NRI
Tabla Girl
First NRI (South
Asian) to bag a contract with Hollywood
Records
Tina Sugandh.
Tabla Girl, Tina Sugandh. A Biology
major from Rutgers, she is the first South Asian
to bag a contract with Hollywood Records. The
Bombay-born belle is now settled in the US.
Growing up in New Jersey (her parents
moved from Bombay when she was five months old),
NRI, Tina Sugandh was immersed in music.
Naturally gifted with an enchanting voice, Geeta,
the matriarch of her close-knit family sang on
the radio and at various functions (when she wasn't
carrying out her responsibilities as a marketing
professional); while the patriarch, Kanaiya, was
a charismatic and charming master of ceremony,
singer, and comedian (when he wasn't teaching
at his University). Together, they were an enthralling
couple, entertaining friends at gatherings and
parties. Tina and her sister, Seema, traveled
with
NRI, Tina Sugandh began playing
the tabla when she was eight years old. "I
loved dictating rhythms, and the freedom that
you can convey through your fingertips."
Tina performed extensively with her parents at
desi events all over the US, working on both her
artistry with the tabla and her stage presence.
These qualities landed her a meeting
with Warner/Chappell Music. While she played the
guitar they smiled politely and said she was great.
It was when she pulled out her tablas and started
playing a taal that they were hooked. A publishing
deal with Warner/Chappell followed, and then a
meeting with Hollywood Records chairman, Bob Cavallo.
Again she sang some of her songs she'd written
on the guitar. And then she sang Mast Kalandar
while playing the tabla, and Bob Cavallo said,
"I have never seen anything like it. We want
you."
Her proficiency earned her a
nickname: TablaGirl. As a 15-year-old Tina
was discovered Sean Harris, a screenwriter and
creative mentor who would help shape Tinas
talents. Sean eventually convinced Tina that she
should pursue music as a career and, to that end,
spent time working on a demo. Between her studies
as a biology major at Rutgers University (where
she eventually graduated on the Deans List),
and weekend performances with the Sugandh Family,
Tina would drive to Washington DC to work with
Sean, who arranged photo shoots and studio time
for her, and most importantly, encouraged her
to write her own music. I was never one
of those girls who wrote poetry, so when I began
songwriting, I approached it from a scientific
perspective, she says. I listened
to pop music, studied the structure and devised
a formula. And eventually, the science experiment
became a creative process. The first song
she wrote was I Spit Fire, which appears
on her debut album. Once Tina completed the creation
of her meticulous demo and promo package, Tina
approached her future scientifically. Every
morning Id send out a few demos, make about
30 calls to labels, and keep very detailed notes
on each conversation, she laughs. Id
write down every time I followed up. It was studious
and dorky, but when I want something to work,
I create a plan and persistently follow through
until I get what I want.
NRI, Tina Sugandh Sugandh sits with
her back to an exposed brick wall, her stilettos
pointed at an almost arrogant rakish angle. The
designer fade on her black jeans tapers off into
the pristine white of a kurta that's threatening
to slip off her left shoulder. Her hair and hat
are set just right to expose an angular face with
impossibly beautiful eyes.
But Tina is nowhere near your traditional tabla
player. She's sexy, sophisticated and bona fide
cover girl material. We knew it would be a bit
of a grind merging teased eyebrows and traditional
taals. "Well I wasn't actually playing the
tabla in the picture. And I do perform barefoot.
I respect the tabla more than anything. I want
to get this instrument out into mainstream America.
I want people who have never seen the tabla before
to recognize its beauty. Of course you hope to
never offend anyone but there are always a few
people who have things to say and that's ok,"
Tina said in one long, single breath.
With her love for Bollywood, surely she must
consider recording a song for a Bollywood flick,
or even act in a movie? She gushes, "Oh my
God... I have done it my whole life. When I was
five I was singing songs from Namak Halaal. I
was running around my house like a silly girl,
pretending I was Shabana Azmi and Parveen Babi
and all those beautiful women, and hoping to someday
be like them. I would actually love to do that
more than anything."
Fusing pop, rock and a little bit of Bollywood,
the young singer has a lot to share with the world
about her varied influences. "That's my goal-to
introduce mainstream America to some new sounds,"
she muses. "I think it's time for our beats
to shine."
TablaGirl," due out in early 2005, the
artist appeals to average pop-loving American
youth, but she'll admit her rather mainstream-sounding
pop debut album is just a launching pad for her
to move more heavily toward Indian sounds with
future albums.
The first album slowly will expose Sugandh to
American youth, many of whom she admits probably
don't even know what Bollywood is.
"I shouldn't say this, but I'm a businesswoman
at heart," Sugandh said. "I definitely
put a lot of thought into what I was doing. I
want your average (MTV television program) 'TRL'
viewer to appreciate this album. But as I progress
(with) album No. 2, there's always room
for a little bit more."
Even for a girl who has performed in over 500
shows with her musical family since she was five
years old, a record deal for Sugandh seemed like
a long shot, considering that there never has
been an Indian American pop music star. If she
makes it, she'll be the first.
"I didn't know I had a chance to make (music)
a career until recently," she said.
For Sugandh who graduated from Rutgers
University on the dean's list with a degree in
biology, grew up in New Jersey to everything from
Sade to Pantera to Duran Duran, and learned to
play the tabla (Indian tuned hand drums)
the goal simply is to bring the magic of Bollywood
to Americans.
"I want to do everything in the future,"
she said. "I'm meeting with TV stations and
movie companies, and I want to go into acting,
as well
(and) perhaps (develop) an Indian
clothing line. Anywhere I can add that fusion
would be great."
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