Sanjeev Satgainya

Kathmandu:

Twilight offered faint rays and clad in a long spanking white sarong and a top of the similar shade, to see the pop diva just beneath a huge tree on the lawn of Shanker Hotel, gave an impression of an angel beckoning. One of the pop sensations of India during post-90s, Anaida was there whom I encountered and she was shooting for a music video for her forthcoming album ‘Naya’. “It is my first visit to this place,” she chuckled while she took a small break. Anaida stormed on the Indian music scene in 1995 with her solo hit Hotline. In 2001 she cut her last album and then for some time it seemed she was in a slumber. “No I was as active as I used to be, the only thing was I was travelling around and doing some international numbers,” she divulged.

The first solo itself was a mega hit and that put her onto the top but fame and name never engulfed her. Queen of pop but still down-to-earth, a double graduate with degrees in science and commerce, Anaida shared, “Since I had pretty strong academic background, my parents wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor but my passion for music made me a professional musician.” Anaida spent her early years doing theatres and musicals. “I still love theatre and I am more in world music. I don’t want to be tagged as a singer of certain genre. Irrespective of the language, music bridges the gap between the cultures, religions and isms. And I truly believe in that.”

Anaida is working together with Ravi Baral. Ravi Baral is producing and directing a series — International Jam Hour — for an Indian channel and Pooja Gurung is creative consultant for

the project. “We will be shooting pilot episodes for the series as well in a couple of days here,” informed Anaida. Extremely talented and a good dancer, she sings in 10 different languages and is an accomplished painter of oil, watercolour and chalk paintings as well as intricate Persian miniatures on glass. She also does detailed carvings and paintings on leather. Poetry is her yet another passion. “I am doing poetry since I was three and like other hobbies this is also very much personal and I hardly share my poetry with others.”

Fond of gardening and pets, Anaida’s upcoming album is scheduled to hit the market

sometime in September this year. “Every time I have tried to accomplish something new and I have worked hard in the last two-three years in this album and I hope to get a good

response,” she smiled.