Interview with Chitra
Ramesh Hariharan
I am pleased that a fabulous singer like Chitra is getting her
long-overdue recognition. Can't however help being puzzled that
it takes a newbie like Rahman to make her get national recognition.
Easily, her best songs are in Malayalam (Sanjeev .. I am not sure
which movie the song Kanakanilave is from). Perhaps one of the very
few women singers who can keep pace with Yesudas.
Here's an interview mailed to be my Jeyashree Chidambram:
************
I tried to recollect as much as I could from that interview of Chitra,
for those additional details I talked about in my previous mail...
Ok..Here's it for you in a _real_ interview format :)
ANH: Can you explain your entry into the Tamil film music world?
Chitra: *smile* Yes, it was thru this movie, "PoovE Poo chooda vaa" by
Fazil. This was a remake of the Malayalam movie "NokkatE thoorathu kannum
nattu"..And this movie gave me a good break..After that I got introduced to
Illayaraja saar(!) by Yesudas....And since then I have been singing in Tamil.
*smile*
My comments: It was a good movie with good songs.....I saw both the
Malayalam and Tamil version of it....The title song in Malayalam was
better in my opinion...But have been trying since morning to come up with the
song..Bad luck:(( Theres another one that goes "Kambi thiri
mathaapu"....Same story line but with different religious backgrounds in
Tamil and Malayalam.
ANH: What is your musical background?
Chitra: *smile* Actually I should say that my whole family is into
music. My mom plays the veena, my sister sings, my broter sings too. And
FYI, my sister sings better than me! When I was in college I gave this
program on Trivandrum radio and that was my first major exposure to
the public... And gave me the necessary encouragement. *smile*
ANH: Did you ever think that one day you'll be reigning supreme in a
language that is not your mother-tongue ?
Chitra: *smile* Well, I should say that it is all HIS game. I can give
you another incidence of importance in my life! My recording for Sindhu
Bhairavi.. I was doing my M.A in music and I was to give an exam on
this particular day.. But I had to go to the studio as Illayaraja saar
was particular about recording this song on that day.."PaadariyEn
PadipariyEn..." When I mentioned about my exam he brushed it aside saying
that this song is going to fetch me greater rewards as compared to my
M.A degree.....I stayed on for the recording and I knew what he meant
later on when I went on to win the National award for that song..*smile*
My comments: She later on completed her M.A in music.:) Or may be it was
just a cake-walk for her :) That song is a favourite of mine for more
than one reason... Actually, the situation in the movie needs mention
here. There is this great singer who enthralls the crowd(10% of which is
literate in nusic and the rest just the thaalan crowd like I am !) who is
challenged by Sindhu that he should sing songs that _reach_ the crowd not songs
that leave them hopeless...he says that in karnatic music it is _not_
possible to sing songs that a common-man can understand...She goes ahead and
proves him wrong with this song......Beautiful lyrics...Well sung...
ANH: This movie was after a short time since you started singing in
Tamil...How did u manage to sing it error-free(Sorry...Comp.Sci terms
pop in now and then!)
Chitra: *smile* I am not good in Tamil even now. I write the lyrics in
Malayalam and then sing. *smile*
My comments: She gave this interview in Tamil and I thought that it was
close to mine ..Hee Hee..Hee.. But surprisingly I don't see any accent
when she sings..She is perfect!
ANH: You have sung quite a lot of classical stuff in Malayalam whereas
not so many in Tamil...What do u attribute this to?
Chitra: *smile*The main reason is that there aren't many movies made in
Tamil that include classical/semi-classical songs. Otherwise I have no
inhibitions when it comes to singing such songs. *smile*
My comments: I haven't seen a single cassette till now or even heard of
Chitra's semi-classical/classical songs in Tamil. My only choice is
Sudha Raghunathan. Though have come across a few cassettes of devotional songs
by Chitra. One semi-classical song that comes to mind is from the movie
"Azhagan"...Beautiful song :)
ANH: Do you find any difficulty singing with any particular singer
because of the pace/style etc..?
Chitra: *smile*Not so far. The quality of a singer lies in how far
he/she can adjust the pace, not necessarily the style...I feel comfortable be
it Yesudas saar, Baalu saar or anybody for that matter...*smile*
My comments: One song in which I have found that the male lead was not
exactly on pace with her was in "Then mErku paruva kaatru". The singer
was Unni Krishnan.(Though he was good too in that song, you can _listen_ to
his being unable to modulate well..) The ease with which Chitra renders that
song and how much Unni had to put in...(Now, don't get me wrong that I don't
like U.Krishnan. I attended a concert of his, this time when I went to
India and fell in love with his voice too...Not comparable to Yesudas
but _cute_ in his own way...Particularly the pronouciations...)
ANH: Can u share with us some of your favourite songs?
Chitra: *smile* Well, "PaadariyEn..PadipariyEn" is one...There are
many..But to name a recent few, "MalargalE MalargalE", "KannalanE"
etc... *smile*
ANH: Has any of the singers on circuit helped/obstructed your career?
Chitra: *smile* Nope. They have all been helpful..Yesudas saar has
helped me a lot, given me a lot of advice, Baalu saar is a lot of fun to sing
with(His little improvisations...), Hariharan saar is good too..S.Janaki
has been of good help. I am thankful to all of them. *smile*
ANH: Have you any plans of releasing cassettes on your own?
Chitra: *smile* Actually, my husband and I have started this recording
company and I have released a few cassettes too...He is an engineer but
is very much interested in music and gives me all the encouragement that I
need! We plan to release more cassettes but my tight schedule doesn't
make it easy?
ANH: How many songs do you sing per day?
Chitra: *smile* There is no number as such. Somedays I sing upto 4
songs, somedays just one...Depends on how everybody in the team
co-operates and how easy the song is. *smile*
ANH: Is there any unfulfilled desire that you have?
Chitra: *smile* I would like to sing in a Tamil movie that has only
classical songs (Like Shankarabaranam) in it. If God wills, then it
would be realized.*smile*
jeyashree
***************
My comments:
I went up after the last Yesudas/Chitra concert and chatted with Chitra
for a short while .. I am amazed at how down-to-earth and classy some of
these people are (the *smile* that you mentioned in the interview was
always there too !) ..I first complemented her on the songs "Oru murai"
from MCT ... I remember asking both Yesudas and Chitra who their fav.
MD's were. Yesudas chose to be diplomatic and said "You can't say
something like that because each MD has his own strengths" Chitra
however said "I'd have to say Illayaraja because he brought me out". . I
asked YG what his toughest song was.. .. He says "Tough and easy are
very difficult for a listener to discern sometimes" .. Finding that to
be very evasive I further probed "How difficult was `Ramakatha' ?"
(IMO a very difficult song...The swaram towards the end of the song
is really soul-stirring. There is an incredible 55 second stretch where
Yesudas goes on and on with little or no breath !!) He says " Ramakatha was
really easy .. really songs that sound very simple sometimes require
a great deal of attention.. take the Gayathri for example... Hariprasad
(Chaurasia) and Rangaswami (Parthasarthy) spend several weeks to be
happy with the raga-malika that we evetually chose. Now to the naive
listener that just seems like another of the many Yesudas devotional
tapes"
--
Ramesh Hariharan
http://www.princeton.edu/~hariharn/