Aap Ke Liye, a cassette comprising love songs, was released recently at the hands of Jagjit Singh at a packed concert show held at Nehru Centre, Mumbai. The singer was Indira Naik.

A little known name though, Indira has to her credit a bhajan album titled Krishna Krishna, Ran-Jhan - a collection of Gujarati love songs, a fusion album with Warner Bros, Dance Dhamal - a remix album by Plus Music, and Lavnis - a remix album by Venus.

Coming from a family of musicians and dancers, she has trained in the Patiala gayaki under Guru Satyanarayan Singh and Mohinderjeet Singh for 15 years. “I have also learnt through my own experiences and have thus groomed myself in different aspects of music too, like the raag or taal,” says the beautiful singer.

Having sung for some TV serials, she has also mesmerised audiences in the typical baithaks all over the country. To improve her diction, she even took lessons in Urdu. “I feel one should respect our culture and poetry. Learning Urdu has helped me understand the lyrics of the songs that I sing. And with understanding comes emotion,” says Indira.

At her concert, she took the audience into the mystical world of poetry and romance with her romantic ghazal album Aap Ke Liye. The album, she says, is about the different phases of love, and has some heart-warming lyrics by eminent lyricists Shakeel Badayuni, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shadab, Jigar Muradabadi, Sajan Dehlvi and RK Pashan. “There are some fast-paced as well as some sober songs because some people love fast-paced literature and there are some who don’t prefer them. I chose songs based on the concept of love because it is a language that most people relate to. After a lot of hard work, I selected songs by these lyricists because they have put their feelings into words very well,” says a satisfied Indira who today feels on top of the world, having received an overwhelming response at the concert.

“It was the Indian Arts and Cultural Society that gave me this platform. After listening to me, they wanted to launch me. And since I had planned to release this cassette soon, I decided to combine the two, and it was a great success. It was an evening to remember. I was lucky that many popular singers and lyricists attended the concert and appreciated my singing and blessed me too. I was overwhelmed when they said they were happy somebody young has started to sing Indian poetry once again,” reminisces the singer.

Though she hasn’t yet got a break in Hindi films, she has sung a Tamil song for an untitled film with Hariharan. It has music by Vidyasagar and lyrics by Vairamathu. “I hope this opens doors for playback singing in films for me,” says Indira whose mother had wished that her daughter would follow in her footsteps and become a dancer. “But there are far too many restrictions for a dancer. So inspite of the fact that I have learnt dancing, I took up singing,” she says.

But Indira feels that even a singer has to go through a lot of hardships. Though she loves what she is doing, she feels there is no guarantee that she will be signed for programmes every week. “Money is slow here. There is no stability for an upcoming singer. Thus many good artists are dukhi. But at times, because of the sadness, they are able to bring out the right kind of emotions in their songs,” states Indira.

Her most cherished memory is of the day when she had to sing a jugalbandi with Anup Jalota on stage. “That day I learnt a lot. Anupji encouraged me a lot. It was great fun,” she says happily.

When asked about her future, she says, “I am too young to think about the future. Since I don’t want to get slotted, probably my next album will be a pop one. But I feel one should not forget sabhyata (culture). I love Indian music better than Western,” states Indira who is looking forward to going to Brunei for a concert of thumris and ghazals. “I shall be be performing before the Sultan of Brunei,” she blushes.