Graham Reid | | 5 min read
Sometimes Elsewhere gets music sent to it from elsewhere, and in the case of the album Comfort Food by singer/songwriter Kiran Ahluwalia – whose name we had never heard before – it was a message from Canada.
That album immediately grabbed our attention for many reasons – musical, political particularly – and we were pleased to write about it very favourably.
Since then it has picked up further favourable notices in the UK press especially, and of course in Canada where she lives and has in the past been nominated for, and won, Juno awards.
To our great surprise – because it is rare artists contact us after a review – she sent a message of thanks and was especially pleased the album had been reviewed in New Zealand because . . .
She spent time here as a child!
Time for her to answer some questions we think . . .
Where did you grow up, and with who?
I was born in India and before my first birthday I was carted with my parents to New Zealand for the first 5 years of my life (My Dad was getting his PhD in Microbiology studying sheep blood). Then back to India for 5 years and then Canada – all with my parents – no siblings.
Was music an important part of your childhood?
Yes absolutely, started with Mother Goose nursery rhymes in New Zealand, then in India started singing Sikh Spirituals and learning Indian classical music – picked up Bollywood while listening to the radio in India.
What are your earliest childhood memories of music which really affected you . . .
Although music entered my life at an early age – I started learning at age five – the most powerful ‘affect’ of it was during the loneliness of my high school years. I listened to all sorts of Indian music in my basement – Ghazal, Qawalli, Bollywood, the Canadian rock band Rush, ABBA. I also learned the words to my best friend’s favourite Italian pop tunes and we would sign those together. It was during those teenage years that I benefitted from the full affect of music being a vital support – a lifeline – a healer and companion.
Was there a time when you felt it was going to be music and nothing else?
Not really – doing Indian music while living in Canada was basically like doing ‘foreign’ music in a predominantly English speaking society – I never dared dream it would be possible to do it as a career. I fell into it a career because I got a manager and an agent who knew how to book me as a ‘world music’ artist and was lucky to be able to develop a career.
When you started on your music career were people around you supportive or did you have to find those people?
It was my parents that first enrolled me in music classes at the age of five in India and then later in Canada. But as an adult when I decided to quit my first job in Toronto and go back to India to be a full time music student – my parents were dismayed. Doors were slammed, tears were shed but they saw that I was adamant and that this was something I needed to do and before I boarded the plane for India, I had their support.
The first song of yours which you really felt proud of was . . .? And why that one?
Awara – it is my first full song composition – it’s nine minutes long and took a few years to compose. It’s wonderful when non-Indians come up to me after a concert and tell me it’s their favourite. Since it was my first composition there is a naïveté in it that I wouldn’t be able to bring about now – I love that.
Any one person you'd call a mentor, angel on your shoulder or invaluable fellow traveller?
I wouldn’t be touring without my guitarist/producer/husband Rez Abbasi. As my arranger and producer he is also responsible for bringing a progressive feel to my music. My mentor would be my late teacher Vithal Rao in Hyderabad, India. He was the last living court musician in the palace of the Prince of Hyderabad. He took part in musical gatherings from 10pm to 6am at the palace and was a living link to a largely undocumented historical time in music in India.
Where and when was the first time you went on stage as a paid performer?
I don’t actually remember the very first time but as a young adult in my 20s I participated in variety shows in the Indian community in Toronto. There would be a lot of singers and dancers and I would be one of them.
Ever had stage fright or just a serious failure of nerve before going on stage?
There’s always adrenaline in the body before going on stage for the first concert of a tour – it dies down as the tour progresses. When we’re doing a brand new tune or when there is someone ‘important’ in the audience then I spend more time than I would like thinking about how the performance will go. I did have recording fright when I was doing my first demo album – this is the album before my first commercial release; the first day didn’t go well – we had huge technical difficulties with the studio equipment and all that made me super stressed.
On the second day I told my producer (Andrew Hurlbut) that I didn’t want to come into studio. He was brilliantly tricky – he said if I came to studio I could just sit there – I wouldn’t have to sing! I was ok with sitting so I showed up to studio and then of course I sang.
As a songwriter, do you carry a notebook or have a phone right there constantly to grab ideas they come? Or is your method something different?
I love notebooks and have too many of them – sometimes I jot down ideas in them and sometimes I record them as a voice recording on my phone – but now I have a million of those.
What unfashionable album do you love as a guilty pleasure?
I’m not really guilty about any album – as I child I bought a Shawn Cassidy album – I wonder if people remember him?
Any piece of advice you were given which you look back on which really meant something?
Be kind to everyone – comedian Joan Rivers – wasn’t given to me personally but I heard her say it in an interview and I hold on to it.
It's after a performance/concert and you are in a hotel room or back at home, what happens then?
I like to wind down with a whiskey but now the research is saying that no amount of alcohol is good for you so I don’t always do that anymore. Sometimes the band hangs out in the hotel lobby or in someone’s room – we definitely need to chill to let the adrenaline leave the body before we can sleep.
Is there any fellow artist you admire for professional and/or personal reasons?
I really admire women artists who tour with their young babies. They deal with the challenges of touring and the insane challenges of motherhood. Makes me think that someday I can have at least have a dog and tour with it. :)
And finally, where to from here for you do you think?
Right now it’s a dubious time for music. Music sales have vanished due to streaming sites. On top of that live audiences have still not returned to pre-pandemic levels. This year I continue to tour the album – Europe in the summer. I’ve made five music videos for the new album Comfort Food – this summer we’ll make two more videos.
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You can hear Kiran Ahluwalia's album Comfort Food at Spotify here
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