Vasundhara Gupta aka Vasu makes an interesting point when we talk to the musician about her new five-track EP, Parwaaz. It’s a project that fuses the traditional and modern, where Gupta marries Hindustani classical vocals with minimal electronic beats. But she tells us that this amalgamation of the East and West doesn’t reflect on the diverse geographical territories that she has inhabited, as much it does on the experiences that have shaped her as a person. She grew up in Kolkata where she trained in Indian classical music. She then flew off to the US where she dabbled in all sorts of audio work, including user-experience sound design for apps and audio editing. Then, when the pandemic hit, she came back to the homeland and spent some time in Benaras, where the sounds of the ghats made an indelible mark on her psyche.

“All of these experiences have shaped this album; it’s come out of this person that I am today, and not from the areas I have lived in. Learning Indian classical in Kolkata is a part of me. Then, being a free bird in New York City, that’s also me, as is meditating on the ghats of Benaras. It’s because of my history, roots, the past and the present that I can come up with a sound that’s unique, because my experiences are unique to me,” she explains.