Healing with Aditi Ramesh

When did you start singing?

As a child, I learned both Carnatic vocals and Western classical piano. The Carnatic vocals were very on and off, because as a kid you don’t really see the value and importance of something like that. I felt like I was doing it because my parents wanted me to. My family is not really musical, so they felt like it would be good for me to venture into it at least, especially since we were away from India and in the US at the time. But because the push wasn’t coming from me, I ended up taking a long break from it once we returned to India when I was around 15.

From then onwards, I didn’t do music at all. I ended up going to law school, and practiced law for almost 3 years.

What drew you back into music?

I think it’s the environment I was in, as a lawyer, that I never quite fit into. I worked in a big law firm, one of the biggest in India, and it was a very high stress and competitive environment. Towards the end of my time as a lawyer, I had started getting back into playing music — just for myself. It was a great release. I found it super cathartic after long days with crazy hours and a chain of people above you who are putting all of their stress on you because they themselves are getting the same stress from their superiors. I was like wow, I have this outlet to dump out all my stress, to heal, that other people don’t —and that made me realize that music was very special to me.

One thing I’ve seen a lot of is that law is one profession where a lot of people quit to do completely different things. And I become one of them. I quit law to focus on music full-time… and at the time I didn’t know things would pan out the way they have — I was just happy to be reconnecting with music. 

Was pursuing music as a career something you ever thought about doing while you were growing up?

I didn’t even consider it; it wasn’t an option. It literally became an option because I had been financially independent for 3 years, and that was when I even started thinking about doing it. But before that I was under my parents’ roof and supported by them as a student.

My parents initially didn’t get it. And I don’t blame them, because in Indian society, if you’re a musician then you are expected to do something more traditional and not Western influenced. In fact, there are people in my extended family that still think I’m a lawyer and it’s been easiest not to correct them. But my parents have come around since, which was really important to me because not having their support at the beginning was difficult. In those times, it was the well-wishers that kept me going. I wouldn’t even call them fans — they are more so followers and well-wishers — people who were writing to me and telling me that my music has helped them feel better or feel inspired. Those reactions have always been amazing, unbelievable, and something I didn’t expect at all going into this.

Did studying law help you in your musical career?

I think my work experience has helped me deal with all kinds of people, including difficult people, and be a little thicker skinned. Also, with lawyers it’s a big thing to always use to the correct words and speak with the right attitude so that people know not to mess with you, and they know that you know what you’re talking about — so that has also been helpful. In terms of my music, it’s not a logical process at all. But there is an aspect, the scheduling, releasing, routine, which benefits from the discipline and work ethic I was able to develop as a lawyer. But when I’m deep in my creative process, I’m not thinking about any of this and anything remotely related to law definitely goes out the door.

How did you discover your Carnatic-Fusion sound?

My foundations are in Carnatic music — so the way I notate music and understand notes are all based on that. It just kind of hit me one day when I was listening to some jazz music, that be it Western or Indian classical music, the notes are the same. When you see other people create fusion music, they always have the Indian and Western parts separate, even though the scales and notes are the same within both. That led me to explore a way in which the two genres could flow into each other organically, so it didn’t feel like you were going from one style to the other, but rather that it was all fused together as one piece.

And there are endless possibilities of how to merge Western styles, be it R&B, soul, Reggae, Hip Hop, Jazz, or anything.

What is the writing process like when you are merging the Indian and Western genres?

It’s very organic — it’s never planned like, “oh I want Carnatic in this bar,” or “I want Carnatic on this chord.” It’s very natural – which is why there are some songs where there are a lot more Carnatic pieces than others. It’s not a thing that needs to be there, it just comes out as and when I feel it.

You just put out a new song – “Heal” – what was that writing process like?

I think a lot of the songs I write are with the view that I’m speaking to the listener, who is sometimes myself.

We often build up unhappiness within ourselves and we aren’t alone in that unhappiness. So, I feel like talking about it in a collective, creative way, can help ease that burden. And if my music can make a listener feel a little bit better, then I’ve done my job.

