I was recently on an episode of Global Connect Series by SPIC MACAY which was conducted live on YouTube.
For those who might not know, SPIC MACAY does a lot of wonderful work to bring art to the youth to inspire them through the experience of mysticism embodied in the rich and heterogeneous cultural tapestry of Indian and World Heritage, with the hope that the beauty, grace, values and wisdom embodied in arts will influence their way of life and thinking.
During our hour-long conversation, we spoke about several things relating to my journey and experience in music. We discussed the differences in expectations of rasikas in different places, what Brindamma told me about switching my mindset from that of a learner to an expert and back again, how my love for languages developed and how I went about “collecting” songs in different languages and my daunting experience of singing Carnatic songs at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
A message I would like my rasikas to take away from this interview is – don’t let the fear of imperfection hold you back. If you are an artist and you are worried how your art will be received by others, remember that all you have to do is be your honest authentic self, you have to gather the courage to be vulnerable and let people see both your strengths and your weaknesses. You’ll soon realise that people don’t expect perfection from artists, they expect an authentic experience.
And if you think about it, perfection cannot be achieved by mortals like us anyway, only God can truly be perfect. So let us not waste our time worrying about perfection, but instead spend our time improving our skills and accept that learning is a life-long process.
I would like to thank everyone who watched our live session and everyone who commented with wonderful compliments. I am very grateful for the love received from everyone during our live chat.
You can watch the episode below: