Nikhil D’souza is a talented guitarist and singer-songwriter from Mumbai, India. Nikhil’s genre and musical style can be loosely defined as eclectic acoustic guitar based pop. His songs have a full melodic quality to them due to his use of alternative tunings. Nikhil’s major musical influences have been Sting and Jeff Buckley.
Over the past few years, Nikhil has been co-writing with different writers, performing solo as well as with his band and working hard at developing his songwriting and performance skills. During this time he has performed many shows across India as well as Europe, Australia and America, including the Blue Bird Cafe (one of the top singer songwriter venues in America). Recently, Nikhil has been travelling back and forth to Nashville to co-write with award-winning songwriter Jeff Cohen.
Nikhil had to be brave to get to this level, quitting his secure day job as a Geologist to pursue music full time. The strength of his original songs, the beautiful tones and range of his voice together with his attractive image and looks are all the ingredients of a rising international star.
Rolling Stones India has favorably featured Nikhil’s music several times: Neha Sharma from Rolling Stone said “D’Souza’s strength as a songwriter is well established in his numerous gripping compositions. Most of his songs shiver with this arresting melancholy as his falsetto glides over twangy guitar riffs”.
Uday Benegal, the host and initiator of Tuborg Acoustic Adventure TV series (which Nikhil performed for) was quoted in Rolling Stone as saying “Any new artist performing at Acoustic Adventures, needless to say, will be the best.”
India Today also included Nikhil as part of their “Faces of the Future,” and he was recently featured on MTV’s COKE Studio series.
He’s one of the few musicians who’ve been successful in the “Indie-Mainstream crossover”; his voice is now one of the most instantly recognizable voices in the ad/film industry, having sung in several Bollywood films. Although it is refreshing to see that his original music has and will always be his top priority.
A distinctive feature of his original music is the emphasis on strong vocal melodies and lyrics, backed up by skilled and unconventional guitar work and musical arrangements.