For a good year it has been rather quiet for UK-singer-songwriter Ambika Jois. But that does not mean she has been sitting still. She recently performed with creative composer Shammi Pithia during the COSM II concert in de Nieuwe Kerk The Hague. And after collaborating with vocalist Kishan Amin and Rax Timyr (composer, multi‐instrumentalist, percussionist, producer, songwriter producer) in 2013 on a patriotic track “Meri Maa– Vande Mataram”, she and Timyr have been working on her album that will be released in 2015. To already reach out to their fans, it was on November 16th that Jois and Timyr released their candle light cover of India’s esteemed vocalist Sonu Nigam’s “Dil Se Dil Tak Baat Pahunchi”, from his much-loved music album “Deewana” (2009), which is one of India’s most successful albums according to Wikipedia.
Back into the limelight
This cover is an honest rendition that attempts to coalesce a well‐known melody in the simplest yet most intimate approach. Ambika’s versatility harbours resonance throughout this piece, fulfilling what could be described as an Indi‐Pop ballad with influences of Indian classical nuances.“It’s a very romantic number”, Jois shares. “I grew up listening to Nigams album. From the beginning, this song stood out for me and when the time arrived for me to sing again after a long time, it was undoubtedly ‘the one’ to start with”. The cover is available for free via Soundcloud “Dil Se Dil Tak Cover”
Cover releases to show versatility
Every week to two weeks from now, the duo plans to release a cover song, sometimes including other artists. “These will definitely be songs with more classical melodies and a deeper meaning behind them”, explains Timyr.
While it may seem as an easy task to perform tracks of other musicians, Jois disagrees. “It’s very challenging to perform someone else’s song and let your interpretation work. Thanks to platforms such as YouTube, I can now show my versatility and improvement with these numbers.” Her producer also knows his way with cover songs: just recently he has collaborated with well-known artists Aakash Gadhi, Jonita Gandhi and Pratik Rao on their acoustic version of “Sajde”, a track featured on the soundtrack of the Bollywood movie “Kill Dill”.
Upcoming album
Jois’ upcoming album features only original songs. The vocalist, who is known for her multilingual numbers, describes the playlist as a mixture of English and Hindi tracks. Most of the Hindi songs are written by lyricist Sunil Sirvaiya (India). He has previously worked with artists Shreya Goshal and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The English tracks are composed by Jois and Timyr.
“This album is going to be interesting for listeners as well as musicians”, Timyr reveals. “We have experimented with different genres, like reggae and pop. But we also recorded ghazals and other songs with more prominent Indian arrangements.”
Both Jois and Timyr have high hopes for the album. There is one thing Jois knows for sure. “2015 is definitely going to be an eventful year”.
Written by: Stefanie Amirkhan
LINKS
RAX TIMYR PRODUCTIONS http://www.youtube.com/raxtimyrproductions http://www.facebook.com/raxtimyrproductions http://www.soundcloud.com/raxtimyrproductions Twitter & Instagram: @raxtimyr
AMBIKA JOIS http://www.youtube.com/ambikajois http://www.facebook.com/ambikajois.music http://www.soundcloud.com/ambikajois Twitter & Instagram: @ambikajois
