Sonia Shirsat

Sonia Shirsat is a Fado vocalist from Ponda taluka, Goa, India. She has been alluded to as “the representative of Goan music to the world” and has performed across India and the world and frequently during social and music occasions in Goa. She sings in 13 unique dialects Shirsat has been advancing Fado in Goa, by holding preparing and starting classes to this type of music at different pieces of the area.

Background

In her previous day work, Shirsat was a speaker of regulation. She “stowed a worldwide honor for her talking abilities, much before she began singing expertly”. She holds a LL.M (Expert’s in Regulation) degree. She began singing as a side interest, and has been an expert vocalist since around 1999. Her mom is Roman Catholic and her dad, a Hindu.

Getting into Fado

Shirsat is one of only a handful of exceptional from India to succeed in the Fado, a music kind which can be followed to the 1820s in Portugal or prior. She credits Portuguese guitarist Antonio Chainho, who was offering guitar preparing in Goa a long time back, for acquainting her with it. Toward the finish of the studio led by him, there was a quest for somebody to sing the Fado. Shirsat’s voice was found to have “fitted impeccably for the melody”, and in this way started her “tryst with the class”, she says. In five years time, she performed at her very first performance show, in Portugal, 2008. Starting around 2016, she has acted in Goa, Daman, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Luxembourg, Macau, Kuwait, France, Singapore, Hawaii, Nepal, Canada, London, Dubai, Muscat, Lisbon and Qatar. She has additionally acted in California, Toronto, Paris, Porto, Oeiras and Seoul.

Shirsat has additionally performed alongside a portion of the noticeable names from the universe of Fado, including Katia Guerreiro, Maria Ana Bobone, Raquel Tavares, Rao Kyao, Carlos do Carmo, Argentina Santos, Miguel Capucho, Ricardo Rocha and Antonio Chainho. She has performed on various events on various Portugal-based Stations, remembering for live exhibitions on RTPI, Sociedade Independente de Comunicação and Televisão Independente. In Goa, she is known for her live exhibitions at various settings, among these the Craftsmanship Chamber at Calangute.

Other achievements

Shirsat is the main expert Fadista (Fado vocalist) in the Indian Subcontinent, a structure she has performed beginning around 2003. She likewise leads studios and gives chats on this semi-traditional classification of music called the Fado. Aside from the Portuguese Fado, Shirsat is likewise known for performing Customary and Popular music from Goa.

Awards

Shirsat has won the 2016 April: Best Artist (Female) Grant from the Tiatr Institute of Goa. She has likewise won the Ustad Bismilla Khan Yuva Puraskar, 2016, in the class of Customary Music which is presented by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Service of Culture, Administration of India. She accomplished the Yuva Srujan Puraskar 2011, the most elevated Grant in the Social field given by the Govt of Goa in Youth Classification.

Media comments

The Hindu newspaper said of her: “Sonia is a prodigious singer with a versatile voice. Rated as the best Fadista in India of all time, the talented singer has toured across the globe.”

Discography

• 2006: Selected for Fado scholarship in Portugal.
• Saudades de Fado, 2010
• March 2010: Release in Lisbon of album ‘Lisgoa’ which Shirsat has performed in with Antonio Chainho
• Ugddas, 2013. This collection comprises cover versions of prominent musicians such as Alfred Rose, Chris Perry, Frank Fernand, Wilfy Remembus, among others. Shirsat has also been working on Konkani music in recent times.
• Melodious Goa, 2014
• Saudades de Fado II, 2016
• August 2016: Fado in the City (performance)

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