 You know what you get the honor of being you know, right? You're the very first in person in the actual like stupid lair ever in the history of Stupidity, well you only get to be stupid once Thank you so much for joining us. We've we've literally been like I think you saw our first reaction to it Which I believe was you with everyone at Berkeley. So you saw that I saw couple. Yeah, I saw like two I just rewatched it again to remind myself as it was like Well, I think you can tell from like our take away we went into that like okay cool It's gonna be a Raman and the thing ends and all we're talking about is who the freak was that basest That's the reaction 100% so yeah We've been obviously and everybody and then we got to learn more about you and how talented you are and so thank you so Much for coming. Yeah, really really So I guess the the first question would be how How did I get any music? No, just how do you do it? This is a linked question so Clearly with the accolades and the people you get to play with you recognize the level at which your capacity is as a basest And you're not normal Yeah, yeah, so when when did you first Realize that your capacity, which is I know is a combination of just innate gifting as well as just hard frickin work When did you recognize? Wow, I'm better than the average bear So here's a little back story. Yeah, my mom and dad They're both musicians. My mom is a singer and my dad is a bass player So music was always floating in the house. My mom also has a master's degree in dance cut talk actually and She used to have a dance school in Calcutta And I remember I have these vague memories of me wearing this white charade art with like orange Dupatta and just standing by her side and taking dance lessons from her, right and then Then we moved to Mumbai Again, a lot of people think that I was born and brought up in Calcutta No, I was born and brought up in Mumbai So I'm a Bombay bomb Yeah, the last time I went to Calcutta, I probably was nine years old actually I have to go back man It's a long time. It's been a long time, but coming back so Indian classical music and jazz music because my father Was playing with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He has played with Manjavi He's played with Hariji like a dance from a lot of like everybody in the Bollywood industry except AIR, right and I Always wanted to become I was very inclined towards fashion. I was very inclined towards Glitter at anything artsy, right and I was playing around with my mom's saris I would cut up like her saris and make clothes out of it. I would wear them on the streets, and I really she's weird Like you know like torn stuff. She's wearing Wear torn pants and like tube tops and stuff and back in the days Mumbai was still not that Wearing like really deep neck stuff on the streets and stuff and I was doing it like I was very rebellious So even my parents were not that open-minded back then so they were like, oh, don't wear those kind of things You know, you will attract the wrong people And I'm like, I don't give a shit I want to do what I want to do and I started I applied for a fashion college. I got selected and stuff But that was also the same time when I got two other golden opportunities But which was I got called to be a part of a month's pen And I got offered a full scholarship from Berkeley College of Music and this was after my tenth board exams So this is like I never graduated. I never got a degree nothing This was like still junior like school, right? Do you guys still call that? Yeah? Yeah, right. Yeah, so 11th 12th after that is junior college still so it's still not like college college But in India we call it just junior college So I did my 11th standard and then I couldn't give my exams and I stayed home because I was touring too much and My health was getting affected and stuff and then I and I told my dad I just cannot I just cannot because I started professionally working at the age of nine and by that time I was already like 13 and I was traveling the world. I already had like My passport full of stamps, you know, and I told that like I cannot continue studies. I just cannot It's not helping me and he was like, are you sure you are going to pursue this like seriously? And are you sure you're gonna be able to be independent because I don't want any guys in the future to point fingers at you You know and be like, oh, I'm gonna pay you and you're gonna be the housewife I never want that for you. You know, so he didn't he was very like forward with that type of thinking and he wanted me to Be very independent and stuff and then so I did my 11th and 12th as a private student through correspondence directly from Mumbai University and I got like I think 86% with all the touring which was great and And then I decided I don't want to study anymore and I just took So the three golden opportunities that time I chose to be in a ours band I I turned down the full scholarship the last time anybody Got full scholarship from Berkeley College of Music was Esperanza Spaulding. So they were giving back to me with everything Including everything and I was confused. It's like, you know, like you don't know what to do There are three amazing opportunities. One is like I can go into my fashion, you know college and Learn everything and do all the things that I've always wanted to do because I was so into fashion and makeup and all these things But somewhere deep in my heart Something told me that I've put in put in so many years of practice. I've put in so many years of sleep sleepless nights and Gone days without sometimes not even eating, you know I'm just like putting my heart and mind into something that my dad wanted me to do, you know And I was like, huh, maybe I should give it a shot and just see where it takes me because fashion is something It's so closely related to performers. Yeah, I'm like, I can always do that. I can