Artist Interview — With Rohini Soedhwa (Hini)

Rohini is a producer-songwriter and a third-year music student at SFU. She likes to write songs, sing, rap, and make interesting beats. We talk about her background, creative process and why she decided to pursue music. Hit the play button above to listen to her song, Kingsway, and continue reading to learn more about this talented artist.

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Alex: Who are you, and what do you do?

Rohini: I'm Rohini, and I like to make music. I don't want to call myself a singer. Usually, people would say that I'm a singer, but I wouldn't call myself a singer because it took me a lot of effort to sing better. The thing that came to me a bit easier was producing, so I would say I'm a producer first, and then I like singing. I do a little bit of rapping too. I also don't want to say that I'm a rapper, but I like doing that stuff and making pop songs. The contemporary stuff that we're learning at school is awakening things in me and giving me different tools to apply to that kind of a pop field as well.

A: How would you describe your music?

R: It's hard to describe one's music. Hmm... It's hard because maybe for someone else, they'd say I make some rap songs, or I make pop songs or whatever. From my perspective, I'd say that I have such and such background, so that's maybe what influenced me to make this kind of music. I would categorize it as my background and what I know about my music.

A: What's your background?

R: I grew up in the Caribbean. My home country is called Suriname. Because it’s part of the Caribbean community, I was exposed to all, like all, kinds of music. Everything that's Caribbean, everything that's popular throughout North America, and on the top 100 billboard—I listened to all of that. 

In terms of music-making, the first thing that I can think of is that I was taking classical Indian singing lessons. It was just for a year, and I was only ten years old, but that one year inspired me and taught me so much about my voice that I guess I just wanted to continue singing after that. 

I also started doing piano lessons, but I was never good at it because I would go in, and the piano teacher would give us sheet music that we were supposed to play, but I couldn't really concentrate. I just liked to hear things rather than reading and playing things. I started singing Western songs too, but then I dropped music because I wanted to pursue my studies.

Even though my dad was kind of hyped that I liked making music and that I kind of wanted to do it, I think I was pressured by peers and people around me who were all going and studying all kinds of things to become doctors, etc. That influenced me, and I thought maybe I should do something that would be more stable for me in the future, so I started studying engineering. After my father's passing, I realized I should just go and study music because it's the only thing there for me. So that's where I'm at right now. Yeah.

A: What are some of your current influences?

R: I can't usually recall the names of the things that we listen to at school, but it's pretty rad stuff. I just know that if I live in that moment in class, I take in that information whenever we listen to it. I enjoy it, and I think that influences me. The things that happen in the contemporary scene and the things that we are exposed to in class—I think those are things that influence me right now. In the past, I've been influenced by pop, but I wouldn't say "influenced by" anymore because I have always been listening to pop. Right now, the pop part of me is being influenced by the contemporary stuff that we get exposed to at school. 

A: Can you describe a real-life situation that has inspired you? You told me the story previously, and I wondered if you'd want to talk about your song, Kingsway? 

R: Yeah, so I have a song where I came up with the lyrics as my brother and I were driving home on Kingsway after eating something somewhere. I asked him, "Did you like the rice? Nice." Then we were passing by Supersave Gas and Mr. Lube, and I was like, "Super Save Gas, lube it up, gonna get up to Won-Ton Ho Se." I needed the line to rhyme with "Jose" and because the "u" in "House" was missing on Won-Ton House on Kingsway's sign, I was like it says "Ho-se." Anyway, a lot of the lyrics have to do with the things on Kingsway.

A: What's your creative process like? 

R: I like to procrastinate a lot, even if I'm super excited to produce a new song and I know I have to write the song. Let's say I know I'm going to rap and sing, and whatever else I think of—I want to procrastinate first. I'm going to do a lot of procrastination, but then at some point, I'm going to start. Whenever I know that the deadline is coming— either the school deadline or the one that I set for myself—whenever that deadline is coming, I get inspired and am more determined to do stuff. I guess I get inspired by running out of time to do things. I think because of that, I become very impulsive, and I want to do a thousand things at once. It's not like I'm panicking. I'm just like, "Yeah, we're going to do this," and then I just get started. Whenever I begin, I just hit the momentum right away, and I don't stop. Sometimes I don't sleep at night to make sure that I finish whatever I'm working on. I guess that's what my creative process is right now, which I would love to change at some point in my life, but I don't think it will change. 

Other than running out of time, I like to write the bigger things first. For example, when I'm writing a song, I write the lyrics or the rap, and then I make sure I have the more significant things ready to put in the details because that's where I have the most fun, the little details. 

A: What's your dream project, or what do you want to do with music? 

R: I guess a dream project for me would be kind of similar to what we're doing in the Hybrid Ensemble class right now. If everybody was doing their audio-processing and I could maybe throw in a rap or a song in there, and it became a big thing where everybody is just making crazy music, that would blow my mind. I would really love to be playing with the ensemble and have all these lights going and whatever other crazy stuff.

A: That's cool. We could and should actually do that. Do you have a microphone in that class, or are you going to sing or rap? 

R: Our professor gave me a lapel microphone to put in my mask. He wants me to sing or rap or at some point, but I don't know if I will use it. I can't just come in and be rapping out of nowhere, but yeah, that would be a dream project, for now, I guess. It may change later, but that's something I would enjoy so much.