Kailash Kher’s latest album, Ishq Anokha, is an ode to love. In a conversation with Arjita Mishra, he tells her that the validity of a remake song is only till people are on the dance floor but the original version is evergreen
Almost a decade ago, he made his presence felt with Rabba ishq na hove from the film Andaaz. But it was Allah ke bande from Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II that put Kailash Kher on the map. And he has not looked back since. From film songs to independent albums, he has been charting his journey forward, with several hit songs to his name.
And why notIJ His are the songs that console us in our times of distress and also add to out joys. After a brief sojourn in the Indian entertainment industry on his own, he formed his band Kailasa in 2005 with musician brothers — Paresh Kamath and Naresh Kamath. Till date the band has released four successful albums and has come up with its fifth — Ishq Anokha — after a gap of four years, under Saregama’s label.
Talking about his album, Kher said, “There are eight songs in the album and with Ishq Anokha we are trying to explain that one does not need any special training to fall in love because everybody falls in love in their own way. And that is unique to them. This is the only characteristic that everyone possess and are perfect in their own way and that is why everyone’s love becomes anokha because there is no parameter for the emotion.”
It disappoints the singer to see that true love has ceased to exist in a world full of pretense. “Today everybody is fake and trying to portray what they are not and impress others throughout their lives,” he added.
This is for the first time when Kher has seamlessly fused the modern music with the traditional by incorporating musical instruments like the flamenco and the saxophone and collaborating with international artistes. “We have few guests musicians in our album. There are two to three American musicians and one Spanish artiste who have collaborated with us in a few songs and it was a delight to work with them. We are planning to tour the US this summer and we may ask them to join us for the live performances,” he told us.
It was quite interesting to learn from him that when he has approached the artistes for a collaboration, they had no idea of who he or Kailasa was. “They did a research on us,” Kher could not stop laughing. “Nowadays, it has become quite easy with several search engines and the Internet. You can gather information on anything at the touch of a button. And that was exactly what they did. When they learnt who we are and what we do, they happily agreed to be a part of the project,” he added.
In fact, Kher justified the international artiste’s queries. He explained that since artistes are creative, they tend to live in their own world. “It is because of this that we are often misjudged and our lifestyle is brought under the scanner. And we have to come to terms to all these circumstances,” he pointed out.
The Teri Dewani singer with pride in his eyes said, “The speciality of our music is that the what which we compose in the studio, we perform the same at a live event because we have same people with, and this makes us unique. None of the other bands perform live with the same musicians with whom they work in the studio.”
When we asked him about the trend of remixing old songs or using independent singles in movies, he rued the fact that the industry is lacking good creatives. According to him, “In terms of creativity, everyone is replicating old songs. If the musicians do not compose new music then no one is going to appreciate their work. Remix of old songs can only be played for a few hours in a pub but after that people would like to listen original songs only. So the validity of these songs is only for a limited period of time — when you are on the dance floor. For example, if you eat dal chawal daily, then you get bored of it. After having it for two days, you will ask for something different on the third day.”
Talking about his band Kailasa, he said that the members of the band have learnt a lot from their fans and dedicates their success to them. “We don’t meet our fan very often but still there are millions of people who shower their love and blessings on us,” the singer concluded with a smile.