go back I'm still young. I can always do that and I will always have a great relationship with Berkeley College of Music, right? So I chose to be in a ours band. I'm knowingly I had already worked for AR I didn't even know I played recorded on one of his songs for his movies because I used to go into Nirvana studio Which was owned by Ranjit Barrett Who now plays for John McLaughlin And he Used to call me for these jingles background scores for movies and stuff So I was going in playing doing my part never asking like I'll just go and play and come back So it was one of those things and then I get to know that it was the air song The movie was called Lakerham Divana Dylan the song was called to shining very simple nothing exciting It was just like a rock and roll song, you know, so I did my thing one hour out done. I was fast Going into moving on the next project, you know, I was very busy and then I get a call from him saying that hey I saw some of your You know appearances on the other coke studio episodes. I was already working for coke studio for some other episodes other artists Would you be interested in being a part of mine? I was like, oh, absolutely. And I think he Probably didn't expect such a calm, you know reply. He was like, okay, great. Awesome. See you. That's it and then His production team called me up and you know all the commercial business business stuff and then the first time I meet him was I've whistling woods at Reliance Studios Where a coke studio rehearsals were happening and that was the first time I also met Suvamani Prasanna, Ramaswami, Keva, Jeremy, all these other band members who Were already working for a hour, right? Ranjika was not in the picture that time And he came in and he came on the second day The first day was just us kind of getting to know each other musicians and I was like what 15 or 16 and I never used to talk I would nod my head to say yes or no and then It's not like I was not confident I was very confident But I didn't want to be perceived as arrogant or over smart for her age because they are all elders, right? And there's some kind of respect that goes in and me being a first-timer in that type of space I wanted to be like really relaxed and if something is asked, I want to say yeah Anyway, so the rehearsal start and everything goes by and then we rehearse our songs and then Zaria happens And I remember going to a you know Writer's block. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So that happened in Zaria in the intro part after the whole like the beautiful intro part with the airy spacey kind of part and That block happened and we didn't know how to proceed in the song I had an idea. What if I play like a bass line? So that bass line you hear Instead of saying anything I just started playing that and I was like, okay, let's do that Yeah That's how my journey took off. Yeah, he knew that I was not only playing Parts was able to play parts but also had orchestration in my mind Also had creative vision in my mind and he came up to me and he said, you know I was going to hire tau wokenfield for coach studio But when I heard you I only wanted you and said that was a big compliment for me I didn't even know how big he was until I played there with him And then I went back and I googled and I was like, oh, he's he has Grammys Yeah, awesome. Yeah. Yeah, we actually just interviewed him About a week ago a week ago. Yeah. Uh, so he's now our toast. Uh, yeah And if everybody we interview them they instantly become our dose If you can thank pankaj. Yeah But so you obviously worked with him many many times on your part of his band for for a long while Eight and a half years What what were some of the things that that you learned from him? As one of the greatest composers of all time, right? Um When I joined his band, I joined his old band So Seva when he was still playing keva was still playing There was no persona. It was that was that lineup was only for coach studio I worked with that old band for two years almost and then round he now came into the picture where he came became The music director of the band and then he kind of cherry picked other musicians With two keva players two guitar players himself on drums Bunch of singers like Niti Mohan Sometimes Arijit came Ben Nida blah blah blah And I had already worked with these singers before but the band was new So I was you know getting introduced to a lot more people in the music industry And then one thing about er is like he doesn't really come for rehearsals He will come like on the day of the show in the morning run like a whole set and he's done Sometimes you'll add new songs Which sometimes is very You know like oh no Yeah, I remember when uh mark joined the band he added like 10 songs on the day of the show Added 10 songs gave you charts for them, right mark? No No, you're joking and we made we made all the more parts the same day the night before So he gave us a ton of homework. We were up all night. I bet you had a ton of homework And we were literally sight reading the charts in front of like 40,000 people Yeah, I mean I Being being able to speak marathi hindi english bengali. I obviously know when things are coming Because of the language Yeah, like I know when the melody is kicking in with him It was like wow But that's kind of I would imagine that's kind of when you're at the level that er is that and and you're at and you're at We talk about that all the time like when we we'll we'll listen to a score of a film And sometimes we'll bring up to stupid babies the fact that when you're at that level of musicianship You typically don't get to see anything until it's time to go. You're always put on the spot Yeah, you're expected to know it and be able to do it Yeah, yeah, and I think my konako background like the karnataka Culture that I had because I was also playing with a lot of fusion musicians from Chennai, Kochi all these other