Ditty speaks about debut album ‘Poetry Ceylon’ and how a whale shark inspired the album cover
From making a living as an ecologist and an indie musician to finding inspiration in the island country of Sri Lanka, Ditty gets candid about her debut album.
Aditi Veena, a.k.a Ditty’s debut album, ‘Poetry Ceylon’, released on June 3 and the eight track long album brings out the singers unique perception of the world around her. An ecologist by day and musician by night, Ditty’s album reflects her love for the island nation, Sri Lanka. The album was released by New Delhi based indie label, Pagal Haina.
In a brief emailer with Apeksha News, Ditty spoke about the two things she cares for the most and how she has devoted herself to them. She further elaborated on her concerns regarding the environment and how one whale shark inspired her album cover.
Q: You are an ecologist by day and a musician by night. How do you think the two get along?
Honestly, they are just two things dear to my heart, and I just make it work. They are integrating into each other, and a lot of my songs are talking about the environment of late and music seeps into the gardens I design.
Q: Your music has an influence of the '50s folk musicians, and as we know music then played a very strong role in activism. Do you see your music being an active instrument in creating awareness?
I feel like it's a really strange time we’re living in. Life is full of so many contradictions. We are really afraid to talk about the Earth. We are fearful of being unpopular. We are fearful to discover the realities and facts. No-one wants to take responsibility for their actions. We can’t handle it. We would rather not be part of reality. It’s just difficult really. One would use a bamboo toothbrush or a paper straw and say we’ve done our bit. So I really hope that through this music I can just get someone to think beyond something like this. For me, it’s not about saving Mother Earth. It's about realising that we are part of this complex thing called Mother Earth. I hope my music can make people start to think. That’s a beginning.
Q: What concerns you most about the environment today, and how would you try to change that?
I guess what concerns me the most is our attitude towards nature and the fact that we are unable to/ incapable of seeing and realising the true beauty of nature and life. That we as a society have been incapable of change. I suppose what concerns me the most is that life continues to shrink before our eyes and we let it. We don’t understand oneness. This is it. Life is precious. We are the only planet in the universe that we know to have supported life over millions of years. It’s a beautiful world. We don’t see it. We are consumed in our gadgets and fantasy worlds like game of thrones and this and that, but life skips us.
I don’t know how we can change this. The masters have laid out paths for us. It has to start from within us. I think we have to start looking inwards and start being content with what we have. We have to stop treating nature like a bag of goodies that we can finish.
Q: Coming to your debut album, could you tell us how have you arranged the tracks? Is there a story behind the tracks?
There’s no chronology. All songs are experiences. I’ve arranged it how it all sounded good to me. The stories are what you hear is what you get. There are hardly any hidden meanings in the songs.
Q: The cover is very interesting. How did the design come up?
I spent a lot of time by and in the ocean. I suppose that’s primarily why I moved to Sri Lanka and now live in Goa. This one time, I went diving with my partner and some others; we were done with our second dive and came up to the surface. We climbed back on the boat and lo! Here was a shark fin circling our boat. It was a whale shark. She was 5 m long. Perhaps a baby. She had separated from her family. Stuck under her belly were three little fish, who were eating some creatures off her body. We jumped back into the water with only our fins on. She went around the boat and arched up, again and again, to be petted by the boatman. All she wanted was love. She played with us for half an hour and then she swam away. It was an encounter with a gigantic soft being that I will never forget. I suppose my time on the island is encapsulated in that moment. My experience of living away from home, meeting some beautiful creatures and spending time learning about myself.
Q: Now that your debut album is out, you will be travelling quite a bit. Which cities are you looking forward to travelling in?
We’re starting with the big cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and will later go into the smaller cities and hopefully sing in gardens.
Q: As an independent artiste, what would you say has been your biggest obstacle?
It’s definitely making a living out of doing this.
Q: Would you say that the indie scene treats all genders equally unlike the commercial industry where we know women have been ill-treated for a long time?
I wouldn’t say it’s the same. I’m not sure if women are ill-treated. Perhaps, in some ways. It’s more a case of them not being taken seriously.
Listen to Ditty’s debut album right here: https://fanlink.to/poetryceylon.
