SHREYA GHOSHAL: ADDING ANOTHER OCTAVE
With some help from her brother, Shreya Ghoshal is widening an already brimming repertoire
According to Spotify, Shreya Ghoshal’s 2020 was nothing short of terrific—256.5 million streams, 17.1 million hours and 15.8 million listeners in 92 countries. The 36-year-old singer ranked seventh in the list of most-streamed artistes in India and was one of only two female artistes to feature in the top 10. Ghoshal, though, has never cared for such figures. “It has never given me a feeling of satisfaction,” she says. They also don’t dictate the films or records she lends her voice to. “There is constant pressure from labels on artistes for creating commercial value with everything you do,” she adds. “There is no meaning to it. What will be remembered is what was created for the pure love of music.” Ghoshal has always avoided the well-trodden path. She hasn’t judged a talent show on television in over five years and her social media feeds aren’t inundated with covers, remixes or paid promotions. Instead, she operates at a rare, measured rhythm.
Produced by her younger brother Soumyadeep, Ghoshal’s latest single, ‘Angana Morey’, might have a contemporary pop vibe, but the song, it is clear, plays to the singer’s classical strengths. After ‘Nah Woh Main’, a track that released in March 2020, this is the second time Ghoshal has collaborated with Soumyadeep, a US-based techie. Ghoshal credits him with broadening her sensibilities. “With a fullfledged film music career, I never needed to think about what I want to do or the new kind of music I should explore,” she says. “But he kept asking, ‘What do you want to do?’”
Though both siblings were musically trained from a young age—Ghoshal learnt classical vocals, and Soumyadeep the tabla and guitar—it was she who wanted to pursue a career in performing arts. Having won the talent show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs, she was only 17 when she made her Hindi playback debut with Devdas (2002). In a career spanning nearly two decades, Ghoshal has recorded songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and Bengali and won four National Awards along the way.
Not until the pandemic had Ghoshal taken a break. The singer took up gardening and set up a tiny studio at home. She performed virtual concerts and engaged with her fans on social media. She released a single with Shantanu Moitra and worked on a project with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. But it was working with Soumyadeep that led her to adopt a new resolution. “I’m proactively going to do more collaborations,” she says. “I want to welcome new lyricists, composers and instrumentalists.” ■
“What will be remembered is what was created for the pure love of music”