When I started writing music for my first EP, I knew that a huge part of the process, the songs, and the visuals would be about honouring my past, and with that, my family. Though my first single, Divination, is a personal song about facing the unknown and having the courage to endure, as it started breathing to life, the image of my grandmothers would come to my mind more and more frequently. They have served as inspiration for so much of my life, and so I wanted to share some of their story with you, in the hopes that the song and video can carry you to the place it holds in my own heart and imagination.
Growing up, I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t fully understand them. I was very aware of the way they were received when we were out together in public, with their Punjabi dress and covered heads. I noticed the shaky, childlike handwriting when they would sign their signatures to pay at the stores, without understanding that they did not have the privilege of an education. I was aware of their broken spoken English; I would wonder why my Nani ji spoke English with a west Indian accent, without understanding that when she arrived in the UK, the West Indian women in the factories were the ones who made the effort to speak to her. I am glad to say I have since learned their stories, and the stories of so many women like them, and I couldn’t be more honoured or more humbled to be a product of their lives, and to carry their blood and stories in my veins.
I travelled back to the UK this summer for the first time in over two years. COVID had meant that it wasn’t safe or possible to travel, but as restrictions lifted, I was excited to go back home, be with my family, and film videos for a couple of the songs on my EP. When I arrived at my parents house, the first room I went into was my old music room; a beautiful room with hardwood floors, no furniture, a piano, and a bookshelf full of Tabla. Something was different though, something that hadn’t been there before. In the corner of the room were two, big, brass pots, glinting under the soft lights. I immediately asked my mum what they were, and where they had come from.