Jazz the way she likes it

Artiste Vasundhara Vidalur is responsible for expanding and uniting jazz fans in India

Vasundhara Vidalur is among the few artistes responsible for bringing back RnB, soul and jazz back into people’s playlists. Previously part of a jazz and soul outfit, Adil & Vasundhara, she won the Best Female Vocalist award at the Jack Daniels Awards in 2014 for her work on her debut album Ampersand. Her 2014 collaboration with Tarun Balani for If Only got her critical acclaim.

Tarun isn’t the only artiste she has collaborated with. Vasundhara’s repertoire includes collaborations with collectives and musicians like Louiz Banks, Loy Mendonsa and Ranjit Barot. She is currently collaborating with The Next Collective (Delhi) and will be joining forces with the guitar luminary Sanjay Divecha to form a power packed quintet as a part of her next project titled Merkaba. Vasundhara takes these long-term collaborative projects as a learning process since she never signed up for a music school. “All my learning in music has been through playing at gigs with musicians who are senior to me,” she admits. Talking about how such collaborations help musicians in terms of flexibility and growth, she says, “A collaboration is an act of ‘egolessness’. You have to let go of yourself to allow something fresh to emerge with every new project. That is where you will shine since a collaboration often presents a different version of you in it.”

Vasundhara has previously worked with top fashion designers like Ravi Bajaj, Ashish N Soni, Suneet Varma to create sound palettes for their shows. She also performed for Deepika Padukone’s fashion brand, All About You. These collaborations are a creative high of another kind for Vasundhara. She says, “Fashion designers care deeply for the creative aspect of the work — the community loves to experiment with themes, sounds, and looks. Bringing their vision to life is exciting and challenging in equal measure.”

When Vasundhara lost her voice in 2012, it was a teacher who helped her through the phase. A “healer” as she calls him, the teacher helped rebuild her voice. Since then, she has decided to give back to the music community. She then decided to give back by taking on the role of a teacher. She says, “What my teacher taught me, was golden information. Plus I was drawn to teaching and began to love it. Today I conduct workshops across cities; the possibilities for talent in our country are immense.”

The singer has a lesson for those looking to make a mark in the music industry. “Never rush through a project — doing it right is better than doing it fast. It is important to remember why you started playing music.”