PIONEER | SEEMA
‘If I Could Choose Again, I Would Choose to Be Indian’ Musical maestro Annette Philip on finding her joy ABHIJIT MASIH
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he’s an incredible vocalist, a professional recording and performing artists, a composer, pianist, AND the founder and director of the Berklee Indian ensemble, which broughtSouth Asian music to the Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. Annette Philip is known for her dense choral arrangements and concept-driven productions with memorable collaborations with the likes of A.R. Rahman, Zakir Hussain, Bill Whelan and Buster Williams. The artist shared her incredible journey with SEEMA – from the backwaters of Kerala to the Back Bay in Boston. Tell us about your Indian roots and your
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years there before moving to the U.S. and your association with Berklee College of Music. My family is originally from Kerala in South India, but both my parents were based in Delhi when I was born. We moved to Singapore for about eight years, which is where a lot of changes started to happen. We finally came back when I was about 11. Coming back to India close to being a teenager was a very interesting time. I really understood what my Indian identity meant, because I always felt a little bit of an outsider in Singapore. I enrolled in the same school that my mother used to study in, That was really a very pivotal experience for me – feeling rooted, feeling that sense of connection with where she