parts where I had the understanding of Different gharanas, you know and different syllables of Konako so I was able to apply that on ar's music, you know And I think he liked that blend and the voice that I had Which was like the rhythm section was so Western Infused with his indian melodies the blend was just Really beautiful that makes me think of a question I want to ask you that goes more into like technique and theory and the differentiation between because you You clearly understand western and eastern My my exposure to music has only been western until recently aside from the random thing I've been able to hear but as far as like understanding western music So it's kind of a two-part question In western music you've got you know seven modes and you got these modalities that you play in and that's pretty much Where you go and you do the variations from I have no idea How many different modalities there are in eastern music? I imagine they're kind of it Just a lot of rodents, right? So how how much and I guess it depends on what you're playing How much of that informed your education as a bassist? Was it a blend of them equally? Was it far more one versus the other? Uh I was very fortunate that I was hopping in and out of different situations playing in ars band playing with a lot of Chronic musicians playing with uncle louis bands who's also a grammy award winner uncle He's like in his late 70s now Still, you know playing killing keyboards, you know and he his music is very jazz contemporary So I was playing like jazz standards with him. So I was and with rungy that way it was like polyrhythmic Who are like odd time signatures, you know, so I was hopping in and out of different Types of music and of course ar which was very very Um, not bollywood exactly but like pop but indian pop. Yes, you know um It had it it's set of like different uh in and out kick-ins of different types of like sometimes rock and old Sometimes like blues different songs here and there, you know, and uh at home. I was also writing my own music So when I'm doing my own practice, I was working on all of these things Which is which is all personal practice now You're not going to be able to apply all of that into like ar songs because you are a gruber in that type of band You know, um, but I was working on myself so that I could navigate through changes Which is, you know jazz like people being able to solo over courts different set of court changes and What if I go to ellie? I was thinking at that time What if I go to ellie and play with a set of jazz musicians? Like if they put a chart in front of me, I need to be able to read and write I need to be able to navigate through these changes and being able to play parts be able to play parts and stuff And so I trained myself like that when I would be at my place I actually moved out of my parents place at like 18 got my own place Like a couple of blocks away and I would lock myself in the room and just like spend days And sleepless nights just practicing on myself sometimes get depressed like oh shit. That's not happening I really need to be stronger. You know But one thing I knew deep down is that when I started playing with these stronger musicians it It's real. I I realized that I need to be stronger I need to be able to be more powerful to be able to keep up with these musicians and in in result being You know being able to gain more information You know so that I can go out in the other parts of the world and be able to do these things So I think it for me I was fortunate able to fortunate enough to be able to pick up equal parts from different cultures Sure, you know Yeah, yeah, you you're uh, like you you just said you've been part of a lot. You're currently part of a Who's a japanese fan? Yes, right? Yeah, kick ass, by the way Listen to one for that stuff. Yeah, it was hard like three hours on like six 17 inch heels on stage Constantly a hand head banging. There was a first time. I didn't even know that existed inside of me Yeah, you know, like I just Saw a different title. Yeah No, literally there were like three people put ice pack on my neck after the show It was something one of the biggest differences from like let's say japanese Like if you're doing a concert in in japan it would that music It'll concert in india with eastern music and or the Somebody a band can play with here. What are the biggest differences between all those reading writing? In japan people are very very scripted. They want their shows to be exactly the same Even your solos like you need to write out your solos It has to be exact because they don't want to take even 1% chance of giving out a different type of show the next night So we toured for four and a half months and I had the same exact solo every night It changed a few times because I'm very spontaneous that way coming from india Coming from india music, yeah Because they are so scripted and um, their production was just so high level They wanted to work the lights with my solo. So I had like a five minute open space in the center They were working the lights with everything. They have people do things in the audience throwing things in the audience It's almost like a Broadway show. Yeah It's all programmed, you know, so they want to do that like they want to work with you You know, but they want to know everything you're doing in the solo. So my techie is like when I'm Soloing he in the back is operating my pedals He knows exactly what I want to do. Yeah, which was very different. Never done that before. Yeah How did that feel? I'm cheese very different. Like I said, it was the first time. Yeah, obviously Whereas in air is when you do everything yourself, you know, of course you have a techie you set up everything but like You operate your pedals, you know, and then when uh, oh man, I just remembered something I was wearing this gown in a arse show and it got stuck while You know