Tina Sugandh
Tina Sugandh: Blossoming Pop Queen
By Manisha Dass
Move over Shakira! This girl can sing, dance and play the tabla! As if that’s not enough, she also anchors Asian Variety Show (AVS), the weekly news source for Bollywood fanatics, like me, who can’t make it to Film City on an autorikshaw. Tina Sugandh, 27-year-old Mumbaikar truly is a child prodigy. Her career kick started at age 5, and has continued to grow since then. Her music is what many of us would refer to as fusion, east meets west, English lyrics and a desi touch. Sugandh was kind enough to answer some questions for us, so that we can get to know her a little better, and put her on our musical radar.
Give the readers of Saathee background about yourself and how you got involved into music.
I started performing with my family, The Sugandh Family, when I was five years old. It was me, my mom and dad, and my sister Seema. We all sang in over seven different languages, played instruments, and my dad would MC and make the audience totally crack up as well with his comedy and mimicry. I spent my whole life having these magical, musical, family-bonding weekends, and then I decided to pursue music in college while simultaneously studying biology. I graduated with a bio degree (on Dean’s List of course like a good Indian girl – hehe) and I got a record deal as well. The next few years were spent recording my debut album and I was also able to get my songs on Hollywood soundtracks like Around the World in 80 Days, Christmas with the Kranks, Ice Princess, Raise Your Voice, The Clique and more. This, as well as having my song “Break Me” go to #4 on the Billboard Charts, was a huge honor for me. Now, my debut album has just been released through my website and I am thrilled to share it with anyone that wants to listen to it. To promote the album, I recently performed my single “Bollywood Girl” on the CW-11, had a feature in the New York Post. I recently got to sing in Hindi and play tabla on Ringo Starr’s album. I am so grateful and excited right now. By the way, you seriously must check out the Ringo footage on my You Tube channel. He is the most amazingly wonderful person and he had me cracking up the entire time.
Would you describe your music as fusion, classical, or a bit of both?
I’m not sure. It depends on where you are from. I describe my music as mainstream pop with an Indian flair. I write all my lyrics about positivity and self-empowerment since that’s what my family raised me to focus on. There is actually even a song called “HisStory” that reiterates the lessons of Gandhi-Ji which I think comes as a surprise to many people. I really am tired of the same old “I wanna hold you, I wanna feel you baby” lyrics and so I really wanted this album to have a strong lyrical message even though it’s pop. For example, “Bollywood Girl” is probably the most pop-sounding song on the album but it has an underlying message about not conforming to societal pressure and embracing your individuality. The musical sound on “TablaGirl” slightly veers off in every direction since I was raised with so many different musical influences. For example, the sound of “Bollywood Girl” is a reflection of my love of pop. “Indestructible” has a slight hard rock influence, “HisStory” has a qawali feel, and “Stay” has a slight classical-Indian feel. “Break Me” uses tons of dhol for that Bhangra feel - but all the songs are mainstream pop with an exotic flair.
How supportive are your family and friends with your choice of career?
My family has always been supportive of my happiness in general. As long as I was sensible and responsible, my parents were happy if I was happy. They saw that I was willing to put my all into my music career while getting good grades as well and I feel like that made them understand that this was something that I was going to put my heart and soul into. Also, knowing that I have been on stage every weekend since I was five makes a difference as I feel that experience in any field makes your “resume” much more credible. Overall, I am extremely blessed and very grateful to have the family and friends that I do. I could never do this without the love that I have in my life.
What has been the key to your success?
Ok, my family always tells me that this is sad, but I don’t feel like I have had any success yet. Isn’t that awful? I guess in a sense it’s good since that kind of attitude is sure to keep me humble and I have always felt that there is never an excuse for arrogance in any field - but I truly do feel like I have not really started my career yet. I have so many goals and dreams that are left to fulfill. Hearing me say this used to frustrate my mom so much. Every now and then, she would sit me down and make me list all the Hollywood soundtracks I’ve been on and all the awards I have, and all the household names I’ve worked with and, and so much more until I would see that I have accomplished at least something substantial so far. I guess whatever success I’ve had so far can be attributed to experience. Just like in any other field, years of experience are vital. I’ve gained experience in singing, writing, playing, dancing, doing press, and many other aspects of this career. I’m actually grateful that I have already had so many adverse learning experiences during performances since now I can handle things like the sound system completely failing during a show, or losing an audience’s attention for a moment, or performing with 102 fever. My family and I have been through it all. I am not an overnight success, which ironically is one of the reasons that I have whatever success I have today.
How often do you go back to India? And has your music reached the Indian audience yet?
I have been lucky enough to be able to go back to India to perform once in a while. The last time I performed was on the Zee Awards with Bipasha Basu and other amazing Bollywood names. It’s really tough when I go to India though because the food is so incredibly amazing, that I always come back 10 pounds heavier. There is nothing like Indian food from India. If I lived there, I would have to pick a different career since I would probably be like 300 pounds. The food is just whole different level of quality over there. I’m sorry; I got so lost thinking about chole batura that I got off on a tangent. Anyway, I do get fan mail from India, so I know it has reached overseas somewhat, but I actually am signing with a talent agency over there as we speak so that I am able to travel to India more often. My focus though has always been to bring the gorgeous South Asian culture to mainstream America because I truly think the US deserves an “Indian Explosion” just like they got that beautiful “Latin explosion” years ago!
According to you, what makes your music different from the mainstream artists?
If we are talking about mainstream US artists, I would say the Indian influence in my vocals, as well as all the live Indian instrumentation in my music. I actually went to India and bought two giant crates of gorgeous instruments to record on my album since I wanted it to be a pop album with a more live, organic feel, rather than a computerized sounding pop album which is what most pop albums are like today. We have everything on there from the more well-known sitar, harmonium, dhol, santoor and tabla of course. But we also have instruments like the mridangam, dholak, ghatam, aiktara, been, duffli, ghungaroo, goob-goob-, no, I’m not making these up- and more.
What’s the best place to find your music? Is your music going to become available in local Indian stores too?
My website is the best place to do this for now, as we wanted to start with a digital release. I am still a fan of the physical CD though, so we are talking about re-releasing the album in Best Buy and other stores as well. For now my website is the best place to download the album. I have to say a huge thank you to all your readers for their patience with this album, and especially for all of their support.
Details: www.TinaSugandh.com and www.youtube.com/tinasugandh
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