Britain is an island of influence and cultural diversity and one such country that has been truly inspirational is India. Over the past 60 years she has had one of the largest cultural effects on Britain with her rich foods, colourful cinematography and dazzling music.

Now debut Indian artist/songwriter Shayan Italia is set to take this influence to a new level as he takes the British music industry by storm with his latest self-titled album. Described by Neil Fox as a man who provides work that is “truly inspiring” and by Sir Tim Rice as someone whose music is “beautifully sung and arranged” it comes as no surprise that Shayan already has an influential fan base here.

The impact of India on British society has never been greater with R & B artists drawing influence from Bangra music, Bollywood screenings taking place in Trafalgar Square, The International Indian Film Academy Awards being held in Yorkshire and not to mention the favourite British dish being Chicken Tikka Masala.

Now is your chance to speak with Shayan Italia live in our studio. He join us live online on Wednesday 7th November at 2pm to speak about his latest album and how Asian influence has shaped modern Britain.

H: Katy Pullinger, host
S: Shayan Italia

H: Hello and welcome to the Entertainment Show, I'm Katy Pullinger and today I am joined by someone whose been heralded as the next big thing, Neil Fox describes his work as truly inspiring, and Tim Rice said the music is beautifully sung and arranged. I am of course talking about Shayan Italia, welcome to the Entertainment Show today, how are you?

S: Thank you Katie, fine thank you, very good

H: Good good. Now before we get started those of you at home watching right now, you can send your questions to us on your screen there's a little box where you can write in your question, press submit and we will try and get through as many as possible. Now Shayan we're going to be talking a little bit today about your single and your album, and of course we are going to be watching a little bit of a clip of that in a moment. Can you tell us a little bit about it before we start to dissect it all?

S: Well the debut single's called -”Reflection” and very interestingly the video I came up with a very young and talented Indian director called Kookie Gulati whereby it uses a lot of Hollywood special effects and pretty interesting camera work, and so we had to actually get a whole team of Hollywood people on board from New Zealand to Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia where we shot the video, and well, basically – have a look

H: Yes have a look at this

Music video footage

H: Oh all very wistful and romantic there, tell us a little bit about what inspired you to write it, and of course what inspired you to make the video that way?

S: Reflection was actually never meant to be on the album, traditionally but there was something when I finished compiling the album basically I've written about 150 songs to date and the album compiles not necessarily the best but the most diverse kind of 11 songs put into one collection, and one of the key songs I missed was I wanted a song especially the single, to be something whereby you don't just hear it once and you don't just go ‘oh my God that's a song' you hear it, every time you hear it you pick up a little bit more off the song and it grows to be a very meaningful piece, body of work really, and that was a bit challenging to myself to write something like that, but having said that once I'd finished writing the song which I felt was meaningful and the lyrics really did justice to the melody, which I'd come up with, to find – the video was very interesting because when I went to the director and I asked him out, both of us were brainstorming on finding a concept, we came up with various concepts, but finding a concept that when the viewer would look at it 10 times –

H: Right

S: They would always discover something unique

H: Something more

S: Something more of it, and having this video where, traditionally music videos traditionally are very much edited music videos

H: Yes

S: You see something and then it cuts and you see something and it cuts to a different screen and we wanted one where literally technically it's one shot, the whole video where he's walking through is one shot

H: Yes

S: But because you have to focus on the reflection –

H: Yes

S: Of him and her in what the actual character's singing about, we had to have a close up shot and then move on, and it was very – it was very hard to do –

H: Yes

S: Because the post-production was immensely complex and the mapping of every single frame had to be mastered that it's seamless –

H: So so much more going on behind this video than meets the eye

S: Yes exactly

H: Now if anyone wants to have a look at the video in its entirety where can they see it again?

S: You can find the video if you go to Shayan – search for Shayan Italia on You Tube and you should be able to find the video

H: Good old You Tube! At the end of the show of course, once you've finished watching this! So tell us about – when you write a song, do you just sit down and write out the whole thing or does something have to inspire you, do you go somewhere special, do you - you know – how do you write your music, because it can't be that easy?

S: A lot of people ask me basically what are my musical influences, what makes me write a song, this is actually a very good question because I'm a bit, I always say I'm a bit weird and unique in this way because I could get up at 3 o'clock in the night – in the morning – and basically write a song

H: Yes

S: And I write a song fairly quickly, fairly quickly because it's just inborn out of me. After mum passed away what happened was I just sat at a piano and I could write and I write very prolifically, in fact when there comes a point in my life whereby I feel I'm not going to be able to write another song, I end up writing two or three songs and I'm very objective about my own work, very objective, if I'm writing a song and halfway through I think it's rubbish I'll just go oh my God that's really bad and just throw it away

H: Right

S: So I've built a very strong catalogue, but my influences on song writing actually come from real people. It could be seen a coupling in a park, just be seeing someone fighting with someone, someone's belief, someone putting out a theory which is to me quite bizarre but I was thinking oh if I could theatrasize that into music and lyrics it would be very powerful, and so I draw my inspiration from real events as apposed to from musical influences by other artists, etc etc.

