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MUMBAI: Indian origin UK based pop star Chandrika Darbari also known as RIKA recently won the Rising Star Awards in The Asian Awards for bringing together both western and eastern cultures in a modern way at the ninth annual Asian Awards. She joins the league of fellow Indians like Shah Rukh Khan, Yash Chopra, Irrfan Khan among others to receive this award albeit she won in the Rising Star category.
A very excited RIKA says, “I’m very honoured to be receiving this award. To have the support of my community means a lot to me. I always wear my heritage proudly on my sleeve and really appreciate their support.”
RIKA is the first teen Asian-British artist to be signed by Virgin EMI record labels. She joins the likes of young international superstars like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Shawn Mendes, Rihanna and Kanye West who were signed on in their early teens and went on to become worldwide phenomenon’s. RIKA recently successfully completed an international tour performing for over 10,000 people followed by a performance on her musical projects released officially on her YouTube Channel.
Rika says that she wished for awards in the beginning of her career but making good music gives her bigger high, “I could only hope to be recognised with awards, but I do what I do because of my passion for music. Making good music and having people connect with my music is the biggest achievement I could have.”
Born to a Serbian mother and an Indian father, RIKA has grown up in North-West London and is one of the few to break into the vibrant Western music scene as a British-Asian artist. RIKA’s music draws upon her multicultural upbringing. “They (different culture) influence how I sing and how I see music. There are so many different sounds and cultures in music its really interesting to see how they could blend into each other. Apart from my mainstream pop sound, I’d love to show off my heritage blended in my sound in the future”, shares Rika
In 2016, she penned and performed the song “For Peace in Syria” with her brother. The video was shot in Delhi and received over 900,000 on YouTube. For future, she is hoping for “More singles and hopefully some shows in India this year!”
I would love to stretch into acting and modeling and all sorts of the media industry. All in due time though.
Describing her music she observes, “My music is very me. Pop mainstream music with lots of emotional undertones over powerful, energetic beats. I love co-producing my work and songwriting, it keeps my sound very authentic to me.”
