He is known and recognized the world over as one of Bollywood’s greatest singers! You can hear his outstanding performances on the soundtracks of some of your favourite movies. Not only does he shine on soundtracks, when he performs his live shows he makes fabulous music. I got the chance to speak with the one and only Sonu Niigaam right before his concert here in Rotterdam and he told me he was really excited about his show in Holland. He has been coming to Holland since 1994 and it was one of the first 5 or 6 countries he had seen. “I love the people over here and I love the culture.” Check out what he told me in this exclusive interview for BollySpice.com.
Strange taste
Sonu says he especially loves the Dutch audience and explained that what they like in a song is very different than the rest of the world. “The most strange, but admirable thing about the audience in Holland is the choice of song and taste of music. This audience doesn’t choose a song because of an actor or because of promotions, but they choose a song on its own merit. And as a musician I appreciate that.”
Of course that got me to wonder which songs we like here in Holland, but aren’t liked anywhere else in the world and asked the singer for an example. “There was this song, ‘Kuch Tum Kahein Kuch Hum Kahin’ from the Abhishek Bachchan film Shararat. I have sung that song at least trice in Holland after the movie came out, but I have never sang it anywhere else.” The same goes for the song ‘Tu Jo Jaan Le’ from the movie Dulha Mil Gaya that is loved here in Holland but apparently isn’t even known in India. Sonu continued: “People over here appreciated the song and didn’t care if the film worked or didn’t work. That is why I appreciate the audience from Holland.”
Expectations
Sonu went on to say that he was really looking forward to performing again in Holland and he was very satisfied with the organization of the concert. “The show has been really nicely organised. I think from all the visits in the past this is the best organised one. That means Holland is now operating to the next level. Event management is becoming more professional than personal. Tomorrows show will be a notch above other shows.” In the last few years shows have gone to a complete different level, be it technically, financially or performance-wise. “Every time we do a show it is something new for the audience. Over here it has been five years. Tomorrow is going to be a beautiful reunion between me and the audience and we’ll have a really great time,” he added.
No future ambitions
When asked about his future ambitions, he said he didn’t have any. He just wants to enjoy today. He seems to be having a lot of fun.
Unfortunately we ran out of time but I did manage to sneak in one more thing. Since just a week before Sonu Niigaam came to Holland, Kailash Kher performed was here as well. So I decided to just get a small Kailash Kher performance out of Sonu and asked him if he could just sing one line for me as Kailash Kher and he actually did. Check it out in the video below!
I had a great time chatting with him. He was very sweet and gracious to all of us. I hope there will be a day when I can chat longer with him about his work and his life as a singer, performer and entertainer. Until then I will just listen and sing along to his outstanding music
Check out these two videos!
