Daughter of star singer couple Ashikuzzaman Tulu and Tina Nawshin Kibria, is a little girl. Yet her voice owns all the grace and ripeness of a matured singer. Her splendid musical talent was first discovered by her mother when Rodia was only 11 and was humming a song. Since then, Tina Nawshin had been her music guru teaching melodies, lyrics and all the ornamentations a song offers. She also selects songs for Rodia, instructs her to mingle emotions with voice modulations, performance with a meaning of the lyrics, and by means of the abled guidance from her mother, 13-year-old Rodia has already won millions of hearts through her melodies. Like other children of her age, Rodia does not spend her leisure time on video games or TV shows rather she and her younger brother brainstorm in composing and editing music at their father’s personal Music studio. Today, we are going to talk to this amazingly talented, young musicians on her inspirations plans and other topics.
Shomporko – How did you start your music?
Rodia: I did not start with my parents, I just started. Of course, the genes came from my mom cause she’s a singer
Shomporko – Your dad is also a singer
Rodia: I would not say my dad is a singer I think he is more of a composer, I let him know that I think he is not a singer, but yeah I started with the genes its like when I use to do the housework and did some humming, and it’s just like my parents noticed a bit later. I was 11 years old when they noticed and they said: “Oh you sing pretty good, could you sing for us?” I guess they saw potential in me. My mom is the one who mainly guides me, she tells me what kinds of songs I should sing, she lets me know what is good for my voice. My dad is also very strict about the music. He is very serious, he does not let me eat ice cream, Because it’s too cold for my voice, Some people may think that it’s out of proportion but I think that I understand. I just can’t eat cold things because it’s directly hitting my voice. My dad also does not allow me to play basketball, I gave up basketball for my music career. At this moment I am just learning from my mom and dad. I am not learning any classical music. Just practicing lots of songs. My mom said every song has its own skill level, If you sing a song you have to have a certain skill level so each song has a certain skill level. If you have mastered a song, Which takes a long time, you adopt a skill level, so my mom told me to learn some songs. Every song has a different skill level, and she wants me to learn that properly down the path what I’m gonna do I don’t know. I don’t know how to play musical instruments yet. Music can’t be forced to learn, it has to come from inside.
Shomporko – Who motivates you the most ?
Rodia: I would say that my mom and dad motivate me the most. They both are extremely supportive, they let me go on my own phase and of course, they also push me as well. They love how I’m doing music and I love music.
Shomporko – What type of songs do you like to sing ?
Rodia: I love Bangla and Hindi both most of the songs I understand the meaning some parts I don’t understand, but my parents explain to me the feeling and tell me what kind of emotions I have to act out during singing a song. They explained everything to me about the song and I tried my best to add my emotions to it.
Shomporko – Do you remember your first stage show ?
Rodia: My first stage show was on mothers day organized by BCCB. My brother and I started in the community not with music but with stand-up comedy. We use to do a radio show called radio metro mail. BCCB reached out to us and asked us to perform for them. Then my dad said I should sing at the end which I did and that was my first public performance.When I look back now it looks so crunchy. I sounded so bad because I was so nervous my heart was beating out of my chest.
Shomporko – When will your first album debut ?
Rodia: Nothing finalized yet, my dad will finalize . The songs will hopefully be ready soon. I’m very excited to go to Bangladesh to record a music video. It’s not like my dad to yell at me while behind the camera and tell me what to do. In bangladesh, it’s going to be very glamorous no one will have the ability to yell at me.
Shomporko – Do you like English music
Rodia: Yes, I do like to listen or sing to English music. I don’t have a set genre, I really like to sing songs that are very intricate. I listen to a lot of genres. My dad makes me listen to a lot of old songs that I really like Lots of old bands and singers like Whitney Houston, I really like Ariana Grande they are two of my favorite singers. My dad helps me with my music taste.
Shomporko – Have you ever thought to do music mainstream ?
Rodia: I have not thought of it because it seems a bit out of my reach. The singers that are here, when they sing it may seem like they are not very skilled, but they have a lot of skill and experience. I never thought I could reach that point.
Shomporko – Are you planning to learn classical music ?
Rodia: Yes, my parents have talked about that. Honestly, the truth is that I am kind of scared because I cannot do classical now, maybe it will be hard to adopt, I guess later on, I could learn because it will give me a lot more skill and it is also up to my parents on when I should start.
Shomporko – What is your plan about music ?
Rodia: I would love to have music as my profession, but I also have a very good education so I have something to fall back. In case I cannot take music as my profession, I would still have my education to get a job and support my family. It would be very nice to have a profession as a singer, plus people know you and you become a celebrity and I think that is amazing.
Shomporko – Which grade are you currently studying in ?
Rodia: I will be going to grade 8
Shomporko – What do you do in your free time beside studying and singing ?
Rodia: I do very basic video editing, but my dad loves to tell my relatives that his daughter does editing. It’s really fun for me to do, and the content I make is all over the place. Currently, I am trying to edit my own music video. I will see what will happen. I like to watch movies like old movies and Hindi movies. At one point I thought I liked to read books but that was not consistent, It is a good habit to read but I never picked it up.
Shomporko – Do understand Hindi ?
Rodia: Yes, I understand my mom speaks Urdu. I can speak a little bit of Hindi but my pronunciation is not good. I thought about singing Hindi songs because that would help me get my pronunciation will get better, my mom always tell about Asha vosle and her sister Lota, they are very good singers. They are my other two idols, both of them can sing in some many different languages, you can never tell if they are either Bengali, Indian or Sri Lankan. My mom said they would read off lyrics and they would know the pronunciation, That tells you how skilled they are. I think that is very cool how you can pick up a language just for a song. I don’t think I could pick that up but if I sang a Hindi song I think that would help me a lot. I feel like a language should not be a barrier for any singer when you are a musician I don’t think you should be categorized into a specific demographic or language. I hate when people think that there is a specific way that music needs to be done.
Shomporko – What makes you happy
Rodia: I like being with people that I love, I love to spend time with them. I love to listen to happy music in the morning. I always listen to music before I go to school if I listen to happy music I am happy for the rest of the day.
Shomporko – What makes you upset
Rodia: I guess being very selfish or just for your happiness at the expense of someone else’s happiness. If you are hurting someone by doing something, that makes me very upset.
Shomporko – What is your dreamRodia: Well, I wanted to be a psychologist. I don’t know if my interest in psychology is very serious, but the brain fascinates me, how the brain can do so much. The brain controls the whole body. There are still so many things that scientists don’t know about the brain this really intrigues me.
