If you are a regular in New Delhi’s music scene, you would know who Avneet Khurmi is. The 27-year-old crooner is now a familiar voice in various clubs in India, after her collaboration with EDM artiste Nucleya on two songs — ‘Laung Gawacha’ and ‘Aaja’ — on his latest album Bass Rani . Apart from her success in music, Avneet has also established herself as an auditor, having worked with Deloitte for five years. She is currently pursuing her MBA at INSEAD Business School in France, and she spoke to Business Line on Campus about how she manages to juggle both worlds.
How did your journey into music, and the scene in general, begin?
I loved to sing ever since my childhood but did not undergo any formal training and, hence, never thought about taking it forward. I recorded a couple of songs for my producer friends in the US and the UK back in the day and my involvement in music was limited to performances at school, college and Deloitte.
It was only when I was introduced to the karaoke circuit in New Delhi that I decided to give it a serious shot. I also made it to the India Finals of the Karaoke World Championship in 2012, which only boosted my confidence. My voice seemed to be having a quite an effect on the crowd and my friends pushed me to do something about it. Ishaan — my bandmate from Two’s A Crowd – happened to hear me at one of the karaoke bars and we decided to jam and see where things went. Ishaan also worked at Deloitte at that time, so it was easy to coordinate and make time for music. We were pretty amazed by the response our first song ‘Get Over It’ received, and things kicked off from there. The track was featured on the Lucky 7: Stupid Ditties compilation among top indie songs in the country.
Before we knew it, we had a couple of gigs every month and travelled to Bombay, Jaipur and Chandigarh, besides performing regularly in the Delhi-NCR region. Ishaan and I continued making new music, but I knew I wanted to do something about my love for Punjabi music as well. Around mid-2013, I auditioned for Voice of Punjab – I’ve never been the competition type, but this one was for my father. I reached the quarter-finals of the show, and went on to record a cover of Akhiyan Udeek Diyan by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with UK-based producer Northern Lights. It topped the iTunes World Download Charts and the BBC Asian Network Download Charts in the UK. I was experimenting a lot with sounds because, for me, versatility was a big factor. Luckily, things kept moving automatically, one opportunity after another presented itself, and my confidence grew.
Has your passion for and interest in music contributed to your personal and professional growth? If so, in what way?
Without a doubt! I strongly believe music has kept my creative side alive. In a profession like auditing there are limited opportunities to explore and develop that side but music helped me do just that. My evenings — when I did get free early — were spent jamming and working on new sounds, and my weekends were dedicated to music. Not to forget my weekly riyaaz sessions at the karaoke bars in Delhi. I developed my time management skills while balancing corporate life and my passion, my marketing and salesmanship while pitching for gigs and promoting the band, and my networking, negotiations and brand management skills while talking to clients. Most importantly, I developed confidence in myself and my abilities as a musician. From this shy woman who’d want to go and hide in a corner after finishing a song to avoid compliments to the front-woman of a band, I’ve come a long way.
Since you study at INSEAD in France, do you intend to break into the music scene in France, if there is one?
I’ve performed a couple of times at INSEAD, but it’s honestly very hard to find time to jam and get people together to perform, since we’re so busy with school. I would have loved to do a two-year MBA, where things were a bit slow. Nonetheless, I’ve met some very talented musicians at INSEAD and I’m happy to have performed with them at school.
The Big Four are known for their insane working hours. As a former audit senior at Deloitte, how did you manage to balance music and your full-time job?
They say if you’re really passionate about something, you go beyond a hundred per cent to work on it and make it happen. I knew I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to sing just because I had crazy working hours, it was really about balancing the two and making sure I didn’t compromise on the quality of either. I was also very lucky to have worked in an organisation that understood my need for flexibility with time. There were times I would drive from Gurgaon to Saket for a sound check, come back to office, complete my work, send it out and drive back to the venue to perform. It was a crazy time, with minimal hours of sleep every night, but I loved it.
At any point, did you ever consider taking up music full-time? If not, why?
There were times I wanted to leave everything and just sing. I still have those phases when I wonder what I’m doing at B-School, when I could be touring with Nucleya. But, then again, I’ve never dropped everything else to do just one thing, and I’m happy that I’m able to manage it with school — somehow or the other. I hate being away from the all the action in India, with Bass Rani creating waves across the country — playing at concerts, clubs, weddings and house parties. It is quite amazing though, to get Facebook messages and tweets from listeners and audio messages on WhatsApp from friends who just heard the songs playing somewhere — it makes me feel connected in some way.
Music is my passion and I believe I want to keep it at that. I don’t ever want to lose its importance for me in life and I have a strange feeling that it might happen if I drop everything and do it for the money, if I have to start paying the bills with it. I want to write when I want to write, sing when I want to sing, because that’s when it is real. You can’t put a deadline on your thoughts. I also know the scene is very tough to break into and it’s a rough world out there – not sure if it is meant for me. There’s also so much to do and I can’t stick to just one thing. So, music will always be my balancer, my go-to thing. I just want to make sure I find a job that gives me enough time to pursue it.
How did your collaboration with Nucleya happen?
Some time last year, Nucleya put up a post on Facebook asking his biggest fans to inbox him in case they were interested in being featured on a documentary VICE was shooting on the electronic scene in India. I happened to be among the four picked for it, which is how I got introduced to him. My bandmate, Ishaan, had previously worked on some stuff with him so he had heard about me from him. We spoke for a bit on the day of the shoot and decided to meet and see what we could do. He was keen to experiment with Punjabi as he hadn’t done it before and I was happy to collaborate with such an astounding producer.
Meanwhile, I was also picked as his mentee for the Signature Expressions Mentorship Programme, so that gave us more face time. A couple of days later, I went and checked out some stuff he was working on, and he gave me one of his samples to play around with. I wasn’t given any direction, I could do absolutely anything with the track. I loved that I got such freedom and I really respect that about Nucleya as a producer. I recorded a few covers on it, including ‘Laung Gawacha’ and wrote the original (‘Aaja’) on it as well. I was jumping with joy when he said he loved what I’d done with the track. It was just a matter of going and recording the vocals so he could start working on finalising the tracks. He dropped ‘Laung Gawacha’ at the NH7 Weekender in Delhi in 2014, and the response was mind blowing — it was his first Punjabi song and Delhi went crazy. There was just no looking back after that.
What are your plans for the future?
I plan to continue collaborating with artists and producers. I’m in the middle of business school for now and will only graduate in July. Given how fast-paced life is at the moment, there’s no guarantee where I’ll land up after six months. Fingers crossed, I hope I come across opportunities in both spheres that give me the chance to explore and develop my talents. It would be great if I find a career where I can use my singing talent in some way or the other — maybe the media and entertainment industry?