Rasika Shekar is a singer, flautist and composer. She plays the Indian bamboo flute.

Personal life

Rasika was born in Dubai and raised in New Jersey, USA. She is trained in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music, initially learning Carnatic vocals from her aunt Vaishali Shankar and violin from her grandmother Gowri Ramakrishnan. She started playing Carnatic flute at the age of 14. Rasika earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

but soon after graduating, started spending more time in India to further her studies in Indian classical music and perform there.

Career

Marking the beginning of her career, Rasika was invited to tour with ghazal legend Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan as a vocalist where she performed a repertoire of ghazals. She made her Bollywood playback singing debut when composers Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy offered her the opportunity to sing for the film Dekh Indian Circus. She then started performing with the trio in their Bollywood live concerts. Rasika's work in Bollywood playback singing has been featured in films 2 States,

Kill Dil ''Kill Dil'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language romantic action comedy film directed by Shaad Ali and produced by Aditya Chopra under the Yash Raj Films banner. The film stars Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar and Parineeti Chopra in lead roles with Gov ...

Katti Batti ''Katti Batti'' () is an Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Nikkhil Advani and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur under the banner of UTV Motion Pictures. The film stars Imran Khan and Kangana Ranaut in the lead roles. This mark ...

, Love Games. As a flautist, she started performing solo Carnatic flute concerts from a young age and continued on in the United States, Dubai, Chennai and Mumbai. She was featured as a flautist on MTV's Coke Studio Season 2 in Ehsaan and Loy's production single Man Patang. Rasika rose to popularity after a video of her performing with Shankar Mahadevan. She has performed in the US, India, Mauritius, Spain and Singapore.

Education

Rasika graduated with a

Bachelor's Degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in chemical engineering from

. She also studied jazz and flamenco music at Berklee College of Music, where she attained her master's degree in performance.

Discography

Playback Singing – Bollywood * ''Song'': Lambuda Kakka, ''Film'': Dekh Indian Circus, ''Composer'': Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, ''Year'': 2012 * ''Song'': Man Patang Man Malang (flautist), ''Film'': MTV Coke Studio Season 2, ''Composer'': Ehsaan & Loy, ''Year'': 2012 * ''Song'': Hullaa Re, ''Film'': 2 States, ''Composer'': Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, ''Year'': 2014 * ''Song'': Daiyaa Maiyaa, ''Film'':

, ''Composer'': Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, ''Year'': 2014 * ''Song'': Sau Aasoon, ''Film'':

, ''Composer'': Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, ''Year'': 2015 * ''Song'': Awargi, ''Film'': Love Games, ''Composer'': Sangeeth Siddharth, ''Year'': 2016

References

Indian flautists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Emirati emigrants to the United States {{India-musician-stub