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'I love you' Nandini

An exclusive interview with Play back singer cum composer Nandini Srikar


No one can forget Nandini's first Tamil song 'I love you' from 'Uyirodu uyiraga' for her very different kind of voice.Nandini is back now after a long gap through Aalavandan with 'Africa kaattupuli'.Nandini, an M.Sc Maths graduate is basically a composer.She is India’s first woman sessions guitar player having played the 12-string guitar on albums like Hariharan’s "Kaash" and Shaan’s "Tanha Dil". She has also collaborated with Trilok Gurtu and Aally Badarou of Level 42 on a world music album.An exclusive interview with Nandini Srikar:

How did you get into playback singing?
Hariharan heard me sing four years back and thought i was good enough to be recommended to Vidyasagar who was looking for a new voice for uyirodu uyiraaga.That was how i started my career in music.

Why is the long gap between Uyirodu Uyiraaga and Aalavandan?
One has to stay in Madras and be in touch with the music directors there to be able to sing more frequently.I dont stay in Madras and neither did I send my demo tapes to anybody out there.Worse I didn't ride the hit wave when my song 'I love you' became a hit...I guess at that time I didn't know much about the value of Public Relations in the industry.

Have you sung in any other language?
For films, only Tamil and Hindi.For advertisements, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya , Bengali and even Nepali.

Howmany languages do you know?
English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Who is your role model in playback singing?
My role models would be Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan because they are not only great singers but also very good and original composers.

What is your career ambition?
I am a pathetically unambitious person.I take each day as it comes.But i would love to share my idea of music within me with a wider audience since i also compose and play the guitar.

Have you released any music album?
I have released an album with pakistan based Mahmood Khan called Panah.It's basically Mahmood's album and it features me as a singer.The album was released by Magnasound.

Who is your favourite music director/singer?
My favourite singers are Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mohamad Rafi, Kishore Kumar , Talat Mahmood, Hariharan,Shankar Mahadevan.Music directors are Ranjit Barot, Shankar, Ehsaan,Loy, Sandeep Chowta, A.R.Rehman and Ilayaraja.Among the old timers I like R.D Burman,S.D Burman and Madan Mohan.

Pop singers/albums are extremely popular in the West.Why do you think in India they are not as popular as movie albums?
Movie stars in india are anyday more popular among the audiences than the pop stars.So the film songs are also promoted by the movie and the stars which substitutes a great marketing strategy.Whereas for pop albums, firstly the quality of singers is pathetic, if the singer is good the marketing is pathetic -

Would you mind singing songs that are vulgar?
If the lyrics are vulgar because the film story or character or situation so requires then I don't see any problem with that..but if they have been put just for the sake of vulgarity then it is meaningless.

Do you think MP3s will ruin music industry?
mp3s have a long way to go before they can actually start ruining anybody.As of now I think they are a boon for the audiences and a pain for the record companies.As for the artiste he/she always gets a raw deal either way .

 

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