In love with stage

Alaipongera Kanna’ a song with a classic touch from the director Maniratnam’s film ‘Sakhi’, ‘Musuguveyyoddu ManasuMeeda’, an energetic number from Khadgam, ‘Adhire Adhire Kanne Adhire’ a fun duet from “Nuvvostanante Nenoddantaana’ – Tamil Nadu based Kalpana Raghavendar is a household name thanks to her hit numbers in Telugu films, more so for the live shows that she loves performing where her flawless rendition of the most complex of the compositions has earned her a permanent place in the hearts of music lovers.

The versatile singer’s tryst with first edition Telugu Bigg Boss’ show too made much news. “What you saw on the show is what I am. The real-life Kalpana,” shares the singer. She will be sharing stage with the legendary singer Yesudas on January 20 at Shilpakala Vedika, Hyderabad during a live music concert organised by Eleven Point Two.

“It is a blessing and honour to be performing with one of the true legends of our time. My first encounter with him was when I was hardly five years old. I met Yesudas sir along with my father, who was then working as assistant to Ilayaraja sir. My father asked me to sing in front of him, and he admired my singing and blessed me saying – She has talent. It was again, probably in the year 1996, when I was 17-years-old; I was part of the live stage event of MSV; I sang along with SPB sir and Yesudas sir. I still have the notebook on which I asked him to sign and he wrote – Music should be everything. This time when I perform, I plan to show him the notebook,” shares Kalpana. In fact, when she won the title of Star Singer in the Malayalam reality show, she received the award from the great singer, himself.

She is dedicated and passionate about music. So much so that for her, singing for films is just one part of the entire scheme of things. She enjoys live stage performs much more than recorded music, she reveals. “ Although I am from Tamil Nadu, I got to sing different genre of songs in Telugu films.” “I don’t want to limit myself to only film music. I don’t want to be called a film playback singer. I started my career as a stage performer. A film is an important segment. But I don’t try to scale achievements based on what I sing for films. Compared to what the great singers have achieved, we have done nothing,” she states
And adds, “For me, the real challenge is live singing.

It is during the real time singing on stage that the true potential of artistes comes out. On stage your practice must be good, and you must stay updated, whereas, during recording a lot of technology comes to aid.” Kalpana is extremely disciplined with her singing that is visible when she sings on stage. Interestingly, the way she writes down her songs is an extension of the importance she gives to method and clarity.

“It is my father TS Raghavendra, who writes in a very systematic way from whom I learnt to be systematic. I also believe that it is through writing we transfer knowledge from one generation to another. Presentation is very important for us to understand and for others to comprehend even after we are gone. Hence, I ensure there is clarity when I write down songs.

While writing classical keertans – I use different colours for Sahityam and Swaram, and Jatulu too. And when I write down film songs, I write the lines of the male singer in a different colour,” she reveals. “My Guru, singer-composer Madhurai T Srinivasan was a great theoretician. He gave great importance to theory and always put it on paper. I imbibed his presentation skill as well,” she adds.

While Kalpana has had the opportunity to sing many of her favourite songs with most of her favourite singers, there is still one song that she did not get an opportunity to sing on stage. ‘ChelimiloValapu Raagam’, an Ilayaraja composition from the film, ‘Mounaragam’. “I hope to sing this song on stage,” she signs off.