‘Rao’sing applause
Teenager who croons beautifully, Kaya Rao Shetty takes to the stage with such panache
By : namita gupta
Update: 2015-11-20 23:25 GMT
When Suneeta Rao of the Paree song fame, posted a video on Youtube of the live debut of her niece, Kaya Rao Shetty crooning at the BFlat bar in Bengaluru, it received instant attention. Suneeta Rao and Arati Rao Shetty couldn’t stop short of praising the next generation singer in the family. Make way for the new kid on the block, Kaya Rao Shetty who is all of 15 years and has the voice of an angel.
Talking about her voice, the student of Sishu Griha High School, states, “My singing is mostly self-taught and also a result of watching my mother Arati Rao and aunts perform. But I have been playing the guitar for four years. I started classes in sixth grade and now I am taking a break to figure out what style of guitar I’d like to pursue.
I’m more inclined towards Fingerstyle or Classical guitar. I used to go to Nathaniel School of Music three years ago, for guitar lessons, and then moved on to Domnic D’cruz who is teaching me how to sync my guitar playing and my singing, which is quite difficult. I use music as a stress buster after a hard day at school and tuitions and other stuff, so I practice for about an hour and a half or two hours, easily, without even realising it. I sing mostly blues songs, because my voice has a sort of blues undertone. My biggest inspiration is my theater teacher, Kirtana Kumar. She taught me to open up, pursue my talent, focus and showed me how to be comfortable with myself.”
Kaya has performed to packed houses at Humming Tree and took centre stage at B Flat last week. Besides her performance, she organised the event with many teenagers. Confessing the challenges she faced, she says, “The biggest challenge was picking the kids who would be performing and rejecting the ones who wouldn’t. I received an incredible amount of demos and songs from over 40 kids who wanted to perform and I had to reject half of them. Also, working around their schedules and to set a date for the show wasn’t easy, as most of the kids are in the 15 to 18 age group and have board exams coming up. But, it all worked out in the end and we got a huge applause.”
Getting candid on her future plans, she reveals, “I plan on pursuing my passion for music, maybe not as a career but it will always be a huge part of my life. I love the art in music. There was a time when I wasn’t balancing my studies and my music, but as I’ve reached the end of my high school life, I’m getting more oriented towards school. Also, I have been taking drama classes since I was eight. It has not only helped me in my speech and ability to convey my thoughts, but also in my creative way of thinking, singing, and merging all my different creative abilities. Apart from theater and music, dance has been a huge part of my life. I’ve been learning bharatanatyam for eight years now. I also love to write. I’m writing a book and I have a blog too.”
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