Get High Dose Of Music & Poetry With Chinmayi Tripathi : #artistinterview

I am thrilled to announce that High On Gloss is collaborating with Songdew.com – A free, open platform for artists that promotes Independent artists and music through publishing, distribution and promotional opportunities. Songdew is India’s largest and the fastest growing network of artists and listeners. With more than 25K+ artists and bands across genres- it is the destination for artists to connect with opportunities and listeners to discover and stream great music. Over the period of last 2 years-Songdew has also emerged as the leading platform for brands to connect with music for exciting marketing campaigns around their brand.

The reason behind this collaboration is to introduce the right audience to talented artists. I shall be taking you on a musical voyage which will touch the lives of these wonderful young & talented musicians. With the first article of this series, we have Chinmayi Tripathi who is already a shining star and working to give a nice platform to all the talented artists.  Here is the link to her songs.

Chinmayi Tripathi – Singer, Song Writer , Co-Founder at Songdew.com

A singer- song writer and also co-founder at Songdew.com- . As a musician, Chinmayi is a trained classical vocalist (trained in Hindustani classical music) and has released 2 music albums with Times Music and Worldwide records. As an artist, Chinmayi is known for her own original songs that have meaningful lyrics and rich compositions. Chinmayi has received Vishnu Prabhakar Puruskar for her work in music and poetry and was one of the five young achievers awarded by British Youth Awards. Let’s get to know her more in her own words

Tell us about your musical journey so far?

I am a singer song writer, so basically I write and compose my own songs. I trained in Hindustani classical ( vocals) as a child, during my college I was drawn to writing and composing my own songs. I released my first song -‘Aali ‘ around 5 yrs ago on myspace.com and got some really interesting comments and response. That motivated me to write more music .Then I formed a band ” Spice Route” and since then have been regularly performing and creating new music of my own.

What attracted you towards Hindi Poetry & Literature?

It was last year – summer and I was chilling with my friends in Cyber Hub. It was one of those conversations in which eveyone has an expert opinion about arts..Someone mentioned how come there are no other ancient or modern poets who has become a cult like Kabir and have led to experimentation with music. Then someone mentioned ‘Nirala’ (I think it was me) and one of my friends said “who”?

We all laughed then, but while on my way back I started thinking how I used to love reading poetry of Bachchan, Mahadevi Verma and Nirala while in school and how slowly I became distant to it in the mad rush of life….That’s when I thought if I could compose some of the poems of my favorite poets into songs, and can sing them, it will be really cool..:)That’s how it started…

Tell us about your dream project – The Music & Poetry?

Well I started reading more poetry from the point of view of music and got really excited while composing some of the songs, that’s when I decided to do an album based on timeless poetry of some of the great poets of Hindi Literature. I bounced off the idea with a few friends and they suggested that maybe I should try crowdfunding this project. So I started this campaign on wishhberry.com last year.Fortunately, it garnered a lot of support from people in general who believed in this cause and believed that we need to have more music based on great literature of our times. Here is the reference link of the project. Because of them, I could achieve the funding required and therefore now this is happening!

To give an overview – this project is an initiative to create a music album based on poems of some of the most eminent poets of Hindi Literature such as Mahadevi Verma, Nirala, Shivmangal Singh Suman, Dharamvir Bharti, Dinkar. There are some recitals as well by contemporary poets such as Piyush Mishra..

The objective of this project is

• To give a musical tribute to the legendary poets of India.
• To make great poems popular through contemporary music.
• Raise the interest of youngsters in great,timeless poetry.

Most of the poems I have picked up are written by chaayavadi (neo classical) poets – Nirala, Mahadevi Verma, Shivmangal Singh Suman, Dinkar- all are legends of the same era. Most of the themes are the ones that touch all of us as some level- self expression, sense of freedom, relationship with nature.. These are timeless themes and the poems are timeless too, they will always be relevant.

When it comes to selection, I don’t think I chose the poems, I think the poems chose me. I don’t have false impression about myself, I am not a scholar, I haven’t read enough to judge or select poems of such legendary authors/poets. I am just someone who is inspired by them.There is no scope of selection, its purely instinctive. If a poem touches you while you read it, if it moves you, you get instantly connected to it and then you don’t do anything. Then it does to you what it has to! It may inspire you to sing, compose, or to paint. Or it may rewire your mind and will change your perception forever! It can be anything. There are some poems in this album which I don’t think I have composed also, they were so loaded with music that they were ready to be sung. The first time I read them, I started singing them.. As if the composition was hovering around the book, it was there with the poem like a twin sister, was born at the same time with the poem, just wasn’t sung by anyone.. 🙂

How much happy are you with the progress of your project – The Music & Poetry?

I ‘m truly overwhelmed that so many people showed their interest and faith by crowdfunding the project on wishberry. And these are unknown people from all over the world who liked the concept and believed that I ll do something good with it .. its very touching.. I’m quite happy with the way the songs have shaped up and also the kind of response I’m seeing in the live events / performances-its way beyond my expectation. However, I still see this as a starting point for me, I want to do a lot more under the umbrella of this project. Over the period of time there can be various artists and collaborations under it.There can be poetry of diverse languages – English Urdu, or other Indian languages. It can also shape up as a music festival in future. So there is lots to happen in it! 🙂 Here is the link to the first music video.

What are you future goals?

This project has taught me a lot, musically and beyond music as well. I d like to build on to this and take the music to the world now. And as I mentioned above, build it as an interesting long term project that will have collaborations with diverse artists and poetry and music of different styles.

On a lighter note, What is your fashion mantra?

Go by your own style and mood 😛

What is your favorite attire?

Long floral dresses and saree

What accessory you cannot live without?

Large earrings

What is your beauty secret?

Good genes, yoga and meditation 🙂 and teeny weeny bit of effort to look good when I m not being too lazy.. 😀

What are your other interests than music?

Traveling, writing poetry, day dreaming cooking, eating and doodling .

 

So this was beautiful & talented Chinmayi for you. I hope you enjoyed the piece. I shall be back with more such artists interviews in the same series. Till then stay musical ❤