Manisha comes home to Southside Virginia
MAIN STREET NEWSPAPERS, Cave Spring Connection, August 4, 2006
By Gene Marrano

She spent most of her formative years in Southside Virginia but Manisha Shahane spent several years at Hidden Valley Junior High School in Southwest County as well. Now living in Los Angeles the singer-songwriter-piano player blended folk, jazz and traditional Indian music in her recent CD release, “peace in progress,” a collection of songs Shahane showcased during a Local Colors at Night set in May. “I love to come home; what I really love most is looking around at the mountains,” she admitted. Shahane left Boston last year and followed her fianc/ to LA. “The landscape is so different…the people are so friendly here.” She attended schools in Henry County and India in addition to the time at Hidden Valley. Her parents, natives of India, still live in southwest Roanoke County. “That’s where I began singing in my first organized chorus,” she recalled about Hidden Valley Junior as it was known then.. Shahane became a member of the Virginia All-State Chorus and attended the Governor’s School as well.

About her move to Los Angeles: “I’m very excited,” said Shahane, who coaxed her father on stage to play percussion (tabla) with her while in Roanoke at Local Colors. Both of her parents, who are active in the local Indian scene, even appear on Peace in Progress - her mother via snippets of a phone message left for Manisha. Jazz has moved to the forefront for the younger Shahane, something she was exposed to extensively at the University of Virginia while singing in an a cappella group. She has also put her economic training in graduate school on hold for the most part to focus on music as a performer and teacher.

Before UVA she had been primarily a classical piano player. “I just felt in love with the chords.” She even terms them crunchy chords. Shahane can also play guitar and the frame drum. “It’s hard for me to understand why more people don’t listen to jazz, the way you can improvise.” Peace in Progress was produced at four different studios, including Flat Five in Salem where she recorded her father Shyam on the tabla, an instrument some may remember from several Beatles songs. Putting her first CD together was a long process - but also “a labor of love.” Go to www.manishamusic.com for more on the performer and her first CD, now several years old. As for the blending of several different styles Shahane said simply, “that’s who I am.”

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