A mesmerizing mashup…..

I first heard about her amazing voice in the late 60s and early 70s after we moved to Mumbai. My oldest uncle mentioned about this saree clad lady with an ever present wide smile and a huge bindi who performed with a live band in Calcutta in a restaurant (as it was then called), and the crowds she drew into the joint on her singing. I later heard her in Devsaab’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna & thought her mesmerizing, addictive  voice was so effectively contrapuntal to Ashatai’s high notes. Truly addictive. I’ve continued to follow her through the decades. A striking lady with an amazing presence. Her clear statement of unabashedly wanting to be herself and not the hedonistic popstar has been unwavering and marks her out as herself. Always fully clad, most often in a saree (& I admire her exquisite collection of sarees), a huge bindi adorning her forehead, a wide warm smile and a variety of bold pieces of jewelry to complete the frame. Usha Iyer as I first knew her is now better known as Usha Uthup. I discovered much later that her older sister is an alumnus of my alma mater too. Anyone who hears her once gets hooked on to her sublime voice. Amazingly when she was in school she was actually thrown out of music class ( the temerity of the hidebound teacher!! Or shall I say, “Thank you!”) because she didn’t fit in with a voice like hers. But her music teacher recognised that she had some music in her and would give her clappers or triangles to play. Even though she was not formally trained in music, she grew up in an atmosphere of music. Her parents used to listen to a wide range from Western classical to Hindustani and Carnatic including Kishori Amonkar and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan on radio and she used to join them. Her next door neighbour, a deputy commissioner of police in Mumbai, had a daughter, who influenced her to learn Hindi and take up Indian classical music. This fusion approach helped her to pioneer her unique brand of Indian pop in the 1970s. Her first public singing performance was when she was aged just nine. Her sisters, who were already exploring their own careers in music, introduced her to Ameen Sayani, then the most popular radio announcer in India. ( Amazingly thrown out by AIR as they “didn’t find his voice suitable for radio”) Ameen Sayani gave her an opportunity to sing in the Ovaltine Music Hour of Radio Ceylon. She sang a number called “Mockingbird Hill”. After that, several appearances followed through her teenage years. She started singing in Chennai then moved to Kolkata where she met her husband in Trincas. She also sang in “Talk of the town” (now called “Not Just Jazz By The Bay” ) on Marine Drive in Mumbai where Devsaab’s film crew ran into her and she figured in Bollywood as a result. She visited Nairobi as part of an Indian festival. She was so popular there that she was invited to stay on. Singing nationalistic songs in Swahili made her extremely popular and the then President Jomo Kenyatta made her an Honorary Citizen of Kenya. I just adore her spirit and effervescence. Listen to this version she recorded a couple of years ago. Her unique silken God given voice hasn’t changed a bit over the years, which is truly amazing. https://youtu.be/7oYyA23SFmY?si=99p3cnKY_9w1MyF_

During the course of her singing she also brings in 2 songs that Bollywood remade based on the original ( needless to say, without acknowledgement).  Who would ever believe the lady is inching close to 80 years now. My personal hero for her force of personality, an unabashed statement embodying a truly empowered Bharatiya naree, and unending zest for life..
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Here’s to you Ushaji, love your voice and your spirit to the moon and back.
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Stay healthy and happy folks and enjoy the rains, too. Let’s pick up some silverware later tonight…

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Usha Uthup’s caricature sketch is from her FB page. Truly shows every bit of her persona….