‘I WANT TO SING MORE SONGS, BUT MEANINGFUL ONES’
Sufi singer Kavita Seth believes that people shouldn’t get tired of your tracks; adds that too much experimentation spoils the music
Music is to unite [people] and not divide,” says Kavita Seth, who has soothed many souls with her sufi songs, the most famous of them all being ‘Iktara’ (Wake Up Sid; 2009). So, it comes as no surprise when she often drifts off to spirituality while talking. The singer loves live performances more than playback singing. She says the high one gets from live performances is surreal. Kavita also has a strong opinion about the lyrics of the song she sings, and sheepishly admits to having denied a number of songs because she didn’t like the poetry. Excerpts from an interview: I don’t know. I try my best at whatever I sing and whatever work I do. So, I give my 100% to that. Someone from the industry also told me that if you keep singing one or two songs a year, people will keep waiting for your music. But, I believe that you shouldn’t flood the audiences with your songs; they shouldn’t get tired of it. So, maybe I am following that ideology consciously or subconsciously (laughs). No, not at all. I want to sing more songs, but meaningful ones. They should have something special in them. As of now, all the songs — although they were one song a year or one song in two years — were of a different stature. So, it is God’s blessing. I have chosen songs. I have said no to a number of songs. A lot of people in the music circuit after ‘Tum hi ho bandhu’ (Cocktail; 2012) asked me, ‘Why am I not singing more after delivering a hit?’ I said, ‘I am getting a lot of offers to sing but all of them were terrible, so I kept saying no’. ‘Tum hi ho bandhu’ was a club number, but I didn’t know that. I only liked the song because the lyrics were very ‘sufiyana’ and Irshad Kamil had written it brilliantly. Pritam had given excellent music. And most importantly, I came out of my shell of not singing particular kind of songs. It was also a very high-pitch song for me and they coaxed it out of me so beautifully. So, hats off to Pritam da and Irshad. Since then, I have become very open, musically. Poetically, I am still very particular about the lyrics that I sing. Maybe because my name is Kavita; that’s probably why I am so snobbish (laughs). Sometimes, when I am in the mood I write a little. I also love poetry readings. Last year, we had organised the festival Mushaira. We had called poets from small villages, and it was a mesmerising experience. I plan on organising it again this year, but I don’t intend to write for Bollywood. I am not into writing. Change is the norm of life. Any trend reaches its peak and then sees a downfall. Sufi songs are sung even now. But, when it appears in a bigbanner film, it becomes a smashing hit. If that level of promotion is not done, it gets lost somewhere. One major change that I have noticed is when I was younger and we used to participate in competitions: there was no specific category for sufi music. However, when I visit colleges as a judge [for competitions], there is an entire category dedicated to sufi music. Apart from film songs, they sing sufi music as well. It’s a very positive sign and the credit goes to Bollywood for making this genre so popular. Earlier, it would appear in the form of qawallis in black-and-white films. Now, it is called sufi music. It’s the same thing; it has just been modified a little. So, maybe in the future it will show up in the shape of something else, but the essence of sufi music will always remain. This trend of rehashing old songs has one positive. Today’s generation is not aware of the songs made in ’50s and ’60s. When these tracks are revived and made with new music, people obviously listen to the newer versions, but they also go back and listen to the original number. So, the audience connects with both the versions. In that sense, it only increases the shelf life of these songs. But the soul of a song should not be tampered with — too much experimentation only spoils the song.