Indian singer KS Chitra talks about her Dubai concert and losing her mentor, SP Balasubrahmanyam

Gulf News

National Award-winning Indian singer will pay tribute to Bollywood legends on December 24  Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/3B7JMuo  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #Indian #music

Transcript

00:00Hi, this is Manjusha from Gulf News Tabloid and today I am in conversation with one of

00:24the most talented and versatile and long enduring singers of our generation, Chitra.

00:30Thank you so much for speaking to us.

00:32Thank you Manjusha.

00:33It's such a pleasure and I hear that you are going to perform in Dubai.

00:37I am excited and all my musicians are also really excited.

00:42This concert is also very special because it's also a tribute and a homage to all these

00:47good singers.

00:48How do you choose though?

00:49I have always wondered when you are choosing such A-list singers as well, what do you pick

00:54and how difficult is the process to pay tribute to somebody?

00:58Actually I am leaving the whole responsibility to Naresh ji.

01:02He is going to do all the best songs because he has so many experience.

01:10He knows the pulse of the audience.

01:12So he will choose the correct songs for me and I have to do a lot of practice to perform

01:18before all of you.

01:19We are doing it as a tribute to all the legends.

01:22So I should make sure I should not spoil those songs.

01:26What is the biggest challenge of a tribute show apart from choosing of songs?

01:30What do you think in your head?

01:31How do you prep for it?

01:32Because they have created a standard.

01:36So meeting at least 90% or even 80% we should bring that perfection.

01:46So it is very difficult and we have to do a lot of hard work.

01:50As an artist, how did you come to terms with the kind of isolation that you feel?

01:55Because you derive energy from the audience, right?

01:57Actually I was keeping so busy.

02:00Just before COVID, I was travelling to Singapore for a reality show.

02:04So I was fully busy.

02:07Suddenly when this lockdown came, simply sitting at home, even I was going into slightly, I

02:13was feeling depressed.

02:16So I didn't know what I should do.

02:17Then at that time SPB sir, he spoke to me about, he was doing albums on awareness videos.

02:28So I thought why should we all sit like this?

02:31So we should also do something.

02:33Then I also started, I asked through WhatsApp, I asked all the singers in our group, just

02:42why don't we sing a song, everyone just one line, one line.

02:46So we started with Loka Mudvan Sukha Pagadaanai, all the singers cooperated and we did an album

02:52like this.

02:53It was actually, it was a tough, it was very difficult to logistically do it, right?

02:59But somehow we did it and it was, it clicked actually.

03:04So many people then started doing the same song, different groups, different families.

03:10So it was, I was inspired actually.

03:13Then after that, I asked Srikumaran Thambisa, the poet, Thambisa's wife Raji Chechi, I asked

03:20her whether she can write a few lines for me and we'll do it as an album.

03:25Just a few lines about COVID, how you can sit inside and what all you can do through

03:30a song.

03:31In four different languages, we did, Sharath did music for that album and SPB sir, Shakar

03:39Mahadevan sir, myself and Sharath, four of us.

03:42You have also reinvented yourself, you have not just stuck to like my album songs, which

03:46you're really good at, you've also branched out to Bollywood, you've tried everything.

03:51How do you do that?

03:52Like, is that very conscious that I have to reinvent myself every five years or so, so

03:57that, how do you keep it alive, you know, like the, you're different and your brand,

04:01you're still, you're such a brand.

04:03I didn't plan anything, whatever comes to my way, I do it, how much I can do, how much

04:11effort I can put, I'll do my maximum, that's it.

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