soundtracks and Background Scores as well as Private and International Albums.

Sheldon plays MuB Basses and is currently an International endorsee for D’Addario.

It is this in-depth knowledge of the medium that has made him a very proficient and a zealous musician.