http://www.screenindia.com/apr14/music1.htm
Pls check the above link to see Singer Bala Shende and the news abt her is as follows * *s video of the title song of her debut album Kaisa Yeh Jadoo depicts her as a modern-day Cinderella. In real-life too, hers is indeed a Cinderella-like story, except that while Cinderella dreamt of meeting her Prince Charming, Bela had dreamt of making a career in playback singing. Well, she's already on the way towards fulfiling her dream, having made a beginning by winning the Sa Re Ga Ma mega-finals, which resulted in her landing a contract with Magnasound, which in turn recently released her debut album Kaisa Yeh Jadoo. "Yeah, its just like the Cinderella story. My dream of becoming a singer has come true," gushes the young singer, "Actually, winning the Sa Re Ga Ma mega-finals was a dream come true, which led to this debut album of mine." It was at the mega-finals of the musical programme that Shashi Gopal of Magnasound, who was one of the chief guests on the show, realised Bela's potential and offered her a contract alongwith the other winner, Mohammed Vakil. "Since Magnasound is a leading music company, I knew it would give me a good exposure, and I signed a two-year contract with it," says Bela. Magnasound and Bela then decided that her professional debut would be with a pop album. Surprising, since it was her knowledge of classical singing that had impressed the judges and the audiences at the Sa Re Ga Ma mega-finals. "I am a trained classical singer, but I never intended to make a career in classical singing. That was necessary for a solid base for my singing. I was always keen to make a career in light music, namely playback and pop singing," Bela clarifies. The young singer says that a lot of thinking and planning went behind her debut album Kaisa Yeh Jadoo. "The debut album sets your image and establishes you. So it is important that you are launched well, and you make an impact. The theme we selected, of a the romantic dreams of a young girl, suited me fine," opines Bela. The album has music by another debutant, Saurav Bhatt, son of Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, the renowned mohan-veena player. Says Bela, "Since we both are young and we both were making our debuts, there was this good rapport between us. And we both were equally enthusiastic about our album. While recording the songs, Saurav was always open to any suggestions I had, and it was fun. All the eight songs are melodious, but I am specially fond of title track and another number, Dekha tujhe to mera dil." The video of the album, which is shot on Bela herself, draws one's attention to the complete change in the outwardly appearance of Bela. One saw her as a demure, salwar-kameez clad girl, in a tight plait and gajra in Sa Re Ga Ma, cutting a very traditional picture. And in the video, she is shown as a hip girl, in jeans, pinafores, and sports-shirts, her hair styled trendily. In real life too, Bela now dresses up like in the video, and it looks like the make-over given to her by Magnasound is here to stay. "I liked the new look and adopted it," smiles Bela, "I enjoyed acting in the video. I wasn't nervous or camera-shy at all. It was so easy actually, maybe because I was playing myself, a college-going girl." Coming from a family of classical musicians (her grandmother Kusum Shende, her father Dr. Sanjiv Shende and her sister Sawni are all deeply into classical music and give regular performances), Bela says that she is the only one who will be diverging towards playback singing. "I have already been approached by leading film music directors, but I haven't said yes to anybody. My contract with Magnasound doesn't allow me to sing for films," she says, "After my contract expires, I will step full-fledged into playback." Meantime, Bela is busy with concerts. "Recently I performed in Dubai during the shopping festival there. I sang my album numbers and the Indians there responded quite well," she says happily. In the end, we can't help but ask her as to why the ads for her album boldly declare "Sonu Nigam and Magnasound present Bela." How is Sonu Nigam involved in her album? Is he promoting her? "Sonu Nigam hasn't contributed at all to the album. The only thing is that, like me, he too is associated with Sa Re Ga Ma, and the other fact is, we both are Magnasound artists. That's it. There's nothing more," she clarifies. -- regards, Vithur A.R.RAHMAN - MY BREATH & LIFE FORCE
