“We all want to find who we are, embrace being different, and a chance to experience how magic would feel like. I believe all of this can be achieved through the art of music. My love for music began at a very early age. When I was 8 years old, I saw a group of friends sitting and having fun and playing guitar at a tourist place. I was amazed to feel such a beautiful energy and felt like it’s a dream going on. It felt like I saw magic happening in front of my eyes. My heart was beating fast and saying “I wish I could do this myself“. From then and there, my interest in music began.
I was a very introverted person and always saw this as a problem in me until music came into my life. It made me feel it’s okay to not be okay sometimes and helped me become an extrovert. By the stroke of luck, my admission was done in such a school, where music was given a lot of importance along with studies. I was excited but nervous at the same time. My friends encouraged me to audition in front of our Music Mentor, Mr. Amit Kaushik. He gave me a chance to audition for School Choir and he selected me because he liked something about my new singing voice. I was very fascinated by instruments in that music room especially the guitar. I could watch guitar and just keep on seeing it like that same 8-year-old child.
Later I learned so many things about singing by being in that choir. I requested my sir to teach me guitar too. He gave me a chance to learn from him which was a turning point in my entire life. I was learning guitar in school and then practicing at his home for hours at home balancing my studies. My passion to play guitar was so high that I was able to play my first song in just one month. He never wasted my time stretching things out. He kept things to the point and taught me from very basic to advance. I learned in a way that I would understand things instead of memorizing things.
After months of hard work on my voice, I started giving auditions for interschool competitions, and then I won many of them. Slowly I started becoming famous in the entire school. I used to ask for this dream so much from God when this was happening I feel if you ask something from God with true conviction and strive for it, nothing can stop you!
Now my next dream was to form a Rock band. After a few years, I changed my school. I met with two guys and we thought of forming a Rockband but we needed more people for that. We searched for around one month but didn’t find anyone who had that spark. After a lot of time, I found a perfect guy who could join our team.
After forming the band, we registered ourselves into a Rockfest ‘Give Me Red’ that was organized by the IMA Blood Bank of Dehradun. It was my first performance as a lead singer of a Rock band. Another dream was coming true here. Being a singer is different from being a singer of a Rock Band which started making me an extrovert powerful performer. We bagged the 2nd position among the 22 Rock bands of Dehradun in our first concert as a Band.
After completing my school life, I took admission to Graphic Era University, Dehradun. I was excited because I had heard that this university has a very vibrant culture of music and dance. I found this absolutely correct. Every year the university holds Grafest for students. There were many mini fests throughout the year to present your art on big stages. This was my time to showcase my talent. I got selected and I represented myself in front of the whole college. A lot of people noticed me and encouraged me for my performance, Then I got a chance to be a part of an event organized for the NAAC. The government gives grades on different aspects of the college including extracurricular activities.
Seeing me in rehearsal, one of the faculty told Rakhi Ghanshala ma’am about my singing. She was herself leading all the events of that show. She liked and appreciated my performance and allowed me to give a solo performance in NAAC. It was such a big opportunity for me to sing in front of all the big personalities.
Mr. Kamal Ghanshala sir noticed me and praised me for my work. On Independence day, he gave me 21000/- as a token of appreciation from his side as a gift after seeing my potential and consistency. I also gave auditions and cleared all the rounds of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. I could reach there in my first attempt which was such an important experience in shaping my future and my confidence.
When I came back, I started my own YouTube channel ‘Amaan Shah Official’. It started getting famous and my audience was all over India. One of the biggest identification for me was playing beats on guitar. That style is called ‘Heartbeat Style’. I became the first YouTuber in India who did three things together on guitar. I sang, played guitar, and also played BEATS on Guitar at the same time. Also, I crossed 1 Lakh subscribers and got my Silver play button. Then when I crossed 2 lakh subscribers, I became the first person in India who played Acpad. It is a device through which you can play Electronic Beats On Guitar.
After college, I went to Mumbai to study Electronic Music Production. While I was there, I went to Zee TV and presented my self-written songs to them. The director liked the Lyrics and the Orginal Composition. He decided to feature me in one of the mega episodes of a serial called Ishq Subhah Allah.
After featuring me on TV and getting a good response from the viewers, they gave me two more opportunities to come to national television to show my original compositions. Here another dream of coming on Tv as a singer came true.
Through that, I got an invitation to perform in many of the Central Universities. I missed my college so much whenever I performed on any stage of other colleges.
I worked with Salim Merchant, the famous Bollywood music artist. Also, I represented one of his brand ‘Chordz’. Till now I’ve made 75 YouTube Videos. If you calculate the total viewership of these 75 Videos, they have crossed 1 crore 76 lakh of total viewership.
Currently, I’m working on my album which represents my journey from a child who dreamed to be an artist to becoming an artist! So maybe one day I’ll be singing with my friends at a tourist place and a child will see that secretly and take the same dream which I took and turn it into a reality.”
Instagram- @amaanshahofficial
YouTube- Amaan Shah Official
*The views expressed in the above article are of the writer and not Winged Club.