CHENNAI: Having lent her voice for the scores of popular music directors in Kollywood, Sri Mathumitha has added yet another feather to her cap by being a part of the buzz of the town. The city-based singer has sung a track in the film Slumdog Millionaire that received the much-awaited Golden Globe Award for the maestro of Madras — AR Rahman and has now been nominated for the Oscars. Singing for the track Liquid Dance was not anything different for Sri Mathumitha but she never expected the film and the tracks would be of such magnitude that it would receive a worldwide appreciation.
''I got a call from Rahman sir' studio last October and I was only told that I am singing for the film Slumdog Millionaire which is a foreign project,'' she says after completing an on-air show at the Big FM studios. The song demanded her to sing jathis that only a trained classical singer can do. Rahman explained the track and gave her the freedom to experiment with music.
The end result was Liquid Dance that was recorded in October 2008. Sri Mathumitha wasn't sure if it would be featured in the film but she was happy to her name listed in the track list.
This being not the first time she has sung for Rahman’s compositions, Sri Mathumitha has been into playback singing for the composer since the age of nine and has also been a part of ARR's Vande Matharam song. One of the popular songs that she sang for Rahman was Nathaswaram Pola for the film Azhagia Tamizh Magan. The singer was also a part of Abaswaram Ramji's troupe Isai Mazhalai that performs live shows across the globe. The 20-year-old is presently a part of another muchawaited Kollywood film Naan Kadavul in which she has two tracks for Illayaraja. Having sung for two popular music directors in Kollywood, Mathumitha has also lent her voice to the younger generation composers like Yuvan Shankar Raja (7G Rainbow Colony) and Harris Jayaraj (Lesa Lesa). While Illayaraja explains his fixed plans for a song and gets the same out of the singer, Rahman is more laid back explaining his ideas for a song only after analysing what the singer can contribute.
tejonmayam@epmltd.com