Singer, dancer and performer, Suneeta Rao has built her world on pop stardom, artistic integrity and social issues. The Mumbai-based pop artiste, who earned fame straight from her late teens for presenting what later became termed Indipop with albums such as Suneeta Senorita , Dhuan and the song ‘Paree Hoon Main’, is now at her own pace after decades on the road playing shows and recording albums.
With her daughter Maya in tow and sister Arati Rao (who also runs Bengaluru club venue BFlat), Suneeta is in town for her upcoming show in the city, which is part of the Paree Forever shows she has done at BFlat. When talking about working with producers from varied backgrounds – from Lesle Lewis and Ranjit Barot to Anand Raj Anand – the major difference that’s evident now is that Suneeta is taking charge of her own set. Playing Paree Forever with a full band of experienced musicians ranging from drummer Willy Demoz to guitarist Sanjay Chandrakanth and more, Suneeta is definitely running the show, becoming her own producer now. MetroPlus chats with her about the legacy of Indipop, the changing music industry, visiting Bengaluru and future plans. Edited excerpts:
You just came back from a show in China. How did that go?
It was a coincidence that happened when it did. There’s this Japanese guitarist called Hideaki Tokunaga. He played at my Barbara Streisand tribute in Mumbai two years ago. We exchanged ideas. In the process, I made him hear my mother’s ghazals. Those are the tunes I have grown up on and that’s the stuff I wanted to collaborate with other musicians on. I gave him the tunes and forgot about it.
Two years later, I am planning a vacation to Hong Kong and literally 10 days before I leave, I get this email from him with clippings from rehearsals of this octet performing these ghazals! I said, ‘When did you do all this?’ He had been working on the harmonisation of these tunes and was planning a couple of concerts. He said, ‘If we get a local singer, maybe we’ll do it’. I wrote back and said, ‘If anybody is going to sing those tunes, it’s going to be me’. He asked where I was going and said he would book me a roundtrip to China and said we should do the gig.
How often do those kind of collaborations happen?
About one and a half years ago, I watched a Kathakali and Flamenco fusion production – that was a dance fusion. I was blown by away by the Flamenco dancer Bettina Castaño. I went home and wrote about it and met her as well. I sent it to the director and he published it in several publications. A year later he wrote in saying he’d found out I was a singer and asked if I would like to be a part of the production as a narrator. I met them and did this show in Agra and Delhi for Draupadi. I sang the Vishnu Sahasranam and did ‘Sun Zara’ with a flamenco guitarist and Kerala percussion.
It’s been 25 years since your album Dhuan released. What do you think has endured about the music?
Yeah and I’m singing it at this show! I think it’s the honesty. I think people have connected to it on a very human, visceral level. The reason I’m saying that is because it’s what I have experienced during my shows. It doesn’t feel like something they’re looking up to, but something they are loving. It’s that affection I’m getting, that’s what gets me motivated.
What do you think of the changing music industry in terms of how music is released? Is it a scary place for an experienced musician?
When you come from the background I have come from, nothing will scare you after that. When you’re a 19-year- old vulnerable little thing, you’re sitting on the eve of the release of your album and the manager of your record company comes in and says, ‘Pop is dead’. You’re weeping and thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ If you have been there and then you get the kind of love that you get doing what he thought would not work, you’ll take anything that comes. It’s so achievement-oriented – I like my music to sink in. For me, it’s reaching out to people. And it’s about having my own life. For 25 years, I had no life outside music. I was out on the road so I’m now I’m happy to have a family and have a little bit of everything. I’m really not afraid right now, of failure.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
I never plan for more than a day. As soon as I go home now, it’s going to take a while to get back in the Bombay groove. I’m going to be writing material with this young guitarist called Chaitanya Bhaidkar. He has a beautiful sense of Carnatic and rock. That, for me, is another lovely direction. Between him and Hideaki, I’m doing a lot of behind-the- scenes work than upfront.
Suneeta Rao and her band performs at BFlat, 100 Ft Road, Indiranagar on July 2. Tickets available on bookmyshow.com
