Sauce and Spice – Of Salsa dancer Giju’s debut album “Rang Rangeeli”

June 25, 2007, The Hindu – Metro Plus Chennai

When you hear the promotional talk about the Latino dancer and then learn that he is about to release an album of Hindi songs, you wonder at the versatility of this Latino. You also wonder how to pronounce the consonants in his name, Giju. But take a closer look, and Giju turns out to be a true blue Indian, born in Kerala. Giju John to his colleagues at the IT company he works for, and just Giju to his audiences.

Singing in Hindi for the album Rang Rangeeli may have been just fulfilling childhood ambitions for Giju, who was enamoured of Bollywood and its swinging ways, but learning Salsa was not the natural path for this young man, who grew up in Thiruvananthapuram learning Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music.

Having performed a bit of both up to his college years in India, he went to the U.S. to pursue his Masters in Florida, then landed a job in California. That was where he watched Salsa for the first time, attending an evening with friends. He fell in love with the dance style that has its roots in a fusion of Caribbean genres, and decided to pursue serious training. Currently he is a member of SalsaMania Dance Co, which is rated number three in the world for its high power performances.

As for the changeover from the statuesque postures of Bharatanatyam to the twirls and tosses of Salsa (its name comes from the Spanish for sauce), Giju says it was not difficult. I was able to break out of that mould even when I was in India, he says. His job leaves him enough flexibility, says Giju, to be able to pursue his passion vigorously. Having come to India on work, he has also taken out time for the launch of Rang Rangeeli.The album, produced under the Raga to Rock label, contains original Hindi songs penned by Swati Sinha with music by Benny Johnson. Giju has sung one in a duet with Sadhna Sargam. With a music video the title track already done, he hopes to make another one on a song that is in the Cha-Cha style. He has his own music video company, Beyond Dreamz Entertainment Productions.

Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music both being highly rhythmic arts, did he ever think of fusing these with the Latino styles?

Not really. I haven’t thought about it. I don’t know, popularity-wise, how viable that would be, he admits frankly, adding that fusing Hindi lyrics with Latino rhythms was a more reasonable option since both appeal to the masses.