walking down the staircase and one of the bigger shows where I was on a riser and I could not get on time in the center and My solo was cut because of that When they put a spotlight, there was nobody Right And I was stuck on the staircase and I had to play the rest of the show It was just two songs left after that and I had to stand on the staircase and play the rest of the show And I'm like, oh somebody help Yeah Geez, I do not expect that. Anyway coming back to what I was saying So the Indian music scene, uh, they will never give you charts very very rare, you know So you make your own charts and very few readers, you know in India, like I said, it's very spontaneous Like you hear the music you make your own notes. Whatever the way you want and Then the director usually your the composer usually will go like, okay, this is the vibe I'm going for Uh, what do you think now you do what do you want? You know with air? Every time I played for his movies. He's given me complete freedom he'll Not even brief not even a little like he'll be like just playing the song and he'll be like, okay, this is the key and I'll just Give my creative vision and I'll usually give him like different options like a slap style finger style and more percussive And then like very laid back and then he'll kind of mix it up It doesn't surprise me. He seems to be a really open collaborator in the way that he yeah, and he's very uh, particular About having certain musicians. Yeah, like he wants them and he will only want them because of a certain reason sure I would like to think that I am a pretty good mind reader That's why I think I'm able to Work with him at so much ease throughout these years And uh, we have fun. Yeah, we don't talk that much. Yes emails once in a while here Yeah, we talk we talk about that a lot when we watch musicians and bands do things and the Connectivity that you have when everything's going and you you are communicating with each other without saying anything And you you get an idea especially when you play with people long enough You know where they're probably going to go with something. There's a level of trust. Yeah big level of trust And you want to work with them again You I'm okay So I've listened to the songs that are on the apple playlist for Your name if you look at mojini day and the number of songs that are on there And You you play stuff that I've heard screamo. I've heard fusion. I've heard jazz. I've heard a part that sounds bluegrass Um, do you you can play anything? Do you have preferences in terms of what's your favorite things to play stylistically? I love fusion music? Yeah, but I also love like Algero type of music like George Benson type of music which is really subtle and just kind of chill out I don't drink or smoke but I think a coke? I mean coca-cola That was my next question I heard it here first kids Do coke before every music gig Thanks from mojini day The effect hollywood has Go get your shirt that says do coke I don't eat any vegetables none whatsoever none. What really none zero Yeah So I categorize even organizers as vegetarian even organizers and non-vegetarian even organizers Because of my one experience. I remember I was you know, like all these About 17 years of my career. I have been my own manager throughout my journey. Okay So when people reach out to you organizers like music festivals and stuff I remember this one person. I'm not going to take the name, but uh, he Didn't know about this meat eater, right? And The he was from bangor and he wanted me to perform in a music festival So, you know Blah blah blah business done and I go and they put me up in a vegetarian Like a hotel the buffet is vegetarian. I go down there and I'm like, oh my god What do I do now because I can't play now after this like I don't get any energy after that It's like eating cracks or something, you know, no offense. I love vegetarian people That's right Anyway, so then I call him up and I'm like, you know, this is a problem Like I really need to eat like meat so that I can play for the show because I feel very weak right now And he's like, okay. Well, I'll take you to a restaurant So then he drove me there. I eat my lunch and then we went sound check and did my show after that again He took me to a restaurant and then I ate my meat again and then, you know, pull back So from that time I put in the tech writer saying only wheat Yeah, that's just one of so that's some of the criteria Like if someone's gonna book you to do something you're gonna have the specialty list of what has to be Some people are like, I want my peanut m&m's to be green So in my case, it's just gonna be like non-veg food. That's why we have a new york strip right there Oh, that's why that's true She's like right really On on that you do doing different styles of music And I I've heard you say you you like to do as many different styles as possible We're both actors and so like often actors will say I like to do Different style of roles to try to change it up. And so I don't get bored. Is it the same for you? Oh, yeah, I love the fluctuation very grateful that I Uh have been uh, disfortunate to be able to hop in and out of different situations One thing too long. I get bored. Yeah, so I am I mean, I do my own stuff when I get back to my hotel. I have my recordings that I'll do my own music Write my own songs and stuff But uh, yeah, I I can say no when I want to I'm fortunate that I can say no that no I don't want to do this right now because I am not feeling it. I've done this for too long I want to do something else, you know, and with your own music you can do that You can infuse other things, you know, but like when you're doing other people's music You can't really do that because you have to serve the music and the director Not just the music because liking and disliking liking is subjective from person to person I might like something on their song and they