When BRITTO KC appeared in front of my camera again, the face was anything but unfamiliar. I had first photographed Britto Khangchian roughly a decade earlier, during the early days of Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Café, including the band’s debut album and several live shows.Back then, I also remember the idea of doing something of his own coming up in conversation. I would not pretend to remember the details of conversations from ten years ago, nor was today’s project necessarily mapped out at the time. But the thought was there.
Ten years later, that idea has found its space. Britto remains part of Kabir Café, while BRITTO KC gives another side of his musical identity room to exist. It is not a departure, and certainly no dramatic reinvention. If anything, it feels like a rather natural continuation of something that has been part of his life for much longer.
Rock was there first
Britto comes from Manipur in India’s Northeast, and music runs through his family history. His father fronted The Secret Revealer, a Rock band active in the 1970s, playing music by DEEP PURPLE, CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL, THE BEATLES and THE ANIMALS alongside their own material. Some of those original songs are still with Britto, who hopes to record them one day.
It is a small detail, but one that says quite a lot. Long before professional stages, releases and different musical projects entered the picture, Rock was already there. It was part of home. For BRITTO KC, Britto found an important musical counterpart in Abel Zeliang. Originally from Nagaland, Abel has spent years working as a live and session guitarist. The two started working together after a jam at Britto’s home in Mumbai in 2022, with the project officially taking shape in March 2024.
Their roles developed naturally. Britto brings the initial melody, idea and emotion of a song; from there, the two work on the arrangement together. Britto largely occupies the vocal, rhythm and acoustic side, while Abel’s lead guitar gives the songs much of their Rock character.
And guitar matters here. The musical references range from BON JOVI, BRYAN ADAMS and QUEEN to EAGLES and ALTER BRIDGE, with Folk and Country finding their way into the mix as well. There is an obvious affection for melody, big guitars and songs that are allowed to sound like songs. BRITTO KC is not trying to reinvent Rock. There is really no need to. Sometimes making the music you actually want to make is far more interesting than trying to prove how different you can be.
Life’s A Highway
The first major result of that collaboration arrived on 8 March 2026. ‘Life’s A Highway (Part 1)’ contains five tracks: ‘Human Race’, ‘Guess We Had It Coming’, ‘Home’, ‘Heartbeats On Our Chest’ and ‘Life’s A Highway’. The title may immediately bring to mind open roads, freedom and the usual Rock’n’Roll imagery. The story behind the music is considerably more personal.
For Britto, ‘Life’s A Highway’ reflects parts of his own journey: a difficult childhood, struggles along the way, self-doubt, hope and the question of how much distance can lie between where somebody starts and where life eventually takes them.
That gives the optimism in these songs some weight. It is not positivity for positivity’s sake. There is an understanding underneath it that life can be difficult, unfair and occasionally chaotic - and that hope does not require pretending otherwise. The individual songs approach that from different directions. ‘Human Race’ carries much of the record’s optimism, while ‘Guess We Had It Coming’ has more bite. ‘Home’, dedicated to children living in war zones, moves into much heavier emotional territory.
Much of the material was developed independently in Britto’s home studio, STUDIO B, with Britto and Abel taking on much of the creative process themselves. What was initially supposed to happen considerably faster eventually turned into roughly eighteen months of recording, changing, reconsidering and returning to songs once more. Anyone involved in a creative process will probably recognise the problem. At some point, improving something and simply being unable to let it go become remarkably difficult to tell apart.
Eventually, they let it go.
More heart than theatre
There is another element of BRITTO KC that does not necessarily appear in a list of influences or production credits: the people involved. Spend some time around Britto, Abel and the other musicians and there is refreshingly little Rock-star theatre. Instead, there is humour, banter and a very easy-going creative energy between them. Conversations wander, jokes interrupt serious moments and ideas are thrown around somewhere in between.
They clearly take the music seriously. Taking themselves terribly seriously is another matter. And that distinction is rather likeable. Some of that feels familiar from years ago, although ten years are long enough for people to change - and it would be presumptuous to pretend otherwise. What is easy to observe in the present, however, is the warmth and humour surrounding this project. That finds its way into the music as well. Not because nice people automatically make warm music. Art is fortunately more complicated than that. But the openness of these songs, their lack of cynicism and their willingness to deal with hope without becoming embarrassed by it feel entirely consistent with the atmosphere around the musicians creating them.
There is heart in it. And there is joy. The latter becomes particularly obvious when they play together. These are experienced musicians, but technical ability never seems to become an exhibition in itself. Abel’s guitar work speaks perfectly well for itself, while Britto brings years of stage experience into a setting that gives another part of his musical personality room to breathe. What matters more is the chemistry.
There is a looseness between the musicians that is difficult to manufacture. They look as though they actually enjoy making music together - something that sounds ridiculously obvious until you have watched enough bands to know that it isn’t.
Doing what feels right
Perhaps that is ultimately the most appealing thing about BRITTO KC. There is no grand reinvention behind it, and there does not need to be. It feels less like becoming somebody else than giving another part of an already long musical journey its own space. Somewhere in that journey are the Rock songs Britto grew up with, the music his father made decades ago, years spent playing in very different musical environments, and now the musicians around him who clearly share both the enthusiasm and the humour.
‘Life’s A Highway (Part 1)’ is only the beginning. There is more music to come, and somewhere there are still those songs Britto’s father wrote decades ago, waiting for whatever their next life may become. Where the project eventually goes remains open. But there is experience here alongside something experience occasionally manages to kill along the way: genuine excitement about making music. BRITTO KC has kept that. And sometimes that is reason enough to start something of your own. Doing what feels right.
All Pictures by Dagmar Urlbauer
