The Score Magazine - Archive July 2016 issue! | Page 17

SNEHA RAMESH
Were you always inclined towards becoming a musician
or was it something that just happened?
As I am told by my mother, I have been singing since I was a baby
in my cradle. Instead of crying for milk or to wake them up, I would
be singing by myself in the cradle. I feel really lucky that music is
something I was born with and I just kept going with it. Performing
in grade 1 for the annual day, joining the class choir in school in
Moscow, representing high school for music and winning almost all
competitions, winning awards in college and then finally forming the
band and eventually coming to Bollywood.
Tell us something about the bands you were associated
with, Crimson and Level 9.
CRIMSON was the first band I co-formed with my best friend Gaurav
Balani (bass player) and was fronting, a rock band with a female
vocalist was interesting as our country had very few of them. I loved
performing in the Delhi Rock Circuit and I think have performed
at mostly all venues possible. I was asked to join Level 9 when their
vocalist left the country, so I had a great time performing with them
and we even played 2 gigs in Mumbai back then
These bands, along with Grove Adda opened
Bollywood’s doors for you. Would you say that you’ve
gained a rich experience that you’d have otherwise not
got by being a part of these bands?
I think every artist have their own journey. I am not sure how or what
I would have done had I not been a part of these bands but I definitely
think that my career has been an incredible journey in itself right
from performing on stage in school to singing in Moscow in Russian
to representing college and judging events to singing in a rock band
and then moving to a blues,pop, jazz band and then finally getting to
Bollywood - all the bands and stages taught me a lot and of course have
made me the artist that I am today.
A thought that goes with female fronting bands is that
people end up remembering the singer alone, did that
ever happen with you as you’re the only girl in all three
bands you’ve been a part of.
We have always tried our best for it not to be that way, in fact my
best friend Gaurav Balani (bass) and I formed the band together and
I think he is such a star. He plays with the rock band Parikrama,
he also performs with the amazing Shubha Mudgal and I am lucky
that he plays for my setup as well. Even the rest of my band Rahul
Tiwari (Keys), Arbaz Khan (Guitars), Vinit Arora (dDums), Anit
Bhatt (Percussions) also play for many known artistes like Nakash
Aziz, Armaan Malik, Shaan, etc. I think more than it being a gender
thing, people do tend to remember the singer more than the others in
the band but I do think and hope that they pay equal attention and
appreciation to the amazing musicians we share stage with.
How did you step foot into Bollywood?
Bollywood just 'Happend' to me. Fronting the rock bands and being
so active in the Delhi circuit and being well known for singing and
performing in English, I had never thought that few years down the
line I would be a playback singer in Bollywood.
I hosted the Jack Daniels Rock Awards in 2007 and 2008, which is where
I met Ehsaan Noorani (Shankar Ehsaan Loy) and Vishal Dadlani
(Vishal - Shekhar). Ehsaan played my work to Shankar Mahadevan
and Loy and they flew me down to Mumbai for my first ever recording
in Mumbai for a song in the album 'High School Musical 2'. I met
Vishal right after the recording as well and got encouragement from
all these people. A short while later, I performed in Mumbai with one
of the bands and Amit Trivedi was attending my show. He asked me
to come to his studio to try my voice on a song, and that song ended up
being my debut film song 'Yahi Meri Zindagi' in Dev.D
TOP 10 SONGS
High Heels (Ki and Ka)
Oye Oye (Azhar)
Dhat Teri Ki
(Gori Tere Pyaar Mein)
Touch My Body (Alone)
Bekhudi (Teraa Surroor)
Sooraj Dooba Hain (Roy)
Main Heroine Hoon (Heroine)
Kho Jaane De (Vicky Donor)
Shaadi Wali Night
(Calendar Girls)
Yahi Meri Zindagi (Dev D)
Was it a struggle for you to make your mark in the
industry especially since you have no godfather in the
industry?
It has been an incredible journey, since 2009 every year listening to a
few songs release in my voice. It has been a dream come true really.
Of course it was very difficult for me to move base to Mumbai away
from my mom and friends who are in Delhi, to live alone here, to meet
everyone in the industry, to make friends, to adjust to a completely new
city, etc. But with each song, with each experience I learnt something
new and till now have kept going.
You have mentioned many a time that your mother is
your major source of support and the person behind
your success, could you tell us a little bit about your
relationship with her?
The Woman behind my success is obviously my Mother ,my Momma.
She is the reason why I am here today. I mean literally she is the
reason I'm in this world and also because why I stand where I stand
as a playback singer in Bollywood. She is the one who gave me the
Strength , the Courage, the Confidence to always do what you want to
do and do what always feels right and do the right thing. Otherwise
it would have been impossible for someone like me sitting in Delhi,
performing with rock bands and singing in English to suddenly just
move to another city where I don't even know how to pronounce or
spell names of places to suddenly move to this level. I sometimes sit
and think about it and it seems pretty difficult and also pretty undoable
but nothing is undoable and I have done this and this all thanks to her
love and support. Thank you Momma!
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