might not, you know So reading that person's mind and delivering a certain asset Very important in this type of music. Sure. Sure or any creative field. Absolutely So I would guess then That the genre of the style that you probably like to play the most is is going to fall into the fusion and jazz Categories because of the flexibility Yeah, add funk. Yeah, because it's got it's got the written element. It's got the freedom to be Improvisational and it also has Technological it's got challenging things for you as far as the changing of the syncopation and the rhythms and yeah I'm very technical. Yeah. Yeah, I can hear it. We can hear it in the way you play The other thing I don't know if you guys know this and I don't know how much you do it, but you sing I say you can sing really well. Yeah, a little bit. I had no idea. He knew that. Well, you knew he knew So how much of that? Yeah, how much how much is singing a part of what you do now? And do you see that as becoming more of what you do in the future? Uh, I don't want people to focus on my singing over my bass plate. Sure Because that has always been my first love right but I'm doing more vocal music now because I want my set to be a good balance of everything I want my set to be a good representation of What my journey has been right, which is everything right? Where I've done conical where I've done funk music jazz blah blah blah And now I'm singing too. So I need to put some of that right So that's why I'm doing that and for stupid babies I don't know what she's referring to when she says her set. She's not talking about when she's playing other people She's talking about when she does her own performances and she's representing herself and saying, okay. Here's my show. Yeah So I'm not a musician rick is so forgive me if any of these questions are dumb But I've heard musicians say they when they when they see a piece of music or when they think of it Like they they visualize in a certain way. How do you see music when you when you think about it or read it? I It's very funny, but I see music as chunky glitter A lot of people see it as colors. Okay, which is there. Yeah, but for me, it's colored glitter And by the way, that was a good question That was a good question. Yeah, thank you. I see it as different colored glitters I like to define music as A part of who I am definitely but also it's limited not limited unlimited. It's unlimited. Um, I don't like to restrict myself to Anything and be stuck on it. Like I said, um, I like to be open-minded and not define myself as just a musician Because I can be other things too. No, you know, I am a sister. I'm a daughter. I'm a wife uh, hopefully a mother someday And I I can be a fashion designer. Hopefully one day I can have my own clothing line I can be anything I want. I think human Human beings have that capacity to be anything they want So when people say like this is the only thing I know in life to do which is great But I I know that I have more potential to be other things So my music is that too. Yeah. Yeah now you've played with People who are legendary Is there anyone you've yet to play with that you really want to play with? You know, I've never had any dreams or wishes to play with any person Everything that has happened in my career has been um, I've been very fortunate to have received those opportunities and to be able to play with so many legendary musicians Uh, but yeah, there's there has never been that point in my life where I'm like Oh, I want to play with this musician But uh, now that I have so many names on my plate and so many things that I love doing I think I would love to be in a pop band like a proper pop band in LA. You know, that's one here I'm doing my own music, but on the side I want to be able to experience that side of the scene too because that's something I've never done Indian pop scene is different. LA pop scene is way different. So I want to do that too Okay That's what I was just gonna say Bruno Yes Speaking of legends that you've worked with and know, uh, Usagi is a kihusen Uh, whom you've got to work with and know many times. Uh, whom we got Is that kihusen? Yeah, um, who is our dose? Uh, he was our first hitter He was our first ever crazy Very Yeah, he does but still we were like, how did that happen? Yeah, the first time I played with him was I was I was only 13 I had no idea I was gonna play with him. I know that story. Yeah, your dad surprised you. It's like, okay. Hey That was my first on the spot performance and I had no idea there was going to be like jugal bandi or something like that I mean, and you knew who he was at 13 Oh, yeah, the moment I saw him sound checking that when I was there, I was like, oh my god, this is exciting I'm gonna watch it. Yeah, I'm gonna watch it and my dad was gonna play with him. Like what? Oh, no I was almost like tears like, oh no Whatever we're gonna do like not in happy tears, but like nervous You know at only 13, you know and no music was planned nothing. So you just go and you're just jam Right And Ranjitha uncle was there and Naladri Kumar was there on sitar fuzzle kureshi who's zakeji's brother There was a other musicians The gender musicians and then I'm there in the corner sitting on my chair with my huge base, you know And playing I started with a little solo and then everybody kind of joined in and we did this jugal bandi And I got so nervous in the jugal bandi. I was like I looked at zakeji else Not a part of that jugal bandi that was my first Like on the spot performance and I said no jugal bandi So I said no, so they did their thing and then after the show I was really like sad and he came up here and he was like, you did so good, baby Like why are you crying? I was like, no, I did not do good And he was like, no, you were great. You're gonna go so far and he gave me like his words of wisdom And he was like, no, you're a genius this and that and then