The music, muddlings, musings and miss adventures of an upstream fish.

Shalini is a singer, a songwriter, a pianist and a composer. Her style is best described as Indie, Baroque and Melodramatic Pop. Shalini is an upstream fish.

Born in Vancouver to her Papa, the European-Car doctor, and her mother, a religious actress at the Hindu temple, Shalini was raised in one big house with two black gates.

Since the age of 3, Shalini has played the piano, written many lyrics, sung many songs on many stages, and taken a great interest in studying the arts. Her most adored subjects include Bharata Natyam (an Indian classical dance), theatre, songwriting, voice, classical music and music composition.

At age 7, Shalini composed her first full piano piece called “I Wonder Why” – by that time, she had become the youngest to join the harmony section of her elementary school choir, and singing solos led by renowned choir instructor Hans Fenger (Langley School Music Project).

By age 8, Shalini had learned and memorized over 100 classic songs by artists the likes of John Lennon, David Bowie and The Beach Boys. Several years later, she was honoured with a school-wide academic award in music with heartfelt words by Mr. Fenger.

Throughout high school, Shalini continued to flourish. She performed in plays and received pageant titles, including Miss Top Fundraiser Canada by raising over $1,000 for the Canadian Diabetes Association. She also came in as first runner-up in the Miss Teen BC swimsuit competition. But she was yet to be satisfied – to develop her inner artist, Shalini found inspiration by experimenting with Jazz, Surf, Indian, Electronic, Rock, Contemporary and Classical musical styles.

Life as a young adult proved to have its challenges, but each turn of the card revealed a new experience. Shipped off to an accounting program, she found herself dropping out as music beckoned Shalini back. Fury in the house with the two black gates said its goodbyes to her as she ran away for a time, only to return to try again because she learned that living alone out there was no place for a young girl. Shalini found a job in a tall downtown tower, at the very top floor where she became quite adept at fixing the photocopier. The music kept calling and balance became necessary; Shalini returned to finish her schooling in numbers, and the practice of yoga and vegetarianism were more than ever important. Shalini was evolving.

In addition to pursuing her goal of becoming a concert pianist at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Shalini has focused her efforts on releasing her album entitled “Book of Dreams”. The EP was recorded with local producer Winston Hauschild (Nay Jay, Hannah Georgas, Wanting Qu) and is scheduled to release in December 2011.

In the very near future, Shalini’s goals include (but are not limited to) being on rotation on CBC Radio and performing live at the Juno Awards.