By Saumit Singh - Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai,India
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Currently on tour in the US, Zila Khan says she’s honoured to be representing Indian heritage on CNN.
It’s a selection of vignettes encapsulating the various flavours of India for an international audience and being run on CNN by India’s Ministry of Tourism.
Deepak Chopra represents the health segment focusing on spiritual India, besides the best ayurveda, meditation and yoga resorts. Promoting golfing holidays is India’s top professional golfer Jeev Milka Singh. No wonder then that Zila Khan, the current rage in Sufi singing, says she’s overwhelmed to be called out of line and chosen to represent Indian culture and heritage alongside these greats.
“I felt humbled and so honoured to be doing this ad for my India,” she says. “And I am definitely not under the illusion that I’m better than the others musicians. In the field of music, no matter how hard we practice or rehearse, ultimately God gives us luck to be successful. So it is just that: God’s grace and the confidence of the Indian Tourism Ministry in my capabilities — no more and no less.”
Zila, whose section of the vignette was filmed in Agra at the Taj Mahal, recounts an amusing incident during the shoot. “It was a particularly hot day and I was feeling the heat from ‘top and bottom’ — because no one is allowed to wear shoes there, my feet were on fire.So when director Jonathan and Sneh from the Singapore team asked me to walk across from one end of the Taj to the other on the white marble, I almost flew!” she recalls with a laugh.
Currently on tour in the US, Zila says that from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, the response has been beyond her expectations.
“People have been crying and going into ‘wajd’ during my concert. Most say they’ve never heard this kind of singing before and it’s an experience of a lifetime for them. I can only attribute all this to His karam,” says the Sufi sensation.
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