BENGALURU: It was the 15th of August. A very cloudy day ensued. Anjali Haliyal, had a performance scheduled in the evening at the Basavanagudi club. “Although very excited about the event, a small gap in my singing career due to family responsibilities had brought down my confidence to a small extent,” she says. She was hoping that it wouldn’t rain that evening, but it did, and heavily. The programme however started at 7.30pm as scheduled.
To Anjali’s surprise, the hall was packed. With five singers in the band including her, they started off with a few songs. People seemed to enjoy it. “Although the programme had to end at 10.30pm it went on till around midnight. People asked for more songs. There were some who even came to the stage and started dancing while congratulating us. This gave me immense satisfaction,” Anjali recalls fondly.
Anjali’s voice has often been compared to that of Asha Bhonsle and Geeta Dutt. As a child, she remembers listening to the radio, especially the Vividh Bharati channel. She soon finished her B.Com and landed a job as an accounts officer at BSNL.
Her love for music remained alive and she participated in many programmes rendering solo and duet performances with the likes of veterans such as SP Balsubrahmanyam, Manjula Gururaj and others.
Surprisingly Anjali, who trained as a classical singer wasn’t sure of her own skill until she took her son to Sadhana Music School, run by popular Kannada playback singer, Manjula Gururaj. She herself soon enrolled in the school. “My son took keyboard lessons. A major turning point of my music journey began at the school,” adds Anjali.
While at the school Anjali’s friends would sing songs of S Janaki, P Susheela songs very easily. She however felt that her voice fitted nowhere and she got a bit depressed as a result. Manjula Gururaj observed Anjali’s voice and explained that it was very different and well suited for songs of the Hindi playback singer, Geeta Dutt. She recorded an original song called Prema Kavya with K Kalyan and then two other songs that heralded her singing career.
Anjali has performed in Doordarshan’s popular programme, Madhura Madhurave and she is regularly sings numbers of LR Ishwari and Asha Bhonsle. Her most popular numbers include, Kannada songs Gill Gill Gill Gill Gillakku, Dooradinda Bandantha, and many others. She chose to take up formal Hindustani classical training under Smt.Mangala Hegde, and later on under Shri Kashinath Pattar.
Her own project, Ankura that is about unique poetries of Kannada poet, KS Narasimha Swamy is a perfect example of her talent.
“My husband Dr Vasudev and my in laws were very supportive of my passion even when I used to practice during odd hours. As I was working I couldn’t contribute much time for practice. Hence, I started practising film songs while cooking and after my daily chores. If I found some time, I would devote it to practising. My son, Nitesh is also a very supportive child. He encouraged me more to pursue my career,“ says Anjali.
In order to work hard towards her passion she took the decision of resigning from her job. Anjali says it was a decision that allowed her more time her practice and performances.Talking about her upcoming projects, she plans compositions of various vachanas of certain saints and poets like Allamaprabhu, Akka Mahadevi, Basavanna, Sarvajna and many more. Some start their musical career at a very tender age. Anjali started off hers at a later stage of life and has been finding success in her endeavour. “Follow your passion as you are never too late for that,” says Anjali.