Singing sensation’s debut album comes from the heart
SINGING sensation Shashika Mooruth has done South Africa proud. Not only has she established herself in the local music industry, but Mooruth has taken India by storm since she moved there in 1987. Next month she will release her first original soundtrack in Durban.
Mooruth, a 54-year-old singer, music producer and composer, grew up in Mobeni Heights, Chatsworth and now lives in Mumbai with her son Damodar, 24. Her album, Heart to Heart, will be released internationally under her record label Ujra Music. She will launch the album at a special concert, Heart to Heart with Zeenat Aman at the izulu Theatre, Sibaya Casino on May 12 – along with Bollywood superstar, Zeenat Aman.
“This will be a concert incorporated with a talk show with superstar Aman,” said Mooruth.
“I chose Aman because she shot to stardom when I was a child star. Coincidentally, her first hit song, Dum Maro Dum, from the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna, was released in 1971 – the same year I started singing. I will also present her with a lifetime achievement award.”
Mooruth says this is her “dream album” and she started working on it in 2014, only finishing it this month. It features eight romantic songs and is composed in different styles based on her aura, she said.
Mooruth fought against the odds to fulfil her dream to be a musician. With no professional training, she picked up her singing skills by listening to international artists on the radio until she got the opportunity to visit India and further her skills. In India, she realised that music was her calling.
Mooruth has been applauded by singing greats including the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who heard her sing in Mumbai in 1997. Khan described her as “a voice steeped in emotion that comes only from the spiritual world”.
The songs for Mooruth’s latest album were written by Bengali music director Babul Bose, Swedish singer Neeraj Sridhar and Indian singer and composer Rajeev Mahavir.
“Heart to Heart is my biggest production so far and it portrays different emotions of love and the experience of love from adolescence to womanhood,” she said.