Dance With Me

June 26, 2007, Kolkata Newsline

You’ve jived and sashayed on the dance floor to the beats of Marc Anthony’s salsa monga ballads and Ricky Martin’s Latino singles. And now you have Giju John, a new singer on the block, who wants to make sure you forget the Spanish numbers and go cha cha cha to the beats of his own desi version. John, a 32-year-old member of California-based Salsamania Dance Company is in India these days to release his debut Hindi pop album Rang rangeeli yeh duniya. Produced by Raga To Rock, a production house in Mumbai, the album, will be formally released in a month’s time. It will have eight songs including a duet with Sadhana Sargam. My album is refreshing with a heady dose of salsa and cha-cha style rhythms. The songs are in Hindi, but have a smattering of Spanish, he says.

But what made this trained Bharatnatyam and salsa dancer turn to singing? I am also a Karnatic musician and ever since my college days, I dreamt of becoming a Hindi pop singer. Though salsa happened by chance, it is music that drives me, says John who left Kerala for California eight years ago. And hasn’t looked back since.