Shreya Ghoshal: I Don’t Want My Songs Recreated

MUMBAI, (IANS) – Versatile and renowned playback singer Shreya Ghoshal, who is known for countless hit tracks in her kitty like ‘Bairi Piya’, ‘Silsila Ye Chahat Ka’, among numerous others, says she doesn’t want her any of the songs to be recreated, as she has ‘strong memories’ attached to them.

Shreya has sung professionally in over 20 languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam, among many other languages. She sang more than 2405 songs in 20 plus languages, and especially in Hindi she sang 1100 plus songs.

Talking about the trend where original compositions often clash with recreations and remixes, Shreya said, “I cannot see a lot of recreations happening off late. It was happening a lot 3-4 years ago. I was the same person who was upset with that, a few years ago. But now I don’t see that much happening.”

“People have also become quite bored because of the repetition of the same song. The moment you see the song is not good or not done well, people immediately reject it. The song must ultimately be loved by the people. And artists are responding to the frustration of the audience, and there is I think a lot of original work that is happening,” said Shreya.

Shreya, who is also known for her ghazal album ‘Humnasheen’ which was released in 2014, said: “I think we should also celebrate the amazing independent music that is happening in today’s time. It’s not only film music, but new artists which I get to hear, that was not happening three-four years ago. This is a new, and very different time we are in. Now, underground artists are making waves. The generation today listens to music differently, and they have a very strong choice. Times are changing and music must be relevant to that.”

Does she want her songs to be recreated?

The 39-year-old singer said: “I don’t want any of my songs to be recreated, none of my songs. Even if I were asked to recreate it, I would probably say no. There are so many of my songs that I have very strong memories of. Those are sentimental.”

 “I may have those certain sentiments, but other audience members may not have. But I do have a personal memory of that song, the process that song was made. So, probably it would be hard for me to say okay for the recreation of my own song,” she shared.

Shreya has recently teamed up with Alexandrian rapper and songwriter, Afroto for a new single ‘Sunn Beliya’, which is a part of the impressive Coke Studio 2023 lineup of releases. This unlikely combination brings together Shreya’s globally renowned vocals and phrasing, with Afroto’s boundary-pushing sense of melody and beats.

Talking about the same, she said, “the blend of two genres, and so many kinds of musicians coming together, from rock, pop, classical everything happening at the same time. But I never thought that artists of two countries would collaborate this time, completely unexpected from a completely different sub-continent altogether, that is new.”

Calling Afroto a wonderful team player, Shreya said he was a very interesting artist to me. “I was very happy to see his excitement, enthusiasm, and the communication which happened between the two of us, the two teams. It was seamless and felt so organic in every sense. Also, I got to represent not just Hindi, which is my national language, but also Bangla, which is my mother language. I got to do two things in one song.”

“There was a very strong message in the song ‘Sunn Beliya’, about harmony, and people. It’s almost like an anthem, a movement. So, I feel it is a very positive, optimistic energy-driving song. I can see people are already giving so much love for this,” she said.