Tamanna Srivastava's dream of a career in the music industry is one step closer, thanks to her being named as a finalist in a nationwide songwriting competition.
The talented Year 13 music student's original song, Before I'm Wide Awake, caught the attention of the Play it Strange judges, earning her not just the kudos and a Rock Shop prize voucher, but also a professional recording studio session valued at $1000, and a place in the 'Play it Strange' album for 2020!
Tamanna entered the competition after having composed a song as part of her Level 3 Music course. "I thought it will be a good platform for me to showcase my work and get to learn from some of the experts in the NZ music industry," she says.
Not only did Tamanna compose and sing the song for her recording, she also played the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, and piano!
She says Before I'm Wide Awake is about how one can imagine true love. "It's about the thought of a person who will keep you happy," she says. "This song was originally an acoustic piece where I came up with chords on the guitar followed by the melody and lyrics. After that, I went in to a professional recording studio to record my song, and transform it by creating my very own backing track. After that, I had my final, recorded product ready for the competition."
Tamanna began writing songs within the last two to three years and has taken songwriting lessons privately which, she says, has helped develop her skills. "I enjoy coming up with chords for the song and a melody. These are one of the first things I do when writing a song. One of the challenging aspects of writing songs is coming up with lyrics that fit with a specific topic/theme and stick to that specific topic/theme. However, it is a great way to express some of your feelings and it gives immense pleasure when the final outcome is produced."
Looking ahead, Tamanna says in the short term, she'd like to create her first album. "As a long-term goal, I would like to reach out globally and showcase my music. Travelling for music is something that I aspire to do in the future."
And judging by this competition success, she's well on her way.
The Play it Strange 2020 album will be available for free downloading and/or streaming later in the year. In the meantime, you can check out Tamanna's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tamannasmusic/?modal=admin_todo_tour or listen to Before I'm Wide Awake here:
