Tara Lily refuses to be pigeonholed

And she finds inspiration in resistance to colonisation in all its forms. Need we say more?

- Ananya Rai

When your childhood is scored by Scottish punk and Bengali folk music, it's safe to say that your life will be anything but conventional (and also that you will likely grow up to be a musician)—case in point: Tara Lily. Her mom, a Scottish punk singer, and her dad, a Bengali folk musician, met and got married in South London, where Tara was born and came of age. She went on to study jazz at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. When we catch up, Tara tells me that she feels most at home—and least like an outsider—in London.

Her debut album Speak In The Dark was released in September last year. “It’s about the things we say, and the things we don't say...speaking out against injustices, secrets, and fascinations,” she shares. When I ask her what inspires her, she says, “Resistance to colonisation in all its forms,” in a jiffy. Here are excerpts from an interview that goes beyond the album, at the core of what makes Tara Lily impossible to ignore.

Cosmo India: What have you been up to lately?