Singer Shweta Shetty to perform Western legends with an Indian twist at NCPA Mumbai this weekend

Singer Shweta Shetty will perform at NCPA this weekend.

With a versatile voice that can sing opera, jazz, Punjabi and Bollywood songs (Mangta hai kya from Rangeela, 1995, Dil tote tote ho gaya from Bichhoo, 2000, Rukmani rukmani from Roja, 1992, among others) with equal ease, Shweta Shetty is set to rekindle the '90s music era at the NCPA Legends show this weekend.

Taking place at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai on Saturday, July 22, this unique all-girl show will have songs from legends who have left an indelible mark in the music scene, including Amy Winehouse, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga. Whitney, Mariah Carey, Adele, Aretha Franklin, Prince and many more great artists. In an exclusive conversation with MoneyControl, the singer talks about it. Edited excerpts:

You have performed in India and abroad for many years. What makes this show special?

It is special because this is the first time that the NCPA has an Indian singer like me performing all these legends. This is a show where international artists from all over the world come and perform. These legends include Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and many others, and encompasses multiple genres like retro, soul, jazz, funk, soul and pop.

Singing songs that are iconic can be a challenge. Have you added your own nuances to them?

I will be singing Adele’s Someone Like You but I have changed that song so much. I just love this challenge of taking a song and changing it. I have added my own Indian spice to some of the songs and I hope the audience likes it. I just have such a good feeling about this. I have taken the Prince song Kiss and left it the way it is, because there are some songs like that which you just can’t do much with. But most of the songs I will perform on stage will have a Shweta Shetty style to it. Even for pop songs or Bollywood songs, I would always sing it my way — not the way composers wanted me to sing. That’s why people still love and remember me.

How has it been curating a show of this level?

I have been working hard for the last five-six month just on this show. NCPA has left everything to me and the whole curation of the show has been mine. I had to find women musicians and it was a tough task because you don’t get to see too many of them frequently. It has taken me months sourcing out the right talent from various sources including checking FB, Instagram ids. Once I had the right team, it again took a long time to list out the songs I wanted to sing, the genres that would work and which of the jazz greats that I could do justice to. I am particular about all this because I can only give 100 per cent of myself to what I do, not 90 or 95 per cent.

With a show like this, a tribute to legendary icons, there are bound to be comparisons with the original. Are you apprehensive about that?

When you are singing an Aretha Franklin song, one of the biggest singers of this planet, a comparison is definitely going to be there. But you can never be that person, you can never be that good, because it is another level altogether. However, as long as you match that, and are eye level with the singer it will work. There were some songs that were a little difficult and were not my category, but I worked very hard towards not letting any of the songs down. Singers take up songs that they can’t really do justice to and that shows on stage, because you are not comfortable with what you are doing. But I am comfortable with all the songs that I have chosen.

How involved was NCPA for this event?

NCPA didn’t interfere or ask me to remove or add any song. They just said go easy on the clothes, no midriff baring, no fishnet tights. Of course, I am going to be sexy, I will not be performing in a sari or a churidar, singing Moulin Rouge, that is just not me!

What are you looking forward to the most? Tell us about your team, the all-women band.

I have an amazing, talented bunch with me. I have always wanted to perform with an all-girl band; can you even imagine the shakti that is going to be on stage. I find that so powerful. My youngest band member is 15-year-old, Zara Sayyed, who will be singing with me. Brecilla Dsouza, a lead vocalist and saxophonist, and I will be doing Rihanna’s Lift Me Up, Diamonds, singer-rapper-songwriter Pratika will be doing Moulin Rouge with me, Beyoncé's Crazy in Love and Single Ladies and Missy Elliott's Get Ur Freak On. Mousimi Datta is our bassist. Neha is on the drums, she is a dynamite and you can’t imagine someone so small playing the drums! Larissa Coelho is on the grand piano and keyboard. Sadly, our lead guitarist fell sick and had to be replaced by Vikram. So the band has not remained an all-girl band. I also have Clynton Fernandes (Soprano) who will be doing an operatic number with me, Time To Say Goodbye, a duet in Italian. And Abhinav Patankar is our sound engineer. I have children in my show and I have never performed with such young people! It has been so much fun. Sometimes, they can’t match my energy although they are like 20 years younger than me. They ask me ‘where do you get that energy from’.

NCPA Legends with Shweta Shetty will be held at Tata Theatre, NCPA, on July 22 at 6.30 pm, tickets from Rs 270-1,770 on BookMyShow