At the time I wrote Heal, it was the beginning of the lockdown in India and everyone was either being very negative about it or not taking it very seriously. I think I was getting stuck in that negativity, since my tours were all getting cancelled. But when I took a step back I saw how this pandemic was affecting the poorer people in society. What I am going through does not even compare to what they are going through. We are sitting in our comfortable houses, and we have everything we need; it’s just our movement and activity that’s restricted. But for them, the daily wage earners, the migrant workers who can’t get back home, they are stuck here. They are living in terrible conditions, and they can’t make money either. There are so many people walking on foot across states and dying on the roads. And we are so consumed by how the situation isn’t great for us and we fail to see that for others — it is much worse. So I think it’s a good time right now to be grateful for all the things we have, enjoy the small things in life, and take it a little easy — take it a little slow. 

Heal is one of the songs that only has a little bit of Carnatic in it, and only really at the beginning.

What is the Bombay music scene like right now?

In the three years that I’ve been doing this, there has been a huge growth in people, especially young people, who are putting out music and taking this up as a career. And what’s really great is that these artists are all doing their own thing — they aren’t trying to be like any artist who has existed before. When I was starting off, there were a lot of people who were trying to sound like Western artists — but I’ve seen a shift away from that.

Also there have been a lot more women entering the scene which has been really great to see. Gowri Jayakumar, who goes by the moniker, Pulpy Shilpy, has a lot of electronic experimental music which is really cool. There’s also a singer called Meba Ofilia who is putting out a lot of great tunes. Blue Temptation, Dewdrops, Sandunes, Easy Wanderlings. There is a lot of cool music coming out of India, and if you check out any of these artists, they’re all very different from each other, which is fun. And a lot of are female as well, or female-fronted.

Why do you think there are a limited number of Indian women in this industry?

I really don’t know why. It’s strange because in any other job you can pinpoint why there would be fewer women. But for musicians, regardless of your gender, you’re all equally not paid enough, so I don’t see discrimination in that way.

Maybe it is the familial pressure of being a woman in India, more generally, as I explore in “Marriageable Age,” that makes it more difficult for a woman to do what she wants to do until she’s married, after which people stop caring as much. I think also encouraging more women to learn instruments or singing at a younger age would be useful, and I’m already seeing a change in that respect.

How did you find your band?

It was all a bit random. My drummer, Ishan, I just called him to play one day, heard him play once, and was like — this is the guy. He’s it. My bassist I found through mutual friends in Calcutta. He was very big in the Calcutta music scene, which he played in for almost 10 years before moving to Bombay. It started off with just us, as a trio.

The first gig we played together, this guy in the audience came up to us, and because he’s American, he was very direct: “Hey, I noticed you don’t have a guitarist in your band, and I want to be that guitarist.” And I was like woah, okay! And it just happened like that.

And I think everything, from my songwriting, my musical journey, even to the formation of my band, has just been organic. I think that’s the word for sure — no planning.

And now, we’re like a family. I’m so lucky to have found these guys. The artwork of my album “Leftovers” captures one of our favorite traditions — eating a homemade dinner at my house before going for band practice.

A lot of people listen to us live and love how tight we are and it’s because we are always listening to each other on stage, so if someone is having a bad day or slipping up, the other band members just play something to cover it up and no one ever knows. So, it’s that feeling and spirit. It’s really fun.

What’s next for Aditi Ramesh?

I think, on the whole, my music still hasn’t reached the way I would want it to reach. It has definitely reached individual people who have been able to resonate or connect with it. But after this pandemic is over I want to tour more so I can start pushing my music out more internationally, because I want people listening to it from all over the world, not just in small English-speaking circles in India.

In the meantime, I think all of us musicians are just creating and making new music, because what else is there to do right now!

And finally, how is Aditi Ramesh “the artist” different from you?

The artist, Aditi Ramesh, is a lot wiser, calmer, and more articulate. She has a vision. It’s a process of stepping out of my own head, my own concerns, my own worries, and slipping into her voice of reason. That’s the artist. And it happens when I go on stage as well. 

If you meet me in person, I’m very soft spoken, and I don’t like attention. I like to fade into the background. But then when I go on stage, I’m a different person — a powerful person — a person whose words are meaningful. A person whose words touch people. The artist has everything together. Something comes over me, I guess. The artist is definitely a different person.

August 2020

Aditi’s links