Shilpa Rao claims there is no rivalry among musicians today

MUMBAI: Singer Shilpa Rao has been in the industry for long and she insists there is no rivalry among musicians.

Whispers of bitter feuds and backstabbing politics among singers and musicians in the Indian music industry have been rampant since time immemorial, what with so many artistes vying to score hits. Shilpa, however, insists she has never felt threatened by any singer.

"All the musicians are very friendly, and caring like a family. We tease and have fun with each other. In fact, when we meet each other on the red carpet or at some music event, we say 'I love this song of yours'. We do concerts together sometimes. There are multiple artistes at the same concert, so we mingle and talk. There are genuine compliments that come to each other, so I think there is no music rivalry that exists among musicians. Everyone is doing their own thing and nobody shies away from complimenting each other. It's a very healthy way of working," claimed the "Ghungroo" hitmaker, while speaking to IANS.

She adds that she enjoys collaborating with other artistes. "I love collaborations. I would love to collaborate with a rapper now. It's high time to do something, so I would love to do that," said the artiste.

Shilpa recently joined hands with sitar player Anoushka Shankar and singer-songwriter-cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson to create the song "Those words".

"I have learnt from every collaboration of mine and it's such an emotional journey when you interact with another artiste. This is what it's become with the song, and you learn so much. When I was there in the UK, I was looking at how everyone works. You end up learning so many things just by observing other musicians and seeing them at work. It's very important to not just do your part and get out, but also spent that time," she said.

"Those words" is one of her non-film songs. "In these cases, you have to figure out a lot of things and judge, and take a call on your own because there is no external force telling you what to do, so in that way, there is more involvement as an artiste. You pretty much take a call on a lot of things on your own, so that's something different working on a non-film song but the kind of composers we have in today's time, the music scene... I think they are so many who are open to singers coming in and trying to do new things with the song and you know, having more inputs and a little additional involvement in the song," said Shilpa.

"I love that about every composer we have today urge us to try out new things and that's amazing," added the singer, who made her Bollywood debut back in 2007 with the unforgettable "Tose naina" number in the film, "Anwar".

Is she planning to turn a composer someday? "I don't know. Thank you for asking me that question. It puts me to that thought process. I will think about it and I will try and compose one song at least someday," said the "Khuda jaane" hitmaker.