No melody in today' music: Leslie

It was a splendid moment as the musical ace Leslie Lewis came down to the city for a grand opening of the Carlsberg film festival in Nagpur yesterday, and said in his firm voice, "The festival is now open to one and all".
Dressed in an ethnic embroidered kurta and chunky jewellery around his neck, he looked boho chic as usual. Coming to Nagpur for the first time, Leslie said, "This is my maiden visit here, but I have a feeling of déjà vu, so maybe I have some old mysterious connection with this City of Oranges."
Rock-star
His new track will be released around the forthcoming World Cup.With childlike enthusiasm he says: "My new track is all about our diverse country and its warm people."
Compliment Lezz, as he is fondly called, about being the inventor of remix-songs in India, and he merely says, "I feel great that my style of music has made a difference in the industry and is still being followed massively. But now, I want to give my listeners something novel as remixed songs have become clichéd, and I believe in doing things differently, so here I am to find my music again!"
Colonial Connection
He has given huge pop hits like 'Krishna Nee', 'Kai Zhaala' and 'Indian Rain' along with his colonial brother Hariharan. Ask him if the duo is set to make a comeback, and with a benign smile he answers, "We are in the process of making a brand new album, which will retain our old flavour of Indo-western music."
Reality Check
In this age of realty shows, ask Lezz if he believes in talent that comes out of reality music shows, and he replies, "India has a lot of talent and realty shows are lending a helping hand to reach out to these hidden talents. But, my belief is that the old-time music shows - where all the decisions were left to the judges - have given us better artists than shows that have opted for the new method of SMSes and voting."
On item numbers topping the charts these days, Lezz says, "Item-numbers sell because people demand them. The music today is not about melody, it's only about entertainment." Ask him to choose between the two hottest numbers of 2010, Munni and Sheila, and he says, "I love the funkiness of Sheila while Munni is more like a classic Bollywood track."
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