Singer Zoya on Using her Music as Philanthropy

From going on tour to constantly working on new music for her fans, Zoya is always on on her way to becoming a great philanthropist while still balancing her singing career.

Last November, Indian-folk singer Zoya, 22, released her then debut album,  “Lasya”—the Visual EP. Less than one year later, the Southern California native’s life has been anything but simple.

Since her last album, Zoya has toured in multiple cities in the U.S., though this is the first time she is the sole coordinator of the shows. Because this was the first tour she booked on her own, Zoya said touring was definitely an opportunity to wear many hats.

“It was kind of a scavenger hunt on my end to show up at each venue every night and collect the posters I made and mailed out to each venue before the tour started,” she explained. “When the tour ended, it was a proud moment, to say the least.”

Since the end of tour, the folk singer’s life hasn’t slowed down. Within the past month, Zoya has taken her career across the world to Udaipur, India, to help fund electricity in schools in Udaipur. Her latest project, much inspired by her father’s past selfless acts to give back to the less fortunate, is something that has been on Zoya’s mind for quite some time.

“Well, it has been something that has been on the back of my mind for a long time,” she said. “My father helped a school in Udaipur a while back to install electricity.”

The SoCal native even talked further about the simple things people take for granted that others struggle to have for even a second.

“Over here, I feel there is an overwhelming presence of the poor versus the rich,” she said. “Of course, this is the predominant problem we are having worldwide, even in America. I hope to see people, rich or poor, to be more compassionate to one another and develop a collective sense of responsibility to improve the lives of the underprivileged, especially children. I hope this campaign generates other young minds around the world to use their art, businesses, or other passions to generate this kind of change. We take for granted the comforts of living with electricity, hot water, WiFi, and all these luxuries in our modern day world.”

To go with her latest project, Zoya has been working on another album, “Zoya: Plugged In,” to help increase her efforts to fund the electricity project in Udaipur through what is known as the “Electronic Music for Electricity” Campaign.

“Zoya: Plugged In” simply hopes to raise awareness around the fact that there are so many schools and impoverish communities who live day in and day out without even a light bulb, to say the least. The album features eight producers (Boston/Berklee) who have remixed eight of Zoya’s most popular singles. All the proceeds from this album will go to provide electricity at the Government Secondary School, Tulsidas Ki Sarai, in Udaipur.

With her newest album, the genre is much different than what Zoya has recorded on her previous EPs but fits in quite perfectly to help her raise awareness about the lack of electricity in schools.

“After I heard one remix of my song ‘Fire,’ by Asteroids and Earthquakes, I quickly called around and asked other producer friends to do a remix of their own too! So within a month the project and the campaign with it was formed,” Zoya explained.

Since working on her new project, Zoya’s motivation has increased to see what great results can be achieved in the upcoming months. “Nothing has changed me, but maybe I have become motivated and even more excited to have the opportunity to be a part of this movement in the coming months.”

Finding ways to build a large audience to help fund the installation of electricity in schools is Zoya’s number one priority at the moment.  However, she said she is already working on her next EP and wants to plan an India tour next year.

“All in all, I am trying to take one day at a time. So, who knows what is to come in the next two years, but I am sure big, exciting and interesting things!” she said.