ARTIST OF THE MONTH
ARJUN
KANUNGO
You started as a musician at the age of 18. Do
you have any music training and what was your
biggest learning when you started?-
I have been in this amazing music industry with talented
colleagues and artists for 6 years now. Until I was 17, I
didn’t even know I wanted to peruse music. I was busy
trying to figure out what to do with my life, and doing
a student job. My whole family is involved in business,
so naturally, I was inclined towards business sector or
wanted to make my career in architecture, I wasn't sure.
And that’s when I found music. It ignited that passion
in me and I realized that this was truly what I wanted to
do. So I wrapped everything up and came back home to
see where music could take me. I decided to follow music
as my career. I felt that I get strong connection with
music and I spent almost 7-8 years learning music and
it’s been quite a journey since then. I'm still learning.
Do you have any music training and what was
your biggest learning when you started?
I've been training in Indian Classical for 8 years
now. I taught myself how to play the guitar via the
internet so you could say I'm self-taught. Towards the
beginning of my career, I met Asha Bhosle from whom
I have learned a lot while I was touring with her. The
biggest learning is that you never stop learning.
You collaborated with Momina Mustehsan on this video. Tell us
about the association and what made it a perfect combination .
Momina is a lovely person, very sweet and easy to work with
and I think that we got along very well. I think she is talented.
We wanted to do a song, and when she heard the song, she
really liked it. I had a song which I made, which was “Aaya
Na Tu” and I went with the song to Universal Music and they
really liked the song and its when they introduced me to
Momina and I have to admit that I hadn’t heard of her before
this. When I saw her videos on coke studio I was immediately
convinced. This collaboration was her debut. I was very
excited about it and then they made her listen to the song, she
loved the song as well. It just kind of came together after that.
What are the challenges you face as an
independent artist in the country?
It's this assumption that non-film music is not as big as film
music. The numbers tell a different story. Non film music
24
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
is a better business model for an artist than film music.
Singers in this country don’t get enough face time. Unless
yo