Vidya Vox
Vidya Vox is a South Indian-American singer based in Los Angeles, California. She was born in Chennai and brought up in America, and she grew up learning Carnatic classical music. Vidya Vox made the dramatic career shift from pre-med to music in college after receiving the opportunity to sing a few songs and finding a supportive South Asian community. She started her professional music journey by mashing up Indian and Western songs, and has since released numerous original songs that are hits around the world, a notable example being Be Free. Her latest album, inspired by her mother and centered around female empowerment, is Sundari.
"Fusion is a masala of tunes, all the genres together."
Early Music Journey
“My sister and I sang together growing up.”
Sources of Inspiration
“My heritage and things that I grew up listening to.”
Her Entry
“Combine classical musical elements and Jazz, with Hindustani and Carnatic classical Indian music.”
Mashups
“If both the scales match and the tempos match, you can mash up songs together.”
Finding Community
“It makes me feel like I’m home.”
Collaborations
“Everyone has a common goal.”
Genre of Her Music
“Using Indian instrumentation and Indian languages to bring across South Asian representation was very important to me.”
Messages
“I want people to take away messages of empowerment and resilience and bravery.”
What truly is fusion?
“It is personal to everybody’s experience.”
Challenges in Industry
“How do we use our voices and our experiences to take space in mainstream media?”