Shilpa Rao: I am back on the road for a string of live shows

For Shilpa Rao, singing is her profession and performing live, her love. After the pandemic had stopped live shows for a long time, they bounced back some time back with a bang, and the singer couldn’t be happier.

She will perform at Jaipur Literature fest in Maldives (that has gone international this year) and follow it up with gigs in first/second week of June in Houston, US. “I am back now on the roads. And obviously because of the concerts, I can obviously travel. I am a travel-o-holic myself, so it adds to the whole experience of performing. Basically that keeps me busy. Thankfully, all practice sessions happened in the lockdown, and came in handy. We are trying to venture into a different performance set-up. It’s going to be better this year,” says the 38-year-old.

The Ghunghroo and Mudi Mudi singer wants to take the art form of ghazals to different places. “We want to take it outside India. We have done a lot of it in India, beit Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bhopal, and Mumbai of course. Now we are trying to take it to an audience across. Language not being a barrier. Music is an emotion, connecting with people irrespective of where they come from,” she adds.

Rao says the experience of performing at live shows is still the same as months ago- with a lot of precautions. “It is different from the earlier, normal times. You are carrying your sanitisers, trying to be careful when interacting with the audience. Then giving the occasional warning to people to mask up. A lot of rehearsals are also being done on video calls. If now someone is not well, we ask them to stay home, saying we will send them files,” she ends.