My First Break -- Nityashree Mahadevan
How it happened
I started singing at 13, and gave my first performance in August, 1987 for
the Youth Association for Classical Music. The leading artists of today were
the office bearers and there were many stalwarts such as my grandmother D.
K. Pattamal, granduncle D. K. Jayaraman and R. K.Venkatrama Sasthri in the
audience. The chief guest was none other than K. V. Narayanaswamy. I was
nervous, but once I sat on the dais I was determined to sing well and uphold
the great reputation built over the years by my grandparents D. K. Pattammal
and Palghat Mani Iyer. With my guru's blessings, I got the best performance
award. Opportunities followed. After singing for nearly 10 years, I got an
offer from A. R. Rahman to sing for the film Jeans. On January 5, 1998 I
sang 'Kannodu Kanbathellam', but did not know how it would sound. When I
heard it I was stunned by the genius of Rahman, who drew the best out of me.
How it felt
'Kannodu…' took my popularity to dizzy heights. I came to be known to the
masses. My song in Padaiyappa ('Minsara Kanna') got me the Tamil Nadu State
award. I have also sung the 'Ra Ra' song for Chandramukhi in Telugu and
Kannada. Though my focus is on Carnatic music, I have sung close to 100 film
songs in all the South Indian languages so far.
How life changed
I was a known name even before playback singing happened. But film songs
made me more popular. Now I am more focussed on my singing and uphold our
family tradition. I have sung in nearly 300 albums and have composed music
for about 15 albums, the recent being "Arpudame" on Sathya Sai Baba.
http://www.hindu.com/cp/2008/09/12/stories/2008091250502000.htm
