Kavita Seth

Biography:  Kavita Seth (born 1970) is an Indian singer, who is most known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema, as well as a performer of Ghazals and Sufi music, and has formed her musical group, Karwaan Group, a band of Sufi musicians. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 2010 for her classical Sufi rendition "Gunja Sa Koi Iktara" for the film Wake Up Sid (2009),[3] she also won the Star Screen Award for Best Female Playback for the same song, which was one of the biggest chartbusters in 2009. Early life Born in Bareily, Uttar Pradesh, where was and brought up and did her schooling as well as her graduation. After her marriage she moved to Delhi, where she started performing for All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan. Meanwhile she also did her post graduation in Music, Sangeet Alankar from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi and received M.A. degree in Hindi literature from the University of Delhi. She received her musical training in Hindustani classical music under N.D.Sharma of Gwalior Gharana, Vinod from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, and Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan of the Delhi Gharana. Career She first started performing at the Khan-kahe Niyazia Dargah, in Bareilly, which soon lead singing in public shows and musical concerts. Kavita specializes in Sufi-style singing though she also sings geet, ghazal and folk songs. Over the years she has performed at live shows at London, Birmingham, Scotland, Berlin, Oslo and Stockholm and places across India. It was at one of her performance at Muzaffar Ali's International Sufi Festival concert, in Delhi that director Satish Kaushik heard her and offered a song "Zindagi ko Maula", in his film, the Amisha Patel starrer, Vaada (2005), marking her debut as a playback singer.[1][6] Subsequently she moved to Mumbai, as this was followed by , "Mujhe Mat Roko" in Anurag Basu's Gangster (2006), for which she received rave reviews. Besides singing she also composes music. She has composed three songs in N. Chandra's film "Yeh Mera India" (2009).[8] She has also released private albums, including, Woh Ek Lamha, Dil-e-Nadan both Sufi ghazal albums, and an Indipop album Haan Yahi Pyar Hain, followed by Sufi music albums, Sufiana (2008) and Hazrat. Her 2008 album Sufiana, composed of couplets of Sufi poet-mystic, Rumi was released at the 800-year-old Khaman Pir Ka Dargah in Lucknow.