THA LIFESTYLE
| FEATURED PROFILES
Where do you see the world of music going, in terms
of the global marketplace, where it is more easily
available?
Yes definitely, music is so much more accessible
these days than ever before. Social media is key in
promoting it, and there are so many tools available to
artists to get their music out there. It’s a great time,
and hopefully it will continue to bring us fresh and new
styles.
Do you think that live music is an important art form to
carry on, when most music that is out there, is created
in the bedroom of a producer, who is not musically
trained?
Yes, for me live performance is everything! I would
say real music lovers will always judge an artist by
seeing them live. A piece of music is transformed into
something else when you see it live, it’s more honest
and that’s what I love about it.
As a British Asian, and Tamil, how had your heritage
and upbringing moulded your career to date?
As a British Asian and Tamil, I suppose I was lucky to
have even more on my paint palette, we have so much
more to bring to the table that is unique. I’m so excited
about what our generation has to bring to the music
industry. We’re slowly trickling in all genres and it’s only
up from here.
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What’s in the future of Abi Sampa as a musical
force to reckon with?
I am currently working on an EP which incorporates
my style of Carnatic/Sufi/Folk. I would say my
sound is a mix between Florence & The Machine,
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Mumford & Sons.
“
Music is so much more accessible these days
than ever before, social media is key in promoting and there are so many tools available
to artists to get their music out there.”
The idea of mixing South Indian Classical music
with Soul, something that Sid Sriram (who sang
for double Oscar and double Grammy winner AR
Rahman in the 2013 Mani Ratnam film Kadal),
British singer from Karnataka, India, Ambika Jois
and you, perform quite a bit, and live - is this a type
of music that you see taking off in a big way?
Well it’s down to personal taste really, but I
definitely think it would be a shame if there wasn’t
some of that in the industry. It’s too beautiful to
remain boxed into classical and world music only, in
my opinion.