28 December 2024 |
6:12 am
From London to Lagos, Bollywood music sensation Kanika Kapoor has taken a daring step by mixing Afrobeats into her signature Indian pop. Now settled in Nigeria and embracing new artistic vitality, she shares her journey of affection, cultural fusion, and discovering a second dwelling in Afrobeats. It might be the plot sequence for a rom-com…
From London to Lagos, Bollywood music sensation Kanika Kapoor has taken a daring step by mixing Afrobeats into her signature Indian pop. Now settled in Nigeria and embracing new artistic vitality, she shares her journey of affection, cultural fusion, and discovering a second dwelling in Afrobeats.
It might be the plot sequence for a rom-com blockbuster, however Kanika Kapoor’s relocation from India to Lagos two years in the past—following her marriage to her Nigerian-Indian husband—sparked an Afrobeats pop fusion that has since formed her profession.
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The London-born Indian music star has been lively for over a dozen years, with a number of of her songs being scored for main Bollywood blockbusters, together with Nachan Farrate in All Is Effectively (2015). She has now taken a pointy twist, fusing modern Afrobeats into her music.
Her newest single, Matak Matak, produced by Nigerian beatmaker Timi Boi, marries her stretchy melodic choruses with the percussive groove of Afrobeats. She additionally layers the lyricism with Indian cultural motifs.
“I’m now a Nigerian spouse,” she declares, including that her relocation ushered in some artistic remedy for her. “I feel my goals have gotten larger right here.” With one other track—Koka—that includes Ria Sean, Kanika Kapoor believes that similar to Lagos, Afrobeats has grow to be dwelling to her artistry, with extra fusions scheduled to be launched in 2025.
On this week’s Guardian Music, the 43-year-old singer opens up on her journey bridging the Indian and Afrobeats music scene, her distinctive love story the place she follows her coronary heart from London to Lagos throughout the thick of the COVID-19 lockdowns, and her plans to create extra music celebrating Indian and Nigerian heritage.
Why did you determine to discover Afrobeats-Indian fusions?
I moved to Lagos in January 2022. I received married to a Nigerian-Indian born in Jos. Again in India and the UK, I already had an enormous profession, so I questioned, “What’s going to I do right here?” I then arrange a studio, discovered some music producers, and began constructing extra Afrobeats-inspired songs. Folks in India and Indians all over the world love Afrobeats in the intervening time—it’s streaming in every single place. Why not play with it?
Inform us about your newest fusion, Matak Matak.
Once I realised Rema’s Calm Down grew to become an enormous hit in India—anyplace I am going, any cafe or bookstore, the lots have been enjoying totally different variations of it—I realised that India is now prepared for Afrobeats, and it’s prepared for the Nigerian voice as a result of they find it irresistible a lot now.On the primary track, Matak Matak, I put a contact of India within the hook line, which suggests shaking of the hips, principally dancing. And there’s much more to come back.
I’ve quite a lot of music that’s now going to be launched in Nigeria with quite a lot of Nigerian artists and producers. I didn’t suppose it was potential for Kanika to have a profession regionally, as a result of I used to be unsure if I might be accepted in Nigeria. However I feel that the extra folks hearken to the music we’ve created, the extra they may find it irresistible. I’m a Nigerian spouse now.
Inform us about that love story
Many Nigerians even have a base within the UK, and quite a lot of them dwell in London. I met my husband in London nearly 18 years in the past, as a result of he used to come back there so much. He studied there additionally. So, round 2010, I requested him out and he rejected me. We had all the time type of crushed on one another.
He was the one for me, and he was meant for me. And I feel he rejected me then as a result of he thought I might by no means wish to transfer to Nigeria and alter my base with a profession. And so he by no means pursued it. However throughout the COVID lockdown, we spent quite a lot of time in London collectively. He understood I used to be very open to transferring international locations for love, and I did that.
How do you discover your new settlement right here?
To be sincere, once I introduced I used to be transferring to Nigeria, folks discouraged me. They stated issues like: “There’s nothing to do, and I received’t get pleasure from it.” Surprisingly, I discover it very calm right here, as a result of I do know only a few folks right here, and all I do is make music. Day-after-day, I spend quite a lot of time calmly making and constructing music, which is what I do greatest, and it’s bringing out the most effective, and most artistic model of me. So each time I’m in Nigeria, I’m a bit extra rested, there is a little more self-discipline and I feel my goals have gotten larger right here.
Inform us about your different Afrobeats fusion, Koka.
We did the track for my Indian document label. In India, while you get married or wish to get married, the ladies pierce their nostril and put on a nostril ring for his or her wedding ceremony. It’s like a standard factor to do from again within the day.
So the lady within the track is telling the boy that I actually wish to pierce my nostril and put on that little ring, please make that occur. That’s what it meant. After which I cherished Ria Sean’s characteristic on the track. It was a track extra for India, though it was a fusion.
The place do you spend extra of your time?
I do half and half between India and Lagos, as a result of I’ve quite a lot of concert events to carry out at in India, after which I get again to Lagos.
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What’s the brand new imaginative and prescient in your profession, with this relocation in focus?
India was once very Bollywood-centric. Huge singers solely ever sang for Bollywood films, which I additionally did, they usually solely grew to become well-known due to that. However now India is prepared and is changing into large with music launched individually and the emergence of extra unbiased artists. I really feel there’s an enormous likelihood for all of us to grow to be family names simply on our personal, with experiments.
Right here, we’re making a sound. I’ve a sound of my very own already, which persons are used to. So, after all, a track with Nigerian beats and a singer could be very totally different for them. And I feel step by step, as soon as they hear extra, they may begin accepting and loving it extra.
