Brit / Bangladeshi singer Tara Lily has just finished her set at the Vh1 Supersonic 2023 and is lazing around with her band mates at the artists’ lounge. With slightly permed hair, a necklace, bindi, a nose ring and high heels to boost her short stature and with a Rihanna styled lookalike, Tara is a young and well groomed singer whose made mark in London jazz scene. It’s interesting to hear a 24 year old new talent who got signed to Motown Records, UK with the distinction of being their first British singer.

Hailing from South London and of South Asian/U.K. heritage, Tara Lily spent her late teens developing her own unique brand of jazz, despite growing up around rappers and beat makers. She secured a place at the prestigious Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music to study jazz vocals and piano, at the same time continuing to write songs and produce her own tracks.

In an exclusive meeting with the singer, she speaks with Verus Ferreira on her journey in music.

So tell us something about yourself. How did you get into music?

So both my parents are musicians, my father's Bengali and my mother's Scottish, and they both played music together, but very different styles. My dad listened to a lot of traditional Bengali music, Bengali folk, Bollywood. My dad used to play the tabla and harmonium and my mum was a punk – folk singer. My mum was more into rock and jazz, so they came together and they basically, brought me up with an eclectic mix of sounds. Both my parents were self-taught musicians. I've always been very eccentric person because of my parents, because of being two different worlds, two different sounds. I think I am a unique musician and really embody everything that I do and love to explore new spaces.

That's great. So you’ve been exposed to a lot of Indian music?

I listened to a lot of it while growing up. So as a child, I would listen to my parents playing a lot of their music too. I grew up in Peckham in South London, so there's a lot of like rap and pop music and that also influenced my growing up years. As I've got older, I studied jazz for four years at a conservatoire and then I incorporated all of these sounds into my latest project and my new forthcoming music which is a mix of different stuff. I'm into exploring new sonic spaces, drawing on east and west, old and new.

So do you have any roots back in India?

So my father is Bangladeshi and I have some family in Kolkata. So I have some family here in India.

So have you met your family members on your visit to India?

I've met them a few years ago. My parents are not together anymore.

Do you have any siblings?

I have a brother called Aakash and my name is Tara which stands for sky.

So, how did the name Lily come about?

My parents chose it, so in Sanskrit it means a star and Lily is for a flower. It's a special name.

So how often have you been to India?

So I came last month, my first tour I played at India's Green festival. Then it was Mumbai, Pune, Goa, and then we flew straight from there to Delhi for just one day where we played at the Jazz Festival Jazz Weekender and then flew straight from there to Pune to be here for Vh1 Supersonic. It has been really great to see so many places. I think it would be nice to spend a bit more time in these places, but sometimes when you're on tour you don't have much time. So I just go straight from the show in my outfit, all my clothes, to the airport. People think I'm crazy and then we arrive at the next place and get changed. (Laughs)

What's your academics like?

So I went to Trinity Laban Conservatoire to study jazz there as basic music is jazz and so the last year a lot of similarities between jazz and Indian classical music. So I started to try and do Hindustani with vocalist Chiranjib Chakravarty as of last year and so I’m combining the two. So a lot of the glides, the modal scales, they're very similar, so I’m working on the relationship between Jazz and Indian classical.

Coming to your music, what music have you released so far? 

I'm releasing my first album probably next year. I have released two EPs. So my debut EP, 'Lost In London' (October 2021) is softer, with piano touches, and a bit of brass, with the lyrics focusing on past relationships. That’s the first one that has the most famous of my songs The Things You Do to Me. The second EP, 'Last Flight Out' was released in September 2022 and I think was a bit on a higher level. The main track from the EP is Hotel Amour a densely romantic R&B number, with once again piano work and my vocals. I wrote this song while I was staying at the Hotel Amour in Paris. The whole EP is a journey around the world. It’s about movement, freedom, travel, immigration and love. I must also mention that I also added a bit of Kathak dance into the music video. I have been trained in Kathak and it is quite an expressive and dominant dance, so I wanted to bring that energy into the song as well as match the essence of the original drumbeat.

What’s so special about your music that makes it different from others, besides of course your genre is neo Jazz?

Anyone who listens to my music knows that no one sound like me. When you’re creating something that’s original and different, you build on that, as opposed to mimicking the new singer you heard on the radio, which I think most people are doing these days.

So what the songs based on?

The songs are based on my relationships, me being lost, being from two different worlds, growing up in London, feeling, say our place, but also feeling, you know, going between the lost and found. And then also I have a lot of toxic relationships and my songs are also about them.

What genre would you put your music into?

I would say my sound is a mix of dark R&B, jazz, Indian classical and dance. For my last project, I had a sitarist Aakash Parenkar, and he’s one of the top stars in the UK and we worked with him, jazz, pop, making it all come together.

So you put a little fusion also?

It's a fusion because we have sitar that plays generally with us. My sets always have a sitarist in the band.

What’s the music scene like in London? Are you doing a lot of shows there?

I've been playing in London my whole life as it's a really great scene. It's a lot of UK charts, which is a mix of all sorts sound, UK dance, garage, grime, jazz, soul, R&B. Jazz is a niche genre that happens in London. So I've been a part of that scene there and I've started to go to play shows in played a show in Paris, Barcelona and now India. So this year I'll do Europe, UK and I'll come back to India end of the year.

So, have you heard of Bollywood music or watched any movies?

Yes, I’ve watched the movie Ashoka, that's my favorite film. My dad has also was watched a lot of them and when I grew up. I grew up watching a lot of them.

So what’s next for Tara Lily?

An album coming out next year.

Anything else you'd like to say about yourself and about Vh1?

I just had an incredible time. It was brilliant. It was great. It was a great audience.

What about the response to your set?

I think it was a good response. People enjoyed it. There's a nice crowd of old young, that's what I like is my music's very much for everyone. It's a mix of people, not just like young pop music or old traditional music like mine. The crowd is eclectic listeners. It's generating me, you know.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira