BOMBAY SPLEEN
- Bombay Blues/Bombay Spleen book/album India release party a Mumbai Mirror pick of the day
- Bombay Blues/Bombay Spleen book/album official selections at the Zee/Jaipur Literature Festival 2015
Deep Blue She/The Deep Blue She #Mutiny2Unity #MeToo WeMix music video/PSA project:
- *OFFICIAL WINNER* London Film Awards (Dec 2018)
- official Closing Night selection of the South Asian Film Festival of Washington, DC (Sept 2018)
- official selection of the DC Art As Voice Festival 2018 for the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Resource Project during Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April 2018)
- a Madame Gandhi #TheFutureIsFemale Spotify playlist pick
- selected for the #VogueEmpower playlist for Vogue Fest 2014 (Vogue India’s social awareness initiative for women; original track)
- featured on the BBC’s The Big Debate, with Nomia Iqbal
- featured on SOAS Radio, London (Pioneers of British Asian Literature; 2017)
- a WOMXN Power Lady Rap II/Night Light Radio playlist pick (Sept 2018)
- featured on DJ Rekha’s Breakthru Radio radio show
-
Heptanesia:
- music video was on rotation on MTV Indies
- an official Closing Night selection of the South Asian Film Festival of Washington, DC (Sept 2018)
- a Pepsi-MTV Indies buzz list pick
- a Mumbai Boss culture pick
- a Polka Café playlist pick
-
Seek Me In The Strange
- selected for the soundtrack of director Liz Hinlein’s feature film Other People’s Children
BOMBAY SPLEEN PRESS QUOTES:
“Of books and songs, Bombay and more: An author? A musician? Tanuja Desai Hidier switches between both roles effortlessly! Take a look at her new song ‘Heptanesia’ which is from Bombay Spleen – her album of songs based on her book Bombay Blues.”
—Pepsi-MTV Indies (“Heptanesia” music video premiere on MTV)
“We can’t get enough of [Deep Blue She #Mutiny2Unity]”
“Rhythmically heavy, lyrically sharp, and–though it can be savored independently–an absolute must for Bombay Blues readers, bringing as it does the entire tale’s world to your ears”
—DJ Rekha
“Heartfelt, and filled with great melodies and imagery.”
—Karsh Kale (musician, producer)
“Rock and roll that has the richness of literature… irresistible.”
—Zachary Lazar, author of I Pity the Poor Immigrant and Sway
“A lovely, jazz-infused ode to Bombay… At the end of the song I thought to myself: this has to be one of the nicest, most aesthetically pleasing ways to reel in new readers.”
“Every once in a while, we come across a song that NEEDS to be out there! There’s something about these particular tracks that just refuses to leave you alone once you’re done with them… Is writing a book very different from writing a song and singing it too? Apparently it isn’t for London based author and singer Tanuja Desai Hidier. If Bombay is still a mystery to you, this particular song may just click.”
—Pepsi-MTV Indies buzz picks (“Heptanesia” music video from Bombay Spleen)
“A ‘Bombay’ song that could easily double up as a James Bond theme…Desai Hidier’s jazzy-pop tune is a worthwhile addition to the small cluster of non-Bollywood Bombay songs around.”
—Mumbai Boss, culture pick (“Heptanesia” music video from Bombay Spleen)
“The hypnosis cast by words and music is a vortex we might be tempted never to leave.”
—Homegrown (on Bombay Blues/Spleen)
“A laid-back feel, yet shakes your psyche…Push play and cherish the memories of the city.”
—Polka Café playlist pick (“Heptanesia” music video from Bombay Spleen)
“Dare I say the best music night of the #ZeeJLF?
…an explosive fusion of literature and music… Author Tanuja Desai Hidier’s songs painted vivid pictures of Bombay, including the chaotic Chawri Bazaar [Bombay Spleen track “Chor Bazaar”] – the market said to be the home of everything you’ve ever lost.”
—Eloise Stevens, from her review of the Zee/Jaipur Literature Festival Music Stage with Tanuja & Gaurav Vaz, Jeet Thayil/Still Dirty (feat. Tanuja), and Transglobal Underground (January 22, 2015)
“At the book/album’s NYC launch party, Tanuja read a scene from Bombay Blues and sang a few songs from the album [Bombay Spleen], and it made her book such a multi-sensory experience … it’s even more magical when you can feel the story on multiple layers.”
—TeenReads.com
“That Tanuja Desai Hidier’s novels are imbued with an undeniable sense of rhythm and melody is not a surprise: Hidier is also a singer-songwriter. Her new album Bombay Spleen is in fact based on her newest book Bombay Blues, which updates the story of Dimple Lala, the now-19 Indian-American protagonist of Hidier’s earlier YA work Born Confused.”
—The Writer Magazine, “How I Write” feature/interview by Jeff Tamarkin
“When Vogue asked me to create an Empowerment playlist for Vogue Fest 2014 (Vogue India’s social awareness initiative for women] I automatically thought of Bombay Spleen track “Deep Blue She”. It made my list of 12 songs –including tracks by Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Gwen Stefani– for my live performance as a street artist because it’s got attitude. It’s fierce. And it’s strong. It’s a modern-day girl’s theme song.”
—Jas Charanjiva, street artist, muralist, and cofounder of Kulture Shop, Mumbai
“With its accompanying unique album of [her] original songs called Bombay Spleen, based on themes in the book [Bombay Blues], Tanuja Desai Hidier has been credited with creating an intellectually stimulating literary and musical multicultural landscape – capturing the hopes, questions and truths of the young diasporal experience through her…heroine, Dimple Lala.”
—Libas International (from “Losing Your Map by Nishita Sharma, Volume 28 Issue 2, 2015)
“Born Confused …is one of my favorite books that talks about the young desi experience. I was very excited to hear that Hidier was working on a sequel to the novel, Bombay Blues, which released in 2014. Hidier, being a musician herself, dropped a double whammy – she also released an album to go with the novel! The album is called Bombay Spleen and is Hidier’s second album. Can’t wait to get the book and listen to these tracks – at the same time.”
—MisthiMusic
“Bombay Spleen elevates and expands the ideas from the novel [Bombay Blues] to make for a more complex and all-encompassing experience for the readers’ senses.”
“Have you ever heard of novels coming with soundtracks? Tanuja is a musician as well, so “booktracks” seemed only natural. Her music accompanies both novels, immersing readers in a full multi-media experience…Creativity is the name of [Tanuja’s] game and she plays it well. She inspires me to use different mediums to create and I hope she can do the same for you!”
“[Tanuja’s] life’s job is a multifaceted arts project. Can you imagine some of your most independent and creative students doing a project around the characters, themes, symbols, music, and cultural allusions in Hidier’s work? The possibilities would be undeniably joyful.”
—Dr Bickmore’s YA Wednesdays (Music & YA Literature feature, November 2, 2016)
From album/video collaborator Atom Fellows:
AtomFellows.com, Bombay Spleen blog
Listen to Tanuja’s “Dimple Lala/GayYA Bday Party Playlist”