‘TALENT SCOUTING NOT A BIG DEAL’

...says singer Sonu Nigam, who believes that India has unexplored talent in every corner, what they need is the right opportunity

National Awardwinning singer Sonu Nigam is set to scout and nurture new talent in the field of music. He says that hunting for talent in India is not a big deal as “they just appear”.

Nigam said, “Talent scouting is not much of a big deal. A lot of aspiring singers from different parts of the country come to my house very often. They meet me and give flowers or gifts. Some of them amaze me with their talent.”

Sharing an example, he said, “There was this boy who came to my house and sang a bandish. At that point in time, I couldn’t do anything for him. So, talent scouting is not much of an issue. You don’t have to find them, they just appear. What you need to do is, give them the right opportunity.”

So, why is he doing it now? “It’s something that I have been doing for a while. But, generally, I don’t speak about it, [other] people do. There are a lot of singers who take my name when they talk about the beginning of their career. They say that I put them in the right place and introduced them to the right people,” he said.

“Somebody had helped me at one point of my life. I did not make it (big in the industry) all by myself. There were people who came like angels like Sachin Pilgaonkar and Gulshan Kumar. I feel like I owe it to the universe,” said Nigam.

On the unexplored side of music, he said, “A lot of things can be explored. Independent music is one of them. And when was the last time a beautiful ghazal was used in a film? Now, we are confined to ‘daru vodka’, Sufi... in a sense, allah, maula and rabba are Sufi, love ballad and a Punjabi song. It’s fine but there are lots of other genres which are unexplored.”

He misses a good female solo number in films, too. “I think, after Aashiqui 2, I haven’t heard a female solo. A song can be a representation of someone’s ideology or soul or intelligence,” he said.

The singer also says that Indian music [especially these days] mostly means Bollywood songs, but says that things are changing.