In a span of four years, Asees Kaur, the singer who won the reality TV singing contest, Awaaz Punjabi, has established herself as a soulful female singer in Bollywood. It was Bolna from Kapoor & Sons that put her in the spotlight.
The 30-year-old artiste is back in the limelight with two trending numbers — Tere Bin (Simmba) and Jaan Nisaar (Kedarnath). Tere Bin is a recreation of the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan classic that Asees has sung with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. It’s currently trending on YouTube with more than 68 million views. Talking about Tere Bin, Asees shares an interesting anecdote. “When I was called to record, I was playing the same song in my car. I was totally unaware that I would be recording this number. When I entered the studio humming it, Tanishk (Bagchi, music director) was stunned. He asked me how I knew that I would record this particular classic, it was just serendipity,” says the singer. Her deep and husky style is what makes this song stand out.
Jaan Nisaar too showcases Asees’s versatility. This song composed by Amit Trivedi oscillates between two ones. “The song begins with my husky style and then there is a point when the tone becomes bold. his switch is something new to me,” reveals the singer who started singing Gurbani (devotional compositions by Sikh Gurus) when she was a child.
Although nobody in her family is a singer, Asees says her father insisted on her learning these religious compositions, and she credits this training for her success today. “The practice that went into singing Gurbani helped me a lot. I used to continuously sing and compose. That really made a difference. So when I was asked to sing Bolna, the only difference I felt was that in Gurbani, I sing for the love of God but with a romantic song, I sing for people. Love is the common emotion,” she concludes.
ayeshatabassum@newindianexpress.com
@aishatax