Apoorva Gavarraju: How did you come to know about the NH7 in the first place?

Imogen Heap: Well, there’s the guy called Vijay Nair and you know this is his festival. I had heard about him through a friend back in England who said he was doing great things; helping Indian music get outside of Bollywood and outside artists to play in India. I met Vijay in person in May and we basically wanted to come over and he made it happen in spite all kinds of difficulties that had. He’s really paving the way for other international artists to come to India.

AG: How was the response you got from Pune? What did you expect and what did you get?

IH: I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that Vijay put me on a really good spot but I was a bit dubious because I didn’t know if anyone had heard the music. But the response was really great and I was really surprised at people singing the lyrics, a LOT of people singing the lyrics. I regret not playing ‘Let Go’ but it was so noisy on the other stages; it would have been difficult to hear all the sounds I was playing. So, I couldn’t do that song. But I’m going to do it in Mumbai and Delhi when I play there.

AG: You’ve spent a lot of time in India. How has the whole experience been for you?

IH: I have worked with Vishal Dadlani here in India and I have worked with an Indian artist, Nitin Sawhney back in England and that’s how I also met Ashwin who plays with me. Both my manager and I really love coming here. There’s great warmth here. Obviously, the country in itself is exciting. It’s a beautiful country – the colours, the smells, the culture, the history and this is somewhere that I want to come back to many many times.

AG: Are you going to come back for the next year of NH7 as well?

IH: I’d love to come back next year but I don’t know, we’ll see.