Salman bhai has a great sense of music: Jaspreet Jasz

Jaspreet Jasz has sung three songs from O Teri. Here, he gets candid about his career, reality shows and Salman Khan. Excerpts from the chat:
What is your musical background?
I am a Delhi boy. From dad’s side, door door tak music ka connection nahin hai. In fact, he would fast-forward all the songs while watching a movie. He has always supported my career choice, though.I got my music from my mom. She’s a Hindustani classical and Sufi singer, but she doesn’t sing professionally. Her grandfather was a Pakistan radio singer. I have a younger brother GJ Singh, who has composed the music for O Teri.
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We hear that you’re a child prodigy.
That is probably because I started singing at competitions and functions when I was four. It happened quite by accident. I could never learn a poem unless it was set to a tune, so my mom would fit it into a song and tutor me. When I was four, there was a western music competition in school, and I didn’t get selected. I went back to my music teacher, and sang a song which was actually a poem from the curriculum. I went on to win. I started singing at other competitions and gurudwaras. A family friend suggested to my dad that I should get formally trained. My mom became my first guru, followed by Tochi Raina and then a host of other gurus. Mom wanted me to train in such a way that I could sing everything. Now I realise that she wanted me to be versatile. I learned guitar and piano too. I took up gospel singing early in school and headed the school choir. Ironically, during an inter-school competition, a judge raised the issue that I shouldn’t be leading the choir since I am a non-Christian. My school principal stood up for me; he refused to participate in such a competition.
You were born Jaspreet Singh Kohli. How did ‘Jasz’ happen?
I did an English rap album in the US. The producer added Jasz to my first name for the simple reason that he found it easier to pronounce than my real surname. And Jaspreet Jasz stuck!
How did you get into playback singing?
I was the only participant from Delhi to be selected for the reality show of a music channel. However, I broke my knee soon after and couldn’t continue. A year later, I participated in another musical reality show on an entertainment channel. I got a lot of footage on both shows, but I also learned that fame fades quickly. Reality TV shows are a waste of time. They are more like karaoke singing competitions. A reality show may give you a break in playback singing but it won’t give you a career. The only way to make your mark in this industry is through hard work, when you actually run around studios and music directors. I got offers from Punjabi music companies to cut an album, but I had bigger dreams. Disheartened by the reality show circus, I took a break from singing and completed my degree in electronics. I was preparing for MBA entrance exams to buy myself time. Call it serendipity, but the day I came to Mumbai to give my exam, I got an album offer from a record label. Sachin Gupta was supposed to lend the music. The album didn’t work out but he and filmmaker Shailesh Singh liked my voice on the song Ehsaan so much that they used it in the soundtrack of Dil Kabaddi.
Click here to listen to O Teri songs
You’ve also worked with AR Rahman...
The title track of Blue with AR Rahman happened when things weren’t working out for me. I never took money from my parents when I moved to Mumbai. I was trying to make it on my own, doing jingles for ad films, running from studio to studio and hounding every music director to listen to my demo. I have waited as long as eight hours outside some studios, waiting to get a listen. It so happened, Rahman sahab wanted someone to write and sing a Punjabi rap number for the film. His sound engineer KJ Singh suggested my name, and that’s how my first project with Rahman sahab happened. I went on to work with him on other projects later.
What was the brief for the songs of O Teri?
The brief for all three songs (Butt Patlo, Ummbakum and Ankhan Vich) was fun, masti, dhamaal. Butt Patlo is a Punjabi number, which typically tends to have a harsh male voice. But I went soft on the ears, except for the hook.
What was it like having your brother as the composer?
Although O Teri is my brother’s first film, I was more nervous than him in front of the mic. My brother is my best friend but in the recording studio, I forgot that he is my brother and treated him like I would treat a music director. It wasn’t because of my brother that I bagged the three songs. Salman bhai heard my voice on the scratch recordings at a party and said I should sing all of them. Ankhan Vich is his favourite of the three. The first time he heard the scratch, he played it on repeat all evening. He has a great sense of music. He had predicted that the songs will be slow to pick up but will be hits eventually.
WATCH: Ummbakum song from O Teri