Rashmeet Kaur took her Punjabi and Bollywood tunes to six cities across North America for her ‘Rashmeet Kaur Live’ tour over the last month. She sat down with Billboard India to answer our On The Road questionnaire.
1. Where did you tour and how many stops were there?
This was my first North American tour. ‘Rashmeet Kaur Live’ hit up New York, Toronto, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Oakland, Vancouver with six stops over the last month. Now I’m set to play two shows in Delhi and Mumbai in August.
2. How did the tour come about?
This was my first time doing two festivals in Canada – one in Toronto called the Luminato festival, and one in Vancouver called the Indian Summer festival. There was a lot of time between the dates. I didn’t want to waste time and me and my team, we decided let’s just put some US cities on our own and do a little tour.
That requires a lot of courage because it is not easy to figure out everything logistically. It was harder than we thought it would be and especially when there is no sponsor to back you up and you’re navigating everything on your own.
Since I’m an independent artist I believe in taking risks. I am made up of all these challenges. I am who I am because I took all those risks and challenges, right? Then we added four cities in the US. So it became a North America tour.
3. What essentials go in your tour suitcase?
I have to carry my skipping rope.
4. What’s next after this tour?
I’m going to do two shows in India which are again self-produced. It’s going to be a very different show because I’m going to be doing some very special things that I’ve never done before in Delhi on 22nd August and Mumbai on 28th August. Then in September I’m going on tour again. Then my album is releasing in the first week of August.
5. Share your must-dos while travelling
I’m a very big foodie and I want to try all the nice restaurants. I’m mostly vegan and vegetarian now. I want to try all the vegan and vegetarian restaurants wherever I go and I ask my friends for all the recommendations. Sometimes I take them along when they have time. I’m very big on food. I want to eat and try everything, especially dosa. In Toronto, I went to this place called Madras Masala and it was really nice.
6. What is your ‘On The Road’ snack?
I always carry dry fruits. I always carry my creatine powder because I’m big on working out. I don’t miss a chance, no compromise. I carry my B12, Vitamin D. I think those are very important.
Another snack that you’ll always find in my bag is elaichi (green cardamom). Elaichi is the best. It solves a lot of problems. It keeps your gala (throat) good.
It keeps the cough away and your mouth fresh. You’ll have a really nice fragrance as well.
7. What are your jetlag hacks?
When I came to Toronto, it was nine and half hours behind India and it was pretty hard. But then I make sure that I don’t sleep and then I take the next day to adjust. I think it is very important to keep a few days’ buffer to adjust the timeline, especially when you’re performing.
8. How did you find a band in North America?
It was really hard because not all of them are South Asians. So, they’re not aware of the kind of music that we make though the arrangements, chords, everything. They’re kick-ass musicians. But usually for the arrangement, I have to provide them with chords and charts and audios and videos. It’s a lot of work.
9. What song of yours is the soundtrack for this tour?
“Kahaan” – it’s a beautiful song and a lot of fans were singing it. That was the least expected by the way. I was so surprised to see that, I never knew that I’m going to do this in my life. Yes, I have always dreamed of being everywhere and performing for people and connecting with them through my music and art, but I never thought that people would give me so much love in return.
10. What was special about this tour?
The most special thing about this tour and all these cities was that so many women showed up and I felt so happy. Women usually want to feel safe whenever they step out, especially in these environments when they’re attending a concert – they have to check their shoulders and who’s there and what are they doing. I felt that freedom because so many women pulled up to my concert – they were singing along, they were happy, they were sending messages that we’re going to bring our daughters, we’re going to bring our families.
11. What’s some travel advice you’d like to share with readers?
Keep a buffer, instead of rushing. When you’re in a new country and you have never been to those airports, you don’t know what the system is and it could be anything. You might have to walk for 13 or 15 minutes or sometimes more than that. Also, keep some snacks with you.
13. Which song were you most excited about performing on this tour?
Right now my favourite to perform on the tour is definitely “Faqeeran” because wherever I went people knew it word by word and they were all singing with me. I used to get a ‘once more’ in all the cities and then I had to sing it twice. I’m a fakir, an artist, so taking “Faqeeran” on this beautiful journey with me was really a special moment for me.
14. Do you prefer hotels or BnBs?
Hotels – it’s clean. It’s easy.
You don’t have to find it. Airbnb you have to open your phone and everything and then ‘this lock that lock’. It becomes stressful sometimes and then you have to connect with people.
Since I’ve been traveling a lot, I think a hotel is the best choice.
15. Do you prefer flights or road trips?
I prefer flights for the longer distances obviously but if the raasta (journey) is beautiful I would love to take a caravan on my next tour like a mini bus with all the people in it. The US is massive. It’s big.
From New York to DC we took a minivan with the full band – a four-hour drive. Last year when I came I took a train from Toronto to Montreal. It was a 5-hour beautiful train raasta on the way – I saw a lot of scenic views.
16. Tell us about the opening acts for your shows
I had a very, very beautiful set of artists. Ramya Pothuri in LA. In New York, there was DJ Sharad who opened for me. In Toronto, I got Simar and PRI to feature on my set. PRI, a Tamil artist, and I made a song, which we got to sing for the first time for Toronto audiences. In NYC, I got Abilasha Sinha to sing with me. Ben Parag is another artist from New York. He sang “Kahaan” with me in New York. In LA, I also got Natasha Noorani. She flew all the way from Seattle to be a part of the show and then we ended up singing some beautiful songs together. In Oakland Samica opened for me. She sings country and jazz, a little bit punk. In Vancouver Asad Khan and Raaginder opened for me – they are electronic artists. I had a song with them two years ago and then Raman Bains, who is a local artist from Vancouver, featured on my set.
17. How do you take care of your voice when doing back-to-back shows?
I go on mute mode after every performance. I keep a maun vrat. I don’t exert my voice and I avoid cold things. Right now, I’m in America and Canada where everywhere people drink water with ice all the time.
18. What do you miss about home?
I’m missing my cat, Cherry. She’s a calico. Cherry has been my longest companion. She’s been with me for 9 years now. And every day whenever I get a chance, I call my friends. She’s staying with my friends right now. So I video call them to check on Cherry. And my mom, I’m missing my mom and Cherry the most.
19. Did you do anything exciting in the American summer?
I bought these sunglasses. I love sunglasses. I might buy some more. I went to a lavender festival in LA. It was full of lavender fields of lavender flowers. They had a lot of food items, where there was lavender latte, lavender burger, lavender fries, everything fused with lavender flavour. It was so beautiful that day.
I’ve been walking a lot everywhere and I went to Stanley Park in Vancouver, which was amazing.
