A fusion of East meets West, Shilpa pours her inner-self into her works to produce sounds of the cultural heart.
Serendipity. Shilpa Ananth is in the UAE – again. Replanted to Abu Dhabi, via Dubai, she is not meant to be here. Everything has changed nearly one-and-a-half years into the pandemic. Several lockdowns have given her time to think, to muse.
The result – turning vegan for one, more importantly, though, is her work on Reproduction, her second EP of original music, set to be released in autumn 2021.
Shilpa exudes sheer confidence. Wearing an African-style dress, her asymmetrical hairstyle from which oversized gold, drop earrings dangle, and her strong features fuse with her tangible energy. She has a story to tell, and does so with gusto.
She is en route to Berklee Abu Dhabi where she is a Vocal Instructor. “I’ve been teaching at my alma mater, the newly opened Berklee Abu Dhabi, since September 2020,” says the vocalist, songwriter, performing artist, educator.
Graduating with Honours from Berklee College of Music in Boston, United States, Shilpa had been on tour and decided to visit her parents in Dubai before heading back home to New York City.
The pandemic had other plans. She is still here, now laying down roots in Abu Dhabi.
Originally from Kerala, India, yet a citizen of the world in every sense, Shilpa earned a Psychology and Mass Communication degree in Bangalore.
“That was plan A,” she says. Serendipity reared its head again when Berkeley, Boston conducted auditions in Mumbai. “I was already performing, singing. I had no expectations. I just gave it my best shot.”
In 2011 the American dream materialised when after securing a scholarship, Shilpa headed to Boston, graduating with a Professional Music and performance degree., before heading to New York to “live the real life”.
Her CV reads well, performing with Grammy award-winning composers, A.R.Rahman, Bobby McFerrin, Bill Whalen, and Javier Limon’s ‘Original Quartet’.
She has also toured extensively with Serbian female vocal group ‘ROSA’, The Berklee Indian Ensemble, Women of the World, and the ‘Bollywood Boulevard’ musical production, performing at several prestigious venues around the US such as Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Apollo Theatre, NJPAC, Wolf Trap, and The John F. Kennedy Center, to name a few.
Her unique sound fuses the dreamy landscapes of South India with Soul, Jazz, and Electronic influences. And brings together three of the oldest Indian languages – Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi – with English, creating art that transcends borders and cultures.
Her approach to music is from a place of sadness, a need to express what is happening in the world and within herself.
Her second EP, Reproduction, reflects this. “It’s a statement. I feel as an Indian woman, I’m expected to meet certain milestones in my life – marriage, children, and so on. I’m artistic; I have to go beyond what is expected of me and the music helps me express this, to work through it.
It’s important to connect my past, my childhood along with the things I studied at Berkeley and what’s happening in my life now.
It’s a mix of East meets West – Indian tradition meets the genres of electronic jazz. I call it Indian soul.”
Find out more about Shilpa, visit shilpaananth.com
Image source Shilpa Ananth
