Falguni Shah – Taking Global Fusion Music to New Heights

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Falu's band is known for its creative mix of East and West that they present. This is possible as her band mates come from different musical backgrounds such as Indian classical, alternative rock, contemporary pop and electronic styles. Her efforts have made it possible to bridge cultural gaps with her music.

Falguni Shah, popularly known as Falu is an Indian born American singer. Born in Mumbai she stands apart from the mass in the way she blends age old classical Indian melodies with western sounds. She won the Grammy Award in the category of Best Children's Album for A Colourful World.

A career which she nurtured by staying in US saw her collaborating with artists across the globe. She has worked and collaborated with AR Rahman in the film Slumdog Millionaire. She has also worked with Yo-Yo Ma in The Silk Road Project. Some of her other collaborations include working with Philip Glass, Wyclef Jean, her guru Ustad Khan, Ricky Martin, Blues Traveler and Bernie Worrell.

At the initiation of her musical career in Mumbai she acquired training in the Jaipur gharana musical tradition. She honed her skills by practicing for about 16 hours per day. As she proceeded with her musical studies, she embraced the teachings of the sarangi/vocal master Ustad Sultan Khan.

She shifted to the United States in 2000, to continue her musical dream. She became a member of the Boston-based Indo-American band Karyshma as the front woman. The next year she met the Asian musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist and leader Karsh Kale. She collaborated with the artiste to perform at the nationwide university, many clubs and festival circuits. She then completed a music visiting lectureship at the Tufts University in Boston, which lasted for a period of two years. The musician then moved to New York and formed her own band. The name of the band was Falu. The band went on to perform at various music venues throughout New York. They managed to win the hearts of many in the the far from home city.

As time went on, Falu received an invitation to perform as a soloist along with Yo-Yo Ma's 'Silk Road Project'. The next year she received a request to be one of Carnegie Hall's Musical Ambassadors to New York City. The year 2006, saw the artiste debuting with a solo performance at Carnegie Hall. The same year, she joined the 'Born Into Brothels Ensemble', from the 2004 Academy-Award winning film.

In the beginning of 2007, Wyclef Jean collaborated with her. She lent her vocal style to none other than the score of 'A Place in Time'. This was the directorial debut of Angelina Jolie. The year 2008 saw Falu and her band at FOX channel's Fearless Music. This marked the moment when the first Hindi song was aired on the network. Her original song Rabba was aired in the programme.

Falu released her self-titled debut CD in August in 2007. This was the beginning of her new "Indie Hindi" musical style. This style later reflected its influence in The Wall Street Journal as a new hybrid of musical style.

In the month of May in 2009, Falu appeared at the Time 100 Gala. It is the yearly gala of Time magazine which draws out a list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She performed a rendition of "Jai Ho" with AR Rahman. The event was filled with many world-renowned stars in the event. It included the then First Lady Michelle Obama, Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey, Stella McCartney, M.I.A, Liv Tyler and many more.

In November 2009, she went on to perform at the White House with AR Rahman as per an invitation. The event marked President Obama's first State Dinner in honour of the then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh.

The year 2011 saw her working in films. It started with writing music for "The Human Tower" which was a documentary. She collaborated with composers Andres Subercaseuax and Rene Veron for the same. She then went on to write music for the film First Sight along with Sivamani and Mark Tewarson. She also made contributions to the sophomore album by Global Noize, Prayer For the Planet. While continuing to work closely with Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, she managed to stretch the boundaries of global music. Her efforts also led to the collaboration of kids from New York's Crossroads Juvenile Center and inmates from Sing Song Correctional Facility in upstate NY. She performed along with her band and 16 inmates with inspiring musical skills for more than 400 inmates in the beginning of 2012.

The year 2013 saw the artiste releasing her second album entitled, Foras Road. This album was a collective of traditional originals with inspiration drawn from the semi-classical music which the courtesans dwelling on the road of Foras Road used to perform. Danny Blume, the Grammy-winning producer produced this album. It was featured on NPR's Sound Check Archived on September 15, 2015 at the Wayback Machine in May 2013. The album was re-released in November, 2018.

Falu's band is known for its creative mix of East and West that they present. This is possible as her band mates come from different musical backgrounds such as Indian classical, alternative rock, contemporary pop and electronic styles. Her efforts have made it possible to bridge cultural gaps with her music. The members of her band are Gaurav Shah (vocals / harmonium), Mark Tewarson (guitars), Danny Blume (bass), Deep Singh (tabla/percussions), Dave Sharma (percussions) and Soumya Chatterjee (violin).

She was named as one of the 20 most influential global Indian women by the Economic Times of India in 2015. She bagged the Women Icons of India award in Mumbai in the year 2018.

She possesses a keen interest to introduce children to the wonders of the world. This led her to produce the Grammy nominated kids project, Falu's Bazaar. In 2018, she released Falu's Bazaar as a twelve-song album in Hindi, English, and Gujarati language. This album features her husband, singer-songwriter Gaurav Shah, and her mother, classical singer Kishori Dalal. Her mother has also sung in a track called Nishaad's Lullaby, a song in Gujarati without any percussion. The album was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Children's Music category in 2019.

Falu's second children album, A Colourful World, produced by Grammy Award winning producers Kenya Autie, Mario Sanmarti, and Tina Kids won a Grammy in the 64th Grammy Awards for Best Children's Music Album in 2021.

The musician has been moving ahead every year on a spree which will continue to inspire millions.

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