Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that force us to change who we are. I was there for many years, and then I found a source of strength…” These poignant words accompany a Youtube video titled ‘MI Full Ride 2012 Entry (for keyboard) Natasha Pinto’ and perhaps best describe the artiste. Natasha seems lost in another world as she croons, “… all I had was the hurting past and the music…”
True to form, that’s all she did indeed need — the music. It not only saw her through most of her life, but also took her on a journey halfway across the world. Natasha was among the few Indians to be voted to jam and learn with some of the best in the world with the Full Ride Scholarship at the Musicians Institute, College of Contemporary Music in Los Angeles (MI).
For this hardcore jazz lover “from the cassette generation” with classical roots, MI came as a revelation when she flew to the US. Months later, sipping a drink at a café in Chennai, Natasha recalls that once at MI, she had no idea what was in store for her. “I was jetlagged and trying to come to terms with the fact that I had just been introduced to the likes of drummer Joel Taylor, bassist Ric Fierabracci and Michael Miller (who apparently has played with Amy Winehouse)!”
Though known for its metal scene — of which Natasha is no big fan — MI turned out to be a vibrant experience with musical flavours, inspirations, influences and genres from around the world. “You meet so many different musicians, from rappers to metal bands to classical. And they come from different places like Korea and India. It’s like a hub of creativity. It’s all about adapting and survival,” she reveals.
Adapt Natasha did, and playing with so much varied talent around her that she was finally free from doubt. “I realised that I wasn’t so bad after all,” she laughs. “It’s only when you play with musicians who are better than you, that you actually learn,” she adds on a more serious note. More importantly, the interactions at MI even made Natasha look differently at metal!
Now back home, the Mangalore musician is at no loss of words to thank all those who made her MI dream a reality, especially her band members from Chennai — Ami, Viji and Abe Thomas from MI, who not only made all the arrangements for the trip, but also motivated her to take up this opportunity. And then, there was no stopping Natasha. “We put together the music video for the selection in three days,” she says, seemingly lost in the memory. She now has around seven months to come up with the remaining 50 per cent of the expenses—the scholarship only covers half—before the MI course gets rocking. , “I teach some students and also do gigs. Before the course starts, I hope to release an album,” she says, determination writ large on her face. “It is going to be a mixture of Tamil and English,” she confides, while confessing her ‘recently-found’ love for Indian film music.
But the Harris Jeyraj fan does have a grouse about the local scene. Natasha feels that in India, there are not many female musicians. “There are many vocalists, but not musicians. I was the sole woman musician at the MTV Rockathon in 2002,” she says. Perhaps with a promise to change all that, Natasha now has one destination in mind — LA, California.