In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, singer Falguni Shah aka Falu’s 10-year old son Nishaad returned home to ask her a disturbing question — ‘Am I unsafe [in New York] because of my colour?’ Discussion around the African American’s death had become part of conversations in schools, and the New York-based Indian origin singer admits that “while raising a brown boy”, a certain amount of training to ensure his safety, is imperative. “That’s not a question any parent wishes to encounter,” she tells us. “It is a discussion that takes place at the dinner table of every family of colour. You teach them to stay out of trouble, focus on the work, but be aware of their surroundings.”

Moments like these, she says, inspired the making of her 2021 album, A Colourful World, which earned her a Grammy Award — a first for an Indian female in the Best Children’s Album category — last week.

Falu is no stranger to the Recording Academy.  Discussing her Grammy-nominated 2019 album, Falu’s Bazaar, she had spoken about introducing items from her desi kitchen to her son, via music. She walked into the Grammys that year with the hope of bringing the gong home, but lost to Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats’ All The Sounds. “So, this time, I didn’t go with any expectation,” she laughs, as she goes on to address how her approach to this album was at odds with her last one.

“With Falu’s Bazaar, I wanted to talk to my son. With this one, I addressed every child. I wrote about crayons, rainbows, happiness, trains, and elephants. That made it universal. It is joyful and happy, and isn’t a lesson on what to do. Parents can’t tackle big ideas in a big way. You need to become a child when talking to a child. Acceptance and tolerance are big subjects. I wanted to teach them that just like the red crayon and the blue crayon can be placed in the same box, we can all live together even if we have different skin tones. Just like the red doesn’t become blue, we don’t need to change [to be accepted]. No child needs to feel shy,” she says of the eight-track offering.

As a musician attempting to make a mark in America, Falu had previously told mid-day that she counts herself among the “minority’s minority”. She says, “[Women] don’t have the same luxuries. It’s tough for a South Asian woman to walk out of India and understand how another country works. Then, you need to learn how its music industry works. I had to make a name as a musician, while also learning how to exist as an Indian in America. Holding on to my Indian roots, while having an open mindset, helped me. I had people tell me that nothing would happen [in my favour]. But I knew I wouldn’t stop till I reached my goal. So this win is a pat on the back [of all women].”

The 2022 Grammys on Monday were quite eventful for Falguni Shah aka Falu, who performed the opening number at the Grammys Premiere ceremony, and won the award for the Best Children’s Album (forA Colorful World) later on the same day. “It still hasn’t quite sunk in,” the artiste – who was one of the two Indians to win the Grammy Award that evening (the second being Ricky Kej, who won in the Best New Album category) – told us a day after winning the award. She continued, “I haven’t got time yet to see my social media, but the number (of followers) has gone up massively.”

Falguni, who also received a congratulatory message from PM Narendra Modi on social media, said that “it’s something I could have never imagined. I feel proud to be an Indian who comes from a very simple, traditional family, but worked hard to follow her dreams and passions. To be acknowledged at the Grammys is the hope and dream of every artiste and I feel honoured that I am getting to live this dream.”

The New York-based singer and songwriter says that for her even an invitation to perform at the Grammys Premiere ceremony was a “very big deal”. “I remember when I first got that call, I was ecstatic! They wanted to open with music that had an Indian classical twist, which reflected how they want to embrace different cultures. Having a South Asian girl perform at the ceremony was a message about embracing diversity. I was excited and my son thought I was acting crazy. We had rasgullas,gulab jamuns and candies to celebrate the day,” says Falguni, who was also nominated in the Best Children’s Music category at the 2019 Grammys, for her project Falu’s Bazaar.

“Since I lost the first time I was nominated, I didn’t go with any expectations this time. For me, even the nomination was a big recognition, but I was still praying constantly,” she says.

Talking about her winning moment, Falguni says, “When our name was announced for the award, I was thrilled! The entire Grammy community was so thrilled to see an Indian minority, immigrant woman doing both – performing at the opening and winning the award. My acceptance speech was all about me coming from India, my upbringing, and the values I have inherited as an Indian daughter. I also mentioned how children around the world who are seeing so much war and the pandemic, need an uplifting and positive message through music.”

Falguni’s win has definitely inspired her 10-year-old son Nishaad, who also accompanied her on stage at the Grammys. “My son says, ‘Mummy, one day I want to win the Grammy’, and I told him, ‘You have to work hard and rehearse 16 hours a day’. He thinks that if my mother, who is brown, can get it in America, I can do anything I want. And that’s exactly what I want all the kids to feel,” she says, adding that her son was the reason why she started writing for kids.

“It was never my plan to write for children. When my son was four, attending pre-school in New York, he was finding it difficult to blend in. He would come home and ask me, ‘Why do we have yellow food? Why do we speak Gujarati at home? Why am I brown?’ How do I tell a four year old that you have the richest heritage of Indian culture, you should be proud and not fearful of your differences. So, that’s when I started writing songs to explain to him about how differences are beautiful,” she says, adding, “I am a classical singer, I never even thought I would write kids’ songs, but my life put me in a position where my child was dealing with an identity crisis at the age of four. I think, being a mother and a songwriter, I attempted to tell my son about his heritage through music. I feel that more than 50% of kids in American schools are not white, so how do we represent them? That’s when I started to think about The Colorful World. In the album, we figured out a way of telling kids very simply, that in a crayon box, different shades can live together beautifully, peacefully, yet they have their own identities. In the same way, human beings can live in a world peacefully, while having their own identities. We don’t have to fight. So, the message is, ‘Kids, let’s just accept each other, tolerate each other and live peacefully, rather than being scared of each other'.”

“People should be writing more for kids,” believes Falguni, elaborating, “I want India to start thinking about writing more songs for kids. I want artistes to think about teaching children, about acceptance and love, and about being proud of themselves, through music. I wish that people begin writing for children, so that they do not just listen to everything that’s on TV and in movies, because sometimes it is not age-appropriate. I want to start a movement and make it international. There is a market for kids’ music. I am very strict about what my child is listening to and watching, and I think that awareness is important. I think this win will inspire a lot of writers in India to start rethinking about what we are giving our kids in terms of entertainment.”

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