Introduction
India’s classical music and its influence on forming a unique culture and way of life is a matter of pride that not many countries can claim (1). The many facets of India’s raagas and its effect on mental status is a serious matter of research (2). Many interesting sources of information from musicians who wrote and published articles, all in an effort to document and nurture the ancient and still relevant music system that arose out of the Indus valley civilization. (3, 4 and 5)
When we try to write these articles in relation to Smule as app that is respected among India’s musicians, we want to emphasize and remind everyone run the Smule India community about the commitment of many singers on Smule India to have measures in place for identifying musicians of highest quality. This blog site stand for encouragement of young singers of all stature with a love for good music.
Kavitha Janardhanan is our featured artist this week. Kavitha is a committed musician who had spend considerable time of her life to learn and study South India Carnatic music. Here is a link to her You Tube channel where she try to share her knowledge on Carnatic music to the public. See the link here to her YouTube Page ‘Swasah Music‘ where you will hear a series of raaga studies and more of her classical music singing. (Thanks to our peers who made the final words for selection who work behind here identifying and listen to many profiles. Shloka Chandavar and Rahul Mars, thanks a lot.) Here is a link to Kavitha’s social media pages.
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtWW-8_JYB2rZEKk1zuTFQ/featured
Please introduce yourself
Kavitha Janardhanan, that is my name. I am a singer who sees this world through the musical lens. I was born and brought up in Chennai. I grew up in a joint family with loving grandparents and was blessed to have a family who encouraged my interests from childhood. Currently, I live in Toronto with my husband and daughters. I’m a software engineer by profession.
Please tell us about your initial learning growing up with music and how did you know you could sing?
Having no direct musical ties in my family, I attribute my interest in Carnatic music to my grandfather Sri. Vasu Raghavan. Being a connoisseur of music he made my mom listen to recordings of great Carnatic musicians when she was pregnant. My mom (P. S. Lakshmi) always recalls that as a child I could be left by myself with old songs playing in the transistor radio. My introduction to film music was through my dad (R. Janardhanan) who used to listen to MSV and Ilayaraja sir songs all the time. The first person to notice my singing abilities was my kinder garden teacher Ms. Buvana. She then encouraged my parents to get me into a formal training.
What influenced you in your artistic tastes most while growing up?
My artistic tastes were influenced by a combination of my family, gurus, and my school. Once I started learning Carnatic, it helped me a lot to look at music from a different perspective. During my school days, A. R. Rahman sir started his career in films adding one more shade to my idea of music.
Talk about your classical training background and all that related to it
My parents’ first choice was for me to learn music in Kalakshetra. But they only offered music classes for ages eight years and up. That is why my parents put me and my younger sister under the tutelage of Smt. Seethalakshmi Subramaniam. I am ever grateful to her for laying a strong foundation in music. I continued to learn from her until the end of my schooling. I further went on to learn from Kalaimamani Dr. S. Sunder who is a disciple of Sri D. K. Jayraman. My guru is a person of high principles and a medical doctor by profession. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn the DKJ style of singing from him. I continued to learn from him for six more years after which I got married and moved to North America. Later, after moving abroad I continued to be in touch with him and have resumed learning music from my guru.”
Please talk about how schools/colleges etc nurture your artistic talent
My school and teachers have played a huge role in nurturing my music. I did my schooling in Besant Arundale Senior Secondary school which was affiliated to Kalakshetra(College of fine arts). There was equal importance for studies and extracurricular activities. People from various parts of the world came to our school to learn dance, music(vocal/instruments), and other arts. That is when I got the opportunity to sing with instruments and also sing for dance recitals or dance dramas. I was given a lot of opportunities to showcase my talent in inter-school competitions and won several prizes and accolades. The most memorable one was when I sang in a ‘Barathiyar song competition’ and Bharat Ratna Smt.M.S.Subbulakshmi handed the prize. I also participated in the All India level competition conducted by Sangam Kala Group where I bagged the state level second place in ‘Devotional’ and third place in the ‘Film’ category. The prizes were distributed by none other than Sri P.B.Sreenivas. During this time I also gave some concerts with my sister in both Carnatic and light music. I have also been part of TV shows like Raagam Sangeetham (Raj TV) and winner of Aaaha Paadalam (DD Podhigai).
Receiving an award from M.S.Subbulakshmi amma after winning in Barathiyar song competition 
With my Mom,dad,sister and Grandparents 
With my guru Smt.Seethalakshmi Subramaniam 
With my guru Kalaimamani Dr.S.Sunder when he visited Toronto for a show last month 
Performing at various events and carnatic concerts with my sister
In the larger picture of today do you see Carnatic music as an essential part of modern-day music? If yes, use examples from your knowledge to substantiate your claim.
Carnatic music is always relevant. It can never go out of style. When I was in my teens, my teachers or elders would complain that there are fewer youngsters in Carnatic music concerts and worry that the art is going to be lost after their time. But now I see more youngsters and even foreigners performing and attending concerts. Technology has aided a lot in the reach. Now, this art form is open to anyone interested. Classical ragas are still being used in film music and appreciated by the larger crowd.
What does music mean in your life?
Music is like oxygen to me. You can always hear me humming a tune. If I’m not humming, a background thread of music is running in my mind. It is my lifelong companion. It is the best way I express myself.
What is your social commitment as an artist?
My commitment as an artist is to be a positive influence on society through my music. And pass on the wealth of knowledge that I have received from my gurus to the younger generation. Also, I have always had this dream of doing something to bring people closer through music irrespective of their background. On that note, I recently started a youtube channel and have been posting videos on understanding classical ragas through Indian film /other world music.
