“Performing on stage is a liberating experience for me” – Anwesshaa

Very few artists manage to be as alluring on the stage as they are behind the mic. Anwesshaa is one such artist. Apart from lending her voice to several memorable songs as a playback singer over the years, Anwesshaa has also performed extensively on the stage. The singer-composer was recently on an international tour. She performed across different cities and regions in the United States and had several successful shows.

When did this tour start?

The first concert happened on September 20 and the last one was scheduled on October 5. I performed in multiple cities including Cleveland, San Francisco, Atlanta, Denver, Delaware, Portland and Plainsboro. I performed my Hindi and Bangla hits, some Indian classical fusion. There was also a special segment through which I paid a tribute to Lata Mangeshkar ji by singing her songs.

Who are the artists and musicians you performed with?

I performed with a bunch of talented musicians including Prithwish Roy, a bassist, Prabir Chatterjee, who was on leather percussions, Shoumik Guho, who played the keyboard, and Sourav Banerjee, who played the drums. They were my bandmates on the tour. We had a highly proficient sound engineer in the form of Gouranga Porel.

You have been working since you were in school. Do you remember the first time you went on a musical tour?

One of my earlier tours was in America around 2009. I have some wonderful memories of that tour.

You have been both a studio artist and a stage performer. What do you like doing more?

I like both. The studio offers a sense of creative calmness. When we perform in concerts, we get a better idea about how well our songs have been received by the audience.

How would you describe yourself as a live performer?

I don’t wish to describe myself as doing that would limit my spectrum of what all I want to be on stage. I do feel very happy about the fact that I get to connect with the audience through concerts. During this tour, a fan in Portland said I made him cry and dance in the same concert and he has never experienced such a range of emotions within two hours. I felt extremely humbled. There is a lot more that I wish to do as a performing artist.

Is there any special memory from this tour that you would like to share?

The tour was memorable as a whole as we had houseful concerts. In every city that we performed in, the energy exuded by the audience was amazing. There is, however, a sweet memory that I would like to share. A little girl came to meet me backstage in New Jersey. She was holding a piece of paper in hand. When she showed it to me, I realized she had made a sketch of me. The girl in the sketch had exactly the same curly hair as mine.

During your international tours, what kind of response do you get from the NRI audience? Do foreigners also come?

The response is generally overwhelming. Apart from NRIs, I have come across people of American and Mexican origin. Indian music is popular across the globe. Even those who understand the languages these songs are made in connect with them.

What has been your biggest takeaway from this tour?

My biggest takeaway from the tour was understanding the fact that meditative leisure enhances our productivity. We had a couple of breaks when we got to travel and explore the cities we were performing in. We got to visit some places in Cleveland including the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Lake Eerie. Such kind of explorations, I have realized, work like magic.