She was Taran Kaur Dhillon. Till 1991 that is, when she moved to England and became Hard Kaur. Before your imagination runs wild, let us clarify that she is the lady behind Ek Glassy Do Glassy — the song that rocked nightclubs across the country. But that’s not where Hard Kaur’s musical musings ended. After collaborating with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for the infectious Move your body in Sriram Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddaar, Hard Kaur has just launched her maiden album under the Saregama banner, fittingly called Supa Woman.
“I have given my heart and soul in Supa Woman,” Kaur tells t2 from Mumbai. The album was the outcome of a year of recordings with the hottest international producers, including 45 WAX, D-Boy, Urban, AC Burrell, Asif and Tigerstyle. “The initial feedback has been very, very good from people around me. Perhaps I have been able to bring out an original style.”
That must not have been easy, going by the kind of music Kaur grew up on. “I heard everything from Ghulam Ali to Stevie Wonder to Busta Rhymes,” she rattles off. “I love listening to any kind of music as long as it’s completely crazy.”
When it came to her own music, as she says, “it had to be rap”. “But being an Indian and that too a woman, rapping was a difficult task. Wherever I would try to perform, people would say: ‘Go home and make babies, you Indian.’ It’s thanks to Eminem, who came up with such popular rap albums despite being a white guy, that people like us got an opening into the rap world. I remember how I had to learn everything myself with very little help or support from anybody.”
And even after the glassy started filling, it wasn’t smooth sailing for Hard Kaur. “People in England tell me ‘Go back to your country’, while people in India ask ‘Aren’t you from the UK?’” she almost fumes. “This step-motherly attitude from both countries is appalling. But at least here, in India, people have taken to my music. There’s something in there for everyone. But I want to make it across the world without any godfathers.”
Hard Kaur also wants her slice of Bollywood. “I had a great time recording and then performing for the Johnny Gaddaar song,” she says. “It was a great coincidence. I was recording for my own album when Sriram happened to meet me in the studio while doing his own work. He instantly got me on. I have always loved Bollywood music. RD Burman, Kishore Kumar and Bappi Lahiri are my faves.”
For now, though, it’s Supa Woman. “If my sound gets established, you will get to hear a lot of me, till I get bored that is,” she signs off.