like four years down the line after that I played his show I'm playing his music. He plays my music on the show too And then I was different Then I was More powerful more wise, you know more mature had a few more years of experience and Yeah, that was like and he was like, wow, you've grown so much and stuff And I'm so proud of you and then again after a couple of years We played at abadji's There's a every year he does this abadji's Dedication performance So he asked runji don't go to play his set and I was playing there and we were closing and then he saw me again at Like 17 or 18 and he was like, wow, you're like growing every day every year And then you know, I can't wait to see what you do in the industry and that was really nice. Yeah Yeah, you know how Weird that is right sincerely like for a for a 13 year old and it was evident like we said when we saw the berkeley I've I'm a musician, but I'm I'm You know, I can play and I've had the honor of playing with people. It's very strange like I've I've actually been able to be in a band and do a set with abraham laborial, which is Amazing, which is yeah, it's weird for me to be playing with abraham laborial, but I For a 13 year old to just without preparation be able to get up and play with someone at that stature in that level and hold your own Back to like what I said originally of knowing that you were better than the average bear How do you keep yourself grounded and not let that go to your head? How do you keep yourself grounded because you obviously know when you're playing with these kinds of people Getting accolades like you're having publications and music say you are one of the greatest Living basis in the 21st century and the only woman in the list How do you keep that from getting you to have a really big ego about that? I think uh, I was brought up with the right values brought up in a strict bengali culture at home Uh taught me a lot of things about life and Do's and don'ts, you know, I think I was very fortunate to have my parents as musicians who understood that Who understood the industry also very well. So they gave gave me their set of like Experiences that they had in the past when they got married In calcadam None of their family members were happy about it because they were not like the same cast and then I Then mom had me and they were not happy because I was a girl and all this like, you know drama was happening So they just decided they'll just move to a different city and both were musicians They wanted to make it big in the music industry. So they just you know stuck together and they said yes We're just gonna do music and just work hard and not care about what others think So they just cut off every connection with the relatives, you know So I always only had my mom and dad as my friends and family Me and my sister my younger sister plays guitar. She's three three years younger to me And we both were brought up with the same set of values and we were not allowed to have any friends Growing up in school. Uh, we had a very very strict, um Routine every day getting up 5 30 a.m. In the morning going to school coming back by 12 30 having your lunch freshen up private tutor comes on Two to three hours she would teach me, you know And then she would go away and do your classes homework and then do your school homework And then music practice have your dinner and then go to sleep by like 11 12 and then again all over again every day This was every day, you know, um Was that hard? Of course it was hard But I see it now like why that was important I now my friends are still in college still trying to figure out what they want to do in life And now I have a house I have everything that I never even grabbed off I get it and the discipline you have as an artist because I know that that Gave you a lot of it's inherent but you that gave you this Design of how to discipline yourself like you said was it easy to uh, you know be around people? um as a 13 year old 14 year old you're seeing other people like You know doing things in front of you smoking up drinking blah blah blah doing all that and Uh, not get carried away by that stuff, you know And when I took up my stand and I wanted to do things by myself and wanted to travel by myself for the longest time one of my parents either one of them would always travel with me uh till like 17 and then by 18 I started traveling by myself And could I have slipped away then? Yes, absolutely. Um, but I think those years of uh discipline kind of Had a great foundation On me. Yeah, and uh, I'm very very thankful for that. Uh, could they have done differently? Probably But it worked, you know, now I get it now. I'm very very thankful to them and I'm like but back then I was like, man I this is like always fights, you know, this and that now we're at a better place and now we're like, you know Now I get it and I'm very very thankful to you and now we share our space where we can talk about things My father being a bass player actually Him and I we stopped talking actually because having two musicians in the family sometimes can be very very And like the same instruments right and I was working. I was taking away his jobs. Right. Yeah, yeah, right When you said I thought about that was like, how did your dad feel about the fact you got to play with eric amon and Right, exactly. Oh, I started working with hariyar and I started working with salim solemn I started working with them. It's the way I was playing everywhere. I was taking up everybody's jobs, you know And that was not good to bring up some tension. Yeah, that was not good. I mean, obviously that was not the intention at all My dad can relate on a much smaller level because when I got into the partridge family He was on a track for the music career and everything stopped and they hired him to write the songs I sang but for him it was like anybody we want to hear what I'm doing Yeah, so that