Gingger Shankar is an American Indian musician. She is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, singer and violinist. She has composed music for several notable films such as Circumstances (2011), Brahman Bull (2014), Heartbeat (2018) and The Passion of the Christ (2004), as well as the TV series Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World (2017), and She Might Be Next (2020).
Wiki/Biography
Gingger Shankar was born in Los Angeles, USA. She grew up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Soon after completing her schooling, she went to Kalakshetra School of Creative Arts in Chennai, Tamil Nadu to pursue a degree in fine arts. She later studied opera voice with professional opera singer Tantu Cardinal in Sherman Oaks, California. She belongs to one of the most acclaimed and influential musical families in the world. Her father, Dr. L Subramaniam, is a violinist, and her mother, Viji Subramaniam, is an Indian classical singer who began teaching her Indian classical singing and musical instruments when she was very young. According to Gingger Shankar, she grew up and spent most of her childhood in Madras, Calcutta and Bombay. She said in an interview with the media,
I grew up in Madras and spent a lot of time in Calcutta and Bombay as a teenager and adult. “
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′1″
Weight (approximately): 55kg
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Her father’s name is Dr. L. Subramaniam, a famous Indian violinist. Her mother Viji Subramaniam is an Indian classical singer.
L Subramaniam and Viji Subramaniam
Her grandfather’s name was V. Lakshminarayana, a musician.
Photos of V. Lakshminarayana
Her grandmother’s name is Lakshmi Shankar, an Indian classical singer and the sister-in-law of the famous Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar.
Gingger Shankar’s childhood photos with her grandmother
Ginger Shankar has two brothers and one sister. The names of his brothers are Dr. Narayana Subramaniam and Ambi Subramaniam. They are all Indian musicians.
Dr. Narayana Subramaniam, brother of Gingger Shankar
Ambi Subramaniam, brother of Gingger Shankar
Her sister is Bindu Subramaniam, an Indian classical singer.
Bindu Subramaniam, sister of Gingger Shankar
husband
Ginger Shankar is not married yet.
Profession
Gingger Shankar began performing live music performances and concerts at the age of fourteen. As a teenager, her first musical was held at Madison Square Garden. She then performed as a professional singer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Osvaldo Golijov’s opera Enadama. She later sang the song at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Ginger Shankar performs at concert
After breaking into the music industry, she had the opportunity to work with many famous singers, producers and film composers such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Saul Williams, Mike Nichols, Meryl Streep, RocNation, Marilyn Manson, Peter Gabriel and Steve Vai.
Movie
Gingger Shankar and composer John Debney composed the music for the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ. Later, she composed songs for the movie “Forbidden Kingdom” in 2008. In 2011, Ginger wrote a song for the film “Environment.” Shankar and the film won the Audience Choice Award at the Sundance Film Festival the same year.
Music album
Gingger Shankar composed the song for the music album “Enlightenment” in 2003 with Indian musicians L. Shankar, Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram. In 2008, she collaborated with composer Saul Williams on the music album “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!” released. In 2010, Gingger Shankar co-wrote the songs for the music album “Anywhere But Here” with Solo EP. In 2013, Gingger Shankar served as the music composer for the film Monsoon Shootout directed by Amit Kumar. In the same year, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2013, Gingger Shankar collaborated with Katy Perry, playing double violin on Katy’s song Legendary Lovers. In 2014, she provided voice and music for the film Brahmin Bulls, which was released in the United States. In the same year, the film won several awards and honors. In 2015, Gingger Shankar collaborated with American director Nonny De La Peña to film the virtual documentary “The Syria Project”, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. She wrote and co-directed the 2020 U.S. presidential election theme song. That same year, she released the song “Our Grandmother’s Promise.” The following year, the song was nominated for the Nobel Prize Summit.
documentary
In 2012, Gingger Shankar made her first appearance in a film documentary when she released her musical project Songs of the Himalayas at the Sundance Film Festival. Gingger Shankar and Mridu Chandra tell the story of the Shanghai Revitalization Project documentary. In 2018, Gingger Shankar produced a documentary called Chusita: The Battle of Standing Rock, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival that same year. In 2020, she invited famous American singers Aloe Blacc, Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball and Saul William to collaborate on her music album And She Could Be Next.