H: Funnily enough Becks actually asked us that question as well, she submitted that a little while ago, so that answers your question Becks. Now we've also got a question from Imogen who wants to know “I heard your single on the radio last week” which is brilliant, and she needs to know “where can I get hold of it?” Where can they?

S: You can get a hold of the single as of Monday. It's been on I-Tunes, Napster, HMV Direct, Tesco Downloads, Woolworths, Amazon, Sony Connect – pretty much everywhere online. If you want the physical single which is basically that one, you can order it now on Amazon and HMV and that would be delivered to you as of Monday. If you want the album, which is obviously a compilation, it will only be in shops in 2008, however having said that I can tell you HMV have picked up a small stock of it

H: Oh brilliant

S: It should be out on Monday, if you run, if you go there and get it at your local store but you can also order it on Amazon, HMV, once again Virgin and all the other retailers as of Monday. And you can go to ShayanItalia.com and you'll find all the links

H: Brilliant, so you're really building the momentum on this one, it's really starting to take off

S: I think, I think that basically what happened was the video was championed by one or two channels and it eventually, it's a very non-conventional video, from what you see on music videos, so everyone is a bit wary, this is a risk factor, it ended up becoming a top 5 video in the country which was really, I was very fortunate enough to be in this position and then I think a DJ at Radio 2, Steve Wright who runs the biggest afternoon show really liked the song and he got in touch with me directly and he said you know can I play this song, and obviously I was very humbled by it

H: Brilliant yes

S: And blessed by the opportunity, and he's been actively playing it over the last few weeks, so I think from there on a lot of people have come on board, I –Tunes have come on board and then eventually Universal came on board to distribute the album so we are taking everything one step at a time

H: Definitely

S: Because I'd rather grow this record into the marketplace as opposed to throw a huge amount of money at it

H: Exactly

S: And perhaps go right up the chart and go down as fast

H: Yes you don't want a one hit wonder, we want to keep you around. Now we've got loads of questions to get through so we'll try and fire through them for the second –

S: Ok

H: Half of the show, Tandrika wants to know “who is your role model?”

S: I think from all the hard work I've done and basically the story of coming here, it's been a real struggle to get people to invest in me, get people to believe in me, and the one constant person in my life that is always been behind me is my brother, and the other person has been my sister-in-law who is his wife, and I think without, take away these two people and I'm nothing

H: Yes

S: Literally I'd be lost

H: So family is very important to you then, of course yes

S: It's the most important thing, especially after I don't have mum and dad any more

H: Yes

S: And we live together as a family out of choice as well, not because of circumstances

H: As a necessity

S: Yes which is good

H: Yes that's really nice. Shavna wants to know “do you prefer playing live in the UK or in India?”

S: I haven't played live in India at all to be honest, I've been asked a lot of times to do it and most likely in the next year or two I will

H: Yes

S: I played a lot in the United Kingdom, in early May I did a tour at 18 cities which went down really well, and I do a lot of private events, having said that on Thursday which is tomorrow, I'm playing at the Bedford, which is one of London's most prestigious live venues, and you can catch me there, I'm within the program guide, you can go to www.thebedford.com and you can get all the details. There are five other acts playing but I'll be one of the acts playing tomorrow as kind of an exclusive start-off for the album, promotion-wise

H: Fabulous. Good plug there. Hilary wants to know “has there been much influence on British music from India?”

S: I think it's safe to say across the world that right now in both India and China are making waves. Whatever we're doing as a culture, together as one voice, we're doing the right thing, because the word is really spreading and I think what's really important is it's not just the influence on Asia culture on the British culture, but what is fascinating and what is very humbling is the acknowledgement of

H: Yes

S: British culture and their acceptance of Asian heritage into the community. You see it's the wonder that if the UK wasn't so accepting of the Asian culture then we would not be who we are today, and at the same time because of that acceptance we as Asians, Indians, Pakistanis, whoever we are, Chinese, Japanese, have come here and have contributed as a form of saying thank you a lot

H: Yes

S: And I think now it's – we're at a stage in society where if you take away the Asian heritage the UK can't stand on its own two feet because there's so much given in as part of –

H: Input – yes

S: But at the same time, you take away the British heritage and there is no Asian culture in the United Kingdom, so I think we are now creating a form of harmony whereby even Bollywood films can enter the top 10 of you know –

H: Do you know what, Shilpa wants to know – I wonder whether it's the Shilpa! “Hi Shayan, can you tell me who your favourite Bollywood star is?” Just while you're talking about Bollywood there

S: Ok a lot of people are going to hate me

H: Shilpa Shetty?

