Syeda Amtul and Sana Abdul Salam Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Indian singer Ankita Mishra, a finalist in the third season of the popular Indian reality show Indian Idol, is often been labeled as the “fire performer.” A freelance singer, Mishra recently performed at the closing ceremony of the two-week long India Festival 2013 here. “It was an amazing experience,” said Mishra who thoroughly enjoyed her first live performance in the Kingdom. The success of live performances depend on the crowd. “Being an artist if you get a very positive response from your audience, then the performances keep getting better. The real credit goes to the audience.” While singing live on stage, one needs to have strong vocals in addition to stage presence and the ability to entertain the audiences. “It's like an examination. You have to do things on the spot. Planning is very important, but in those three hours you have to be stable and give your best performance on the spot,” said Mishra, adding that sometimes it gets very difficult to perform when the crowd gets rowdy, but then organisers have always been able to manage. It's God and her parents' blessings that give her the energy to put forth her best in each performance, said Mishra. Asked on what basis she selected the songs for the fest, Mishra said: “I knew it was an Indian fest and different kinds of people would be there. So I thought I would give them all kinds of flavors in music.” The 22-year-old versatile singer admitted that she was nervous about performing in an Islamic country like Saudi Arabia. “I was very nervous, and I'll be very frank and open about this. I didn't know how people would take me. I was simply relying on prayers. But it was amazing, it was very good, especially the support I got.” She added: “I wanted to do a lot more songs but because of time constraints we had to cut things short.” Mishra, who has more than a thousand live shows to her credit, also spoke about her performances in other countries. She said earlier she had performed in Canada, US, Kuwait, Bahrain and Sharjah. The response, Mishra said, she got from Kuwait was very good. “I was there (Kuwait) with a male singer, and people wanted us to sing more for them,” said Mishra. Speaking highly of the organisers, the India Forum, Mishra said they were very warm and supportive. Singing is a passion Although Mishra was not a trained singer, singing had always been her passion. At a very tender age, Mishra had started singing “Bhajans” (religious hymns) under the guidance of her “Guruji” (teacher). She was only in grade 11 when she auditioned for the third season of Indian Idol. Her performances were appreciated by Bollywood's renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar and music director Anu Malik. Learning music is an ongoing process Indian Idol was a turning point in Mishra's life. Her two-year contract with Sony BMG provided her with a platform to showcase her talent in singing worldwide. Currently, she is being trained in classical singing by her “Guruji.” She is also learning different “Raags” (a melodic mode in Indian classical music), such as the “Kalyan Raag,” “Raag Darbari,” among others. She also does “Riyaz” (practice) every morning for two hours. Apart from Hindi, Mishra can also sing flawlessly in English and Punjabi. She is learning to sing in Marathi, and would now like to sing in Arabic. India's all-girl band 'Sensations' Mishra is an integral part of “Sensations,” India's only running all-girls band in India. “‘Sensations' happened after Indian Idol. It was initially a band of three girls, and one of them had left. So I was approached to join the band. The two girls in the band were contestants from Indian Idol 4. I liked the idea of the band, so I joined,” she said. The band's other two members live in Mumbai whereas Mishra currently resides in Delhi. Time and again issues of rehearsing together crop up, she said. “This is an issue we're trying to solve. We have musicians as well and we perform on tracks. It's nice when you see three girls performing together. We are good friends as well.” Bollywood favorites Asha Bhonsle and Sunidhi Chauhan are Mishra's favourite singers. “Sunidhi is like goddess to me. She is very versatile, and I get inspired by her performances and her live shows.” And Akhtar is undoubtedly her favourite lyricist. Mishra said songs these days do not have good lyrics as compared to earlier decades. “These days a lot depends on what the public demands so songs are more commercial now. We miss legendary composers like R. D. Burman, and singers like Kishore da (Kishore Kumar), Lata ji (Lata Mageshkar), Asha ji (Asha Bhosle).” A planned future Mishra has a lot planned for her future. She wants to release her own album and write her own songs too. She also looks forward to work with Pakistani singer Atif Aslam. “There is a lot of criticism against him of not being a good singer. See now-a-days there are ways to correct off key singing through auto-tune etc. But Pritam said that if there are errors in your singing, a machine can correct it, but it cannot put feelings into a song. A machine can't do what Atif can do. He gives soul to the music. That is the reason I would really like to share the stage with him,” said Mishra. Eventually, like every other singer, Mishra would also like to sing for Bollywood. Although she has done a few covers and recorded for Bappi Lahiri for a Shaimak Davar dance show aired on Disney channel. The young, talented singer recently graduated from Delhi University with a major in economics. While she longs to have a illustrious career in music, Mishra also plans to do her masters to experience the corporate world once. Love being an artist According to Mishra, the most interesting part of being a successful artist is that you should love what you do. “You enjoy doing it. You're not like 'Shit I have a show. I have to get up and go for it.' It's never like that. You're like, a show? Okay, let's kill it! “I'm on cloud nine. I feel like the happiest person alive when I perform. And to get a crowd like this (the one in Jeddah), then I feel like yes! this is what I want to do. I feel very satisfied,” said Mishra who is the only creative soul in her family. “Generally everyone in my family studied for B.Tech or M.Tech degrees. I'm into a completely different field,” said the cheerful artist whose elder brother is an engineer ,and an elder sister who works for the IBM. Family is strength Mishra originally hails from Kanpur, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India. Her father works for a bank and mother is homemaker. She acknowledges her parents for her upbringing and instilling high values and morals in her. Talking about her family, Mishra said: “My mother takes care of everyone and is the only reason we have been able to deal with a lot. “In his life my father had started off from scratch. He didn't have any support from his father — financially or even emotionally. “But my father is very supportive, and the reason we have succeeded in life. I think it's very important to be aware of your roots. To grow you need to look back, and say ‘this is where you have been.'” Readers and fans of Mishra can interact with her on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/ankeeta.mishraa.
