Interview | Singer Tanya the Empress: I have always had a vision to bridge the East and the West 

Singer Tanya the Empress performing
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Singer Tanya Dutt or Tanya the Empress, as she is known on stage, considers herself an allrounder, venturing into various disciplines such as theatre, psychology, voice training and even competitive equestrian sports. Her style of music too, she says, is a blend of everything. “Can you hear the blender in the background? Well, that’s how I would describe my music, it’s a blend of everything,” she says during the conversation over the phone.

Tanya, 33, is a graduate in Professional Music from the Berklee College of Music, Massachusetts in the US. She had her debut solo concert on September 13 in California and performed at around six music festivals last summer in the US. Tanya released her latest single ‘Ma’at’ on streaming platforms in early August. 

‘Ma’at’, Tanya says, is an Egyptian goddess. “But I don’t see them as deities but as archetypal. Ma’at is all about justice, judgment, and fairness, not outside, but within. If you were to listen to the lyrics, it paints its own story; but for me, it’s all about making that choice on how I brought that balance, justice and judgment for myself instead of playing the blame game,” she adds. 

In November 2023, Tanya released her first solo album titled Ancient | Future, which consists of over-a- decade old songs, she says. Tanya adds, “It (the album) was almost like my past self had written this for my future self when I was going through turbulent situations. It was like a guide to me.”

Tanya the Empress performing
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Tanya relocated to Delhi from Kolkata at seven. After high school, she was planning to head to Australia for graduation. However, an acquaintance convinced her otherwise, telling her that she has got the voice for Berklee. “Going from India, Berklee was this free ground. There were so many new things to explore and live life as a young adult and teen. It was a very colourful experience,” she says.

Tanya’s inclusion in the lineup for Ten & Timeless was a coincidence. Roy Cherian, brother of Tomy Cherian, one of the founder-members of the Hard Day’s Night collective came across a video of her performing Aretha Franklin’s ‘Think’ at the Norman’s Rare Guitars in Los Angeles. It was Roy who asked Tomy to take Tanya on board for the event commemorating the collective’s 10th anniversary. The group is a bunch of men and women from the baby boomer generation, who have been organising concerts in the city featuring music of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

The singer considers the opportunity to play at the event to be “divinely timed and aligned”. She says, “I have always had a vision to bridge the East and the West, to do that here and there because they are two different scenes but like two sides of the same coin. I don’t want to leave India, nor do I want to not be in the States.” 

“We are going to be doing mostly covers for the show but at the end, I have about five or six of my originals which I will be doing to track… For covers, we’ll be covering songs from Elton John to classics and so on,” adds Tanya. 

On her return to the US, Tanya says, she has a few shows lined up with all original songs in Los Angeles. She is planning on releasing a few singles soon and also dropping an extended play or EP next year. 

Catch Tanya the Empress perform at Ten & Timeless on October 5, 2024 from 7.30 pm at Trivandrum Club. For more details contact +91 9995634737