Shashaa Tirupati: Composition is the hero of the song

Songstress Shashaa Tirupati recently released her version of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s Tere Bin Nai Lagda, which, unlike the original, is groovy, playful and breezy. The Mono Beena (Gold) singer tells us more about the track.

What made you revisit Tere Bin Nai Lagda?

A fan from childhood, I was listening to Nusrat Saab’s discography while out on a drive one night and was soaking in the sound and the idea of how ahead of his time he was in his approach to the production of a track. This song came up and I felt it’s a gorgeous tune with so much pathos to the lyrics, so, why not make it optimistic and fun, considering the melody has the potential to do both! The idea was to translate the pain of longing into the pain of a sweeter, more welcome kind. 

Were you nervous if you would do justice to it?

Of course, I was! But at the same time, I knew I wouldn’t mess around much with the interpretation because the composition is the hero of the song and everything else an embellishment to the vibe. Hence, along with wanting to keep the overall zone of the song light/tropical, it was also kept minimalistic so as to not overshadow the original melody. 

Some purists are against remakes or remixes. What’s your take on them?

I feel remakes are a great way of bringing lost gems and classics to the fore and to current generations, as long as they don’t meddle with melodies and their soul is retained. It also depends on the song and the vision of the re-creator. Certain sensibilities are required to understand the limits of recreation I believe. Within those limits, and with the correct packaging, I feel plenty of old classics can be resurrected. It really depends on the producer or arranger.