Shibani on a high

Shibani Kashyap first made waves at the world’s longest dance party held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. Having tasted success with her very first composition Sajna..Aa Bhi Jaa, in Waisa Bhi Hota Hai, she came up with two albums Nazakat and Hakim Tara Chand which were very successful. After launching her latest album My Free Spirit, the singer and composer was on a celebratory high talking to Metrolife about the milestones she has reached.

“With Bollywood dominating the Indian music scene, it’s very tough for an independent artiste to make it big. But we are getting there and it’s going to be huge,” she says.

Growing up all in places all around the country as an army officer’s daughter, she absorbed cultural influences from different states. “I completed my final years of education in Dehradun and Delhi majoring in English Literature and Mass Communications. I also come from a family with strong musical genes. My mother is a trained classical singer and I learnt both Indian and Western classical music,” she explains.

 A great fan of rock star Sting, John Mayer and A R Rahman, she has several hobbies and interests but very little free time to indulge in them.

“I love sketching, reading and giving my home periodic makeovers. I also like to meditate, and do a lot of Himalayan yoga and Buddhist chanting. This keeps me fit along with my gym workouts which I do religiously thrice a week,” she expands.

With no time for personal life right now, the singer insists that she is focused on her career for the present. As for moving into acting, she says, “I don’t know how these rumours get started. I have made cameo appearances in movies as myself and unless something truly spectacular falls into my lap, I am not thinking of any such career move right now.”

Her favourite holiday destinations are Bali and Goa although she loves the hills too, having spent some of her most memorable school years there.

As a self-confessed car buff, who upgrades her automobile as often as she can, she is currently torn between choosing between an Audi and a Skoda.

But when it comes to gadgets she is a little laidback. “I use a phone for basic communication, like calls and messaging. It’s just that people look so shocked when they see that I don't have a blackberry. So I'm thinking of getting one. I feel that the more gadgets we have, the more enslaved we become,” she laughs and signs off.