What is the strongest feature of your singing? same weakest if you have thought of it
Based on what I have heard from my peers the strongest features of my singing are ‘sruthi shuddha’, ’Bhava’, and the versatility in my voice. The things I’m personally trying to improve are voice depth and clarity in higher octaves.
Smule experiences? like or hate?
After coming away from India and getting absorbed in the black hole of everyday life, I always felt I was missing something. One day I saw a forward on social media of a Smule recording and thought I had to try it. I started on Smule an year ago and then there was no looking back. It felt like I got my studio with professional quality. Smule filled the void in my life. After a long week or day, Smule is like the magic wand that can freshen me up in a blink. The best part of joining Smule is the number of like-minded friends I have gained who are equally crazy about music. Some of them are so talented that I wonder how come they haven’t made it big. Another positive aspect of Smule is that everyone is genuine in their feedback.
As a woman who has come out of India to live abroad how do you feel
the freedom of women elsewhere makes it easier for women artists to pursue their passion. If you think otherwise also please substantiate your argument with examples
Freedom for an artist starts with his or her family. In my case, my husband has always encouraged me in pursuing music even when I was unsure. I would say for women in arts the situation has improved a lot compared to a few decades ago. The physical boundaries don’t matter anymore. With the current technological advancements, there are a lot of opportunities to showcase your talent without physical presence.
Carnatic music sits on a higher level than the common man. That is a common critique. Do you agree? If not, advise children who might look up to you to see how they can focus on Carnatic even though it is one of the toughest systems of music to learn and master.
It is just a myth. Any kind of formal training requires perseverance and relentless practice and carnatic music is no different. Also, mastery in Carnatic music is a relative term. It is an art where the deeper you go the more you realize that it is a never-ending journey. When I learned music it was for pure joy and there was no pressure to excel. I would encourage parents to create that environment for their kids. If a child enjoys music and continuously practices he/she can shine for sure. Listening to great musicians and attending live concerts surely helps. This applies to any kind of music.
Where is our film music today and what are your thoughts about its present state and future
I enjoy listening to the new crop of music directors and musicians too. There has been a lot of interesting work. But we will have to see if they stand the test of time like the old songs. Sometimes I do feel that simple music and lyrical quality have lost their importance in the current film songs.
World music? if so describe how you see other genres of music like western classical, pop, etc
Having moved to this part of the world I have been exposed to western music too, thanks to my daughter. I like singing western numbers because it allows you to sing openly. I like Jazz music too for its spontaneity, just like an Indian classical concert. I’m open to new forms of music or fusion as long as it enriches our roots.
Last but just list all the favorite singers, music directors, male-female/ language
This is a huge list, very difficult to name just a few.
Singers (Carnatic): M. S. Subbulakshmi, D. K. Jayaraman, Bombay Jayashri
Male Singers (Film): Hariharan, Mohammed Rafi, S. P. Balasubramaniam and Sid Sriram.
I admire Rafi Saab and SPB sir because they achieved so much without formal training in music.
Female Singers (Film) : P. Suseela, Lata Mangeshkar, K. S. Chitra, S. Janaki, Shreya Ghosal and Sashaa Tirupati.
Music director: M. S. Viswanathan, K. V. Mahadevan, S. D. Burman, R. D. Burman, Ilayaraja, A. R. Rahman and Pritam Chakraborty.
A peer criticizes you for not signing any other India language music. Why?
I have sung songs from other languages but very less compared to Tamil songs. It was not planned. Growing up, I have predominantly listened to Tamil film songs. Being a working mom, my Smule time is limited, so I go for songs that I’m confident about. When an invite comes along for my favorite songs in other languages I join them. Going forward I will make a conscious effort to sing songs from other languages too
Without delay let us hear some excellent singing on display of her Smule profile
Composer: Subramanya Bhaaratiyaar
Language: Tamil
Composer: Paapanaasam Shivan
Language: Tamil
Music – Ilaiyaraaja | Lyricist – Vaali| hear this beautiful version of blog’s own Barani Kannan
END NOTES
Kavitha’s feature was one of the easiest choice to bring to our featured artists with all the peers agreed with a lot of happiness to support this amazing singer. She display a lot of versatility on her smule profile. All of the above embedded songs is evidence of her singing ability of a genres spanning from Carnatic music to western classic, pop and semi classics.
Time and again what we see from Smule India scene is a lack of recognition for singers like Kavitha. Smule India blog page stand behind all good singers who put their heart and soul to make the India scene a healthy, progressive and encouraging place. This is a huge roar from the blog team for the Smule to recognize the efforts from a whole community of singers with an entire nation of 1.4 billion supporting these efforts.
References:
- India: The Food of the Soul https://www.guidetotheworldofmusic.com/articles/people-and-places/the-music-of-india-the-food-of-the-soul/
- Sravanti L. Sanivarapu, India’s rich musical heritage has a lot to offer to modern psychiatry, Indian J Psychiatry. 2015 Apr-Jun; 57(2): 210–213.
- Arts India, http://www.artindia.net/
- Demystifying Indian Classical Music https://www.raag-hindustani.com/
- Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, The Audio CD series
The great India Singers on Smule Sing 
[…] Kavitha Janardhanan- singer who see a world through the musical lens June 20, 2020 […]
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Kudos Kavi👏👏👏 Beautifully written, the interview is succinct, just like the subject. Kavi is an excellent artist with a beautiful voice and sound technique. She is very passionate about music and does her research and puts her heart and soul in to her songs or presentations alike. It’s been a pleasure knowing her. Wish her only the best!!
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Thank you so much Rama ji .. its been an absolute pleasure to have gained friends like you. You are the most sweet and encouraging soul. Your love for learning is contagious. Keep inspiring…Love you❤❤❤❤
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