‘High time South Asian artistes are known as multi-dimensional’
Tesher
Canadian rapper-singer Tesher feels many a time, artistes of Indian origin have to either completely adapt to western culture while navigating a career in the West, or stick to all things ‘desi’ to stand out. But, fusion is the path he’s treading on, be it his Young Shahrukh mashup or Jalebi Baby, for which he collaborated with American singer Jason Derulo.
“Being a Canada-born with Indian heritage, I wanted to be in a place where I could drive my car down the street, and hear on the radio songs by Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and Jalebi Baby. I’m not talking about a desi radio station, but a main one,” says Tesher, who feels Derulo’s star status helped get the song in the mainstream.
For Tesher, whose real name is Hitesh Sharma, staying true to his roots has been a big driving force in his career. “It feels like anytime a musician of Indian origin was able to make it big in music, they would have to be either here or there. Like, you have to either make one kind of music, like AR Rahman, or go to the other side like Jay Sean. That’s fine, but in this new world, I am envisioning to make music which works in both worlds, like Shakira,” he says, adding, “It’s high time South Asian artistes are known as multi-dimensional, not just for making Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil or Telugu. They can also make English music, or put it all together.”
Like many other musicians, Tesher, too, aims to draw from his own roots. “It all started as trying to blend two cultures together, because it was authentic to me,” the 28-year-old explains, adding, “My Indian identity is so core to who I am that it will always be a part of my music in some way.”