Tina and her sister, Seema, traveled with their parents to all of their performances. It was at the age of five that Tina had found her calling. "The first time my parents allowed me to sing on stage was at a fair," she recalls. "I was five and I sang a ghazal, which is a type of song you can sing only if you have a trained voice. As soon as I got up there, I tried to take over. My parents were surprised when they realized I was trying to steal the spotlight! They recognized that I loved performing and wanted to be a part of the show. They encouraged me and supported my love of music and performing. They also kept me focused and gave me a strong work ethic by insisting that I could continue performing as long as my grades at school remained high." That started "The Sugandh Family" music legacy.

Throughout Tina's school years, The Sugandh Family performed all over the U.S. and the Caribbean, and gained a huge following in the Indian community. At one concert, Tina begged her father to let her take over for one song and play the drum that he played, (called the dholak). As she began to play, the audience was dumbstruck. "My father wondered how a seven-year-old could have a sense of rhythm like that." Tina's parents decided to introduce her to a more intricate drum, the tabla, a two-barreled percussion that takes years to master and is predominantly played by men. "Dictating rhythm came so naturally to me. I loved playing live. At the start of the show, people would see me sitting behind the drum and think, oh, how cute-she's tuning the tabla for her father to play. No one suspected that I would actually have the strength or ability to play - then I'd blow them away." Her proficiency earned her a nickname: TablaGirl.

As a 15-year-old, Tina was discovered by Sean Harris, a screenwriter and creative mentor who would help shape Tina's talents. Sean eventually convinced Tina that she should pursue music as a career and, to that end, spent time working on a demo. Between her studies as a biology major at Rutgers University (where she eventually graduated on the Dean's List), and weekend performances with the Sugandh Family, Tina would drive to Washington DC to work with Sean, who arranged photo shoots and studio time for her, and most importantly, encouraged her to write her own music. The first song she ever wrote, "I Spit Fire," appears on her debut album.

Once Tina completed her demo and promo package, Tina approached her future methodically. "Every morning I'd send out a few demos, make about 30 calls to labels, and keep very detailed notes on each conversation," she laughs. "I'd write down every time I followed up. It was studious and dorky, but when I want something to work, I create a plan and persistently follow through until I get what I want."

Her persistence paid off when a friend introduced her to Sean Sullivan, who had been working with Maxwell, John Mellencamp and Jessica Simpson and was starting a new management company. Sean was impressed and had her perform for Jay Jay French (Twisted Sister, Sevendust), his partner in the new venture. Jay Jay was equally impressed and the duo signed her to their new company, Rebellion Entertainment. They spent the next year developing her songs and creating new demos. These demos lead to a publishing deal with Warner/ Chappell Music and a Sony deal.

"I feel like the constant encouragement, years of performance experience, and musical genes that my family blessed me with were all in preparation for this moment in my life." confesses Tina, who also is one of the hosts of the popular program Asian Variety Show on Saturday mornings ("It's the Entertainment Tonight for Bollywood."). "There was a time when Latin music was a bit foreign, and now you hear it's beauty everywhere. I believe it's time for the Indian sound to explode."

By lighting the fuse, Tina Sugandh is among the first to ignite the Indian explosion.
 

New York, NY (March 18, 2009) – On May 12, 2009, multifaceted artist Tina Sugandh will bring Bollywood-flare to the U.S. music scene with the release of her debut album TablaGirl. Already a star in Southeast Asia and with several songs on U.S. feature film soundtracks (Clique, Ice Princess, Christmas with the Kranks, and the theme song for the sitcom “Hope & Faith”), Tina’s TablaGirl offers a blend of modern pop infused with authentic live recordings of her culture’s most prized instruments and music traditions.

Born in Bombay but raised in New Jersey, Tina honed her singing and tabla (India/South Asian hand drum, traditionally reserved only for men) playing performing with her family throughout her childhood. Her first single “Break Me” recently hit top 4 on Billboard’s Dance Chart and earned her the distinction of being the first pop singer of Indian decent to enter the Top 5 and her second single “You Without Me” is set for a late March 2009 release.

TablaGirl, aptly named for Tina’s virtuosic tabla skills and her rupturing of the drum craft’s male dominated tradition, is composed of tracks—all of which she either wrote or co-wrote—resembling musical tapestries that bring together the influences of Tina’s native India. On the album Tina applies contemporary pop sensibility to peaceful ghazals (poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain), the hardcore beat-driven sound of bhangra (form of music and dance that originated in the Punjab region of India) and phenomenally popular Bollywood soundtracks.

Drawing from the dramatics of Bollywood, Tina’s sound is energetic and rich with history, and at the same time grounded in meaning and self-empowerment. On “Prisoner,” the slow groove and hypnotic sitar sets the scene for a romantic struggle between captive and captor. In “T.here I.s N.o A.lternative” (an acronym of her first name) Tina sings metaphorically about shedding her cocoon and learning to fly, while the song’s Western-style production, spiced up with a hint of Indian flavor, provides the perfect pop accompaniment for her exhilarating message. By blending Bollywood themes with her own sound, Tina has created an album with both a new and old-world flare while remaining thoroughly modern. The release of TablaGirl is poised to bring Tina Sugandh to the forefront of the current South Asian/Bollywood-craze sweeping the nation.

TablaGirl
1. Jao
2. Bollywood Girl
3. You Without Me
4. Break me
5. HisStory
6. Indestructible
7. Patiently Wait
8. T.here I.s N.o A.lternative
9. Love Junkie
10. Prisoner
11. Stay

For more information contact:
Tarzu
949.943.7271
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