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Shibani Kashyap: A fresh take on Bollywood sounds
When Indian singer-composer Shibani Kashyap makes music for Bollywood, novelty is what she aims for
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When Indian singer-composer Shibani Kashyap makes music for Bollywood, novelty is what she aims for.
Her powerful, high-pitched voice and blending of Sufi and Western sounds have made her stand out in Bollywood, the world's largest film industry.
'What I bring to the table is my originality, so it's not that I have to sound like someone, or make a song like something; I always make something which is myself, original,' Kashyap told The Jakarta Post before her recent gig in Jakarta, part of Sahabat India ' The Festival of India in Indonesia.
'I always create something original, something new,' she said.
Her Jakarta performance was all about Bollywood; ranging from 1950s soundtrack numbers to current hits. Apart from singing her own songs, she also performed some songs from Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
Kashyap was first introduced to Bollywood when her music was used in the soundtrack of the film Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II in 2003.
'Before getting into Bollywood, I was an indie pop singer. One day I composed a song that one filmmaker really liked and he said that he'd be using the song in his film. That's how I started to get more work in the industry,' Kashyap said.
Her song, 'Sajna Aa Bhi Ja', from the Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II soundtrack, took Bollywood by storm.
Already displaying her penchant for experimentation, using a vocoder vocal effect to create a robot-esque vocal sound, the song earned her a nomination at the Hero Cycles Stardust Awards for the New Singing Sensation category.
'People found it really peculiar, very different, but they loved it. That's how the trend of using vocoder started in Bollywood,' Kashyap said.
Not losing her vision of originality, she then worked together with a DJ to make a fusion of electronic dance and Sufi music that was featured in 'Zinda Hoon', a main production from Zinda film.
As of today, she has produced and sung dozens of songs for Bollywood, such as for India's animated movie Ashoka the Hero, Manish Gupta's Hostel and Amrit Sagar's 1971 about prisoners of war from the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.
The Delhi-based singer enjoys making music for Bollywood due to its huge audience and the challenge it poses for her musical craftmanship.
'Music in Indian films is top rated, and making songs for film is quite different than making regular songs as you have to have lots of expressions while singing,' Kashyap said.
'The hook line has to be very catchy, very gripping, because Bollywood is for the masses.'
Kashyap's interest in music was sparked when she was eight, influenced by her mother, Poonam Kashyap, a classical singer, from whom she learned music.
At 10, she was already writing jingles. Her singing career began in 1996 when she sang the signature tune for AIR FM, a channel of All India Radio, and several advertisement jingles.
She also joined a band, Black Slade, as another way to channel her love of music.
In 1998, she rose to national fame when she released her first album, 'Ho Gayi Hai Mohabbat'.
With her guitar, she composes melodious tunes that linger in people's minds long after they listen.
'I like melodious songs, because for me melody is the key word in music ['¦] people can still be singing my song 10 years later,' the jazz lover said.
Her influences also range widely, from the music of Sting to Sharukh Khan's movies in the 1990s.
When she plays the guitar on the stage, her skill immediately grabs the audience's attention.
'People used to find women playing guitar very difficult to believe, as most women do not play guitar, or other instruments. Women are just singers or songwriters,' she said.
She said that there had been more women in bands who played guitar, but that they mostly came from the indie scene.
'I hope I can inspire other women to play guitar, because it feels nice ' women should be musicians as well.'
With many musical achievements under her belt, Kashyap said she would love to one day start an academy that focused on the art of performing.
'I've been performing even before I started recording songs. I think I have mastered the art of live performance, and there are so many things which can be taught to newcomers, as there's more to it than just singing,' Kashyap said.
' Photos courtesy of Indian Embassy Jakarta
