Aarya Ambekar

Aarya Ambekar
Aarya after a program in Sydney, Australia in November 2015
Background information
Birth name	Aarya Samir Ambekar
Born	16 June 1994 Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
Genres	Indian classical music
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocal
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Universal Music India
Notable instruments
Tambora

Aarya Ambekar is a Marathi playback singer from Pune, Maharashtra. She participated and reached the finals of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs aired on Zee Marathi channel between July 2008 and February 2009.

Background

Aarya was born in Nagpur to Sameer Ambekar, a doctor and Shruti Ambekar, a vocalist. Aarya's grandmother, a classical vocalist, recognised the talent in Aarya when Aarya was two years old. Aarya started her formal musical training at the age of five and half years from her Guru and mother, Shruti Ambekar. At the age of six, whilst in first standard, Aarya appeared her first examination in Music.

Career

Sa Re Ga Ma Little Champs

In 2008, Aarya was auditioned for the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs, a competitive music reality show organised by the Zee Marathi television channel. She was one of final 50 who were selected from amongst several thousand children aged between 8 and 14 across Maharashtra. She made her way to the top 10 finalists and then to the Final 5 Mega-Finalists.

Aarya was popularly referred to as the "Pretty Young Girl", during the show.

Aarya sang a wide variety of songs in the competition. She created the record of receiving full marks from the judges many times. Aarya created an unbeatable record when she got वरचा नी (equivalent to 200%), for her beautifully sung "Paan Khae Saiyyan Hamaro", which remains unbroken in all the nine Schedules of SA RE GA MA PA and even after two schedules of SA RE GA MA PA for professional singers. Singer Hariharan was the celebrity judge for that episode.

Aarya was also awarded performer of the week in numerous episodes by eminient singing personalities like Mahalaxmi Iyer, Shreya Ghoshal, Hariharan etc. Aarya sings a wide variety of songs ranging from pure classical songs, Natyageet, Bhavgeet, Bhaktigeet to Marathi Chitrapat Sangeet, Hindi songs, folk songs, Lavanis as well.

She sang "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the Mumbai terror attacks on 26 November 2008. She also performed the same song at Shivaji Park, Dadar in a program organised by Mumbai Police to pay tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives fighting the terrorists in that attack. The song was originally sung by Lata Mangeshkar after the 1962 India-China War.

During the course of the program, Aarya was also awarded the Manik Varma Scholarship. She is the youngest singer to win the scholarship.

Albums

• Pancha Ratna Vol. 1, 2, 3 on Universal Music India
• Garjati Sahyadriche Kade
• Jai Hari Vitthal
• Marathi Abhimaangeet composed by Kaushal Inamdar
• Aathava Swar composed by Mrs. Varsha Bhave
• Mala Mhanatyat Aarya Ambekar
• Geet Tujhe Gata Gata – Collections of poems of famous poets
• Khaucha Gaav composed by Yashwant Deo
• Hum Aur Tum – Hindi songs album composed by Khalil Abhyankar
• Aanandwan Ale Ghari - Shri Baba Amte
• Majhya Matiche Gayan - Kusumagraj Pratishthan
• Diva Lagu De Re Deva - First solo album based on poems of eminent Marathi poets. The album is composed by famous composer Saleel Kulkarni

Marathi films

• Let's Go Back
• Balgandharva
• Kali – Composer Shrinivas Khale
• Rama Madhav – Sang a song Hamama Re Pora
• Yodhha - Composer Omkar Kelkar
• Sant Kaikadi Maharaj - Composer Narendra Bhide
• Goshta Tichya Premachi - Sang 2 songs, Sakhya Re and Hur Hur
• Ready Mix - Composer Avinash Vishwajeet - Sang a romantic song

TV serials

• Suvasini – a marathi daily soap telecast on Star Pravah channel from 14 November 2011.
• Dil Dosti Duniyadari - a marathi sitcom telecast on Zee Marathi channel from 9 March 2015.

Public Appearances

Few grand events where Aarya has performed her art –

• Vasantotsav 2008 – Musical concert arranged in Pune every year by Rahul Deshpande in memory of his legendary grandfather Pandit Vasantrao Deshpande
• Shrimant Dagadusheth Halwai Ganapati Music Festival 2009, 2010.
• Little Champs live shows in many cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik Sangli, Aurangabad, Goa, Ratnagiri, Thane, Nagpur, Wardha, Bhopal etc. and at international venues like Dubai, Abu Dhabi. These are runaway popular shows where Aarya performs with four other Little Champs Mugdha Vaishampayan, Prathamesh Laghate, Rohit Raut and Kartiki Gaikwad in perfect sync. This group is known as 'Panch-Ratna'.
• Live performance in the devotional programme arranged in the presence of Shri Sathya Sai Baba in Sai Ashram at village Hadshi, near Pune. October 2009
• Live performance in the special programme arranged on the occasion of birthday of Shri Sathya Sai Baba in Sai Ashram at Puttaparthi. November 2009
• Live performance in Swar Asha program arranged to felicitate Asha Bhosale in Pune in March 2010. Aarya sang duets with Sudesh Bhosale in this program. The program was aired on Mi Marathi Channel.
• Live performance at a function organised by Deccan Education Society to mark its 125th year of existence. Aarya performed in front of The Honourable President of India, Her Excellency Pratibha Patil.
• Live performance along with Lata Mangeshkar in special function organised by Shiv Sena on occasion of the Golden Jubilee Year of Maharashtra State on Maharashtra Din
• Antarnaad – a program consisting of compositions by Shrinivas Khale. The program was aired on Mi Marathi Channel on 29 August 2010
• As a celebrity guest in Ashtavinayak Darshan along with Prathamesh Laghate. Ashtavinayak Darshan program consists visits to the eight holy temples of Lord Ganesha (Ashtavinayaka) situated around Pune district. This program was telecast on Star Majha channel during the Ganpati Festival 2010 from 11 to 18 September 2010.
• Live performance in Nashik Festival 2011
• Bheeti Laagi Jeeva 2010, 2011– a special show on yearly pilgrimage from Alandi to Pandharpur telecast on IBN Lokmat.

Awards and recognition

• 2008 – Youngest to be awarded the "Manik Varma Scholarship" towards her future music studies
• 2009 – Runner-up of the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs reality-based music competition organised by Zee Marathi
• 2009 - Maharashtra Shaasan puraskar
• 2010 – Haribhau Sane Award
• 2010 – Punyaratna – YuvaGaurav Award
• 2011 – Big Marathi Rising Star Award (Music)
• 2012 - Young Achievers Award - awarded by Whistling Woods International
• 2012 - Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande Puraskar
• 2014 - Aarya Puraskar
• 2015 - Dr Usha Atre Award by Swaranand Pratisthan

Acclaim by Idols

Aarya's tremendous depth, outstanding voice quality and sincere grinding labour taken for improving her singing, won her many acclaims from eminent personalities in the music industry. People who praised Aarya include Kishori Amonkar, Lata Mangeshkar, Shrinivas Khale, Shruti Sadolikar, Shounak Abhisheki, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Pandit Satyasheel Deshpande, Shridhar Phadke, Suresh Wadkar, Kaushal Inamdar, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Hariharan, Vijay Ghate, Asha Khadilkar so on so forth.

External links

• Aarya's Official Facebook Page
• Aarya's profile on SAREGAMA site
• Aarya's IMDb profile
• Aarya's news on IBNLokmat
• Article in Maharashtra Times Daily