Jeanne Merchant talks about her new song, her musician husband Salim and more

Jeanne Merchant, who thrilled her audience with her album Yeh Wadiyaan in 2002, has been making great music all these years, far away from all the hype that musicians usually generate.

The celebrated singing teacher and wife of composer Salim (of the duo Salim–Sulaiman) Merchant recently released the club-ready track “Lucky Tonight” in collaboration with the well-known rapper EpR.

Excerpts from the interview:

What does “Lucky Tonight” talk about and what was the inspiration?

The song “Lucky Tonight” is about escaping from everyday life into something more fantastical and adventurous. The inspiration was just a night on the town, club hopping, driving around, sitting under the stars and imagining a fun time.

What made you decide to hire rapper EpR Iyer for the song?

I love spoken word and rap and listen to artists like Kanye West, Pharrel Williams, Travis Scott, Drake and Kendrick Lamar, so it seemed natural to include EpR as he brings a lot of conviction and energy and a good attitude to what he is saying with his spoken word. And his mood matched my mood on the song completely lyrically as well.

Producer Anshuman Sharma has worked a lot for Merchant Records and all the songs you have done so far have been with him. Comment.

Anshuman and I have been working together since my first release Fake Love. He is an absolute genius and understands exactly what I mean. He adds his beats and samples to his compositions to create amazing electronic grooves and middle parts, in a way that conveys the melody and lyrics meaningfully.

Tell us about the video for Lucky Tonight.

The video was made by Tushar Mahajan who has worked on all my videos. He is extremely creative and very good with ideas, lighting, concepts and putting everything together. For Lucky Tonight he shot 9 sets and 5 looks in 18 hours. You all should go on YouTube and watch the video.

Tell us about this song “Round and Round” with a political agenda.

Round and Round was created as a response to everything that was happening during Covid, the lack of vaccines, the hospitals, and the people dying as a result. At the same time, there was a lot going on in the West with Asian hatred and Black Lives Matter, and so all my feelings of frustration about all of that culminated in Round and Round.

Almost 20 years ago, you released the Hindi pop album Yeh Wadiyaan with Salim-Sulaiman on board. Did you meet your future husband Salim during the recording of this album?

Yes. After the release of Yeh Wadiyaan, a Hindi pop album whose seven songs I had composed and Salim-Sulaiman produced, and yes, that’s how I met my husband Salim, we soon got married and had our daughter, and so I took a break from singing in public events and shows just to be at home with her. Salim was already doing great in his career and I thought if one of us is really busy and working on his career, the other should be at home and be there for the baby. Instead, I started giving singing lessons and I am a certified voice coach who has been teaching singing for the last 13 years. I have students from Berkeley, NYU Tisch (New York University Tisch School of the Arts) whom I have trained for auditions, young singer-songwriters, music teachers and also all other types of students.

Is your daughter Ayesha also interested in music?

Ayesha also sings and plays the piano and secured 1st place in classical piano at Trinity College of London’s Mumbai exams. Ayesha also has many other interests like dance, ballet, aerial acrobatics and the study of human mind and behaviour, all of which she is currently studying in the UK.

You have been a singer, songwriter and singing teacher for 13 years. Tell us more about your work.

As a voice teacher, I give my students all the tools they need to sound the way they want and become technically strong so they don’t have to struggle with whatever they want to do with their vocal cords. As I mentioned before, I prepare students for their auditions for admission to music universities and help aspiring singers and songwriters get everything together, aside from teaching other voice teachers and professional singers as well. I have also been writing music for a while now, but it was only through the hiatus during Covid that I had the time to actually record, produce, shoot and release the songs. Since then, I have been releasing music regularly on Merchant Records, as at Merchant Records artists like myself have full freedom to create with a free spirit and be the artists we have always wanted to be. As an independent artist, I have released 8 songs in the last two years, including two Christmas songs as well as some covers.

You learnt Hindustani music from Suresh Wadkar. Did that help you with your album Yeh Wadiyaan?

Learning Hindustani music gave me a different kind of discipline and made my voice different. My album was a Hindi pop album but that discipline certainly helped me in what I was doing with Hindi pop at that time.

Is there a notable work of Salim that you are really proud of?

Salim is a genius musician and works extremely hard at his craft and I love everything he touches but I am especially proud of the work he has done for Coke Studio and his film scores and all the fabulous music in ‘Bhoomi 2020’, ‘Bhoomi 2021’, ‘Bhoomi 2022’ and now everyone is so excited for the upcoming release of ‘Bhoomi 2024’. It is just next level. I love it and his passion for music is at its peak and so infectious and inspiring to me and so many others.

You and Salim are accomplished musicians. Have you ever asked him, or vice versa, for his opinion or advice on any of the compositions you both made? Have there been any disagreements about your or his musical works?

It’s great to have a partner who is also so passionate about music and we naturally become each other’s sounding boards. We give our opinions on things but at a certain point whoever whose project it is makes the final decision, creative or otherwise. So, yeah, no disagreements as our work is separate and different.

You are a jazz musician at heart, but you haven’t released any jazz-style songs.

I started my career as a jazz singer, but over time I’ve moved fully into R&B, rap, pop and even musicals. I’ve listened to Billie Holiday and Chick Correa as much as I’ve listened to Chaka Khan or Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, Phantom of the Opera or Jacob Collier. These are all my influences and I could write my songs in any of these genres, depending on the mood I’m in when I sit down to write.

We never see you at big Bollywood parties and social events. Do you prefer to stay away from the media hype?

I teach singing 8 hours a day and then whatever time I have left after singing lessons (which usually lasts late into the night) I use to create my art. Basically, I am a creator at heart and have lots of ideas and lots to say and 24 hours a day is not enough time for me to write all the songs and do other music related things I want to do, which is probably why you don’t see me at many social events.

You are an accomplished pianist, but you have never really worked on piano music, that is, your singing and your piano in one song.

I use my piano playing skills to compose music, but much of my music is electronic sounding and does not require piano playing as such. I use the piano to teach singing, to accompany students in singing, and to write and compose my music.

Have you ever wanted to sing in Bollywood films since your husband is a music director?

Today, the lines between Bollywood and independent music are blurring, and independent music could easily be the soundscape of a Bollywood film without a typical “Bollywood” sound being really recognizable. Salim has Merchant Records and big projects like “Bhoomi” and “Soundcheck” under his banner, so I can’t think of him as “just” Bollywood anymore. For my part, I’m open to anything I like, no matter what genre, language or country. If it suits me well, I do it.

Published on: Sunday, 23 June 2024, 00:00 IST