MUMBAI: We all know her as a versatile singer and Shalmali doesn’t leave a chance to be proven otherwise. The singer along with her girl gang has come up with a new single called Spark A Fire.
Spark A Fire is an original song with lyrics penned by Shalmali Kholgade and her girl gang including Riya Duggal, Simran Duggal, Pratiksha Kale and Neha Tawde; the song is arranged and produced by the enigmatic music producer, Sunny MR.
The pop track penned in English talks about the journey that music has paved for each one of them and how like the pieces of a puzzle, they all came together to make a beautiful composition that has made us groove along.
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The idea of this track started when Shalmali thought of reviving her studies that she had registered for with the prestigious Berkley University. “When I started with the course, I wasn’t in the right space of mind, but I had a bunch of books from that course. One of the chapters was on songwriting. So, this track is a songwriting exercise.”
She further shares, “I put together a basic structure to glue each piece together after which my friend and mentor Sunny M.R fine-tuned the arrangement, embellished it with some minimal production. This song is everything that music means and does for us. The end of the song, is a verse on giving back to music, which is my personal favourite. I wanted this song to create a sense of achievement for the girls, like a reward. I’d say it’s a very big reward for me too.”
“It is also out of personal experience. More or less, every singer wants to be a Bollywood playback singer; that is the ultimate dream. Even I used to think like that. There is nothing wrong with it either. But once I was thinking how initially this was never on my radar. I just wanted to open a cafe that would play jazz music. One day, I just thought of what happened to that dream. That is how this idea of this song came. Also, it is beyond the concept of heart-breaks, as there are other things too,” says the singer.
Spark A Fire released on the occasion of World Music Day on 21 June 2018 on Shalmali’s YouTube channel.
“We actually completed the song in three weeks. My team is in the age group of 19-22 and they are pretty much up for everything, which is great I believe,” exclaims the singer.
Talking about the talented bunch, the Balam Pichkari singer says, “Riya Duggal, Simran Duggal, Pratiksha Kale and Neha Tawde – I am really fortunate to have found these four beautiful young girls who have marked the beginning of a new musical journey for me. Although they accompany me on my stage shows, we decided this season to also focus on “songwriting”. When the girls took interest in learning songwriting, I proposed, we write a verse each on “Music” in whatever musical form and structure, with no boundaries on genre and tempo. The only common theme being music! So, here we are, with a five-verse song, each originally by the five of us, in words and melody.”
The track also has a lyrical video with a very quirky video. “We just went with the flow and shot this video,” says the voice behind Pareshaan.
Check the song here –
A regular at judging reality shows, especially Marathi, Shalmali has one advice for the new crop, “Be open for everything.”
Shalmali will be releasing few independent songs in coming months and is trained in hip pop, Bollywood dancing and basics of jazz and ballet.
