I'm now composing music for myself, said Lesle Lewis when he was in Visakhapatnam for Sounds on Sand

Dressed in a blue brocade jacket and mojaris, with a single red braid hanging out of his tied back hair, Indi-pop god Lesle Lewis is exactly how a 90s kid would envision him to be, his style has remained unchanged through the years. “Creating my look was like creating a song. I see someone trendy in London and Goa and I think; how do I incorporate it into my look? See, I’m 58 years old and still wearing this sh&%.But I love it, it’s totally me. It’s taken time to cook and once it has become classic, it’s classic,” says the singer who performed in Vizag on Saturday. Before going on stage he took some time off for a chat with Vizag Times.
While his sense of style may have been consistent, what has definitely changed though is his approach to music. “Since I was 19, I’ve always made music for everybody but myself. I’ve never made music for the artist called Lesle Lewis and now’s the time. I feel 19 at heart now and this is my reinvention as a singer. I call my genre of music ‘Global Hindi,’ because the music isn’t typically Indian nor classical. I’ve been performing fabulously with my band and I’m ready to explore,” he exudes
Moving on is something Lesle strongly believes in, through his career he’s donned five different avatars – guitar player, jingle composer, music producer, a band member and now, a singer performer. “Everybody loves to cling to the past and that’s fantastic, but what about the future? Today you cling to it because there was no Indi pop back then, par ab woh ho gaya. Now you’re like, woh time accha tha. Yeh time bhi accha hoga naa aage, accha karoge toh. So I’m setting the pace for the next generation, so that when they’re old, they’ll think 2018 was superb too.”
The composer in him seems to have finally met the singer in him and he’s confident together they’ll create nothing less than magic. “Nal khul gaya hai, now it’s never gonna stop. I’m having fun and my family is fed up with me. I have so much material to release a new album every three months for the next few years! Some universal law has brought me to this point and there’s no going back. The only difference from the 19 year old me, to now, is that all my music is in Hindi. Everybody is amazed that I’m writing Hindi lyrics. My mom and sister even gave me a standing ovation after they heard one of my new songs. I’ve never written a Hindi song in my life so they’re shocked,” he says with a grin.
But why Hindi? “Because I want to speak to the people of India and Hindi is a language that connects us all. I’ve been a musician since I was a kid and couldn’t even play a guitar. I’m now spewing out everything I grew up with, be it Jimi Hendrix or The Beatles. There’s just so much good music in the world that most don’t listen to because it’s in English or any other language.”
He croons a few lines of Demis Roussos’ Say You Love Me and says, “See, that’s not Mehbooba from Sholay. It’s actually a Greek singer’s song. RD Burman was inspired by it to create Mehbooba and of course he copied some of the tune. But if he didn’t, we would never have had Mehbooba otherwise.” He’s quick to add, “That’s not what I’m doing, I’m not lifting anything – not the same song, nor the same melody. I’m just trying to bring in the essence.”
Talking about his latest release Paise ki Maa ki Aankh, Lesle says it’s not inspired by demonetisation or ‘any of the other sh%& happening now’. The lyrics come from a place that’s relatable to everyone, he explains as he sings some of the lyrics. “Kaisa hai ye jeena, jo kamaaye cheena, is how a lyric goes in the song. Doesn’t it bother you that you never get your due? Human life is such that we can’t even die without money. As you get older you probably realise that your life has been ruined by it. That’s what the song is all about, how we’re controlled by money. I’m not trying to sound like doomsday, but it’s the truth no one wants to listen to.”
Lesle rules out the possibility of the Colonial Cousins (Hariharan and Lesle Lewis) teaming up again. “Hariharan used to sing for my jingles and Colonial Cousins happened when we were time-passing one day. It has been a timepass band ever since, we’re not a jodi that’s done it for a career. We were messing around and that’s the end product. He has always done his own thing and I’ve done mine,” he says.
He attributes the perfectionist in him to his father, PL Raj, who was one of the biggest choreographers of his time, in Bollywood. “My dad was one of the biggest choreographers in Bollywood and that idiot was also a perfectionist. That’s where I got it from. In his era, he was respected for it. Everyone called him master ji, right from Amitabh Bachchan to anyone else. The respect for the art is now gone,” says the singer.
He is working on folk fusion music for now. “I’m collaborating with pure folk singers. With them, I’m creating folk fusion the likes of which you’ve never heard. I’ve recorded with 10 artists from all over the country so far and there’s more to come,” he says.
Lesle was last in Visakhapatnam before Hudhud to sing at the Navy Ball. He’s surprised at how much the city has changed since then. “I got down at the airport and I could see a massive change that’s come about in the city in the last three years. Be it the roads or the way it’s being maintained, everything has changed.”
He calls Vizagites ‘slightly hip and cool’. “There’s this whole laidback vibe going on in the city, unlike anywhere else. The people here seem like they’re in no hurry to go somewhere. They seem comfortable enough to be in a world of their own.”