Young and upcoming Hindustani vocalist and playback singer Chaitra H.G. has a little-known side to her. She is a gymnast and fencer too. But the activity has taken a backstage in her budding musical career. Chaitra speaks toThe Hindu MetroPlusFriday Review on her current state in the music scene, her singing for Grammy album ‘Winds of Samsara’ and on turning music composer
Initiation into Hindustani
classical
My parents, Pandit Gopinath H.S. and Sandhya Gopinath, initially put me and my twin brother Chaitanya under a guru near our home to learn Carnatic music. Since my dad is a Hindustani tabalist, they had a rethink that it would be great if we learnt Hindustani classical vocals. So at the age of five, we started under our guru, Pandit Nagaraj Rao Havaldar. We learnt for around 15 years under him and I am continuing my training under Pandit Nandakumar Kurudi for the last five years.
You are into sport activities
We, my brother and I, are both gymnasts and fencers (sword fighting) and have won medals at the national level in both sports.
Making a mark in playback
singing for Kannada films
I started by singing tracks and background vocals in 2000 when I was just out of school. In 2003 a music director Rajesh Ramanathan heard me and wished to give me a song in his next film. That eventually happened and I got my first break as a solo playback singer in 2003 for the movie Bhagwan, which starred Darshan Toogudeepa and Daisy Bopanna. There has been no looking back since. I have done around 650-700 songs mainly in Kannada, a few in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. I received the Karnataka State Award for the best playback singer in 2006 for the song Huduga Huduga from the movie Amruthdare . I have also been a voice over artist and been the voice behind nearly 500 ads and jingles.
Singing for award-winning album ‘Winds of Samsara’
Though it was like any other recording but I remember we worked on the presentation of my voice and how Ricky Kej wanted it to be very soothing and melodious rather than adding a classical touch. I have worked with Ricky Kej for the last 10 years and he really knows how to extract the best from artists. He also has an open mind and lets the artist add his/her own dimension to the track. A lot of hard work and planning went into the album. Ricky and Wouter Kellerman deserve the Grammy and more.
You current status and
what’s next in your
musical career?
I am busy with classical concerts and playback singing. I have also turned music composer and have been working on my debut movie for sometime now.
I plan to concentrate on composing music and working with the new breed of directors and technicians. I would like to continue taking up interesting singing projects. I would love to compose songs in other languages and have been talking to a few people in the Tamil and Malayalam industry. Language is never a constraint for music. So I am hoping for the best.
