Standing up for soft, soothing MUSIC

SINGER AND SONGWRITER BINDU SUBRAMANIAM, IS ALSO THE CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF SAPA. SHE CO-FOUNDED SAPA IN SCHOOLS PROGRAM WITH HER BROTHER AMBI SUBRAMANIAM AND STRONGLY BELIEVES THAT MUSIC IS MORE THAN A FEELGOOD ELEMENT; IT IS A TRANSFORMATIONAL TOOL THAT SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE TO EVERY CHILD

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Born as Seetaa Subramaniam in Los Angeles, California, to violinist L. Subramaniam and vocalist Vijayashree (Viji) Subramaniam, Bindu always had music in her blood. Her father married the famous Bollywood playback singer Kavita Krishnamurti. Part of the Stanford Seed Transformation Program (cohort of 2020), Bindu has a master's degree in law from London University, a master's certificate in songwriting and music business from Berklee College of Music, a Montessori diploma and an MPhil, a PhD in Music Education.

1. You have been practicing and have mastered the art of classical music for a while now and have been an acclaimed artist. You wrote your first song when you were a little child. How did you find your calling?

I think it would take me many lifetimes to master anything. I've been fortunate enough to have many great teachers who inspired a love of learning in me. I started learning music from my mother. My grandfather, Professor V Lakshminarayana was a Carnatic musician. I started learning Carnatic music as a child - singing, and then the violin. All of us - my siblings and I - learnt the violin. My parents were keen that we play the piano. So, we all had classical piano lessons. At some point, there were Western violin lessons. I was really interested in Western singing, so I had Western voice lessons.

I wrote my first song at the age of seven, which if I am to be honest was heavily “inspired” by Michael Jackson. That was my childhood! I was always very drawn to pop music. I was singing and playing throughout, and in my 20s I decided that I wanted to study pop music, so I did Berklee courses. Essentially, I learnt a lot of Carnatic music plus Western classical and contemporary music.

2. What were the hurdles initially? How did you overcome them?