National Award-winning Indian singer will pay tribute to Bollywood legends on December 24
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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
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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.