Falu (born Falguni Shah; in Bombay, India) is an American singer whose music blends ancient classical Indian melodies with contemporary western sounds.
She has worked and collaborated with a wide array of artists including A. R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire, Yo-Yo Ma (in The Silk Road Project), Philip Glass, Wyclef Jean, her teacher Ustad Sultan Khan, Blues Traveler, Ricky Martin and Bernie Worrell (Parliament Funkadelic).
After fulfilling a 2-year Indian music visiting lectureship at Tufts University in Boston, Falu moved to New York where she formed her own band of the same name.
Later in the year she joined the Born Into Brothels Ensemble (from the 2004 Academy-Award winning film) and in early 2007 she collaborated with Wyclef Jean, lending her vocal style to the score of Angelina Jolie's directorial debut A Place in Time.
[3] In May 2009, Falu made a special appearance at the Time 100 Gala—Time magazine's yearly gala celebrating their list of the 100 most influential people in the world—performing a rendition of "Jai Ho" alongside Slumdog Millionaire film composer A. R. Rahman, for an exclusive and star-studded crowd which included First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, Stella McCartney, Liv Tyler, M.I.A.
In November 2009, Falu was invited to the White House to again sing alongside A. R. Rahman at President Obama's first State Dinner in honor of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"[5] The band members are Gaurav Shah (vocals / harmonium), Mark Tewarson (guitars), Danny Blume (bass), Deep Singh (tabla/percussions), Dave Sharma (percussions) and Soumya Chatterjee (violin).
Falu was an integral part of Givenchy's September 11 fashion show (Ricardo Tisci collection under the art direction of Marina Abramović) in NYC, where she performed for a star-studded audience.