The folk home
A childhood on stage beside her father, learning Gujarati folk and devotional repertoire the traditional way.
About Ishani Dave
She first sang on stage at three. Today her garba nights fill halls from Ahmedabad to Atlanta.
Ishani Dave grew up inside Gujarati folk music. Her father, Prafull Dave, is one of its best-known voices, and the family home was full of lok geet, bhajans and garba. She has said in interviews that she built her own career without trading on his name, and that independence shows in the work: traditional melodies, arranged with a modern pop sensibility and sung with a lot of energy.
Her training is broader than most folk singers'. She studied Western classical music at KM Music Conservatory in Chennai, the school founded by A. R. Rahman, and she is a trained sound engineer. You can hear both in her releases, which are produced for headphones as much as for a Navratri ground.
Three chapters
Her own sound
Singles such as Gulabi, Maar To Mele and Suraj Dheema Ugo made her a Navratri name for a younger audience.
On the world stage
Maniyaro tours across Australia, Canada and the USA, and family releases like Bheliyo and Radhiyali Raat.
