Interview with Clinton Cerejo
Full Interview @
http://www.planetradiocity.com/musicreporter/interview.php?interviewid=344
Clinton
Cerejo is the voice of Ranbir Kapoor as the quintessential confused
youngster in ‘Kya Karoon’ (Wake Up Sid). However, when it comes to his
career, Clinton – unlike Sid – seems to have had no doubts about the
direction he wanted to go in.
Starting out with recording
jingles as a collegian, Clinton soon graduated to specialising in
musical arrangements, vocal arrangements, background scores, and has
even produced music. From working with A R Rahman on Lagaan to being a
part of most Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy projects, he most recently showcased
with talent with Kaminey.
Although he has done playback singing
for several Tamil movies, with Wake Up Sid, Clinton gets his first solo
song for a Hindi movie. We spoke to the talented artiste about Wake Up
Sid, working with Rahman, and life as a music arranger and background
music composer.
Excerpts :
If I am not wrong, you are quite an experienced person. What took you so long
to get a solo song?
I
have been in the industry since 1997. I’ve had the good fortune to work
with some of the biggest names in the business. I’ve also sung several
solo songs in Tamil in the past, for A R Rahman, Harris Jairaj, and
quite a few music directors down south. I just didn’t think that I
would be singing in Hindi. I guess it’s better late than never.
Which projects do you consider crucial to your career in Bollywood?
Recently,
I’ve produced, arranged and programmed (along with my co-producer,
Hitesh Sonik) all the songs of Kaminey, including the background score. I’ve
worked on a lot of A R Rahman’s vocal
arrangements. Most recently, I arranged a song in his new Hollywood
film, Couples Retreat. One of the other soundtracks I arranged
and produced – and which got noticed by one and all – was Omkara. For
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, I also did the vocal arrangements on all their hit
films like Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna,
among others. I have also worked as a programmer with Salim-Sulaiman on
their background scores like Chak De India, Krissh and Namaste London.
Your first break was in a Marathi film called Mukta. You then worked with A R
Rahman on Thakshak. How did that break come about?
Mukta
happened when I was in college. Sid (from A Band of Boys) was a
classmate and through him I met his father, Amar Haldipur. Amarji was
arranging the music for the film and he recommended me to director
Anand Modak. I sang an English song in this Marathi movie. The film did
very well and went on to win a National Award later.
A R Rahman
heard some of my work in Mumbai and called me. The first song I
arranged was actually for this Tamil film called Mudhalvan, and I also
did Govind Nihalani’s Thakshak around the same time.
How has working with Rahman been?
It’s
really fun working with AR, although not easy because of the constant
late nights. I remember the time I did the vocal arrangements on
Lagaan. We got this Bowen Methodist choir and I conducted and arranged
the parts for them. Another time, singer Kunal Ganjawala and I recorded
a song for the Tamil film Boys, starting at 5am and finishing three
hours later.
Rahman fever
His Music ~ My Mother Tongue
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