Motivational speaker and singer of contemporary devotional hymns, Shivali Bhammer, has proven that the key is for women to consider themselves limitless. Shivali established herself as the youngest devotional singer to ever be signed by Sony Music BMG for bhajans (hymns) at the age of 22 after giving up a career in equity trading. Acknowledging the privilege of coming from an intellectually sound, philosophical as well as secular family Shivali made it her dream to change the landscape of the devotional music industry and take it to new horizons. Shivali released two albums, The Bhajan Project (Sony Music) and Urban Temple (Eros Music), both which reached number 1 on the iTunes World Chart. At the age of 23, she was nominated for two Global Indian Music Awards. When asked how she achieved this, her answer is always the same “the door just opened, I was blessed to be standing there.”
As a prolific public speaker, Shivali delivered the keynote address in New York for the International Women’s Day Conference. She also held talks on diverse topics like mindfulness, mantras and meditation for the Alchemist Kitchen, New York and was the workshop leader for the Spiritual Directors Conference in St Louis where she conducted a session on the nature of Karma Yoga. Shivali, most recently, hosts a 7-day Visualization Meditation workshop on the leading meditation app in India, Think.Right.
Shivali’s foray into spiritual music increased because of her great grandmother and great aunts, which led to her making music at the age of 15. Shivali wanted to give bhajans an urban modern twist, so that people could identify with them. According to the devotional diva her music is art and to her art is an expression of one’s creative love. Shivali is the only Indian artist to have been invited to the prestigious De Doelen Theatre in the Netherlands to story-tell Hindu Mythological love stories, she will be returning for a second show in 2022.
“You are devoted, and your actions come from a place of fullness and love, not out of scarcity and need,” she says. When asked about the contrast between her personality to what she creates as a devotional singer, she says “Having a Ferrari doesn’t mean you’re not spiritual. It means you enjoy a great sports car. Where the line blurs is if you think that by having that Ferrari you are better than someone else or if you didn’t have it, you would be less.”
She believes that one must never doubt their inherent value and power. Shivali was the muse for the Saraswati plush toy released by Modi Toys in America this Diwali, “I can’t believe I am the voice of Saraswati Ji in a plush form that children will hold across the world. There are no limits to what we can achieve, neither for me, nor for anyone else.”
Shivali just broke another boundary by releasing a soft EDM version of the famous Sarva Mangal Mangalye mantra which trended on social media. She is currently working on her third album, The Bhajan Project 2.