Vijaya Shankar, a crooner par excellence, has now stepped into the arena of musical composition. She recently had a musically oriented interactive session with Nasheman.in, reliving her illustrious musical journey. Present here with is the ad verbatim account in her own words. Time to tune in your musical ears in pin drop silence.
“To set the ball rolling let me state that I was born in the city of Jamshedpur. Which also happens to be the city of the likes of actors Priyanka Chopra & R. Madhavan, director Imtiaz Ali & J D founder & CEO Mani. That apart after belting our scores super hit songs, now I am making my debut as a Bollywood music composer. Talking about my past musical roots I would like state that I was raised in Kolkata & Delhi wherein I was initiated into carnatic vocal training from an early age of 5. So at a very early stage I bagged the title of “Sangeeta Shironmani”, besides bagging a President Award in the musical arena. Later on I also took further training in Hindustani Semi Classical & Western Voice Culture to maintain the distinctive difference in each style of singing. And for that I owe it to all my musical Gurus.”
“And finally I made my entry into the Bollywoodian Mekkah by singing almost 2000 jingles that too in all the Indian languages including Sinhalese & Nepalese. And not to forget that I have also collaborated with musicians from UK, USA & Denmark. I have also sung the All Time hit number “Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara” and I take pride in having shared the vocal space with eminent singers like Shankar Mahadrvan, Shaan, Udit Narayan, Benny Dayal, Hamsika Iyer, Karthik, Vijay Yesudas, Dr. Balamurali Krishna, Kamal Hasan, Leslie et al.”
“To continue further I would like to state that I have also bagged the Kannada Akka Award as a promising vocalist for the year 2010. And besides being a vocal trainer & linguist writer I have also produced varied super hit albums for Times music like ‘Moksh’, ‘Mantras Of Shiva’, ‘Mukti Mantras’, ‘Garbha Raksha’ et al. As a singer I also have to my credit for singing in 440 volts by DJ Suketu & Srimanta Morya, sharing space with leading vocalists.”
“And at last I worked as an assistant music director for Kannada film ‘Double Decker’. I recently released my debut pop album “Teri Meri Raah” with music by Leslie Lewis. Incidentally speaking I am a composer & a crusader too. As I am also the social ambassador for Indian Development Foundation formerly known as Indian Leprosy Foundation, which also works towards the education for the under privileged, eradicating illness, women empowerment et al.”
“At present I am leading a cleanliness drive which I have named it as ‘Ek Chhotisi Koshish’ for which my society Indradarshan & also the nearby shop keepers are also lending me an able support. I have also appointed 4 sweeper who sweep my area & also the neighbourhood every evening and round the year. Not only these I am also in talks with the BMC to provide public toilets for men & women too. As she feels that there are multiplexes galore but not enough urinals in public places. I feel that sanitation & civic sense are very important for a country’s growth & development.”
And summing up her pearls of wisdom on public health et al, Nasheman.in would like to state that watch out for her just released film, as a debut music composer ‘Baankey Ki Crazy Baraat’ directed by Aijaz Khan & produced by Anita Mani in which Vijaya Shankar has done some brilliant scoring and in which Sonu nigam has sung the “Baraat” song as peppy as the recent chartbursting song from ‘Queen’ namely “London Ka Thumaka”, which as per Sonu Nigam, would become a part of every wedding very soon.
