An Evening with Nikhil D’Souza

It is not easy describing Nikhil D’Souza – winner of multiple awards, voice behind many popular Bollywood tracks, creator of many soulful songs which he writes, composes and performs as he travels across the world with a song on his lips and a melody in the heart. This multi-talented singer, song-writer, composer and performer is our Artist-in-Focus. Read on to know more about the Mumbai boy who wants to be remembered as the singer “with a great voice and great songs”.

If Nikhil D’ Souza were asked to describe how he feels as a musician, Leonard Cohen would fit his description well. (Leonard Cohen for his sublime lyrics over every other aspect of a song.) Guitarist-singer-songwriter from Mumbai, Nikhil has lent his voice to many memorable Bollywood ballads including Aisha’s “Shaam”, a song which captured the imagination of many for its lyrical quality and lilting melodies. When we caught up with Nikhil, it seemed like one of those blessed afternoons where time quietly passes by and lets you be.

In a crisp white linen shirt, Nikhil shakes his wavy head as he goes on to tell us that when it comes to his independent music, he would like to be known simply as the person with the “… great voice and the great songs”. A love for Eric Clapton (Nikhil tells us Clapton’s album Unplugged was his bible at one point of time) he took guitar lessons with his brother at one point of time, but that did not translate into an interest for music till “…in the building I was living in eventually someone got a guitar out and started playing. Initially, I would just watch and then later I joined them and then I learnt my first few chords with them, and then it just took off.” As far as Bollywood songs go, he wants to be a vocal instrument in someone’s hands, for all over the country people just associate the song with the person who sung it, not the person who created it, wrote or arranged it. He went on to show what he meant with “Seasons of Your Mind“, a song written and composed by D’Souza himself.

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Growing up with music was a series of falling very hard in love with a lot of musicians. As talk turns to the influences he brooded upon while growing up, he talks of a familiar 90s-kid trajectory from Bryan Adams and Eric Clapton obsession to the more jagged overtones of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. The turning point came when he made the shift from melody to more vocal-based songs and with that came a fascination for Sting’s music, “I would almost dissect his work, break down the melody , the lyric and understand where he was going with this music and where and how you could predict Sting’s  music which you never can because it is so multi-layered….”

He feels very strongly for the sort of standpoint Jeff Buckley comes from, “I think I was 25 when I discovered his music and I developed a real fascination for that. He took the song ‘Hallelujah’ which anyone can sing, he also took his own compositions and made it. That became a sort of barrel for me – how you would write songs and sort of communicate the melody to people, you don’t alienate people from what you are doing, you need to draw them in, but at the same time it has to be satisfying as a musician when you are playing.”

Nikhil’s life has been akin to a rolling stone, from the balconies of Bombay to Muscat and back, where he got into a TV show based on musical talent all around Asia called SUTASI in 2008. He went onto be the soloist winner on that show, and now he looks back at that time in fond memory, “They were looking for songwriters and bands. It was a show with no compromise on the production, so that whole experience of sort of being on a TV show, where things are being filmed and you need to give it your full performance.” The organizer of SUTASI, Colene Zolean, later went onto represent him in the seven year long musical career that he has had, but he has been independent otherwise. He goes onto share how he has kept his feet grounded in both the commercial and the independent worlds, and it does not make sense to not recognize the potential of indie musicians who determine the course even Bollywood takes, but at the same time it does not make sense for independent musicians to not acknowledge the potential of Bollywood.

Watch the complete interview here. To read Nikhil’s open letter against unfair contracts meted out to independent musicians by record labels, click here. To read about the pros and cons of an independent musician’s journey to Bollywood click here.