S: For this and I hope no one is watching this, but my favourite, personal favourite Bollywood star has to be John Abraham, because, only because he's one – truly one of the nicest guys I've ever met, he's great fun to be with, don't think he's a quiet guy by any means. If you know John Abraham, he's great fun, he's full of life, full of adventure and he's one of the most down-to-earth hard-working people, he also happens to be half Zoroastrian which is what I am which is great and his mum's a Parsi and like I said he's just a very nice guy whose worked his way ground up from being nobody to be somebody very respectful

H: Which is kind of you know what you're doing, you've really worked your way up haven't you in terms of your music, you're doing it all off your own back aren't you and funnily enough Louisa from Brighton wants to know she says “I'm desperate to get into music, have you got any advice as to how I can get my music heard?” Now this is pretty much what you've done yourself isn't it, so –

S: I mean I'm trying to do it myself, I haven't, like I said I've just, just – I've not even released it out of choice, basically just by kind of, you know it's out there, it's getting kind of where we need to go. I'm starting, I – I mean comparing myself to people like John Abraham or anything, they are very successful personalities and I'm just starting. Where the road will take me I don't know, but the one thing I can tell you which I've learnt the hard way by making mistakes, and that is I live by a simple saying and that is if someone says something cannot be done, it's just their way of saying they cannot do it. I'll repeat it again, if someone says something cannot be done, it's just their way of saying they cannot do it. Remember this because I truly believe it's very easy to say no, it's very easy to criticise someone, it's very easy to put down someone. There's a great saying, it takes a second to take a life, it takes a lifetime to build one. And that is basically reality, and as long as I follow this road myself

H: Yes

S: I believe I will go places

H: Remember that where there's a will there's a way, so if you've got it in you you can do it

S: Yes

H: Now Catherine wants to know she says “I love the symbol on your photo and the necklace that you wear. What does it mean and did you design it yourself?”

S: Ok that's very good. Well basically the symbol is an ancient Celtic symbol

H: I was about to say it looks very Celtic

S: Yes, it's called a triquetra, and what it does is it's basically got three points and a circle next to it, now what I've done is I've basically, the blue in the symbol, the blue and the silver kind of combination is my trademark

H: Right

S: It's what I've trademarked and that's unique to me. The symbol represents, the three points represent my brother, my sister-in-law and myself and the circle represents what it binds us together, so basically it represents family. My merchandise comes in the form of obviously silver and gold jewellery which is hand made and designed by some of the best designers in the world

H: And is that available –

S: It will be available as of next year. We've got it, we now use it just for promotional events but it's proving very popular, especially on, I've got to say I've given it just to a few models and it's very popular on the catwalk, I mean they like to wear it, only because it's something that's pretty much very pretty, just you look at it and it doesn't, if someone looks at it they will say oh that's really pretty, where's that and there's a story to say, and I think even if you're a gangster, even if you're a murderer, even if you're anything, whatever it is, family is something that is dear to everyone and it's something that everyone holds close to their hearts so anyone in this world can wear that, and if I build myself up to a point of reasonable success and people can identify myself or what my beliefs are through that symbol

H: Through that symbol

S: Then that to me would be eternal success, more than all the money, more than all the fame and glory in the world, because someone would wear that and say “that is what I represent which is what he represents”

H: Well let's hope that that symbol does stick like that. Now we do want to see another clip of your video

S: Ok

H: But just quickly tell us about when the album's coming out, when is your next single coming out, because we had a question from I think it was Roy who wanted to know that

S: The album's basically like I said the album's out in shops as of next year officially, but having said that you can go to HMV as of Monday and you can pick up a copy. I think they have very small stock but obviously the more people that go out and buy it the more they'll reorder it

H: Yes

S: And maybe they'll push back the release to early next year instead of February or March. Likewise the album's available everywhere online, including the single as of Monday and my official website shayanitalia.com will open live as of Monday

H: Fabulous, well thank you so much for joining us today

S: Thank you

H: And really really good luck with the album and the single, we're going to have another look at it in a second, but again thank you so much

S: Thank you

H: And have a look at this

S: Thank you

Music video footage

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