Not all singers can compose music,” says one of Bollywood’s favourite playback singer, Soumya Raoh. While she may have been itching to compose for years now, Soumya admits, “It is easier to sing than to compose and I was happy to be doing my singing assignments. But then comes a time when that urge to do a bit more gets to you and you sit up and do something about it.”
Raoh’s first composition, incidentally turned out to be an international tie up with a US-based company called EEG. “As of now, I have composed one song in English for them. It has a few Hindi words in it as well. It’s called the Paradise and though it was released on iTunes for the American market, it has been uploaded on You Tube as well. We released this as part of the dry run and there are a lot more songs coming up,” she says.
If you thought going international means going away from ones own roots, it is quite the contrary for Raoh. The last connection this singer, originally from Bangalore, had with her city is something that a lot of the filmi fans are tripping about right now.
“Singer and composer Sonu Nigam is a good friend of mine. And I also happen to be his Kannada connect. So every time he has an assignment from here, he calls to check on meanings of words and the way they are pronounced too. So when he took on the task of composing the theme song for Karnataka Bulldozers, who are part of the ongoing Celebrity Cricket League, he called on me to not just sing along, with him and Kunal Ganjawala, but to write the lyrics as well. Though I am very comfortable with Kannada, writing lyrics in the language was a first for me. I had actually informed him that if I did not like what I had written, I would not give it to him at all. But I am glad it has turned out well and from what I hear, people seem to like it a lot too,” she explains.
So was it easier than she thought? Raoh says, “Writing a theme song for something that is sport related, even though this was being played by actors, comes with a challenge. The lyrics need to be able to cater to the lowest denominator. The words have to be meaningful, yet light enough for people to sing along. Putting it together was good fun.”
Raoh’s first composition, incidentally turned out to be an international tie up with a US-based company called EEG. “As of now, I have composed one song in English for them. It has a few Hindi words in it as well. It’s called the Paradise and though it was released on iTunes for the American market, it has been uploaded on You Tube as well. We released this as part of the dry run and there are a lot more songs coming up,” she says.
If you thought going international means going away from ones own roots, it is quite the contrary for Raoh. The last connection this singer, originally from Bangalore, had with her city is something that a lot of the filmi fans are tripping about right now. “Singer and composer Sonu Nigam is a good friend of mine. And I also happen to be his Kannada connect. So every time he has an assignment from here, he calls to check on meanings of words and the way they are pronounced too. So when he took on the task of composing the theme song for Karnataka Bulldozers, who are part of the ongoing Celebrity Cricket League, he called on me to not just sing along, with him and Kunal Ganjawala, but to write the lyrics as well. Though I am very comfortable with Kannada, writing lyrics in the language was a first for me. I had actually informed him that if I did not like what I had written, I would not give it to him at all. But I am glad it has turned out well and from what I hear, people seem to like it a lot too,” she explains.
So was it easier than she thought? Raoh says, “Writing a theme song for something that is sport related, even though this was being played by actors, comes with a challenge. The lyrics need to be able to cater to the lowest denominator. The words have to be meaningful, yet light enough for people to sing along. Putting it together was good fun.”
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