Two South Asian Women Won Big At Grammys 2022, Here's Their Backstory

The 64th Annual Grammy Awards were held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. The best of the global music industry were awarded for their outstanding performance in various categories. The nominations included the best albums, compositions and artists who made it big between September 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021.

Two South Asian performers won Grammys, making the night even more memorable. For her song Mohabbat, Arooj Aftab, a Pakistani-American singer-songwriter, won the Grammy for Best Global Music Performance. Falguni Shah, an Indian-American singer-songwriter, who won the Grammy for Best Children's Album for her album "A Colorful World."

The two South Asian women: Arooj Aftab and Falguni Shah have built a name for themselves among their admirers and followers and have prepared a path for them through their example. Here's their backstory:

Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab at Grammys (Grammy)

At the 64th Grammy Awards, Arooj Aftab won a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for her song Mohabbat. Aftab is the first woman of Pakistani descent to win a Grammy. Born to Pakistani expatriates in Saudi Arabia, Arooj taught herself to play the guitar after her family moved to Lahore, Pakistan when she was 10.

Aftab moved to the United States in 2005 to study music. The singer draws inspiration from poets like Rumi, Hafeez Hoshiarpuri, Mirza Ghalib and Chand Bibi and many more. Begum Akhtar, Mariah Carey, Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Billie Holiday, according to reports, influenced her singing style. It was Aftab's covers of Hallelujah and Mera Pyar that made the Pakistani indie music scene a success.

The musician, who is a long-time figure in New York's jazz and 'new music' scenes, began her career in 2010. In an interview, the singer, who mostly sings in Urdu, stated that her approach to music is minimalist and simple and that she dislikes having a lot of verses.

The vocalist has worked with many well-known artists and performed in Hindi films. Aftab performed the song Insaaf from the movie Talvar. Gulzar wrote the lyrics, and Vishal Bhardwaj composed the music for the film.

Vulture Prince, Aftab's third album, was released in 2021 and has since topped several charts; her Grammy-winning track Mohabbat from the album made its way into Barack Obama's annual summer playlist. She also served as an editor for the documentary Armed With Faith (2017), for which she received an Emmy Award in the category of News & Documentary.

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Falguni Shah

Falguni Shah with her Grammy (Reuters)

Falguni Shah, best known by her stage name Falu, received the Grammy Award for Best Children's Album for her album A Colorful World at the Grammy Awards 2022. She is the only woman of Indian ancestry to be nominated twice. Her album, Falu's Bazaar, had previously been nominated for a Grammy Award in 2018. She said in an interview that the album was an attempt to reassure her son of his roots and identity.

Shah is a New York-based artist who was born in Mumbai, India. She began singing at the age of three, influenced by her mother and grandmother, both of whom were musicians. She was then schooled in the Jaipur Gharana musical tradition in her early years in Mumbai, where she spent up to 16 hours a day honing her skills. She went on to train with Ustad Sultan Khan, a sarangi/vocal master.

She moved to the United States in 2000 and became the lead vocalist for the Boston-based Indo-American band Karyshma. She then collaborated with Asian Massive frontman Karsh Kale in 2001 and hit the university, club, and festival circuits across the country. She relocated to New York after completing two-year Indian music visiting lectureship at Tufts University in Boston, where she created her band of the same name. They began performing at various music venues throughout New York, gradually gaining among music lovers.

Her music blends traditional Indian melodies with modern western influences. Shah has worked and cooperated with a diverse range of musicians in her blossoming career, including A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire), Yo-Yo Ma (in The Silk Road Project), Philip Glass, Wyclef Jean, her teachers, Ustad Sultan Khan, Blues Traveler, Ricky Martin, and Bernie Worrell (Parliament-Funkadelic).