Though born to a Bengali family in Durgapur, Shreya has never lived in West Bengal. “I was born and brought up in Rajasthan till I was 13 and then we moved to Mumbai”, says Shreya. Yet she is very particular about speaking ’only in Bengali’ at home.
But for a new listener to those recent Malayalam hits, whether it’s “Chanthu Thotille” in Banaras, “Vidaparayukayaano..” in Big B, “Manju mazhakkattil..” in Aagathan or “Anuragavilochananayi”, in Neelathamara, it’s hard to believe they were rendered by a non-Malayali.
So perfect is the diction, intonation and the voice modulation for the colloquial slang that one just sits wondering about her perfect renditions. The same is true about the other languages she has sung in, say Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil or Telugu.
So, it’s no wonder when Shreya Ghoshal won the Kerala state award for the best female playback singer this year. However, her amzaement about receiving the award was hard to miss. “I am really thrilled to get the award,” she beams.
“I am so grateful to Jayachandran Sir, for giving me such a wonderful song and I am dedicating it (the state award) to him,” she says.
With four national awards for best playback singer and awards of various states and other accolades galore, Shreya never gets carried away, instead each honour makes her all the more responsible.
“Every single award is a big motivation for me,” Shreya says, “it makes me more responsible.”
Of all the other language film songs Shreya rates the Tamil chart buster ’Munbe Wa’ as the closest one to her heart. “This is the song which amply displays A.R. Rahman sir’s magic,” Shreya says.
“Whenever I come to Kerala, I make sure to buy cookery books and I am fond of south Indian dishes too. I can prepare Avial and Appam as well,” she says, with a laugh.
Back from an extensive trip to the US, Shreya turned immediately busy with the upcoming home ventures of A.R. Rahman, Vishal Bhradwaj, Pritam besides Malayalam music directors M. Jayachandran and Ouseppachan.
Next Hindi song of Shreya is titled “Shaam Ki” from the movie “Chase”. It’s a duet with Shaan. Music is composed by Vijay Verma.
The track runs for 5 minutes 12 seconds. It starts with a beautiful humming by Nightingale Shreya . It’s a cute romantic melody. Shreya starts the mukhda after Shaan with her sweet voice supported by light instruments. Though the song is simple , but it has a unique sweetness which makes the song special (Thanks to Shreya).The poetic lyrics adds more beautiful colors in the track.
The antaras are beautiful as well . I loved the way both the singers rendered “bhool hone ka paigam late hain” .Its a romantic track…trademark style of Bollywood but still , the music director has done something different.
Ps: I am eagerly waiting for Shreya’s song in Raavanan (Tamil) , I Hate Love Storys and Love U Maa (remake of Stepmom)
New Hindi song of Shreya is out. Its titled “Ghar Dil Mein” from the movie “Apartment”. It’s a duet withJaved Ali. Music is composed by BappaLahiri (son of Bappi Lahiri). Last song which Shreya did with him was "Jaane Kya" from "C Kkompany" .
The track runs for 4 and a half minutes.Its a fun track, probably a one -on-one type of a track between husband and wife. The song starts with a line "Its just about living" .So now you know what is the track all about. Javed starts with the song trying to express what all he can do for her wife. The track has funny lyrics and Shreya is sounding very very cute in the song. Shreya has sung last antara and Shreya modulates her voice her well according to the theme of the track. The song turns little fast at the end and Shreya ends it very well.
Most of you will not be knowing that Shreya even sang the female version of Aromale in the movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. The song comes in movie just for a short period of time in the movie along with dialogues. Its a kind of alaap. Shreya has sung it with so much feel. The tune is so haunting.Truly the real best composition of AR Rahman
Aahh…..the songs from Sanchari made me wait too long but million thanks to my dear friend Kiran Raj who helped me in getting the songs.The songs were out quite a long time ago but were not available anywhere.So , what we could do was just WAIT !! ..And if Kiran Raj was not there to help me , then I would never have got these songs.
Shreya has two songs in the movie.Music is composed by Arjun.
First track is titled "Kanna Sanneyali" sung by Shreya Ghoshal & Mohommad Aslam.It runs for 6 minutes 30 seconds.Overall , its a complete Shreya track as the male singer hardly just sings one line in each antara.The track starts with a beautiful singing by chorus and then , Shreya starts with her mesmerising voice Kanna Sanneyali.The track is so breezy and gives peace to the mind.Ths track has a slight carnatic flavor to it.Its so unique ..something which I have hardly heard before.I felt that the song has some shades of Raja Rani from Raja - The Showman.After the awesome jugalbandi between the chorus in the first interlude , starts the beautiful shehnai and Shreya proceeds with the antara.Its completely out of the world.The rhythm of Shreya's voice and the dholak in the first antara is amazing. The second interlude is awesome as well which again involves an outstanding jugalbandi in the form of sargam between the chorus and Shreya proceeds with the song.This track is one of the best Kannada tracks of Shreya.Hats off to her for rendering the song with so much emotions.
Next track is titled "Galiye Nodu Baa" sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Sonu Nigam.Its a complete duet as both the singers gets equal chance to sing. Its a romantic track which runs for 5 minutes 15 seconds.The male singer starts with the track first and the way Shreya renders "Mayada Darpana" is amazing.The song is a good mix of classical and western music.The antara is outstanding.The way the male singer sings the sargam and Shreya sings it as a alaap is great.This track is impressive as well
Hope you will enjoy the tracks :)
Hatss of to Shreya and Arjun as weel , for composing great tracks!
Hi friends. I am back with another new song of Shreya which is a Bangla track. Its sung by Shreya and Kunal. Music is composed by Jeet Ganguly. The track is titled " Oh My Love" from the movie "Amanush".
