By Pragya Paramita - Kolkata Newsline, City Express - IndiaSunday, August 5, 2007
Kolkata: Kailash Kher’s rags-to-riches story is the kind of tale that can motivate other singers like him to board the train towards an uncertain future in Mumbai.
In many ways, the railway station was where Kher first started singing, where for the first time crowds gathered around his singing.
That was after Kher had undertaken an ambitious journey from Delhi for Mumbai, penniless but not short of verve. Today, Kher admits that his journey, where being one of the most sought-after playback singers in Bollywood has been an important milestone, has been a long one.
Stardom, though, he takes in his stride. In the city to promote Jhoomo Re, his band Kailasa’s second album, throwing his arms around to include the expanse of five-star luxury offered by his hotel room in Kolkata, Kher says: “I never imagined that I could become a successful playback singer. I wanted to be a singer and make albums, but never in my wildest imagination could I have imagined this”.
Often referred to as a Sufi exponent, he says that while many of his songs have an obvious Sufi influence that does not make him a Sufi singer.
“It’s just that Sufism has suddenly become a brand now and I have been slotted in it. Someone like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a great exponent of the form, but I can hardly say that about myself. But it’s nice to hear people refer to me as a Sufi singer. I take it as a compliment,” admits Kher.
Kolkata: Kailash Kher’s rags-to-riches story is the kind of tale that can motivate other singers like him to board the train towards an uncertain future in Mumbai.
In many ways, the railway station was where Kher first started singing, where for the first time crowds gathered around his singing.
That was after Kher had undertaken an ambitious journey from Delhi for Mumbai, penniless but not short of verve. Today, Kher admits that his journey, where being one of the most sought-after playback singers in Bollywood has been an important milestone, has been a long one.
Stardom, though, he takes in his stride. In the city to promote Jhoomo Re, his band Kailasa’s second album, throwing his arms around to include the expanse of five-star luxury offered by his hotel room in Kolkata, Kher says: “I never imagined that I could become a successful playback singer. I wanted to be a singer and make albums, but never in my wildest imagination could I have imagined this”.
Often referred to as a Sufi exponent, he says that while many of his songs have an obvious Sufi influence that does not make him a Sufi singer.
“It’s just that Sufism has suddenly become a brand now and I have been slotted in it. Someone like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a great exponent of the form, but I can hardly say that about myself. But it’s nice to hear people refer to me as a Sufi singer. I take it as a compliment,” admits Kher.
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2 comments:
After the reading of your blog for a while, I've just linked it in my portuguese blog, that originally was dedicated to the translation of some sufi poets like Attar, Rumi (and Khayyám).
What a sweet and humble young man :)
Ya Haqq!
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