Non-profit organizations
After Gingger Shankar rose to prominence in the Indian music industry, she founded a non-profit organization called Little Indian Girls. The organization was founded by her to empower young girls in India with a passion for art. Through this NGO, Gingger Shankar started providing sponsorships and scholarships in the fields of science, music and leadership. In addition to the Little Indian Girl project, Gingger Shankar also launched the Grandmother’s Promise and Nari projects. In the project Our Grandmothers’ Promise, Gingger Shankar focuses on documenting environmental issues in India and issues faced by Indian women’s groups. In the Nari project, she focused on documenting the stories and issues faced by the women of India’s first musical family. In the Nari project, she tells the experiences and stories of her mother, Viji Subramaniam, and grandmother, Lakshmi Shankar, who tried to establish Indian music in the West but faced several artistic and personal challenges in India.
Gingger Shankar’s grandmother and mother perform musical
music tag
After working in the music industry for many years, Gingger Shankar co-founded his own music label called Naughty Horses Records. The label provides female artists from around the world the opportunity to release the music they create. In addition, the record helps preserve old classical recordings from around the world, with many of the records preserved by the label belonging to the Shankar family and whose songs date back to the 1930s.
Achievement
In 2012, following the release of her multimedia project Songs from the Himalayas (about climate change), Rolling Stone named the musical album one of the “Top 10 Musical Films at Sundance.” That same year, Gingger Shankar was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces to Watch.”
Facts/Trivia
- Gingger Shankar is an accomplished dancer and expert player of violin and piano. Gingger Shankar took part in some notable stage productions in the United States and began modeling and acting soon after receiving a musical education from professional opera singer Tantoo Cardinal.
Gingger Shankar’s childhood photos with her grandfather
- Gingger Shankar sings in pop, rock, electronic, world and Carnatic styles and is a virtuoso on voice, double violin, violin and viola.
- According to Gingger Shankar, her favorite singers include The Beatles, Madonna, MS Subbulakshmi, Lata Mangeshkar, Ella Fitzgerald, Bach and Billie Holiday.
- Gingger Shankar married Indian singer Kavita Krishnamurthy in November 1999, four years after his father passed away on February 9, 1995, and his mother Viji Subramaniam passed away.
L Subramaniam and Kavita Krishnamurthy
- Gingger Shankar said in an interview with the media that she likes fashion and modeling. She added in the same conversation that fashion and music are closely related to each other. she says,
I love fashion and I think music and fashion go hand in hand. I have worked as a model for various clothing and music companies. What I really want is to meet and collaborate with up and coming designers in India. “
- Gingger Shankar was selected to participate in the Sundance Institute Composer Lab in 2007, one of six film composers participating in this film music program, directed by Peter Golub and designed to connect composers and directors, Get them first – practical experience in musical collaboration.
- Gingger Shankar is a member of the Sundance Film Festival Artist Advisory Board. She is also associated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- Gingger Shankar is a virtuoso double violinist who is believed to be the first woman in the world to master a double violin. In a media interview, Gingger Shankar revealed that she learned the ten-string double violin very slowly and when she started learning the same, it was very challenging. She told,
Very slowly! Learning is definitely very challenging. I actually started playing violin and cello and found it difficult to carry many of the instruments to gigs and pick up their notes. The double violin covers the entire orchestral range, so once I started using it, I kept using it. It has such a unique sound and plays an important role in my live performances and soundtracks. “
- Gingger Shankar is frequently invited as a guest speaker on various live motivational programs. She is a frequent TEDx speaker on the topic of girls’ empowerment and education in India. She is an environmental advocate and regularly speaks on multiple environmental protection topics at prestigious international speaking platforms such as Davos, UNESCO, the Nobel Prize Summit, the Carbon Footprint Summit and the Cartier Women’s Initiative.
Gingger Shankar performs at TEDx
- Some prominent national and international magazines and tabloids often feature Gingger Shankar in their articles.
Gingger Shankar in a newspaper article
- Gingger Shankar regularly shares her music videos on various social media platforms. More than 67,000 people follow her Facebook page. On Instagram, she has over 36,000 followers. Her YouTube channel has over four hundred subscribers.
- In June 2022, she got the opportunity to compose the song “Ms Marvel” for the Marvel project. Seizing this opportunity, Gingger Shankar became the first Indian singer to cooperate with Marvel Studios. In this American web series, Pakistani rapper Eva B collaborates with Gingger Shankar on the song “Rozi”. Gingger Shankar said on one of her social media accounts that this was a great opportunity for her to write a song for Marvel Studios as she has been a huge Marvel fan since she was a teenager. Ginger Shankar said,
I’ve always been a Marvel fan, but if you had told me five years ago that we would be doing a hip-hop song with Pakistani and Indian influences and working with the first Pakistani female rapper, I wouldn’t have believed it! I honestly think it makes me more of a fan. “
Gingger’s Instagram post with a still from the song Rozi
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education