The blaring Mumbai sun streams in as I sit in a quiet corner with my laptop. Armed with an adrak (ginger) chai in one hand and Gulabi Mantra playing in the background, I wait for BombayMami, the moniker of genre-blending artist Shanti, to log in.
Sharp at 11 am GMT, she’s on and apologises for keeping her camera off. Sniffing, she says she’s ill and laughs, “I’m worried I look like crap.”
Despite meeting her through a crackling laptop over Zoom, video off, her presence is palpable – warm, even through the screen.
Shanti speaks with the quiet, reflective clarity shaped by her upbringing. Having grown up between Switzerland and India, she recalls cows everywhere in the small Swiss village she calls home, whereas in India, she was surrounded by artists, writers, and musicians. Life as she knew it was a result of the blending of these worlds, and it shaped the artist she would eventually become. “As a child, you just grow up in it,” she says. “That’s normal for you.”
Lauren Cremer
Questions of belonging, however, came later. While she felt like she belonged, she was always aware she was different, a sentiment common among many who live at the intersection of cultures, juggling multiple identities at once.
Growing up in the West, her early days were shaped by the R&B and hip-hop scene, and artists like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Missy Elliott, Foxy Brown and Lil’ Kim became inspirations: “I knew I wasn’t Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. I was more like Jennifer Lopez or Ashanti.” It wasn’t until she moved to London – where she first encountered a South Asian diaspora that reflected parts of her identity back to her – that she realised she didn’t have to choose between cultures.
That gift for amalgamation eventually led to the birth of BombayMami, where her sound combines traditional Indian ragas and talas with global resonance. She says her transition from Ta’Shan to BombayMami has been in the works for some time. She always had the vision but was reluctant to do it simply because people told her to – the project had to feel authentic to her. Her journey began to take shape when she began studying Indian classical music.
Her famous picture in a red lehenga skiing down the Swiss Alps perfectly describes her music, which sits at the intersection of rooted sounds and global appeal. But embracing one’s heritage and representing South Asian women on a global stage can also make you a target for criticism – something many women already know all too well. Contemplative, she admits, “I’m learning as I go,” candid about where she is in her journey.