Singing, they say, heals the world! Today, it is my pleasure to welcome a song bird from Gwalior. We have Abhiruchi Thatte on the show. Born and brought up in a musically rich background, Abhiruchi started her music journey very early in her life. Having persisted with her musical interests, Abhiruchi recently made waves in Saregamapa & Indian Idol. Abhiruchi also released 2 songs for E24 channel’s albums SaRe Gaana Volume 2!

You can watch abhiruchi performing for Sare Gaana here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3CG2SkSlSc

Its my pleasure & previlege to invite Abhiruchi, singer & artist and now a good friend for this episode on Coffee with Sundar!

Coffee With Abhiruchi Thatte

Me: Sundar Rajan G S
AT: Abhiruchi Thatte

Me: Hello Abhiruchi, Welcome to this show on Coffee With Sundar! Can you start off by giving a brief introduction about yourself and your musically enriched background?

AT: My name is Abhiruchi Thatte. I was born and brought up in Gwalior which is in Madhya Pradesh. As people might know, especially music lovers that Gwalior is also known as ‘Tansen Nagari’ and I am very proud to be born there. Not to forget my family is also a musical family. All of them have a musical ear and throat. My initial guru’s were my Dad and my Grandmother. My mother had also learnt Classical music up to a level, so, she too understands all the technical details which are required in it. I have a younger brother who also sings well enough to entertain his surrounding but his asset is ‘The Guitar’. He also used to play for Gwalior Division Cricket Association under 16 team.

Me: Wow that is definitely a “musical background”. So, how do you get introduced to music?

AT: I started learning music when I was 4 years old. Initially I was not happy with this singing stuff as I hated to learn and sing but, my parents and mostly my grandmother were keen. My grand mother used to take me to “gayan school” everyday. On the very first day, the teachers there told my grandmother to take me back home as I was very young and they don’t teach such a small kid. But my grandmother somehow managed to make them to listen to my Bhajan, which I used to sing generally then. And thus began my music journey begun. I started giving small concerts and started participating in cultural activities.

Me: Can you talk a bit about your music teachers? What style of music did you learn?

AT: I am very proud to say that I am blessed as I got the opportunity to learn from many gurus as I will surely credit them for guiding me. I started learning Hindustani Vocal Classical Music from Mr. & Mrs. Moghe. After that I learnt from Mrs. Sahastrabuddhe and Ms Kunte. I have learnt most of the technicalities from My Dad’s Aunt Mrs. Rachana Vaidya. She herself is a classical singer. I have also learnt Classical Vocal from Khairagarh University and Light Vocal from Chandigarh University. I always got the opportunity to attended the ‘Tansen Samaroh’ which is held there in Gwalior every year in the honor of ‘Tansen’, in order to listen and learn from some of the great artists (to name one Shri Pandit Jasraj Ji) who used to give their Hajiri on Tansen’s Mazar.

Me: When you come from such a background and groomed under such stellar gurus, what is the weight of expectations there? Do you feel the pressure to succeed in this environment? Or is it just encouraging environment?

As said before, my parents are very much supportive let it be singing, sketching or education. Yes sometimes I found myself under lots of pressure but that is because there are lots of people have loads of expectations on me and I totally understand that. Well to tell you more, there were times when I were in depression because of failures that came into my way and at that time my parents especially my Bro had supported and encouraged me a lot.  One very important person in my life, I want to mention him because he supported me a lot during my hard times and pressures of expectations, he was there as a friend and motivator. His name is Gaurav Mishra. Not to forget I am lucky to have such a gr8 parents who supports me each and every time I go out there to sing.

Me: Can you speak about your experiences at Saregamapa & Indian Idol?
I gave my very first audition for Saregamapa when I was 16 and got selected. For Indian Idol I would say that they don’t require singers but anyways have participated in Indian idol 4. I was in Top 100 contestants. In my opinion, Saregamapa is the best and honest singing show on television. My experience for both of these shows was that I realized that lots of things other than talent matters.  But at the same time, I would say that from this experience I came to know more about the technicalities which is required in professional singing. Through this, I came to know several peoples who have gr8 talent. There are many things going around in this industry which ordinary people like us don’t know. More recently, I have also participated in ETV Madhya Pradesh’s singing show and won that show. I had also participated in India’s Got Talent Part One and was able to got three Yes from all the judges. Shekhar Kapoor, Kiroon Kher and Sonali Bnedre all of them were impressed with my singing, my voice and my presentation. Moreover Kiroon Kher told me that I look so young and fresh and have gr8 voice.

Readers, hope you enjoyed this edition. stay tuned for the next part of the interview with Abhiruchi Thattee.