happens I think there is a culture shock that everybody goes through when Things are being done for the very first time. They were first time parents, too You know, they didn't know how to bring children up. It was they were going through failures And I was going through failures my set and their set, you know So there were a lot of clashes and then after like two years of not speaking and then Him seeing that oh, I have a house of myself, you know, I Of mine and then I was able to take my own decisions And I was an independent woman already by 1920 and he saw that he was like, you know, I'm very proud of you And I take all those things back. I said, you know, he said that's beautiful. And I was like, yeah, that's very awesome So here's a question I've heard some musicians and artists in general get upset when like people say they have a natural Gifting god gift or whatever, right? We're because they think it discredits all the work that they put into this So where do you think the line is between a natural gifting somebody has and all the work that they Yeah, right That's a great question. Actually when I am being told like, you know, you are so blessed already. Yeah Um, you can have the blessings, but you have to make the time to build it Uh to make it something I think every baby has a blessing. I think we as human beings We have the power within us to take control over our lives I always say like our destiny is in our own hands, you know, if I would have made the choice of Going into fashion college I probably wouldn't have been able to spend eight and a half years with air in his band or any of his movies Never would have played in movies So I think choices make a huge difference evaluation is very important. Um But uh, yes, there is that fine line and sometimes you don't know, uh, that's why it's important to be open-minded and Way the pros and cons and what you really want from your life Where you want to be in life and I was able to do that at a young age because I was very mature for my age Because I was already playing with 55 year olds 45 year olds when I was so young So I started talking like 55 year olds, you know, and then people were like, how old are you? Like you're talking like you're 70 or something. I'm like, um Like even today when I go out work in the industry like you talk like you're like you're like in your 50s and stuff How old are you? I'm like, I'm just 25 now, you know I think the wisdom came from all these years of working with so many, uh musicians who had Such great insight on life and they were able to share that with me And I was able to take those learnings and apply that to mine. Now. I'm not saying When I do my master classes and workshops people come up to me and they say like, um Can you give me a set of like your learning experiences so that I can watch out and you know apply that to mine I say that don't follow my footsteps because my background was totally different and yours is completely different My experiences will not apply to yours. You will have your set of experiences and you will have your set of learnings You know, so I Say don't follow keep your ears open, obviously So you can take the good parts out of it, but your Evaluation and result is never going to be the same. Everybody has their own story, right? Yeah, and uh, everybody should be proud enough to share that share that yeah What are things that everybody should know about who's watching this that you currently are either doing and you want them to know Or is coming up like you said you have master classes that you do you have a gig that's coming up Which I know is not the only gig coming up So what are things that we can know about and support you and you want people to know about So the upcoming one is on the 27th and 28th of november, uh at alva showroom In san pedro, and I am playing Some of my new music from my upcoming album so if you want to be the first one to hear my upcoming album's music then come out there, uh, and That those are the only two shows where they're going to be able to hear this new set of music And then I'm not gonna play because this is more like a promotional shows kind of a thing I'm shooting everything and I'm not going to be putting out because I want my people to hear the music on the record Sure But this is just a little teaser for them, you know, so yeah a lot of my new music a lot of my old music that I always did and uh, I also give out sky lessons zoom lessons and people can reach out to Mohini dot de y double six two at gmail.com for that For bookings and inquiries and I do lately I've been doing a lot of recording sessions for a lot of people So I have a huge client diary that I work for Every day I'm like recording over under recording recording on over like three songs And uh, those are getting released in december so watch out for those So a lot of like uh all the confidential stuff So a lot of the stuff that people see on instagram and youtube is not the only thing that happens. Oh, sure Some are Paid to be put out and some are paid to be kept under covers So those undercover stuff is coming out. Those things are coming out in december Yeah, and I'll put all the links for all that in the description below including you can follow her on instagram And uh, you have youtube channel as well. Yes. Subscribe to my youtube channel So I'll put that in the description as well. You can go subscribe to her I will thank you so much for talking to us. I want to finish this off a little bit of rapid fire Oh, yeah, yeah fun little rap fire questions here first. I'll copy your chai chai um Andrani's applauding Favorite uh indian meal. Oh my god. That's a hard one meat meat. Yeah, no, but I was saying it's got to be meat oriented Oh a lamb um and Yes So that's super chicken or mutton biryani Meat to go the ass No, yeah meal. I said meat assuming it would be meat oriented. Well, there's so many meals. I like but