“In 2018, I was among the very few women who were selected by the Indian government to felicitate us for our work in different fields. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal and so many others were a part of it and I, was one of them. I am Saajida Khan, the First Female Music Technician in India! It was such an honour.
Years of hard work and my dedication towards music, led to this. As a child, I was inclined towards music. I learnt folk and traditional music along with Western music from a University in London. But it was never an easy ride. Even today, there are hardly any women sound engineers in our industry. Back when I started off, I was the only one interested in this subject back in college too! Everybody was either learning to sing or play an instrument, but never this. My job was to analyse every track. I spent the first two years of my career identifying each instrument played in a track. Unlike today, there was no technology that could do the job for us back then. It was musical sensibilities which you had to develop if you wanted to sustain. When I joined Geethanjali Studios, the first sentence anybody would say was – Oh you’re a woman. But when I gave my entrance test, they saw my abilities.
It was challenging but look how far I’ve come! A couple of years ago, I attended a celebration in Chennai where 100 Indian musicians including stalwarts like K Vishwanath Garu attended and played live. The amount of exposure and knowledge I’ve gained working and meeting these legends is unbelievable. Back in our time, we had audio launches where cassettes would be released. The feeling of spotting your name as a sound engineer in a cassette is unmatchable. Even an online release with a million views can’t beat that!”