‘A song needs to be flowing in my veins before I record it’
Samarth Goyal
Singer Kavita Seth believes in “being patient and taking time” when she is working on her music. Last month, Kavita released her independent single, Ye Jo Mujh Par Nikhaar hai, in collaboration with Pakistani poet, Rehman Faris.
Surprisingly, the entire production of the song took 1218 months. “Yes, I took a long time in producing this song as well. I used to remember the lines, memorise them, and feel them, and then, I slowly came up with the first tune. From there on, I went on to build the song. When I initially started talking to Rehman sahab, I realised that we have a lot in common, and our wavelengths matched. That’s when I asked him, if I could collaborate with him,” she says.
The 47-year-old, who has sung popular Hindi songs such as Iktara (Wake Up Sid, 2009) and Tum Hi Ho Bandhu (Cocktail,2012), among others, explains why she likes to take her “time” to record a song. “Before I record a song, I need to make sure it is flowing in my veins. I need to live and breathe a song before I record it, and I think that’s why I take too much time. [I think] the longer time you take in internalising a song, the better it will become,” says Kavita, adding that time is the reason why she has sung only a few songs in Bollywood, since she first sang Maula for the Arjun Rampal-starrer Vaada (2005).
“I know I don’t sing a lot of songs, and I don’t release singles after singles. That’s because I feel that the song should reside within you, and only then should you release it. Yes, there are times, when you do ask yourself if you are over thinking or taking too much time, but then, as a musician you do have a sense of what’s overdoing and what’s not,” she says.