Honey-voiced young artist Gayathri is one of Dubai’s growing crop of emerging stars.

The singer-songwriter mixes Eastern and Western influences and has collaborated with the likes of Young Vaughn, as well as releasing introspective solo material.

She will perform tonight on the Floating Stage in Festival City, which is showcasing the best new musicians as part of Dubai Sound City. City Times met Gayathri for a quick chat.

Can you tell us something about your background?

I moved to Dubai when I was seven from Chennai in India. I went to Our Own English High School in Oud Metha, then back to India for college.

How did you get into music?

My mum is an Indian classical singer, and my dad is an avid collector of Indian classical concert albums. I grew up with that in my house and it has been like a soundtrack to my life. It gets under your skin and stays there. When my brother came home from college, he brought back artists like Alanis Morrisette, Jewel, Fiona Apple and Jeff Buckley. I started listening to that when I was about 13.

And when did you start writing your own material?

It was when I went to college. My Indian classical flair came together with stuff I had heard in the recent past.

How do you fuse those two musical cultures?

I use classical scales, which are taught in Indian music. They form the skeleton of every song, and for me that’s the prototypical place to go the minute I start writing a song. I find an Indian scale way more familiar than a Western scale. It’s actually quite fun to see how two worlds can merge in songwriting.

How many releases have you had so far?

I released a five-song EP in March. It’s called Disengage. I have my bank of about 50 songs, but since I’m not a Rockerfeller it takes a lot of money to put an album out! I picked a few songs to get my music out there and generate some buzz. People have been really receptive.

How rewarding was it winning a slot to perform via the Road to Sound City competition?

It was fantastic. I’m psyched to play Dubai Sound City – it’s the biggest winter music festival Dubai has ever seen. And it’s amazing, because I was playing open mic nights two years ago when there was pretty much nothing here, and I’ve seen it grow into this cool indie scene. It feels good to be a part of it.

Is it true you’ve performed internationally before?

I went on a mini-European tour last year in London and Paris. And I’m going on a bigger tour this year, where I’m also going to play Rome and Amsterdam.

Have you undertaken any musical projects other than your EP and tours?

The kind of projects which are coming up are way more creative than commercial or corporate. In the last year or so, I’ve performed music for the (Dubai-based movie)  City of Life soundtrack, and I recently collaborated with Young Vaughn and The Recipe on their mixtape. I’ve also been working with a cellist called Aaron Kim, who will be performing with me at Sound City. People are getting very excited – we’re all anonymous artists in the grand scheme, so we have this leeway to experiment and do whatever we want.

What’s your day job?

I’m a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines here.

Do you play any instruments other than the guitar?

I play a bit of keyboard, and I like using weird percussion too. One whole song on the EP was just with spoons and cans and things like that. If it’s weird I’ll play it!

adam@khaleejtimes.com