MUMBAI: Her powerful and melodious voice combined with her polished Hindustani classical music background was what we witness in Iktara, Tumhi ho bandhu and others. Kavita Seth’s insistence of the poetic meaning of the lyrics make her a selective artiste, but not any less talented. The artiste’s recent appearance on Coke Studio Season 3 has only added to her portfolio and strengthened the niche “indie” artiste image that people associate her with. She will be taking stage at the World Sufi Spirit Festival that will kick start on Monday, 17th and will culminate on Sunday, 23rdFebruary at Jodhpur. The singer spoke to Radioandmusic.com’s Disha Deshpande about Iktara, Bollywood as a platform for Sufi music and her days with Doordarshan and All India Radio.

What was Iktara for you?

Just like it was an Iktara (a star) for the world, so was it for me. It is there and it will be there with me till I die and even longer. For people you only exist from the time you get recognition. Iktara was that turning point. I am the same person I was before Iktara. Every day I strive to improve myself and get connected on a deeper level with Khuda(God). That song is an anthem for every show now.

Did you ever feel a pinch that people did not know you before Iktara?

An artiste’s life is a journey. It does not matter if people knew you before. In fact, when people start indentifying you and your music, you become responsible; for upholding their trust and always outperforming yourself and doing better. Earlier, I did not necessarily need to do something perfectly, now I do. When people know your work, they expect greater things from you and that is when you need to surpass yourself every time.

You have not had a Playback career per se. Why is that so?

People call me the ‘Aamir Khan’ amongst singers (laughs)! After Iktara, I did quite a few good songs. Then I decided that I did not want to do just about anything; it was time I was selective. I get invited to perform at Sufi Festivals all over the world, but somehow I never get a chance to sing Sufiyana songs in Bollywood. Songs that lack poetic value just do not appeal to me. The songs I sing need to either be beautifully poetic or Sufi.

People connected with ‘Iktara’ and ‘Tumhi ho bandhu’ because good poetry lives on. The rubbish that is served to the audiences these days has terrible shelf life. Poetry has fallen to the level of a ‘Lungi’ and ‘Saadi ka fall’. God knows how much lower it will sink. When I had performed in December for the concert I organised in the Memory of Mr. Seth on his second death anniversary, I decided I would not sing a single film song. I performed my own compositions, each outshining the other, and for two and a half hours, not one person budged. People’s tastes have not changed. We have stopped serving them good music. And even if we are making good music, it is being overshadowed by the over-promotion of item songs.

In today’s world, do you think being choosy pays?

I was asked to sing Hookah Bar. But the lyrics were just bad. So I refused. Later on, on Koffee with Karan, when Vidya Balan said it was a song with the weirdest lyrics, I felt glad that I had not sung it (laughs).

I do not want to take up a song that is not me, only to get more shows and more money. Creativity is something very personal and if I am connected with myself, then it will not take long for people to connect with me and my work. These things do not hold value. I want my work to be remembered, whether I live or die, and I hope people will remember me by my work.

I have one desire though; to collaborate with A R Rahman Sahab for a Sufi song. But God knows when that will happen.

You used to sing for AIR and Doordarashan. Tell us about that.

I did not belong to any Gharana, but perhaps my soul was ungratified and I had to sing. I must have been seventeen or eighteen then. When I used to listen to AIR, I used to wonder when my voice would play on the radio. I got a form for AIR and filled it out. I had no one to guide me. I found poems and composed tunes for them. I went for the audition to Rampur and got selected in the first round itself. What is more was that when people praised me for getting selected, I did not think it was a big deal because I did know how things worked. And so I started composing and singing. I think God just takes you down paths to a point from where you can take it yourself. I did not have the thin high voices that were popular back then, but there was that drive from the beginning, and it has got me till here.