People
Ekta Shah – Outstanding Musical Journey of 25 Years
Dedication is required to excel in any field and here I am to write about a person who personifies this particular word. Ekta Shah, a singer who recently completed her twenty five years of her singing career looks back at her success with lot of gratification and humility. Twenty five years of singing is a milestone that she has achieved and her career is that of sheer inspiration.
A Gujrati, but Ekta was born in Calicut, Kerala into a musical family. Coming from a musical background, Ekta started singing Bhajans in Jain temples from the age of five itself with her mother Pushpa Vora who too was renowned for her emotional renditions of Bhajans. That she will dedicate herself to music dawned upon her when she was at a tender age of fifteen when she did a stage show with Mr. Nayan J Shah who is still known as the Mukesh of South India. It was a show where she sang ‘Awaaz De Kahan Hai’ which is originally sung by Noorjahan and she won a lot of accolades for her rendition.
In 2001, Ekta shifted to Bangalore and according to her she started enjoying music even more. Music is a healer for a person like Ekta. Every time she sings she feels refreshed and this is the reason of her devotion to music for so many years. More than a singer, Ekta calls herself a performer who believes in eye to eye contact with the audience. Not only this, but she keeps talking to her listeners while performing on stage because for her, her renditions are a way of interaction. She has her own style of singing which her listeners love the most about her.
A lover of romantic songs, Ekta is one such singer who was invited to Mumbai for shows. She did five shows with Kaushik Kothari of the Golden Greats fame in Mumbai and she recalls it as a great opportunity for she got to learn a lot from some of the greatest stage singers. A great singer, Ekta has also shared stage with Rehana who is A R Rahman’s sister. Mohd. Aslam is also someone with whom Ekta feels privilege to share stage with. Just to mention Mohd. Aslam is a playback singer who has sung for A R Rahman in films like Jodha Akbar, Rang De basanti and Guru.
Twenty five years of musical journey will definitely have layers to unfold. A singer who is popular for Shamshad Begum, Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, Alisha Chinoy, Anuradha Paudwal and Kavita Krishnamurthy songs, actually also owns production named as ‘Ekta Shah Production’ which deals with concept shows. Under this banner she has staged four shows namely ‘Awaaz De Kahan Hai’ a tribute to thirteen playback singers starting from Noorjahan to Kavita Krishnamurthy, ‘Dil Ki Baatein’, a show on Valentine’s Day, ‘Pyar Ka Sama’ a tribute to Mohammed Rafi, first time ever by a female singer in Bangalore and ‘Husn Ke Laakhon Rang’ which was tribute to the beauty queens of Bollywood. Her next show will be on July 26th, 2015, which is once again a tribute to Mohammed Rafi.
In her long journey in the music field Ekta has sung in more than 1600 shows. One interesting fact about Ekta is that she writes lyrics by her own and never takes the printout of it. She has written lyrics for more than 500 songs. Apart from Hindi she sings in Gujrati and Kannada. In fact, she is the only female professional Gujrati singer in whole of South India. She has two Bhajan albums to her credit and has also sung in private albums which include Kannada and 3 Hyderabadi albums.
Perseverance is the key to success, proves Ekta and at every step she has proved herself to be a true performer. Without any formal training in classical music, she has not backed out to sing semi classical songs on stage which was highly appreciated and well received. Ekta is such a singer for whom technical details of a song may not be necessary, but it is absolute essential for her to understand the emotion behind a particular song to reach out to the heart of her listeners.
Have you heard the definition of a modern woman? Ekta is the embodiment of modernity, a woman who balances her personal and professional life. Married to Shital Shah, Ekta is also a writer. She writes poetry on and off. She is also a certified embroidery instructor with Anchor Threads and also a professional Tarot Card Reader as well as a Handwriting analyst. This is not all. She has done a two year diploma in Fashion designing from Mumbai and was the head of the department and head lecturer for 8 years in Mumbai and Bangalore based colleges. Apart from this, Ekta is interested in cooking, traveling, drawing, painting and embroidering.
Ekta looks back at her success with lot of modesty and says that she has learnt and still learns a lot from her co-singers and singers who sing with sheer sincerity teach her the important lessons of music. Apart from her husband whom she calls as the silent pillar of all the strength in her, Ekta thanks her parents for all the motivation and encouragement. For her success she made a special mention of Nayan Shah of Calicut who had not only given her the first break, but also taught her the important lesson of humility, dedication, and preparation before any show. Singer Mohd. Aslam has also been her silent inspiration in her musical journey.
Ekta Shah is a singer of pure inspiration and we wish her all the best in the journey of her musical career and wish her more and more years of successful and beautiful singing.
Ending this by sharing some out of many songs sung by Ekta.
