Priya Darshini – A Mumbai-born Singer Who Made it to The Emmy’s Nomination List
The internet busted with cheer when the news of Mumbai-born singer, Priya Darshini, got nominated for the 63rd edition of the annual Grammy Awards went viral.
Priya is a New York-based Indian singer who has an eclectic personality, which reflects in her music, and that has helped her come a long way – from collaborating with Grammy awardees to bagging a nomination for herself.
Priya Darshini’s latest album ‘Periphery’ has won her a 2021 Grammy nomination. She had submitted her album in the categories ‘Best New Age Album’ and ‘Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical)’ in October 2020. The names of a few songs from the album are ‘Jahaan’, ‘Loneliest Star’, ‘The Banyan Tree’ and ‘Sanware Sanware’.
After the list of nominees for the 63rd Grammy Awards – which will be held on January 31, 2021 - was released on November 24, Priya Darshini took to Instagram to announce her nomination in the ‘Best New Age Album’ category. She wrote a very heartfelt message for her followers expressing gratitude “A Live album, recorded entirely on One mic getting the nod from the Academy is really quite surreal.”
Describing more about the album, Priya Darshini had said earlier: “I wanted to explore music that brings out the most vulnerable aspects of a person; that raw and unfiltered emotion. What does that music sound like? We wrote the whole record in the twelve days leading to the recording. The entire album was recorded on ONE mic, in an abandoned church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. What we got was an authentic view into that isolated, vulnerable and powerful space”.
For those who may not know, the Grammys are a prestigious award given by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognise outstanding achievement in the music industry.
Priya is currently signed with Chesky Records and dabbles in voice-overs and music composition from time to time.
Chesky Records describes Priya as a singer who has her roots in Indian Classical music. They further added: “Her knowledge of music from all over the world has resulted in a fresh, imaginative and fascinating new sound. She displays an exciting combination of range, technique, unconventional compositions, a feminist perspective, and a prodigious voice that truly sets her apart from other vocalists.”
In her journey so far, Priya has worked with several renowned artists from Pearl Jam, Grammy Award winners Roy ‘Futureman’ Wooten, Jeff Coffin, Philip Lassiter, and ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro, among others.
This multi-talented, 37-year-old South Indian singer had won many accolades for her performance in The Letters -- A Hollywood biopic on Mother Teresa. With being an established singer, she is also an accomplished actor, athlete, and entrepreneur.
More about who Priya Darshini
Priya is known to be involved in aiding cancer patients and doing her bit in the field of girl’s education amongst other things:
- Jana Rakshita - Aiding Cancer Patients with her NGO
Priya’s tryst with cancer patients is rooted in the childhood that she lived with her mother who would often bring strangers into their one-bedroom flat in Mumbai.
In one of the podcasts, Priya shared: “She wanted to serve. She would bring home patients who were getting treatment and didn’t have anywhere to live. These were underprivileged and underserved people travelling to Mumbai from other parts of India,”
Having imbibed her mother’s quality, in 2004 she formally launched an NGO, Jana Rakshita. It provides holistic medical care and offers rehabilitation services to underprivileged cancer-affected children and adolescents.
- Girl Child Education
Through the same NGO, Jana Rakshita, Priya has adopted government-run schools to provide necessary infrastructure and prevent girls from dropping out of schools.
“We have adopted a school, which is a dilapidated building with just two rooms, in Maharashtra. They don’t have potable water or electricity. The building might fall apart at any time, and yet these kids are so invested in their education,” she said in the same podcast.
It is heart-warming to see how people who have settled aboard gives back to their roots!
