Cutting Chai with Lakshmi Ganapathy is a monthly series of bite-sized interviews with prominent South Asians showcasing their career and personality and celebrating their South Asian Australian identity.
This month’s guest is Parvyn Kaur Singh, a genre-defying Punjabi Australian singer songwriter, best known for her work in acclaimed psychedelic Bollywood rock band The Bombay Royale. Her debut solo album Sa received an ARIA and Australian Music Prize nomination, and her latest work Maujuda won Best Independent Jazz Album at the 2025 AIR Awards.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: Your second solo album is called ‘Maujuda’ which means ‘present’. What’s the story at the heart of it?
Parvyn Kaur Singh: With the first record (Sa) it was songs I’d been writing for 10 years; it was a snapshot of my life up until that point. Once I got Sa out of the way – it was like my therapy album – I had the opportunity [to find what] to explore to know myself better – that was the story of migration.
My grandparents on both sides left India around partition and went to Malaysia; I have such an intrigue [for their journey]. There’s a song called ‘Lay Awake’, and it’s about my dad’s grandparents taking the train from Punjab to the boat that took them to Malaysia, then getting on another train to this platform in the Malaysian jungle in the middle of the night.
I just think of the bravery and the fear, or whatever it is they had, not knowing where they were going, but just thinking, okay, let’s get on the move. So that’s the main theme of the album.
Then I have the song ‘Huna Lai Jio’, and it’s about living for the moment; I’ve left my city, I don’t know when I’m going back, but I’m just going to keep taking steps with care. That reflects the term Maujuda; it’s not waiting to get to somewhere but enjoying the journey as you go.
Parvyn
Lakshmi Ganapathy: Your work with The Bombay Royale was theatrical, but your solo work feels more intimate – what was this shift like for you?
Parvyn Kaur Singh: With The Bombay Royale, that was very much a theatrical party band.
We started off doing covers of vintage Bollywood songs in that 70s, 80s Bollywood style. I was playing a character; my role was the Mysterious Lady, this persona of a secret agent, and I was infiltrating their band of dacoits, and the gang leader, the skipper, played the saxophone. It was a musical theatre, acting kind of scenario.
I had this pull to express myself. For a lot of artists, you have these words you want to say that come from the heart in a personal way. It is a very vulnerable style of singing and you really put it out there, but you do it in the hopes there are other people out there that feel the same things and will relate to the music you do.
I also have more freedom stylistically; I don’t stick to one genre. I don’t really fit anywhere. I’m making this because there’s this music in my head I haven’t heard before and I can’t find anywhere else, so I felt compelled to create it myself.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: You’ve been in the Australian music industry your whole life. How has the understanding of Indian music changed over that time?
Parvyn Kaur Singh: I have organically progressed along with that understanding; I’m in the thick of it, so it’s hard to see how it’s changed. But it’s interesting the difference between audiences.
With my dad back in the 90s, we would perform in the Gurudwara and then we would go to a folk music festival or a festival like WOMAD in Adelaide…we would do the shows for the Sikh/Indian community and then we would do the shows for the white Australian community. What I’m seeing [now] is a combination of those audiences – it’s not tailored to one or the other. Everyone is getting to a point of cultural understanding where I can pitch [my music] in a way that is harmonious. That’s cool, the combination of those cultures, both in the music and in the audiences enjoying it.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: What’s something that you’re currently listening to/reading/playing/watching?
Parvyn Kaur Singh: There’s a Derren Brown book I’m reading now called Happy. Just trying to understand the psyche and how we can control our mind; I’ve been studying stoicism and those sorts of things.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: What’s a word that you like in a South Asian language, and what does it mean?
Parvyn Kaur Singh: The word that’s come to mind is ‘Sat’, and that’s just truth; the foundation of my being and of Sikhi is just truth, Sat.
Lakshmi Ganapathy: And finally – Soan Papdi or Papdi Chaat?
Parvyn Kaur Singh: Papdi Chaat. I don’t know, it’s just what I like.
READ ALSO: Cutting Chai with Sonia Sarangi
