MUMBAI: Singer Shilpa Rao is the voice behind some of famous iconic gems as Javeda Zindagi, Ek Lau, Khuda Jaane, Subhanallah, Manmarziya, Bulleya, Kalank title track and the mega chartbusters Ghungroo completes 15years in the Indian music industry. Her most loved debut song ‘Tose Naina Lage’ from the movie ‘Anwar’ released 15 years ago. Shilpa Rao, who has come a long way in her career with her soulful voice and has collaborated with talented musicians from across the globe like Karsh Kale to Agni to Noori to Anoushka Shankar. Her collaboration with Anoushka Shankar earlier this year, on the album ‘Love Letters’, has got the ‘Best Global Music Album’ nomination for the Grammy Awards 2021.
Talking about her journey, singer Shilpa Rao shares, ‘For 18 years of my life in Jamshedpur, I was a very quiet kid and it was like that I never existed and even in school I was pretty invisible. If I would be in there or not would never make a difference, but everything changed after I moved to Mumbai. I’m really thankful to Mumbai for shaping me into the person I am today, because it didn’t matter what I was, where I was from and the only thing that mattered the most was how well I did my job. This city changed the way I looked at things and how I used to look at myself. It helped me remove all forms of conditioning and just focus and put in a lot of hard work on your craft and persistence. I want to thank every person who helped me in this journey of 15years and many more years to come. Shankar Mahadevan sir has helped me alot in my journey because he sat me down and said first you start recording for jingles that will give you your next step. He was the one person that really helped me when I first came to Mumbai and gave me my first break alongside Mithoon and Naresh jii (Mithoon’s Father) for Anwar. From then everyone from Vishal – Shekhar, Pritam, Rehman Sir, I mean the names are endless and there are so many people who have had that faith in me and given me that stage to be myself behind the mic and I am really very grateful for everything. I am grateful for their friendship and hope to put in some good work. I would like to thank all my fans. Without them it wouldn’t be possible.’
Despite over 15 years of experience in music, Shilpa still does her riyaaz daily, and urges youngsters who aspire to be musicians, to do the same. “I have been practising every single day and still learning music each day. I think these things really matter and this is why I tell the youth to learn music, to keep chasing music excellence and that is what will get them to glory.”
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She concludes by saying, ‘ The only one promise I can make is that I will work harder to give you all the best music and I hope you all give me the same amount of love and support for all the work I am doing even after 15 years. So yeah! Looking forward to many more beautiful years in the industry.’
