We recently connected with Kamini Natarajan and have shared our conversation below.

Kamini, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I started my journey with music as a 10 or so year old. My family from my mother’s side were all into music which made it easy in some ways to find my path. I started learning and performing from a young age and at that time I had no idea what music meant for me. I just did it because I was considered good at it. I was initially just going with the flow. I graduated in music while simultaneously pursuing electrical engineering. Engineering was considered a safe option that would make decent amount of money. I remember vividly that the first time I ever recorded my music at a music studio in Mumbai, India in mid 1990s and then heard back my own voice, I had chills. The magic that recording studios brings, the reverb on the vocals, that brilliant stroke on sitar, the rhythmic beats of tabla, everything sounded surreal. I knew this is what I wanted to do for my life and have continued on this path for several decades now.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a world music and kirtan singer from India. I was born in a music loving family and started learning music from a very young age. I started performing when I was 10. I went on to learn the intricacies of Indian classical music for more than a decade and dedicated much of my youth to music. During this time, I also participated in several national level music competitions across India and won several of them. MY first music album was for devotional music and was released in 1998 by a record label named Baba Music.

I moved to So Cal in 2002 and have since called it home. Moving to a new country meant moving away from the known to unknown. I had reinvent and relearn many day to day mundane things like driving on the right side of the road to exploring new opportunities in music and expanding beyond Indian classical music.

I started collaborating with world music producers and was featured in an album called Tantra Lounge Vol 3 alongside Anoshka Shankar and Talveen Singh. I also started reaching out to yoga and kirtan festivals across the USA and got invited to play at several of them.

I currently teach, record, produce and perform world music and kirtans and travel the globe.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My creative journey with music has taken me to many places across the globe. I have met people from various cultures, speaking various languages. In my several decades of experience with music, Music goes beyond barrier and connects people. There is joy and peace in music. It helps elevate the pain and sorrow within our hearts.

When we explore the history of music we notice so many similarities between cultures that live thousands of miles apart. The joyous pentatonic major raga (mode/very roughly a scale) called Bhupali in India, is also played in native Americas, sub-Saharan Africans, and East and Southeast Asias, as well as in many European countries.

My mission is to connect souls and hearts through music. In today’s world where there is so much division and stress, music is a natural way of bringing us together.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Artists bring so much to the society and community. There are several ways society can help support. It doesn’t take much to buy music, to attend or sponsor concerts and performances, to back an artist on platforms such as patreon and most importantly to recognize the importance of art, music and creativity in general.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kaminimusic.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kaminimusic
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/kaminismusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/kamininatarajan
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/04sSlzheDeFzbqU23DVGTd

Image Credits
Chandra Sivaraman