Falu's Bollywood Orchestra

Falu’s Bollywood Orchestra combines the timeless elegance of Bollywood’s golden age music with a modern inventive style to create a musically and visually stunning treat.

Singer Falu is highly acclaimed for her formidable Indian classically-shaped vocal talent. Currently her first album “Falu” is featured in Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History’s “Beyond Bollywood” exhibit as representative of the voice of Indian American trendsetting artists, and in early 2015 Falu was named one of the top 20 most influential Global Indian Women in India’s Economic Times.

In her early years in Bombay, Falu (aka Falguni Shah) was trained rigorously in the Jaipur musical tradition and in the Benares style of Thumrie, honing her talent for up to 16 hours a day. She later continued studying under the late sarangi/vocal master Ustad Sultan Khan, and continues to study with the legendary Smt. Kishori Amonkar (Jaipur style).

Falu moved to the States in 2000 and her subsequent career has led to a series of brilliant and high profile collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Wyclef Jean, Philip Glass, Ricky Martin, Blues Traveler and A. R. Rahman. She was appointed Carnegie Hall’s ambassador of Indian Music in 2006 and has performed there numerous times as part of the Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute programs.

One of Falu’s most astonishing performances occurred alongside A.R. Rahman for President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House for their First State dinner in Nov 2009. She also was the featured performer at the Time-100 Gala in 2009 in front of guests including Oprah Winfrey. Falu’s songs have appeared on numerous compilations (including Deepak Chopra’s The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire) and in numerous soundtracks (including Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut A Place in Time).

Falu and her eponymous band have put out two albums of original and traditional music (“Falu” in 2007 and “Foras Road” in 2013). These songs and live performances have been aired on FOX TV, National Geographic TV and NPR, and have been described by the New York Times as “East and West, ancient and modern”, by Billboard as “Ethereal and Transcendent” and by Vogue as “a rare brand of timeless elegance.”