THA LIFESTYLE
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TAMIL STYLE |HEALTH & WELL BEING
COVER STORY
Presenting…
British Tamil Songstress, Abi Sampa
Exclusive interview for Tha Lifestyle
By Ashanti Omkar
Share your background and heritage and what forms
the basis for what you do musically and professionally.
Musically, you are a melange of East and West - share
some details about how your style comes about.
I am Sri Lankan Tamil, but born and bred in London.
As a child, my parents took a special interest in music
with me. I guess they saw something in me running
around as a kid singing Kylie Minogue songs and then
KJ Yesudas within moments of each other. I studied
Carnatic Vocal lessons, Carnatic Veena, Bharata
Natyam, I also learned the saxophone and piano.
Growing up in London, we’re exposed to so many
different styles of music, and it felt natural for me to
mix my two key styles.
I studied Carnatic music from a young age, but also
my influences growing up on the western scene were
big female artists such as Mariah Carey. I also am a
massive Sufi music fan. I love singing and performing
with my Qawwalli group, ‘Rehmet’. Mixing these three
styles is just something that happened by accident
really, but these days as an artist, its important to
have your own style and uniqueness, so I suppose it
was something that was always coming.
What and who served as a set of inspirations, that you
have based your work on?
The Carnatic music tradition is one of the most
complex and ancient forms of music in the world - tell
us about your journey in this space.
I would say my favourite Carnatic musicians are P
Unnikrishnan, Bombay Jayashri, Veena E Gayathri,
and a recent favourite of mine, Rajhesh Vaidhya.
Funny enough, Rajhesh was recently shown some of
my Youtube clips playing the veena, and has asked to
meet with me, which is so exciting. Western idols would
be the late Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Brandy,
and of course Pop-Queen Kylie Minogue.
Yes, Carnatic music is ridiculously complex! I don’t
think anyone could ever be classed as an ‘expert’. I’ve
always said that Carnatic music is more maths than
music! Although I’ve always been too much of a free
spirit musically, to abide by these rules, I tend to take
what I like, and the equations that I simply can’t work
out, I change to suit me. My poor Carnatic gurus had a
frustrating time with me I’m sure!
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