Amit Kumar's western music fever

Musician Amit Kumar reignites his childhood dream of rendering English classics with a social media property

Inevitably attached with his legendary father Kishore Kumar, who gave the industry imperishable Bollywood hits, Amit Kumar had to make a case for himself before kicking off his latest endeavour. 'Being an artiste doesn't mean you have to stick to a particular genre or style. A real artiste experiments with life and music,' read his post which aimed to warm music aficionados to accept what he was set to present. Kicking off Favourite International Playlist last Sunday, Kumar, along with veteran guitarist Sunil Kaushik — a chip of RD Burman's music group — will create a cover version of an international track, week after week.

"Since the beginning, I wanted to sing English songs and would listen to every singer from that era. My parents encouraged me to learn music that did not only belong to Bollywood. They motivated me to hear Indian ragas, western classical music and folk songs from across the world. I dreamt of singing [the kind of songs rendered by] Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley or The Beatles. Recently, I decided to work on this international playlist, and sing my favourite songs," says Kumar, who will also share a few stories associated with the number he will render each week.

Even though music maestro Kishore Kumar's compositions were rooted in Indian culture, Amit says he grew up on a steady appetite of western offerings. "My mother was influenced by western classical music, and my father was a jazz listener. He also loved South American artistes. Frank Sinatra was his favourite. He would bring records of all these artistes home, and I'd listen to them. I'd record those songs on my father's grundig recorder. Now, after so many years, I'm getting the chance to do that again," says the singer, who will also unveil his fresh compositions under the label Kumar Brothers Music, in 2020.

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