Music draws her back to India

On a recent visit to city, French gypsy singer Norig shared her tryst with music, upcoming album and how the city of Nawabs will remain special for her.

Arundhuti Banerjee

Fourteen years ago when a young French girl Norig came to India as a fashion designer for her work, she got fascinated by the place and wanted to explore the country. “India is an artist’s delight. The country is so vibrant, colourful and musically and culturally very different. So I made a wish to come back some day,” said the French gypsy singer after her concert organised by Alliance Francaise of Hyderabad in association with Hyderabad Western Music Foundation. At the concert, she performed in collaboration with gypsy-jazz musicians Joris Viquesnel (guitar), Olivier Lorang (bass) and Mathias Levy (violin).

Though she had training in Jazz Piano from her childhood, she was a professional fashion designer at the beginning of her career. “I wanted to bring a change into my life when I was 25 years old like any other young girl. Since I was very hyper at that time, music was the only solution to calm myself,” she shared. As she had an interest in gypsy music, she started singing gypsy songs. “When you are singing, your voice becomes the instrument. With different breathing techniques and vocal exercise, I discovered a new side of mine,” said Norig who started jamming with different musicians and touring various parts of the world with her six member band. “Since I keep collaborating with different musicians from various genres like Jazz, Romanian and Iranian musicians, it has given me the opportunity to explore more and grow as a musician. But I am thankful to my music teacher and my guitarist Sébastien Giniaux who helped me to create my signature sound that I started performing from 2002 on my first stage show in Paris.”

Norig, who is on a multi city tour, had performed in Bangalore, Chennai, Pondicherry and Hyderabad. She received lots of love and appreciation from the audience. “It’s a wonderful concert I had in Hyderabad as people were responding to music so beautifully while they danced and giving me positive vibes,” she said. The concert began with an instrumental piece followed by her Romanian bird song ‘Chiririp’ that she continued with couple of French and Spanish songs. As people started shaking their legs and grooved their body to the rhythms, the hall turned into a colourful dance floor. “This is an important concert for me as Romani gypsy music originated from northern part of India which was what I performed,” mentioned the Norig who is going to release her second album ‘Ionela’ in October. “This is going to be a very special album for me where I have written gypsy songs in French language that has been composed by Sébastien with various musical influences from jazz to rock n’ roll. There is a song in this album that is very close to my heart as it is inspired by a true story of a girl whom I met in a jail in France when I performed there 3 years ago,” shared the singer.

Talking about her Indian tour she mentioned why the city of Nawab will remain special for her, “I am in love with this city, its culture and food. I think I have gained some weight after coming here as there is so much to eat. I love dosa, the south Indian thali, masala tea, mango lassi and exotic Hyderabadi biriyani,” she concluded with a smile.