Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ippi Roy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ippi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Yes. I am very happy because I get to do what I love, every single day of my life. Everyday I wake up and I am grateful for the opportunities that the universe has given me. Being able to pursue a musical career in my home country and then getting an education to hone my skills further and start afresh in a new country is something a lot of people only dream of. Being a creative has its challenges. One of the biggest challenges being in a creative field of work versus a job is that in a job, you are often following directions. Someone has an assignment for you and you just have to do your part.

As an artist, you have to create your own opportunities. You have to create your own work every single day. Noone comes and hands you a golden platter of opportunities. It’s a lot of trial and error and sometimes you fail but you grow up to be a strong willed human ready to overcome any kind of challenges.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Ippi Roy and I am the founder of a Dallas based bollywood/wedding party band called “Dallas Bollywood Project.” After moving from India and graduating with a degree in Jazz, I realized that most of my peers were working in the party and wedding band circuit. It is a great opportunity and there is a lot of money in that industry.

Dallas was flooded with Jazz acts and party bands and most of my friends were associated with them. But I saw a lack of good quality Indian entertainment despite DFW having such a large Indian diaspora. I went to a lot of Indian weddings and parties most of which had DJs. When I taught a bunch of Indian families, I was requested to incorporate some Indian songs even though the kids were learning primarily western music.

This gave me the idea to start a Bollywood dance band. These kind of groups are extremely popular in India and extremely good entertainment value. I just wanted to bring of the ‘Desi’ culture here.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I came to the US to thrive as a Jazz singer. While I still love Jazz and it is still one of my core values and I am deeply rooted in the Jazz tradition, growing as an artist has forced me to study the business of music and the market. This led me to pivot to bollywood music as my main genre, There are plenty of Jazz singers especially in America. But how many of them can actually perform in Hindi or sing bollywood music without americanizing it?

If you want to get to the top of your game, it is important to know the audience and it is very important to study the market, unless you are making art for the sake of art. But if you are planning to pursue it as a career, you have to study a little bit of business with artistry.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think the non-creatives never understand what we actually do for work. Because our work does not have a fixed hour for the job, they think we have a lot of free time. I often get asked being a musician must be so fun! you’re playing music all the time, so you must be having a lot of fun. Other times I have often been asked, oh you’re a musician but what work do you do? It’s hard to explain to non creatives and justify the hours we put into developing our craft.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dallasbollywood.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ippi.music/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/Ippimusic
• Other: www.ippimusic.com

Image Credits
PC Credits Vishal Dixit Yeashu Yuvraj Kavita Chopra Dixit