It’s a rainy Wednesday afternoon, Im off from work and in the middle of an in-depth conversation with a friend on how I feel this interview may go. We both had our baseless opinions on the person we are yet to meet and whilst justifying why I used unicorn as an adjective to describe him, a subtle and unsure shuffling of feet is followed by an increasing buzz surrounding the graceful figure walking in, suitably dressed in a simplistic yet noticeable trench coat. That is when we realized Lucky Ali had arrived. Unlike many other seasoned musicians of his stature, there were no signs of haughtiness or hostility at being asked for never-ending photographs.
The first sound of a giggle broke out when he asked one of the staff members posing with him for a picture, “Kaun bola who Bombay jaa raha hai” and to the staff member’s prompt reply said, “Bahut Galti kar raha hai bhai” with a ‘been there, done that’ grin.
Without much ado, he proceeded towards us to finish the interview, which he wanted to be done with before the show. He had said to me before the interview started, “lets finish it in ten minutes.” He did not. He finished it in Nine.
Below are the excerpts:
EO: What do you love most about performing on home ground?
Lucky: “It’s the music basically and I love it more when there’s an interaction between the music and the audience. While It’s great performing in Bangalore because it is my home, I still love performing everywhere I possibly can so that the music can spread.”
EO: What influences your song compositions and the kind of playback tracks you choose to lend your voice to?
Lucky: “Playback tracks are just chance tracks, I don’t really go after them. When there is a track I have been approached for, I assess it first to see if I can sing it in the first place. Sometimes I really cannot sing a track because it’s too technical for me so I turn those down. As far as my own compositions are concerned, I generally tend to keep it to what I understand about life. What I write is my take on life and my understanding of it.”
EO: You’ve been in the industry for many years. In your opinion, what are the good changes the music industry has seen in this time?
Lucky: “I see a lot of talent pushing forward to create music and rooting for openness which is great. Also, now, people are more vocal and expressive and talk about things that weren’t openly talked about before my time. Technology, too has played a huge role in creating a music revolution of sorts. Cellphones came into India about 15 years back, which for us musicians was something crazy we were all a part of and its technology that helps people stay in touch, share music and connect making life a lot easier now than in our time.”
EO: With the launch of your album online and its availability on the internet for all users, do you thing platforms like facebook and twitter help you reach out to your fans and increase your fan base?
Lucky: “Frankly speaking, the music is anyways out there, its available online and users are welcome to download it if they wish to and that is all I want, for music to be accessible to everybody as freely as it was to me while I was composing it. As far as the use of social media is concerned, sometimes I feel if it is used just as a fan site, then it really doesn’t affect your day to day perspective but if you keep adding circles and friends, then people connect and music spreads. It has its pros and cons which is why, I personally am on facebook when I want to be and off it when I please.”
EO: Your take on the music scene in Bangalore
Lucky: “I have off late been introspective, ideating music so I havn’t followed most of the concerts or gigs in Bangalore but there are artistes few and far in between that I listen to and are really pleasing to the ears, only due to the quality in expression. There is truth in a lot of music that I follow and that makes me glad.”
EO: Do you have any favourite underground bands?
Lucky: “I havn’t been following up on the underground music scene but I’m sure there is a huge movement. I’ve unfortunately also heard some songs from bands which are, well, funny. One was called milao milao. I think, in a way, Underground music expresses things that normally wouldn’t come to the fore, or you wouldn’t sing in front of children which is why they are revolutionary and big in their own way. Now that you’ve mentioned it, I will look up some of these artistes.”
EO: There are lots of upcoming young singers in Bollywood and are making headlines. Do you think the freshness they bring is a threat to the older lot of singers?
Lucky: “Are there that many? I really don’t know because I’m not threatened by any of them and I hope I’m not threatening anybody either. I’m not part of any game, I’m only part of my own journey. I’m just here to do my own thing and create my own music and I care two hoots about any game being played and I work in isolation. While I like to meet my friends and socialize, I work by deriving from my own space and continue to do what I love doing irrespective of who or how many more artistes there are.”
EO: If it were upto you to revive pop music and independent albums, how would you go about it?
Lucky: “I wouldn’t try to change anything. Whatever pop music is there, will be there, the only thing that needs to be changed is often oneself and that’s what I like to keep doing and how I go about it.”
EO: A note on your upcoming projects
Lucky: “Right now, I have interests in agriculture and bioidenticals and apart from these, I always find time for music and art but I keep doing other things on the side as well.”
EO: Three things most people do not know about you.
Lucky: “So the thing is, I can be quite difficult sometimes. It might also seem very selfish but I like my isolation. Also, I have lots of children who’re settled in my heart and around me.”
EO: A note/dedication to bangalore’s music lovers.
Lucky: I’ll dedicate a song from my new album, Raasta Man called kuch to paana hai”
