Around the holidays in 2014, I had a chance to chat with an effervescent and endearing young musician by the name of Zoya Mohan, who is about to release an album this spring. Her approach to the creative process was inspiring, and I enjoyed my discussion with her. More on how I approached it later. The article published in the February 14, 2015 issue of India Abroad. To view it on the newspaper’s platform, click here.
Zoya Mohan approaches music the way an international chef approaches a signature dish, gathering sounds from all around the world as if they are spices to flavor the final product she’s going to serve.
“I take every song and just see what it needs,” the 21-year-old singer/songwriter, who recently released a visual album and plans to release another record in the spring, said. Her music is a collection of diverse and manifold sounds: shakers, African percussion, American guitar, vibraphones, and even the Indian bansuri—a flute carved out of hollow bamboo.
“I don’t care if we use American instruments—or if we scratch on walls,” she said of her and her band members’ style.
I met Mohan at a coffee shop on Mass Ave. in Boston, across the street from the Berklee School of Music, where she recently graduated with a degree in music business. It was the windiest New England night in recent memory, and she was wearing a teal cable-knit winter beret. Mohan was ebullient and quick with a smile, and yet also sharply introspective.
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