Grammy award-winning music producer Jerry Wonda: The influence of Indian music is on the rise

Grammy award-winning Haitian music producer Jerry Wonda has worked with many artistes in India. Talking about his take on the Indian music industry, he tells us that he has been travelling to India for years and loves culture, the food, the people and the music.

“In fact, in the music I created for a global Wholistic Well-being app, RoundGlass Living, you’ll hear Indian vocals by Amrita Sen (singer). The influence of Indian music is on the rise, and there are so many unique sounds and instruments. Even the musical scales are so unique, and it’s exciting to think about that. Today you can already hear the influence of India’s music in both hip hop and pop – and it’s just the beginning,” he says.

Are there any musician or artiste in India that he wishes to collaborate with and whose music he enjoys?

“There are some great young artists in India. Sun J from Khatarnaak really caught my attention a couple of years ago with his hip-hop collective. I am looking forward to hearing his new EP,” he explains.

Wonda has collaborated with many big names in the music world, from Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Shakira to Justin Bieber.

Talking about who was the most fun or rewarding to work with, he shares, “That’s not an easy question for me to answer. I will say that in most of my experiences I’ve tried to make real-life connections with the artists in some capacity. I’ve worked with artists when they were just starting out and 20 years later, I run into them and it’s like we were never apart.”

The 46-year-old says he is happy to see the evolution of music in his career so far.

“Music evolves to connect culture, countries, people, and finance. It’s constantly evolving. About every five years, a fresh style of music emerges and most of the time it’s influenced by a different culture like Afrobeats or Reggaeton. This evolution of music connects cultures. An artist from a village in Africa can come from obscurity and find huge global success that changes his or her life, along with the lives of his/her family and, at times, even his/her community. I see India’s influence in music is just starting — we’ll see how it evolves,” he ends.