Museek Mag February 2017 | Page 8

Museek

Mag

Candid

Candid- with Singer Srinivas .

Candid- with

Selvakumar - Hi Guys .

Welcome to Museek Mag . This is Selvakumar . I ’ m with singer Srinivas , my old friend . I was one of the people who had always told to him quit his job and come into music . I think at one point of time , he eventually did and now he is where he is now .

Srinivas - Yeah I think , I always had that itch to leave the job and get into music full time . You told , Rahman told me , everybody told me and I just left one day . And only after I left , things started looking up for me in a big way . So , I think it makes a lot of sense to just concentrate on one thing in life and give it your all .

Selvakumar - So when did it all start ? Your earlier music training ?

Srinivas - I started singing very early , I would not call that training . I think , anybody who is a singer is a born singer . After that , what he does to his art is something else . So , like all singers , I was also born with that talent . More than talent I would say , music is the only thing that really attracted me the most as a child .

Selvakumar - Where were you born ?

Srinivas - I was born in Ambasamudram near

Tirunelveli , south of Tamil Nadu . My father used to work in Trivandrum . So , that ’ s where I spent my entire childhood upto college . My first 20 years .

Selvakumar - So , when did you come to Chennai ? How did it all start ?

Srinivas - Chennai was very late . I left for Bombay to study engineering . I worked for 10 years in various places in Mumbai , Ahmedabad , Hyderabad , Warangal and finally in Coimbatore . I was doing marketing in Chennai before that , in a technical sales job . Ilayaraja was my idol those days , but my eternal hero is R . D . Burman . Even now , he is my god . When Ilayaraja came , it was joyful . I had always wanted to meet him then . When I approached him , I sang in front of him . He said “ Okay , I ’ ll inform you ”. And he did call me for a recording in 1987 , but I had a throat infection . He said we would do next time and I thought he would call me , but he never did . When I went to meet him again , he was quite busy and didn ’ t respond well . Then , I realised maybe this is not my field . I was convincing myself that at least I was rejected by someone great like Ilayaraja . My career took off in a different way . I was a chemical engineer and was in marketing in Coimbatore . I was the regional

8 head of my company for South India and South East Asia . I got married and I had a kid . I was pretty caught up with work travelling , and that ’ s when Roja got released . When I watched the film , I thought this would change the music scene . And , I knew this new person called AR Rahman would be a stiff competition to the great Ilayaraja . Of course , what happened after that was completely different . I wanted to sing for Rahman , so I went and met him . And he was very open and he said he would try me if I move to Chennai . So , that ’ s when I took a transfer and shifted to Chennai . I started singing for Rahman in late 1993 / 94 . I did ad jingles , tracks and chorus for him and for other composers as well .

Selvakumar - So , what ’ s the first experience working with AR Rahman in his studio ?

Srinivas - After Roja , I approached him for a voice test for the first time . That time , there were no huge gates in his studio and it was quite open , anybody could walk in . There were engineers called Vincent and Noel who took my voice test . And , Rahman just walked in while i was singing and he appreciated me . He asked me whether I learnt Hindustani . I said I haven ’ t learnt anything but I am obsessed about singing , I wanna sing . He asked me to relocate to Chennai as he would