Saturday

Artists

Artist Profile – Nishi

Location: New York

Website and/or Myspace: http://www.nishimusic.com &  http://www.myspace.com/nishirajan

Quick One-liner Intro: Lawyer by day, rockstar by night.

Current Projects: Launching 1^st full-length album of dance and pop tracks

Most Memorable Moment on Stage
Performing Alanis Morissette’s  ‘Uninvited’ with an acoustic guitar accompaniment to a hushed crowd of 600+ at a charity benefit – no one uttered a word nor made a sound until I sung my last note and then erupted into amazing applause.

Craziest Moment With a Fan
A woman, who shall remain nameless, fell in love with me through my music and profile and obsessively wrote to me through myspace. She had suffered serious sicknesses of cancer, a death in the family, and I had sent long supportive emails and tracks of my songs to help her. At first, she wanted simply to help promote me, but then became clear it was actually persuade me how wonderful it would be to be with her. I told her I was happily in love with my boyfriend but it didn’t faze her. Her emails became much angrier and obsessive and, eventually, I had to block her.

Do you get a lot of fan mail?! If so, what do you do with it?
I keep every single one of them – they are often full of encouraging words and kind sentiments which remind me that my music and life as an artist does truly affect people.

Of all the places you’ve performed, where would you want to perform again?
I continue to perform at all of the places I’ve already performed at.

Where would you love to perform?
Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Central Park Summer Stage

Who is one mainstream producer you would do anything to work with?
Timbaland – absolutely loved his work on ‘Apologize’ sung by One Republic.

How about a mainstream artist?
Justin Timberlake because he’s an artist who’s truly serious about his music and performance and puts forth his best every time.

Who in the South Asian scene would you like to collaborate with that you already haven’t?
I’m a staunch supporter of all South Asian artists and don’t believe in being competitive – I think we’re all trying to achieve the same goal. With that said, I’d collaborate with any South Asian artist who is good of soul and pure of heart and loves to make good music.

Of all the tracks you’ve recorded, which would you say is your most favorite?
An unreleased track coming up on my 1^st full length album entitled ‘Don’t Let Him Know’

What do you think sells more: an artist’s talent or their looks?
The talent is what sells – the looks merely grab the attention and when all is said & done, the music must be good & speak for itself.

What are your thoughts on piracy?
It’s stealing money from the artists and the industry and, in the end, it’s the regular fans who will have no new music to listen to when record companies shut down and artists have no cost-effective ways to produce and promote their CDs. 

How open do you think the mainstream community is to a South Asian voice/sound?
Very open – they just need to hear something good that makes them feel good – whether it’s South Asian, Latin, Caribbean is irrelevant – music transcends ethnicity.

What advice do you have for those who want to make a career in music?
Get out there and do it – pursue it, live it, breathe it, devote yourself to it, no matter how hard – just do not give up.