Musical Mama
Falguni Shah has been a fixture on the South Asian music scene for a while, gracing prestigious national concert halls in the United States and even performing for the Obamas at the White House. Her latest endeavor brought her much closer to home and a Grammy Award nomination.
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What drew you to music and when did you start
formal training?
Coming from a musical background and home
where both my mom and my grandma sang, music
was always a part of my upbringing, whether it was my
family singing or listening to the radio. My mom spotted
that I could sing in pitch very early on and started
my formal training at 3 years old with my first teacher,
Kaumudi Munshi.
You moved to the U.S. in 2000 to Tufts. What did
you teach there and how did that opportunity come
about? Where do you live currently?
I applied to around 75 universities to teach, and
Tufts was the first one to give me a job. So I took it right
away. I created an entire syllabus to teach Indian music
in its entirety from North Indian classical to folk to
semiclassical, for freshmen to senior-year college students.
I live in New York City.
How has your music evolved since your early
years in music?
It's evolved a lot and it keeps evolving every day.
Music is as deep as an ocean—the deeper you swim,
the more you realize that you know very little about it.
First I was scared to write on subjects that are controversial,
but now I trust more than ever that music can
help people. I have gathered the courage to write music
on subjects from rape to child abuse. Every time I have
grown, my music has grown with me.
How would you describe your style of music to
the layperson?
It oscillates between the English and Hindi languages,
has flairs of both Indian folk music and contemporary
Western music along with melodies based
on the five-thousand-year-old ancient Indian scaled
music called raagas.
What would you say has
been your biggest achievement in
the field?
I would say performing for
the Obamas was an incredible
experience.
The music industry is evolving.
How difficult is it for artists like
you to ride the tides of that change
and still stay strong to your core
principles?
It's very difficult, but artists are
strong in nature. I keep my passion
alive every day by finding new ways
to innovate musically and especially
seeing firsthand how music can
change lives through my education
efforts at Carnegie Hall.
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What prompted you to work
on Falu’s Bazaar? How does your
son like it?
When my son was four years old he came from
his preschool exploding with questions like "Ma, why
is our food yellow? Why do we count our numbers in a
different language and not English? Why do we speak
Gujarati at home and not English?” And I thought the
best way to answer these questions was through music—hence my album Falu's Bazaar was born. He is obsessed
with it and does not allow us to play any other
music in our house or in our car! I also wanted him to
be proud of his heritage, not embarrassed by it when
realizing he was different from the other kids in school.
I wanted him to be excited to share his roots, and provide
an opening for other kids
to do the same.
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You have collaborated
with many
artists over the
years. What is the
one lesson you have
learned from such
collaborations?
I have learned
that humility goes a
long way.
What is your
next project going to
focus on?
I plan to draw
from beautiful Urdu
poetry (Ghalib and
other ghazal/Sufi
masters) and present
it in a way that
speaks to a 21st
century global
audience. I love
the complexity
and depth
of this poetry
and am excited
to bring my approach
to it.
Poornima Apte, a widely published freelance writer, editor, and book reviewer, is based in the Boston area. Learn more at WordCumulus.com.
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