Desi Girl

I had never heard of Lerche till last week,when at a party of 12-14 people in West End,mostly foreigners,a gorgeous blonde with a Playboy figure burst into a Punjabi song called Aaoji. Lerche sang in what is referred to as “thet Punjabi” which basically means the accent is perfect and native. (Even Punjabis these days tend to speak with a Hindi-influenced tone). Wearing glass bangles and a traditional bindi,Lerche accompanied the song with the gidda ,the Punjabi dance she picked up while learning the language.

There’s something heartwarming about any foreigner who’s made an effort to learn an Indian language but its mind boggling to meet someone who has decided that her future career lies in singing in a regional Indian language she’d never heard of five years ago. Lerche has been singing jazz and opera since the age of seven,has a degree in Musical Theatre from Denmark and her story is fairly typical of many foreigners who come to India; she came for a yoga and meditation course but while trekking in Manali,things took a spin. She met some people from the Punjab music industry who invited her to Hoshiarpur to learn folk songs.

The rest,if not already,will soon be history. Lerche says,she was instantly mesmerized by Punjabi music,she fell in love with the interiors of Punjab and over the next year,diligently wrote the folk songs in Roman English,memorized them and developed her own phonetic translation. The result was an album called Heer From Denmark,inspired by the legend of Heer-Ranjha. She has a video called Gori that she tells me is a big hit on Punjabi music channels (check it out on You Tube,it’s got 200,000-something hits). It’s safe to say that she’s probably the only Danish girl singing in Punjabi,though she’s something of a linguist and sings in 16 other languages as well.

As all artists acknowledge,there are many fabulous singers out there,but few great performers. Lerche scores because she is totally uninhibited with terrific energy,and a delight to watch,performing the gidda . For a gori with the right lachaks ,singing our tunes,the sky’s the limit. Her plan is to sing at weddings,corporate functions and hold occasional concerts. What’s interesting also is,for someone like Lerche,the future is here,not in Denmark. Delhi is teeming with foreigners,most of whom no longer live on Shanti Path or hold UN-type jobs. They’re just regular folk looking to make a living in the East,much like we did all these decades going West.

(hutkayfilms@gmail.com)