Unsung Heroes – No Longer ! – 2 - Singer Sharanya

Unsung Heroes – No Longer ! – 2

By Gaanappriya Mohan Yogesh

Singer Sharanya - A girl with big dreams and amazing talent.

Here is an exclusive Interview of Singer Sharanya Srinivas.

Grown up in a family of singers and musicians, Sharanya started to sing from early phases of her life. Knowing her talent and skills, she chose to be a singer after completing secondary education.

In her singing career, Sharanya has been working with many famous music producers and composers like AR Rahman, Imman, Sharreth, Santhosh Narayanan, Nivas Prasanna, Madley Blues and Justin Prabhakar. Sharanya performed and showcased her voice in more than 200 stages and also shared live stages with Srinivas, Naresh Iyer, Vijayprakash, Stephen Devassy and Haricharan. Sharanya's voice was not limited to the record label and big production houses. She has been a part of various independent albums supporting and working for independent artists, creating awareness for many social causes.

Sharanya is happily married to Narayanan Kumar and the couple live in Chennai.

1. What is Music, according you?

Music for me is something which is very pure and something which gives rise to lot of emotions inside you. So that’s what I think music is, probably for all of us. Instead of looking at the whole thing technically, I mean some people do look at it technically, but for me music is very emotional. Music has a very emotional connect with people. When you listen to different songs they give rise to a different emotion inside you. So that way music is that very emotion experience for me and I can’t describe that in words.

2. Who is your Musical influence?

This is a very common question I come across. People expect me to tell only one reply for this question. (smiles), My Dad. And I do not deny. Of course he is my big support and biggest influence. But Musical Influence as such there are too many and I just cannot just pick one and say this is my musical influence because right from childhood I have been listening to different kinds of music so when my grandfather was alive he used to play a lot of Carnatic music at home so that subconsciously got into myself and I was able to appreciate and notice the nuances. Once my father started singing in films, I was able to appreciate light music and cine music. All these happened in my early childhood. So as I said in the beginning, I could not pick any single source of influence and inspiration. All these have been my influences and what I see or where I see myself in the art is. First and foremost I’m a music lover & so I appreciate music, I appreciate good music and more than a singer or a musician I want to be known as a music lover

3. How was your Music learning experience?

Well, my dad says even now that had I realized my potential in my childhood days, I would have been even more into music. I was even given a key board to learn and all that. But then, you know, childhood days have its own distractions. When I decided to take up music seriously, I had a few gurus at my home, like my Aunty Smt Padma, my dad, and so on. I also took courses under the tutelage of Shri Henry Kuruvila. I joined Rahman sir’s KM Music conservatory to hone my singing skills. But to be frank, every single stage, and every single song that I perform is a learning experience for me. With time, I get to learn and perform even better than the before. Because, I don’t think learning is a one-time process. I believe it is a continuous process in life.

4. What was your first song? How did your career take off ?

I was ten when I recorded the first song for Rahman sir, for the movie Tenali. “Aalankatti Mazhai” song. Since I was so young to have any inhibitions, I just went to the studio, sang and came back. Even now when I think of that experience, I feel joyful and excited. Then, I debuted my voice with the song Adi Thaahira with SathyaPrakash. Slowly, I started getting chances to sing for films. That’s when I got my first break through in an independent album “Konjam Koffee Konjam Kaadhal” by Phani Kalyan. I sang in my father’s music for the movie Kangaroo & Train, Rahman sir’s music for the movie Ambikapathy, and so on. When every song is so special to me, I would like to specially mention “Mersal Arasan” Song for the movie Mersal in Rahman Sir’s movie. The song was launched during my wedding. Thillana with Mahesh Raghavan was a thrilling experience. And I still remember being so excited about every song while seeing the first output. Doopadoo’s “Kozhai”, Phani Kalyan’s Neeye also needs a special mention in my career.

5. How do you handle criticisms, if any that you have received as a musician and performing artist?

Criticisms are part and parcel of our lives. But to handle these criticisms in the right way, I think one needs to be strong and matured . In my initial days I used to get flustered as a very young artist. It was hard . I was hard on myself too. But as I grew up, I had developed a confidence to handle criticisms. But it's also got to do with the fact that over the years there has been a lot of learning. Not just with respect to criticism but a lot of things like introspecting constantly about what one is doing. I keep introspecting on how I can do better, how I can be more creative, what are the areas that need improvements and so on. Personally, I am my harshest critic. Having said that when i come across a constructive criticism I take it positively, no matter who says. But we live in an era where there are also these trollers with trolls as we call, who probably don't have anything else to do but Would just sit behind a computer and pass nasty comments to everybody. As much as I was affected and annoyed those days, with age comes maturity to ignore such negative elements in the society. And I am now really good at it !

