There are peals of laughter interspersed with quick one-line renditions of songs they’ve sung, lots of inside jokes and pet peeves. The most common being “asked to sing every time we visit a relative”, they say in unison. “And, if we tell them we can’t sing since our voice needs rest, they think we are being difficult,” says one of them, rolling her eyes. These young, vivacious and talented girls are also four of the most popular independent female singers in the city today. For those clued into the music scene, Kavita Thomas, Shilpa Natarajan, Nadisha Thomas and Sharanya Gopinath are not unfamiliar names. At an interview, amidst palpable camaraderie, they talk about their journey as singers, embarrassing moments, forgetting lyrics at shows, performing at gigs, awaiting payments for various musical assignments and the woes of not getting paid at all. No wonder the four plan to release a spoof song titled, ‘Chasing payments.’
Shilpa Natarajan
Her first memory of being on stage was as a pink elephant in her school’s The Jungle Book production. “The boy I had a crush on was playing Mowgli and I wanted to stand as close to him as possible,” she grins. This was as a five-year-old in her school in Muscat.
After moving to Chennai she became a part of her school’s (Vidya Mandir, Mylapore) Carnatic orchestra. “I started learning Carnatic music when I was three and switched to pop music in class XII because my elder sister was training a college band in that genre,” says Shilpa. She wasn’t really serious about pursuing music as a career until she formed a band in school that won at the Chettinad Vidyashram culturals.
What followed was song offers from movies — backing vocals and lead. Unfortunately, her first recording in 2007 was for a film that never saw the light of day. She has sung three songs and has still not been paid for them. Next, she sang the back-up vocals for Karthik Raja in a movie called Oru Ponnu Oru Paiyan , followed by ‘Vanakkam Chennai’ from Marina , the title song of Hi Da in 2013, another unreleased movie (luckily, the songs released). “That track is still my parents’ caller tune,” smiles the 28-year-old, who is now working on an album titled Bubble Wrap . “It has seven songs, a few of which have been written by me,” she says. That apart, Shilpa manages her time between two bands – Under A Rest and Beef Sappad Trio – and teaches young kids music over Skype.
Nadisha Thomas
As a three-year-old, in red feathers and a hula skirt, Nadisha sang a Hawaiian-themed song and won many hearts. This was in Bahrain. She moved to Chennai at the age of six and soon became a staple in her school (Sishya) plays. “I grew up listening to musicals. When I listened to The King and I, I thought to myself that I want to be like that girl,” says Nadisha.
Her first solo performance was in class IX when she sang a song from Evita . “I stole my mom’s footwear for that,” she laughs and adds, “While singing I was nervous and shaking and people thought it was vibrato.” The 26-year-old is the fourth-generation singer to be part of Madras Musical Association (MMA) after her great grandmother, grandmother and mother.
Nadisha also learnt to play the piano and her biggest regret in life was giving it up. As a 12-year-old, she recorded nursery rhymes for Augustine Paul. Then came the movie breaks with the chorus for ‘Luka Chuppi’ for A.R. Rahman in Rang De Basanti . The other movies include Guru , I , Rockstar, Kadal, Podaa Podi, Bhooloham , Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, Vallavan… She has also sung solos for movies such as 3 and Meendum Oru Kaadhal Kadhai, among others. “I just finished working on a collaboration with three international artistes. It’s a Tamil/English single,” she says. Apart from her solo performances and recordings, she also has a band called Nadisha Thomas and Friends.
Kavita Thomas
Her relationship with music started as a three-year-old when she beganstarted playing the piano. She was also very possessive about her piano teacher, she says. “My godmother was a pianist and used to play when my mother was pregnant. She was convinced that I would play the instrument too. And as it turned out, I did,” says Kavita, who learnt piano for 17 years and also trained indid Bharatanatyam for a decade. An alumnaus of Good Shepherd Convent and a practising lawyer, Kavita quit herthe profession to give her undivided attention to music.
The 29-year-old has been part of Chennai’s musical theatre since she was four-and-a-half. Annie, Sound of Music and a lot of adaptations of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals are part of her repertoire. “I was part of Young Stars, a programme that was started by Brian Laul. A lot of us who are in the music industry today, started out there,” she says.
Her first solo performance was in school as a 10-year-old, when she sangd ‘Castle on a cloud’ from Les Miserables. “I did my first recording as a four-year-old. It was gospel music,” adds Kavita, who has now recorded for a number of Tamil movies and worked with music composers like Dharan, Vijay Anthony, Anirudh, D. Imman, Vikram Sarathy and Sam C.S. “The one closest to my heart is my recent release ‘Domeru Lordu’ composed by Vishal Chandrashekar. It’s from the film Jil Jung Juk.” The singer is also part of a band called The Speakeasy Poets and A.R. Rahman’s jazz vocal band NAFS.
Sharanya Gopinath
The youngest of the lot, this 23-year-old is enamoured by Julie Andrews. An alumna of Bain School, Sharanya says her alma mater played a huge role in piquing her interest in music and theatre. “I took up singing seriously when the late Mithran Devanesan got me to sing in his production Smoke Signals . I was 16 then,” says Sharanya.
Her first recording, however, was as a six-year-old when she sang ‘Teddy Bear Teddy Bear’ for sound engineer Mike Williams. Currently training in Hindustani vocals, she has also learnt Western Classical music. The soft-spoken artiste has done a lot of back-up vocals and background music. A part of Jazz Fusion band Chrome O Soul, she was spotted by composer Ghibran’s manager when the band was performing at one of the editions of Madras Market. What followed was recording the female lead for Telugu movie Jil , a duet in the film Uttama Villain for the song ‘Loveaa Loveaa’, and ‘Oru Nodi Illay’ from an unreleased film. The number of music composers she’s worked with is impressive. There’s Ilaiyaraaja, A.R. Rahman, Anirudh, Vijay Antony, Srikanth Deva and Leon James. The list is growing.
