The lark in training

While Cyra Asli has already shared the stage with The Rolling Stones at an early age, many more dreams await.

When Pakistani-born aspiring vocalist Cyra Asli decided to sing for a career, her mother imparted some valuable advice: “When you don’t have a back-up plan, you will realise your dream and work hard to make it happen.”

The advice can come across as surprising for many, especially considering it comes from first-generation immigrant parents who often want to pave a more secure career path for their children. Usually a career aside from engineering, business, law and medicine is not even worthy of dinner table conversation.

But with the Asli family, who immigrated to Toronto from Karachi in 1997, it was a different story. Doing what you loved took precedence over everything else.

Cyra Asli with her school choir.

As 18-year-old Cyra mulled over pursuing a career in singing, she could have never imagined that by the end of a four-year high school programme in Mississauga, Ontario, she would be sharing the stage with the iconic band The Rolling Stones.

In the spring of 2013, the band was on its 50th anniversary tour of North America and as per tradition they were selecting a local choir to sing with them. Usually, it is the university choir that is chosen, giving local talent an enormous career and morale boost. Luckily, the chosen group, the ‘Chamber Choir’ was from Cyra’s high school.

“I love to sing, be it in the bathroom or on the playground, but I never imagined I would be singing on stage at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre with The Rolling Stones,” she gushes as she shares her story over coffee at a local bistro.

Cyra’s singing journey began when her parents enrolled her in the Ontario Conservatory of Music at the age of eight. She cleared the auditions in one go and credits the weekly training sessions for helping her develop a clear focus towards a career in music.

“By the time I reached middle school, I knew music was going to play a very big role in my life,” she recalls.

Cyra and friends performing a cover of Sarah McLachlan’s song Angel during a summer concert. PHOTO COURTESY: CYRA ASLI

Now in her first year of music education at the University of Toronto, Cyra does a lot more than singing. Music history, ear training (or aural skills training) and performance form the core of her classes at college. Since music is a universal language, learning from other cultures is integral. Cyra, therefore plans to learn about contemporary music in French, Korean, Italian, German, and Spanish over the next few years.

But Cyra’s love for music is not just confined to learning and creating it. “I want to teach music at some point and  perform whenever I get the chance. I will have to learn how to play many instruments though I may not master them.”

The path to music presents its own challenges since our generation is used to free art and music, making the field not particularly financially lucrative. With dwindling state support, finding a paying job for musicians may turn into a never-ending nightmare.

The numbers at Cyra’s high school speak for themselves. From a student body of 500 (between grade 9 and 12), only 10 students opted to continue voice training at their new university.

“These numbers shed light on the fear of placing all your eggs in one basket. We have nothing but our voice to fall back on,” says Cyra.

Despite the shaky ground musicians tread upon before finding a spot on stage, most attune themselves to their inner passion and continue the journey. It helps significantly when you get to sing by the side of a timeless band at the beginning of it all. For Cyra, the glory of that moment will last for a long time. 

Teenaz Javat writes headlines, news alerts, tickers and tweets for a living. She tweets @TeenazFromTo 

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, February 9^th,  2014.