walking upstream…
K. S. Chithra
photo: dr. ajay balachandran · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗K. S. Chithra
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra, born in 1963 in Thiruvananthapuram, trained in Carnatic music under K. Omanakutty before M. G. Radhakrishnan brought her into Malayalam playback in 1979. Wider fame followed through Ilaiyaraaja's compositions and a run of National Film Awards, and her clear, Carnatic-ornamented soprano became the defining female playback voice of South Indian cinema across the 1980s and 1990s, later crossing into Hindi film through A.R. Rahman's 'Bombay.' Nicknamed the 'Nightingale of South India,' she has recorded across more than a dozen languages over four decades.
the sound in question
1995
Kehna Hi KyaK. S. Chithra
walk the tributaries ↓
Ilaiyaraaja1980s–1990s · Indian film music / Carnatic fusion / Symphonic
Ilaiyaraaja's compositions were the making of Chithra: his 'Geethanjali' songs won her wide recognition, and his intricate, string-laden melodies demanded exactly the agile, precise phrasing she supplied. Singing his lines shaped how she shaded a melody, following his unexpected intervals and lush countermelodies.
listen: upstream & here
1982
Ilaya NilaIlaiyaraaja
1989
Jallantha KavvintaK. S. Chithra
listen forCue Ilaiyaraaja's 'Ilaya Nila' (1982) for his signature guitar-and-strings romanticism, then Chithra's 'Jallantha Kavvinta' from Geethanjali; hear her thread his winding melodic turns with a clean, effortless top register.
Lata Mangeshkar1960s · Filmi / Playback singing / Hindustani classical
Like the generation of playback singers before her, Chithra grew up measuring herself against Lata Mangeshkar's pristine, controlled tone; Chithra has spoken of Lata as the voice all Indian female singers were raised on. That ideal of clean, undramatic purity underlies Chithra's own restraint, especially in her Hindi recordings.
listen: upstream & here
1949
Aayega AanewalaLata Mangeshkar
2001
Raat Ka NashaK. S. Chithra
listen forSet Lata's ghostly 'Aayega Aanewala' (1949) against Chithra's 'Raat Ka Nasha' from Asoka; the same weightless, floating delivery and immaculate pitch, a melody carried on breath rather than force.
S. Janaki1980s · Playback singing / Filmi / Semi-classical
S. Janaki was the reigning female playback voice of South Indian cinema as Chithra came up, and the two share a body of work under the same composers, above all Ilaiyaraaja; Chithra has spoken warmly of her closeness to Janaki and her love of Janaki's songs. Janaki's model of intensely expressive, emotionally supple singing is audible in Chithra's own tender, classically shaded ballads.
listen: upstream & here
1977
Senthoora PooveS. Janaki
1988
Indupushpam Choodi NilkumK. S. Chithra
listen forFollow Janaki's aching 'Senthoora Poove' (1977) with Chithra's award-winning 'Indupushpam Choodi Nilkum'; both let a soft, semi-classical melody swell with feeling, ornamenting each line with the same delicate vocal catches.