The spirited songbird
She has regaled music lovers across the world and recently performed to a packed house in Bengaluru
By : sneha k sukumar
Update: 2015-09-20 00:31 GMT
Ever since she exercised her vocal chords at three and realised that soul music was well, her soul, Vasundhara Vidalur has been a music addict. Since then, the popular singer has sounded her innermost love – rhythm and blues, jazz and gospel across the stages of France, Turkey, Brunei, Bulgaria, Malaysia and Singapore, often making it a point to perform in Bengaluru, a city that she calls her second home. After a rocking set at a music venue on Saturday night, the vivacious 29-year-old put down her mic for a tête-a-tête.
“As a kid, I used to sing to myself in the afternoons when my family would take a nap. My grandmother happened to overhear me one of those days and felt, and I quote, ‘It would be criminal not to make her sing more’. And thus an hour of singing ensued on my nani’s ancient harmonium,” smiles the lass who comes from a family that loves the arts.
“Some dedicated themselves to it. Others are happy consumers of it,” says Vasundhara, revealing that her grand-aunt was the popular folk vocalist, Pratima Barua Pandey and her great grand uncle, Pramathesh Barua, an actor and writer who was noted for his work in the original 1935 Devdas.
Since she knew music was her calling, the ‘choir girl’ dedicated herself to building her sound and becoming an active contributor to the movement that brought back RnB, soul and jazz into clubs, radio stations and the youth’s playlists in India. “Jazz came into my life through the choir as well as The Manhattan Transfer, New York Voicers and The Blenders. Even though my core sound is soul, it changes form with the energies of different collaborators,” says Vee, something that she’s popularly called as.
A natural performer who brings the stage to life, she has been featured with her ex-band Adil and Vasundhara on popular shows like The Dewarists and Sound Trek as well. And her latest collaboration with Tarun Balani titled If Only is raking in views on television. “I had always wanted to become someone who would serve as glue to the community. I wanted to get people together and to work with everyone,” she says, now working and writing with the likes of Karim Ellaboudi, Pranai Gurung, Sanjay Divecha, Louiz Banks and Sava Boyadzhiev quartet, along with performances for Sula Sessions. “I wanted to learn and teach and help build what we have. India has a LOT. Even though I was dissuaded from having silly, impractical and complex goals such as these, I’m glad to have multiple set ups today that function well even though we all live in different cities,” says the songstress.
As she sets out to record new singles, a “more than likely” music album, putting out a “secret setup” and reveling in musical projects across the North East, she stills finds time to unwind. “Curling up with my dog-son is the biggest unwinder for me,” she says. “I’m an explorer of realities, a love-junky and a music addict,” says the lass who is also studying healing modalities in music with Bengaluru-based gurus. “I also love collecting oddly shaped things and love miniatures.” She almost nurses an OCD because she can’t stand it if things in her plate touch each other. But when it comes to her songs, pure perfection it is.