Blend original with the predictable: Singer Shaan

Popular Indian singer Shaan, whose upcoming music video is titled "It's Natural", says one needs to be original -- as also adapt to change -- to make a mark in the industry.

"My upcoming latest is a video, 'It's Natural', coming out during Christmas. The way I look at it, singers need to be original to be able to make a mark in the industry," Shantanu Mukherjee, who took the stage name of Shaan when he stepped into showbiz, told IANS on the sidelines of Bhubaneswar.Fest (a cultural-cum-food fest) organised in tandem with the just-concluded Men's Hockey World Cup.

The "Woh Pehli Baar" singer, who has been judging reality shows, mentioned that singers like Jonita Gandhi and Armaan Mallik are doing really very well.

He also spoke about YouTube talent hunt "ARRived" which he is co-judging with A.R. Rahman. The show is all about finding original voices and the finale is scheduled for December 21.

Shaan, who has been singing and composing for a long time, appreciated the digital platform as one can reach out to a larger audience. He has his own YouTube channel and "Surilee" was his first single on it.

"Yes it has been a very long time and change is inevitable. I am happy to be a part of all the changes," the passionate composer, who may not have many Bollywood releases but is quite active with his singles, said.

He has lent his voice to all the big stars of Bollywood like Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bacchan and many more.

Talking about competition in today, he jokingly said that the songs are good but it is just that he is not singing those. It would have been great had he done them, he added.

Shaan's grandfather Jahar Mukherjee was a lyricist and his father Manas Mukherjee a music director.

"My father was a composer, my grandfather was a prolific classical singer. Hopefully, my children will be singing, then it will be this four generation of singers," the soulful singer said with a smile.

However, he won't encourage his son Shubh Mukherjee to take to singing as a profession at the moment.

"I started singing almost at the age of four but won't encourage my son to sing professionally at the moment. He is in his teens. His voice is changing, so he is learning classical music," the doting father said.

Shubh Mukherjee has already lent his voice to a song in the YRF web series "Sex Chat with Pappu & Papa" and also to the Hindi version of the title track of Disney's "Duck Tales".

His elder son Sohum Mukherjee is good with music production and is more into electronic music than Bollywood music, Shaan revealed.

Soaking in the city's hockey frenzy, the singer revealed: "I have a hockey connection too. The school that I had studied in, St. Stanislaus High School, has produced many hockey players like Viren Rasquinha, among others."

During his gig, he also attempted the "Jai Hind, Hind India" hockey anthem composed by A.R. Rahman, along with his other hits like "Tanha dil", "Mai aisa kyun hu" and "All is well".

The audience was also treated to his hit Odiya song "Sei borosa sei raate mone pore" (Do you remember that rainy night) that he sang almost 15 years ago.

(Binita Das was in Odisha at the invitation of the Bhubaneswar.Fest organisers. She can be contacted at binita.d@ians.in <mailto:binita.d@ians.in>)

--IANS

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