Falu

Falu, a GRAMMY® Award winner and a four-time GRAMMY® Award nominee and the first Indian-born singer/songwriter to win that GRAMMY® Award, occupies a unique station in the ever-rich domain of world music. Trained in classical Indian traditions, Falu’s incandescent vocal artistry blossoms continually along with her distinctively evocative musical style. Falu (Falguni Shah) performs to rave reviews and overflow crowds at concerts and festivals all over the world and has received honors and awards internationally. 

With each year Falu’s audience appeal increases as the number of accolades and awards swells. On January 26, 2024, Falu kicked off Indian Republic Day with a concert at the Indian Consulate in New York City. Other 2024 highlights include an invitation to perform at Nashville’s historic Grand Ole Opry. She appeared on Billboard with the band APQ (American Patchwork Quartet) and was lead vocalist for their debut album, which received a GRAMMY® Nomination for Best Folk Album. Falu sold out concerts at New York City’s Carnegie Hall and was featured on CBS TV New York with news anchor Chris Wragge. NPR stations have interviewed Falu several times in 2024: she spoke on “The World,” “Here and Now” with Deepa Fernandez and “Soundcheck” with John Schaefer.

In 2023 Falu and her husband, Gaurav Shah, a soulful vocalist who also plays the harmonium and the bansuri, collaborated with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (and other songwriters) on a GRAMMY®-nominated single, “Abundance in Millets.” Released on June 16, 2023, the song was inspired by the United Nations declaring 2023 the "International Year of Millets." In August 2023, Falu’s voice and style played a featured role in the India Day Parade in New York City. The Indian consulate in Manhattan sponsored a millet float to recognize the United Nations declaration. Falu’s song played along the entire parade route, and cheers and a sea of Indian flags greeted Falu block after block. This song, woven from Falu’s musical skill and deep concerns about global well-being, was so popular and such a cultural milestone that its title, “Abundance in Millets,” was one of the questions on KBC, the popular “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”-type TV show in India. 

Additional 2023 career achievements include the Webby-Honoree “Awaken” podcast, created under the auspices of the Rubin Museum in New York City, a global museum dedicated to sharing Himalayan art,  and performing with the band APQ at the Monterey Jazz Festival in San Francisco. Falu sang at a concert at Carnegie Hall that explored music and well-being. Seema magazine featured Falu on its cover and she was a guest on CBS New York TV, Fox TV, and the National Geographic TV Channel. A featured entertainer at the 2023 Cricket World Cup held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India — the world’s largest sports arena — Falu enchanted the 132,000 people attending in person and another 1.5 billion watching on TV.

Falu calls 2022 “a magical time.” Her fourth album, A Colorful World, became a sensation, winning the GRAMMY® award for Best Children’s Album. With this song-filled journey through South Asia, Falu became the first Indian-born singer/songwriter to win this prestigious prize. Eminent news media in the United States and India, including the New York Times (“East and West, Ancient and Modern”), Vogue, NPR, Billboard (“Ethereal and Transcendent”), Elle India, Times Of India, Indian Express, and the Washington Post, lauded her achievement. Falu performed at the 66th annual GRAMMY® Premiere Ceremony, stunning nearly 17 million viewers with her vocal additions to “Dance to the Music.” Falu’s sense of style was newsworthy as well: major fashion magazines, including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and W, noted her embroidered red georgette and chiffon gown in their lists of best GRAMMY® red-carpet looks.  Falu’s 2022 performance venues included the landmark concert halls Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Hollywood Bowl and the Grand Ole Opry. President Joe Biden Invited Falu to the White House to sing at the closing of the AAPI ceremony May 28, 2022. On October 25, 2022 (during Diwali), New York City Mayor Eric Adams awarded Falu a citation for successfully representing immigrants in the Big Apple. A week later, on Nov 1, 2022, she was honored by a proclamation from the New York City Council “for fostering greater harmony around the world.” 

Falu has also collaborated with musical artists representing many genres and styles who hail from all over the world. In 2021 Falu’s Bollywood Orchestra opened for the revered late Indian Tabla player Zakir Hussain at Wolf Trap, Washington, DC, and she was featured in Rolling Stone’s “India” section. In 2020, Falu teamed up with bassist Yasushi Nakamura, drummer Clarence Penn and guitarist, and vocalist Clay Ross to form the American Patchwork Quartet, which continues to perform around the world. This band’s music evokes the immigrant histories and backgrounds of the musicians and interprets melodies and lyrics old and new all from a contemporary perspective. On June 6, 2020, Falu joined her vocal strains to jazz pianist Jon Batiste’s March with Music protest. Her "Melodies of Circumstance" CD accompanied Deepak Chopra’s book (The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire). Standout moments in her career in the USA include collaborations with renowned international artists, such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Haitian rapper and singer Wyclef Jean, composer Philip Glass, Latin-pop and reggae singer Ricky Martin, American rock band Blues Traveler, and Indian composer A.R. Rahman. 

Falu won the Women Icons of India Award in Mumbai in 2018. In 2017 she represented the USA as an Indian American artist at a culture summit in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. In 2016, she opened at Wolf Trap for the legendary Asha Bhonsle, and in 2015, Falu was named one of the 20 most influential global Indian women by the Economic Times. That same year Falu played an integral part in fashion designer Givenchy's special 9/11 fashion show in New York City, where she performed for an audience of celebrities. 

Falu sang for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009 at the White House and that year also made a special appearance at the Time100 Gala. Falu was appointed an ambassador of Indian music in 2006 at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, where her concerts at Zankel Hall have consistently sold out. 

Falu, her eponymous album released in August 2007, was featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History’s “Beyond Bollywood” exhibit as representative of the voice of Indian American trendsetting artists. She has recorded six additional albums: Nearly Home with world music band Karyshma (May 2003); Foras Road (May 2013); Falu’s Bazaar (February 2018); Someday with Karyshma (July 2020); A Colorful World (September 2021); American Patchwork Quartet (February 2024). 

Raised in Mumbai, India, Falu began her musical studies at age three. She trained in both the Jaipur musical tradition and in the Benares style of Thumri under the legendary Kaumudi Munshi. She also studied semi-classical music from Uday Mazumdar. Her studies continued under the late sarangi and vocal-master Ustad Sultan Khan. Her Jaipur-style skills were honed by the legendary Kishori Amonkar.

The way Falu captures melodies old and new, it’s no wonder that she has become a citizen of the world, one who speaks seven languages and performs in twelve. “My music, what I write, what I sing, is going back to my Indian roots and bringing that into my music and reinterpreting it with American musicians who come from different backgrounds,” Falu says. 

Listening to her it’s easy to understand how such a voice, such a soul captivates her audience.