If Sonu’s Hollywood debut is any indication, he will soon have millions of Americans joining his long-time fans in the rest of the world.Rehan Siddiqi is a successful business owner, concert producer and radio station personality and operator with more than 20 years experience in the music and radio industry.
By the end of the last song, they were on their feet, cheering loudly.
The audience was overwhelmed by Sonu Nigam’s music and voice. Nigam’s live performance was backed by percussionist Brent Lewis who added unusual rhythms to the CD, along with a guitarist, bass player and keyboard player. Rajat Mukherjee who directed Nigam in Love In Nepal was there to share in his friend’s success. Presented by Bikram Choudhury, yoga master to the Hollywood elite, the audience included music directors, leaders in the recording industry, writers and friends who traveled from other states, Canada and India. His performance in California was a good start in changing that. This new venture should bring her additional accolades.Īlthough Sonu has performed in more than two dozen countries, has millions of fans around the world who buy his CDs and has won multiple prestigious awards, he was virtually unknown to Americans outside of the Indian community. Her judgment has been proven throughout the past few years, as evidenced by her award-winning films Utsab and Titli. She felt that each had strengths that would compliment the other’s. Sutapa Ghosh, producer of the album and Sonu Nigam’s co-founder of Son et Lumere, a corporation for film and music projects, brought Sonu and Ellen together. Two duets sung with two-time Grammy winner Rita Coolidge are love songs, and she adds her voice to a third track, Love Is Beautiful. To Buddha’s Shelter I Go is a song of peace, with English lyrics, a Buddhist chant under the chorus and a melody with a Middle Eastern flavor, while Mama is an emotional song about the Twin Towers. Songs like Gandhi Prayer, a version of Vaishnav Janato, with verses alternating between Gujarati and English, and I Want to Live express deep but positive thoughts. The CD breaks new ground with a mixture of fusion, pop, inspirational and world music. The collaboration of a young pop superstar from India and an older American woman results in the blending of East and West.
While Nigam composed the melodies which run the gamut from haunting to playful, most of the words were written with Ellen Goldberg, a Houston lyricist. The unique feature of the album, besides the language, is its ability to bridge cultural gaps. A trendy, mostly American audience came to hear him perform four of the ten songs from his CD at a popular Hollywood Boulevard club, The Knitting Factory, March 8. This time he set his sights on the United States where he introduced Spirit Unfolding, his first English album.
Sonu Nigam is always looking for new fields to conquer.
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