After making her Bollywood debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’ at the age of 16, singer Shreya Ghoshal became a household name. She has lent her voice to some creative masterpieces and raked in awards and accolades. Recently, she released ‘Angana Morey’, a song she composed and sang, while her brother, Soumyadeep Ghoshal, produced, arranged and designed the music. The song is a heartfelt melody that expresses the pain of separation between two lovers.
‘Angana Morey’, she says, was created from scratch over FaceTime and Zoom calls with Soumyadeep who lives in the US, and the other musicians in New York, Dallas, Delhi, and Hungary. The choreography in the video by Shakti Mohan was also finalised over Zoom. Metrolife caught up with the musician to know more
What inspired you to create ‘Angana Morey’?
It happened during this lockdown when I was feeling very uninspired and bored. I wanted to do something which would give me some joy. The idea for this song came also from my love of classical music, which is where my roots are and is undoubtedly my first love. Classical music in its purest form is very beautiful but it can also be hard to consume. I wanted this song to be packaged intelligently in such a way that it sounds contemporary and appeals to all generations. I wanted to create the kind of music I would want to hear myself. I was listening to a lot of ragas at that time and I thought I would make a ‘bandish’ inspired composition. It just happened very naturally and organically. I did not want to take the stereotypical fusion route and Soumyadeep took it up as a challenge to do something very Indian and very modern with the bass notes and trance and all these different genres coming together. It did not seem forced but flowed quite harmoniously.
How was your experience collaborating with your brother?
He has a young, modern, varied, global perspective towards music although he has the same roots as me. We started learning classical music together but now he has veered towards world music. He brings a lot of different, contemporary, cutting edge elements to a composition. He respects me, listens to my point-of-view and we have a good understanding as siblings. We have done a song once before together, ‘Na Woh Main” which was my first attempt at a proper pop song. Soumyadeep has really opened me up to a different world. I am enjoying this new phase and want to work with him more.
What has the pandemic been like for you?
The last year has definitely been an eye opener for all of us. I enjoyed being at home. It was a welcome break from the non-stop responsibilities that I have had had for almost 20 years now. I got a lot of time to be with family, listen to music, learn, get back to Riyaz, think, be in a creative space without having deadlines or the pressure of planning how many boxes I have to check. I learnt that I actually like being a normal person and enjoy doing very normal household things like cooking, gardening and cleaning. These simple things really ground you.
What was the biggest lesson you learnt?
To let go of the desire and wants that we have in our life that we don’t need. Life got simpler as a result. Whatever new trends that I learned during the pandemic I am going to continue because it is so much fun and it allows you to feel connected with your life rather than being very oblivious to all the things that we take for granted. I think I have reached that phase in my life where it will be hard for me to go back to the crazy hectic routine I used to have. Not that I’m not missing it but I will take it easy from here on.
How was your experience writing and composing?
The writing part was a little difficult as it is my first song as a lyricist. It was fun, but I kept questioning if people would like it. But, I am overwhelmed to see the response and love that people are showering.
Projects in the pipeline...
The flow of projects is going to be resuming soon with all the big budget films going on the floors. Last year around August-September, shoots had resumed and a lot is in the pipeline that cannot be mentioned right now. But yes, on the anvil are some really big films and songs along with independent collaborations with new artists, composers , songwriters etc. I also have regional songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali. There are more independent projects that I am really excited about as well.