What is striking about Bluesfest is the amount of incredible talent in one small space of time – although we all love to see them, it’s not just about wheeling out the ‘old favourites’, it’s about curating a lineup of incredibly talented an creative people.
High up on that list is Roshani Priddis – this ball of fire has everything any musician could ask for packed into one awesome chick.
Here’s an example: Roshani, whose ‘day job’ is busking in and around Sydney, put the finishing touches to a song she produced herself last Wednesday. We did our interview on Thursday, following which she stepped into her loungeroom and her husband Tim Everett filmed the clip to go with the song. Roshani cut it on Friday and sent me the link on Saturday – and it’s bloody awesome!
You may have seen a lot of Roshani on the telly – she was on Australian Idol (Season 6) in 2008 and on The X Factor (Australian Season 7) in 2015, a show she appeared on with the proviso that she could sing original songs.
Roshani’s origin story of her adoption at just six weeks of age was also the subject of a 60 Minutes episode.
Roshani, you are a freakin’ phenomenon! But, as an independent artist, sometimes that doesn’t always matter, does it?
I guess it depends on your intentions and what you want to get out of your career. For me, it’s just like, I’m so okay with learning and growing as long as I’m evolving, and I’m better than I was last year or even yesterday, then I’m going in the right direction.
The industry is what it is, especially when corporates get involved – there’s stakeholders to please and there’s looks, certain things that get pushed rather than others – and that’s totally okay.
That’s a whole other world. But then there’s platforms, like Bluesfest. They’ve embraced me so much more than anybody else in the industry.
I’ve sat down with major labels in this country – four or five, six times. And always, it’s ‘you don’t have the [download] numbers. It’s all algorithmic. If you’re trending on Tik Tok, ‘you got a deal, baby’.
The joy of it for me is being DIY and just learning all this stuff, literally, in the last four or five years. Like, I picked up the guitar, really, for the first time playing publicly in 2019. I took up busking at Circular Quay in Sydney and I’ve just been working my ass off ever since.
And that to me is like, ‘I can actually do this!’ whereas before I had this belief in my head that was like, ‘Ah, no, I couldn’t do that’, or ‘I better not do that’, just really crappy, self-limiting beliefs. Now, it just amazes me how you can change so much in a lifetime. It blows my mind.
You’re so loved up – it’s in the songs
I’m a lucky woman honestly. Tim’s been the kind of foundation on which I’ve been able to just grow. It’s been insane. He’s a lucky bastard. [Laughs] I tell him every day.
You were transplanted from Sri Lanka as a baby – has any of that culture stuck in your performance?
I love this way of explaining adoption, especially transracial adoption. I’m running Sri Lankan hardware, but I’m running Australian software.
I think like I’m literally like a white girl from regional Tamworth, but I’ve got this super great tan.
I think my sense of rhythm comes from my heritage. When I went back over there, everyone sings and dances. I was sitting there in the loungeroom of my mum’s kind of little shanty shack house and my uncle just pulls out a comb and wraps a newspaper around it, and starts playing the maddest tune. And everyone’s dancing, and everyone’s singing – everyone’s musical.
Listening to you singing it feels like you are actually connected to the ‘source’. Do you have a direct line to heaven?
Yes! Without sounding religious or weird, it really is like touching God. It’s so beautiful and it’s so sacred and divine – I love it. It’s something that I’m so grateful for that I have in my life and that it’s taken me through all these different journeys and all these different evolutions.
Are you having enough fun?
Oh, I’m having too much fun sometimes.
You can see Roshani’s new song ‘Lover’ on her socials.
Find a slice of heaven with Roshani at Bluesfest – she has sets on Saturday and Monday. See more at www.bluefest.com.au.
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