On December 26th, Grammy Award winning artist Tanvi Shah visited and interacted with students and teachers of IHS. Accompanying her on the piano was pianist and composer Shyam Benjamin.
Tanvi was born and brought up in Chennai and never intended to become a singer. For her music was a passion and creative medium; her repertoire traverses various styles and languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Afro-Cuban, Arabic besides Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Tanvi shot to fame when she won the prestigious Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Motion Picture or Other Visual Media for her Spanish lyrics for the song “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (2010), an award she shared with maestro A.R. Rahman and lyricist Gulzar.
Tanvi opened the assembly with the song ‘Vi Mamãe Na Areia.’ She followed this up with a few popular picks – ‘Cheap Thrills’ by Sia, ‘Cant’ Stop This Feeling’ by Justin Timberlake and a mash up of ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran and ‘Thoda Thoda’ by Rahman Sir. For the Tamil fans, she sang Rahman’s ‘Nenjukulle.’ She had the audience sing along to Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka’ and closed her program with her breakthrough song ‘Jai Ho.’
Shyam’s accompaniment was nothing less than brilliant. He is a veteran artist, having started playing the harmonium at the age of five, before shifting over to light music and into the western scene. Incidentally, it happened to be Shyam’s birthday, so IHS was able to wish him with a little ‘Happy Birthday’ serenade.
The floor was then opened to questions for either of the artists. Tanvi concluded the assembly with the message that a person must follow their dreams, and even with the ups and downs, one should never give up.