An ardent follower of Indian television reality shows, especially music shows, would remember a contestant named Yatharth Ratnum on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa l’il Champs in 2009. He might have missed the crown then by a whisker but he made sure never to falter again. Six years later and recently he has bagged the title of the first edition of Stage, India’s first singing show in English.
The journey has been an amazing one and the young 19-year-old from Varanasi is still finding it difficult to accept his victory. “It’s been, what, like five days since the finale and I still cannot believe it. It is overwhelming to see so many people celebrating it,” said Ratnum over a telephonic call.
He was quite eager to share his story and told us that he did not know anything about the show in the first place. “I was sitting with my friend and she told me about this audition for an English music competition. Even she did not have a clear idea of it. I asked whether I could tag along with her and now, here I am, the winner of the show,” he laughed.
Of all the contestants on the show, he was the youngest. But unlike others, he did have prior experience of performing on stage. “Stage was nothing like the previous show, it did not deal with drama. It was an entirely different contest and focussed on music and, most importantly, the artistes. But yes, the last show did prepare me to be stronger and taught me to perform under pressure,” he said.
One might wonder how a young boy from Varanasi can be so influenced by Western musicIJ Underneath all the English songs and lyrics is a solid Indian classical base. “I have trained in classical music for seven years of my life. My base is rootes in Hindustani music,” he said and shared the story of how his performance at the l’il Champs got him an invitation to los Angeles, where he found his true heart’s calling. “Someone in lA saw my videos at the show and loved my performance. He invited me to perform at the Young Artist’s Awards in lA. It was a life changing opportunity and I was also given an award for Outstanding International Vocalist,” he recalled.
During his brief stay there he was exposed to the world of Western music. “What I heard there was good mainstream music, very different from the pop English music that we listened to in India,” pointed out Ratnum. It was also during this time that his voice started breaking and he found it incredibly difficult to sing. “It was very frustating because I did not know what to do with my voice,” he added.
Ratnum told us the gradual transition from Hindi to English songs happened at that phase in life. “I was listening to a lot of English songs ranging from rock, hip hop, classic — basically anything and everything out there. They really inspired be to get back out there and prove myself,” he shared and added, “Moreover the language helped me express myself in a much better way.”
Although he claims that he listens to all kind of music there is, he names led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson and the Beatles as his favourites. “Of the new ones I admire Sam Smith and Bruno Mars,” he quickly added in a very Ameriacan tone, which sort of suited his new win. But we were quite taken back when he said that Eminem has had a huge influence.
He’s a rapper, we said and he explained that it was not the rap but the story telling and the intensity of his performance that inspires him.
“The best part of me listening to all kind of music is that I try to take
out the good element out of each style or genre of music and use it my way,” he laughed.