6. How was the whole COVID scenarios with lock downs, for you? How did you manage to handle this unexpected global pandemic, as an artist?

Just like every one of you, I was also thinking that Covid will be around for a month or so and we would be Resumè to routine. So initially my thought was also like 'this will probably pass during that duration of time and things will be ok after that'. When things did not resume to normal, I realized that there are a...

bunch of performers and musicians whose existence was getting difficult and struggling . These artists and musicians were relying upon “Live concerts” and shows. I felt it was very harsh for them to face while some of us had a home studio and still performed from home, these people were out there struggling . So my dad Srinivas started the United singers charitable trust for all struggling singers so that they can get on with their lives till the pandemic is over. After the pandemic is over shows are going to be pouring in but right now what will they do? How are they going to feed their families? So USCT was started with an intention to support the struggling musicians. Thanks to all our kind hearted fans that we collected a substantial amount of money and these proceedings are going for the musicians in the state of TamilNadu.

But personally if you ask me how I managed the covid situation it's been so difficult. I had a small studio set up at home and I had quite a great amount of time to introspect and plan on what I should be working on. Eventually I was able to collaborate with a bunch of talented artists. Lemme name a few : Sindu Rajaram from the California, USA and I did a song together, Gurupriya from Banglore was also some whom I worked with. Pandemic made us think globally and also technically that artists from various parts of the world came together for one performance . This made us realize that the world is actually a very small place and all this is definitely possible. And I also got to indulge in a lot of music production and all that. Thankfully for us some e-concerts were also happening. We kind of managed the situation quite decently is what I would say. Having said all this I'm again stressing on the point About struggling musicians because there are so many of them who are still relying on live shows. There are so many of them who don't even have access to... studios or anything like that. They literally had put their lives in danger to go record because the covid situation was so bad at one point that there a so many people who took all these risks. That's why the United Singers Charitable trust is for : to support the livelihood for all these struggling musicians till they get back on their feet.

7. How do you define success?

If you had asked me this question, a few years back, I would have probably given you a different answer out of ignorance. But now my answer is based on the experiences that I have gathered. Success is a subjective word and its definition can vary from person to person. For me, success is not about short term goals at all. For example- I have achieved this today so I’m successful. That’s not what I consider as success. I used to think the same way before, but not any more. Finding pleasure in the smallest of things, is real success. When you live your life every moment, that is success. To be called successful, one also needs to strike the right balance in life. Now I’m probably getting philosophical, and I really don’t want to bore you guys with that!

Recently I watched this movie called ‘Soul’ and I could connect to it very well, as it spoke about similar things. Our wants and desires never end. Therefore the foremost step to success, is to feel happy with whatever you have. An all round success is then, when you have achieved the right balance , regards to personal or professional life. Simplest pleasures of life give you happiness and that is what is meant by actual success. Being able to spend time with family or going for a pleasure trip, can give you happiness and that is what is real success!

8. What is your message on Women Empowerment?

I can say from my experience and also by putting myself in a woman’s shoe, that Woman feels empowered when she has full freedom and control over whatever she chooses to become or do in her life. That’s Women empowerment.

Trying to impose your opinion or trying to change her, is robbing her off her independence. I know a lot of women who have struggled so much to get where they are today. And their struggle is much more than men because of our socioeconomic system.

Hats off to these women who have achieved so much despite living in a patriarchal society. Feminist thoughts are growing nowadays but we still have a long way to go. We try to educate people but they don’t really seem to understand the true essence or need of Women empowerment.

So we must continue to educate as many people as possible on this subject and stop forcing our views on Women. Let them live their life the way they want.

Thank you, Sharanya for such an interesting insight on valuable topics like music and success. We wish you the very best in life as you deserve only the best .

Images courtesy : Shaji, FB page of Sharanya Srinivas. Neither the writer nor the magazine owns any credits to the images shared. All image copyrights remain with the photographers.

By Gaanappriya Mohan Yogesh

Gaanappriya Mohan Yogesh

Bio scientist/Poetess / Bilingual Writer