chicken is one of them Like the local kaba style chicken mutton biryani. Yeah Yeah Favorite indian film indian film. See that's a hard one. I don't watch movies at all the last time I was busy making my life Will you watch movies that they hire you to do based on for the score? No What's a Yeah, we get it. That's all right. That's awesome I would sometimes watch movies if I'm like flying taking a long ride somewhere then I would I don't remember when you're flying like doom three That I've seen Yeah, we have not Uh favorite indian curse word could No, you can say it on the channel. Look at his coffee cup It says marachud An F word out of my mouth. Oh, all right. Fine. I thought I could squeeze it out of you. Uh, Who is in your opinion the greatest bassist of all time besides a great question? No There are so many, uh a couple that you really love. Uh, okay All-time favorite jack of the stories, uh, brahman laborio, uh, john patatucci marcus miller, stanley clark one carter From that generation, you know, of course victor wooten now A lot of amazing bass players have been coming out with the social media presence Come to name would be hey jimperon Anton david yams jr. Braga now Um, many actually john ferreira ricky bonazzle And many and same question, but guitarist. Oh, uh gut three golden. Okay, uh from aster cracks. Um, alan holsworth So many, um, yeah Frank gumballi Bam hale and steve by of course so many and i'm assuming you like classic rock Yeah, i'm a big classic rock fan. Yeah, who's your favorite classic rock band rock band. Yeah uh So i've Not listened to much of rock music. I was never into rock or like that heavy sort of although i play heavy music But i never have listened to like heavy metal music or rock music that much I have listened to bands like chicoria weather report You know extraction level 42 A lot of these like pop funk bands growing up. So hard to tell but um Yeah, I don't know. Do you know any classic rock bands? I know the bands, but I don't think you have listened to them No, yeah, I've even listened to fusion music. Yeah. Yeah, where the bass plank is extremely active, right? Kind of in the forefront. Yeah, the guitar Are in the forefront. Yeah, the bass is really holding down a groove. Yeah, exactly And the music that we mainly listen to it's very active bass, right? And that's why here while you can hold it down. Yeah an active bass player Yeah, like you will never hear me play that sort of stuff in ar's band A lot of people in the comment section will be like, oh my god, she plays too much You know and i'm like, have you seen me in ar's band? Yeah, just listen to the songs on the album playlist and you'll recognize that she can lay back and just provide the groove Yeah, but if you're coming out to my show, then you will hear a lot of bass notes Yeah, absolutely And funky music where I'm singing and playing funk stuff. So yeah, I think a good balance is good Other people will get bored. I get bored playing the same sort of music Like if you hear metal music for like half an hour, that's the max I can pick I get headed and pop music one of my favorite bass lines is one of the most active ones and it's in Duran Duran's Rio Because that bass line is just the song And on since you said you one day like to start growing fashion line, who are some of your fashion inspirations? Oh, I So my fashion is very wack today. What you see is very like formal and like, you know feminine But otherwise on a normal day basis, you will see me like wear a lot of like safety pins stuff like My fashion sense is very What do you call that like a very eclectic? Yeah, yeah exotic slash And also very colorful Not a not very like solid colors, but a lot of mix a lot of rainbows. Yeah Yeah, every time we've seen you on video. You've always had great style. Yeah, those outfits are actually made by me That's awesome. I'm planning on starting a a lime one day. Hopefully. Yes, that's the plan I've been taking a lot of stitching classes so I can professionally stitch, you know Because lately like now I've been seeing that in LA there are opportunities like that where you can hire people and they can come home and You know do that So I've been doing that in my off time where I'm taking stitching lessons as a kid pouring up I was just like, you know Hand stitching everything and it would take days for me to complete one outfit out of my, you know, foreign mom. Sorry Well, thank you so much for sitting down and chatting with us. It's been an absolute pleasure You're such a such a wonderful person. It's great to talk to. Yeah, obviously you're extremely talented And we're so looking forward to everything you have coming up. Oh, thank you so much Yeah, you really said this the first time we heard you and I've been paying attention to you Obviously since the day we saw you and there was somebody on tiktok who posted the bassist and they put something over the top That said best bassist in the world and I wrote down. Have you heard mohini day? And I didn't say that just to be argumentative or silly I you've heard the accolades a lot, but like I've heard abraham laborial a lot Yes, and when I heard you I think when we stopped recording I may have even said to corbin I said I haven't heard anybody play the bass like that since abraham laborial. Oh, thank you so much So we we really not only are Enamored with the creativity that you have but we're we are big supporters in elevative artistry and you are the pinnacle for us Of what a basis is is supposed to be about both from the creative outflow that you do But also the mindset you just shared and why you do what you do So it's it is a joy to have you Here to talk with us because this is everything that we are about in regard to supporting And celebrating great artists, and I appreciate you guys doing this. This is so beautiful I'm happy to be part of this. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you