The romantic track runs for 5 minutes. The sad part of the song is that Shreya has got only line to sing in both the antaras.So , its obvious that I won't speak much about this track.But just to give u a hint , its a romantic track which is mostly covered by the male singer.Shreya has sung the first line of each antara and needless to say , Shreya sounds amazingly sweet in every word she renders !! :)
Shreya Ghoshal is on song as she wins the State award for the best female playback singer.
“Totally unexpected,” comes the dulcet voice over the phone when Shreya Ghoshal is congratulated for winning the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Female Playback Singer for her foot-tapping Chandu Thotille in Banaras. “I never thought I would get an award for a Malayalam song. The language is not all that easy; I must thank Jayachadran Sir [M. Jayachandran] for giving me such a lovely song and helping me do justice to it,” says Shreya.
Although she had already sung a song for Alphons (Vida Parayukayano in Big B), it was the song in Banaras that really made Shreya a household name in Malayalam. Vennilave in Sagar Alias Jacky and the swinging Anuraaga Vilochananayi in Neelathamara crowned her as the queen of the charts in Malayalam. And Shreya finished the year as the top singer in Malayalam with every other music director wanting to work with this music powerhouse. Winning awards seems to come naturally for this talented youngster who has already won four National awards and three State awards for the best female playback singer. Language is no barrier for this 26-year-old who has sung in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam in addition to her mother tongue, Bengali. What is special is the way Shreya manages to get the right enunciation and expression in all the languages.
Getting it right
“Oh, I have a special way of writing the lyrics when it is dictated to me. No matter what the language of the song, even if it is Bengali, I write it in Hindi. I have certain notations and markings to indicate the way it should be pronounced. I feel the Devanagari script is the closest to the phonetics of the language. English alphabets are not very good for that purpose. Moreover, I listen carefully and try to grasp as much as possible when the lyrics are read to me,” she says.
Shreya adds that she also requests the music director or the person in charge of the recording to explain the situation in which the song is sung. That, she feels, is what helps her give each song of hers that punch and evocative way of rendering. “They explain the way the pallavi or the anupallavi would be shot and the scenes for which the song would be played,” says Shreya.
After having worked with all the top directors in India, Shreya feels that the chance of working with such a wide range of directors is one of the biggest advantages of being a playback singer. “No two days are the same. Rahman Sir, Illyaraja Sir, Vishal-Shekar….each director, studio, language, genre and song is unique and I enjoy every bit of it. Awards do motivate me but, above all, it is just the sheer pleasure of making music that keeps me going,” she says.
A firm believer in talent hunts, being the winner of two such talent hunts (Sa Re Ga Ma on Zee TV) herself, Shreya avers that such shows have given many a talented singer a platform to showcase their talent and to capture the imagination of a global audience, as it happened in her case. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the celebrity judge on an episode, was captivated by her singing and made her sing playback for Aiswarya Rai in Devdas. The pitch-perfect Shreya never had to wait for songs as she was flooded with offers from both sides of the Vindhyas and that has made her a votary of such talents hunts on television.
“These shows have opened a world of opportunities for so many singers. Somewhere, someone might be listening and give the singer the right break. Earlier, they used to be a big gap between the top rung singers and the others. It was not because they were less talented; it was just luck. But now the gap has narrowed thanks to reality shows. Many of the singers who have come up through the shows are busy singers who earn well and are stars in their own right,” she says.
Favourite singer: There are many who have inspired me but Lataji has a special place in my heart. I love her songs, the way she sings and her voice.
Family: There is no separate entity. We are one. My father, Biswajeet Ghoshal, is a scientist-engineer and my biggest support. I get my music from my maternal side. My mother, Sharmistha, herself is an excellent singer though she never turned a professional singer. My brother, Soumyadeep, is studying engineering. We function as a team.
Many Many Congratulations to The Nightingale for winning her first “Kerala State Award” for the beautoful track “Chanthu Thotille” from the movie Banaras.
Shreya Ghoshal 's new songs from the remake of Devdas (in Pakistan) are out ! .The songs were recorded some 3- 4 years ago but I don't know why the movie was delayed.Anyway , Shreya has sung two songs in the movie.Lets talk about the solo first !
Please don't compare the Devdas ( 2002) with this Devdas because people have the bad habbit of making comparisons of originals with sequels( I am talking about songs this time) .Shreya's solo is titled "Kaise Jiyungi Bin Tere" .It runs for 5 minutes 30 seconds.Its a sad song and it starts with a mesmerizing harmony by Shreya and just after Shreya picks the word "Kaise" , a beautiful background music is started which is very appealing and then the song moves forward.The lyrics are great which flows very well with the tune.The first interlude is very catchy starting with a chorus part. The antaras are great filled with sad emotions and I repeat , the lyrics and of course , our Nightingale's voice flows with the theme of the song very well.
Next track is titled "Kahe Tum Sang" sung by Shreya and Kavita Krishnamurthy. Before you compare it with Dola Re Dola , let me tell you the theme of this duet is slight different.Its a thumri cum jugalbandi.You will get what I mean after hearing the song. The track runs for 6 minutes track.It starts with a mesmerising instrumental piece played on sarangi and then , Kavita starts with the song and Shreya sings after her and she has completely overshadowed Kavita , no offense to Kavita..she has sung nicely too but the way Shreya has put sad emotions in the song are completely out of the world.As its a thumri , so its obvious that song will have a classical flavor in it.The stanzas are fabulous.I really liked the way Shreya sang the lines "Kaccchi Nikli Preet Ki Dori" .The track has a great work of all the Hindustani Classical instruments , specially Tabla and Sarangi.
Overall , amazing songs and I am sure music lover are going to love the tracks.
