BENGALURU:
Playback singer K S Chithra will be in the city this weekend for a workshop and a concert of her hits in different languages.
“I might also sing songs they (the audience) want me to sing,” she tells City Express. Chithra’s oeuvre spans three-and-a-half decades – she was introduced to Malayalam playback by Carnatic vocalist-music director M G Radhakrishnan in 1979. She has sung tracks in his films like Attahasam, Snehapurvam Meera and Nan Ekananu.
The Beginnings
“Malayalam music directors like Ravindran, Shyam, Jerry Amaldev, Kannoor Rajan and Johnson played an instrumental role in my career as playback artiste in Malayalam films,” she says.
She got a break in Tamil films through music director Ilaiyaraja with Neethana Antha Kuil. Known to have recorded about 15,000 film and 4,000 non-film songs in various Indian languages since 1984, she is the only singer in the history of South Indian film playback singing to receive honours from governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu.
She has created a record by winning Kerala State Government Award for the Best Playback Singer 16 times.
She has worked with several renowned names in Hindi, including A R Rahman, Anu Malik, Sandip Chowta, Vishal, Rajesh Roshan and Sandesh.
Musical Family
She hails from a family of musicians from Thiruvananthapuram. In fact, she received her first lessons in music from her father, Krishnan Nair. She completed her BA in music with first class and third rank from the University of Kerala, and later went on to pursue MA in music.
She continued training in Carnatic music under K Omanakutty, a retired professor of music at Kerala University, under the National Talent Search Scholarship.
Repertoire
Of the high points in her career of 37 years, she describes singing alongside K J Yesudas as enriching. “I consider the opportunity to sing with him in live concerts all over India and abroad, and also for his Tharangini cassettes a turning point,” she says.
She is currently working on her private albums. “I am singing ashtapadis and other devotional songs. There isn’t a single day when I don’t sing,” she adds.
Changes in the Industry
Since she started out, the playback music industry has undergone several changes, she observes.
“Back then, live recording with the orchestra was the norm. We used to rehearse several times over before we started recording. The musicians would stand together in one booth and sing,” she recalls. “The industry has grown so much that, nowadays, you do not know who your male counterpart is.”
Perhaps, it’s thanks to hours and hours of rehearsing with other artistes that makes it easy to work with. Bijibal Maniyil, Malayalam composer and playback singer, says Chithra needs only five to 10 minutes to understand a song.
“We merely need to convey the feel and situation of the song. The way she interprets notes and goes beyond what you could interpret makes her a musician of the first order, rivalling none on the Indian music scene. There is a magic in her,” he says.
He adds her smile spreads positive energy. “She is so experienced, and has sung in almost all languages. Yet, she is very consistently in her polite towards others. It has to be genuine.”
Today’s Talent
Budding talents today get a lot more exposure early on than their previous generation did, Chithra thinks, through television reality shows and the Internet. “But not every one can make it big in the music industry,” she says.
She has many young favourites, she adds. “I listen to the recent songs often. There is a lot of talent in the industry. I can’t name one or two.”
Visits to the City
She looks forward to coming to the city. “I used to come a lot to Bengaluru earlier when I had to record Kannada songs but now the tracks are made in Chennai. Bengaluru is a cool, nice place,” she says.
She was here last at the end of 2015 for a charity concert to aid abandoned children suffering from AIDS. “People here are great music lovers,” she says.
Bengaluru Events
Techie-turned-singer Sunil Koshy, known in the Bengaluru culture circles for his From Mug to Mike initiative, will share the stage with the Padma Shri awardee.
The concert is at Dr Premachandra Sagar Auditorium, Dayanand Sagar College, Kumaraswamy Layout at 6 pm on Saturday. It is being organised by Koshy and Lakshya Educational and Charitable Trust.
A day ahead of the public event, Chithra will be part of one of Koshy’s workshops at The Capitol Hotel. “I will share my experiences in the music industry. And I shall respond to students’ queries. I am not going to teach anything,” she says.