Artiste Inga in concert
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
If there is a new independent musician who embodies free-spirited artistry, it is Inga — the folk-pop moniker adopted by singer-composer Aishwarya Sridharan.
Her latest single ‘Oooh Lady!’, along with previous releases such as ‘Days Go By’ and ‘Blown My Cover’ have all the makings of a psychedelic jam straight out of the 1960s, complete with hair-raising vocals and hypnotic rhythms. Written around 2017, the trio of songs were intended to be part of an EP called You Are Here, which is a reference to her artiste name Inga, which translates to ‘here’ in Tamil.
She says over a phone call from Mumbai, “It is sort of a hat tip to being aware in the moment. But also, I have always written to encapsulate a certain emotional state.” The state for ‘Oooh Lady!’ was self-love and it pours out powerfully in the song from start to finish.
Artiste Inga
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“It was written as a love song to myself. I know it sounds trite, but I think I didn’t love myself at all. I loathed myself so much that for me, this song was a revelation. I actually do care about myself,” says the artiste, who shuttles between Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Made with Rohit Chacko on keys and arrangement, bassist Arnav Lou Fernandes and percussionist Shahrukh Sherief Padiyath, Inga has made an early mark with her independent releases. “The energy and momentum is from that collaboration that we had. I would make the songs on this broken ukelele that I had, which I hadn’t used at all,” she says, talking about the sessions for the three songs that are out now.
Parallelly, Inga was also selected and won the talent showcase Nexa Music, meeting with the likes of AR Rahman and releasing songs such as ‘Say My Name’ and ‘Bad Intentions.’
With ‘Oooh Lady!’ out now, Inga likens this older material finally seeing the light of day to being pregnant. “You’re pregnant for so long and then you give birth. I’m feeling like, ‘When will I have the next baby?’” she says with a laugh.
Like many artistic endeavours, there is a sense of insecurity that follows Inga about whether her next work will be comparable to a project as long-anticipated as these three songs, but she’s clear that “it will not compare.”
Her next project is a six or seven-track collection of songs called Intimates, which has been in the works since 2021. “It’s turned into a more electronic zone in the sense that it has been created with Logic (a digital audio workstation for music making) than analogue instruments,” she says.
On the live front, Inga has just performed across the country, including New Delhi where she was raised and in Goa, among other cities. For each gig in a different city, a separate crew of musicians join her. The artistes in Bengaluru — keyboardist Lionel Jude, drummer Rohit PS, bassist Vishal Varier, guitarist Shashank Kandachar and the Barna brothers Jonathan, Joshua and Nathanael — are the ones Inga has performed with the most, however.
“It is important for me to choose the right people first,” she says. On stage and on her recorded songs, there is a primal yet polished nature that comes out through her music. She explains, “The rawness obviously comes from my need for things to be larger than life. You’re on a stage, so it had better be. More than anything, I think it’s because I feel so restrained in daily life.”
Artiste Inga in concert
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement