Interview | Singer Tanya the Empress: I’ve all the time had a imaginative and prescient to bridge the East and the West 

Singer Tanya the Empress performing
| Photograph Credit score: Particular Association

Singer Tanya Dutt or Tanya the Empress, as she is thought on stage, considers herself an allrounder, venturing into numerous disciplines reminiscent of theatre, psychology, voice coaching and even aggressive equestrian sports activities. Her type of music too, she says, is a mix of every thing. “Are you able to hear the blender within the background? Properly, that’s how I might describe my music, it’s a mix of every thing,” she says in the course of the dialog over the telephone.

Tanya, 33, is a graduate in Skilled Music from the Berklee School of Music, Massachusetts within the US. She had her debut solo live performance on September 13 in California and carried out at round six music festivals final summer season within the US. Tanya launched her newest single ‘Ma’at’ on streaming platforms in early August. 

‘Ma’at’, Tanya says, is an Egyptian goddess. “However I don’t see them as deities however as archetypal. Ma’at is all about justice, judgment, and equity, not outdoors, however inside. Should you had been to take heed to the lyrics, it paints its personal story; however for me, it’s all about making that selection on how I introduced that steadiness, justice and judgment for myself as an alternative of enjoying the blame sport,” she provides. 

In November 2023, Tanya launched her first solo album titled Historical | Future, which consists of over-a- decade previous songs, she says. Tanya provides, “It (the album) was virtually like my previous self had written this for my future self once I was going by way of turbulent conditions. It was like a information to me.”

Tanya the Empress performing
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

Tanya relocated to Delhi from Kolkata at seven. After highschool, she was planning to go to Australia for commencement. Nevertheless, an acquaintance satisfied her in any other case, telling her that she has acquired the voice for Berklee. “Going from India, Berklee was this free floor. There have been so many new issues to discover and stay life as a younger grownup and teenage. It was a really vibrant expertise,” she says.

Tanya’s inclusion within the lineup for Ten & Timeless was a coincidence. Roy Cherian, brother of Tomy Cherian, one of many founder-members of the Arduous Day’s Night time collective got here throughout a video of her performing Aretha Franklin’s ‘Suppose’ on the Norman’s Uncommon Guitars in Los Angeles. It was Roy who requested Tomy to take Tanya on board for the occasion commemorating the collective’s tenth anniversary. The group is a bunch of women and men from the infant boomer era, who’ve been organising concert events within the metropolis that includes music of the Nineteen Sixties, Nineteen Seventies, and Nineteen Eighties.

The singer considers the chance to play on the occasion to be “divinely timed and aligned”. She says, “I’ve all the time had a imaginative and prescient to bridge the East and the West, to do this right here and there as a result of they’re two completely different scenes however like two sides of the identical coin. I don’t need to depart India, nor do I need to not be within the States.” 

“We’re going to be doing largely covers for the present however on the finish, I’ve about 5 or 6 of my originals which I can be doing to trace… For covers, we’ll be masking songs from Elton John to classics and so forth,” provides Tanya. 

On her return to the US, Tanya says, she has just a few reveals lined up with all unique songs in Los Angeles. She is planning on releasing just a few singles quickly and in addition dropping an prolonged play or EP subsequent yr. 

Catch Tanya the Empress carry out at Ten & Timeless on October 5, 2024 from 7.30 pm at Trivandrum Membership. For extra particulars contact +91 9995634737