B R Chaya: I was never burdened with household work

Called the ‘Nightingale of Karnataka,’ she has sung in more than 300 films, and recorded thousands of non-film songs

B R Chaya first won a State award in 1988 for a song in the film ‘Kaadina Benki’. She won the award again, in 1995, for another in ‘Rashmi’.

With a career spanning four decades, she was honoured with the Rajyotsava award in 2010. Chaya is an A-grade singer in AIR and Doordarshan.

Childhood days

Born to K Ramamurthy, an ITI employee, and Janaki, Chaya was always interested in music. Her grandfather Krishna Rao was a harmonium master, music director, and actor with the Gubbi Drama Company, and grandmother Bhageerathamma initiated her into classical music.

During her schooling in ITI Vidya Mandir, she participated in many music competitions. “My father took me around. I was then formally trained under Jaganmatha and Vijayvani,” she says.

Chaya was 16 when she first sang her song. The family was on a south India trip, where they visited a recording studio in Chennai (then Madras).

“Ilaiyaraaja was recording, and we met the maestro. He asked me if I was interested in singing and I said yes. I was asked to sing a song and I had just started humming when the musical genius stopped me and told me to come for a recording the next day. We stayed in Chennai and completed the recording,” she recollects.

The song was a duet with S P Balasubrahmanyam for the Tamil film ‘Jothi’, starring Mohan and Ambika. “It was unexpected. I was scared, the song was in Tamil and I was standing in front of so many experienced artistes and violin players,” she says.

She recollects SPB was “very encouraging”. “He saw my notes written in Kannada, and he was excited that I was a Kannada speaker,” she says.

Ilaiyaraaja wanted Chaya to stay back in Chennai and continue singing. “The city was unknown to me and there was no one there, so I came back to Bengaluru. I did a course in horology in RV College, as getting jobs in the field was easy then,” she adds. Chaya worked as a watch mechanic in HMT for a couple of years.

Later, at a Doordarshan national competition in Chennai, she represented Karnataka. “The music composer Vijaya Bhaskar was a judge and he was impressed by my singing,” she says.

Singing career

The competition led her to the Kannada film industry. Vijaya Bhaskar introduced her to Sandalwood through Puttana Kanagal’s directorial ‘Amrutha Ghalige’. “My song ‘Hindusthaanavu endoo mareyada…’ got me fame.”

“I got the opportunity to sing more than 10,000 non-film songs, mostly Kannada bhavageethes and folk songs, and innumerable devotional songs in Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Tamil, and Telugu,” she says.

Her hit film songs include ‘Belli rathadali soorya tanda kirana’ from ‘Indrajith’, ‘Ninnantha appa illa’ and ‘Haalallaadaroo haaku’
from ‘Devatha Manushya’, ‘Eke heegaayto naanu kaanenu’ from ‘Anjada Gandu’, ‘Rutumaana samputadi’ from ‘Kaadina benki’, and ‘Ibbani tabbida ileyali’ from ‘Rashmi’.

Her popular bhaavageethes include ‘Karunaalu baa belake’, ‘Amma ninna edeyaaladalli’, ‘Ondu munjaavinali’, ‘Toredu hogadiro jogi’, ‘Yaako kaane rudra veene’, ‘Ibbani haasu jaaruthide’, ‘Huchhu khodi manasu’, ‘O enna deshabaandhavare’, ‘Ello hudukide illada devara’ and ‘Bhaagyada balegaara’.

Working with stalwarts

Chaya has worked with top music directors like Vijaya Bhaskar, G K Venkatesh, M Ranga Rao, Rajan Nagendra, Upendra Kumar, Hamsalekha, V Manohar, C Ashwath, L Vaidyanathan, Padmacharan, H K Narayan, and Mysore Ananthaswamy.

“I was privileged to sing with greats like P B Srinivas, S P Balasubramanyam, Rajkumar, M Balamurali Krishna, K J Yesudas, S Janaki and P Susheela,” she says.

Rajkumar, she says, was ‘a wonderful man with a wealth of knowledge’. “The best part about him was his simplicity; he was a very down-to-earth person,” she adds.

Family and music

Chaya lives in Bengaluru with husband Padmapani Jodidar, a former engineer with HAL, who has directed musical TV shows like ‘Endoo Mareyada Haadu’, and ‘Nanna Haadu Nannadu’ for Etv Kannada. The couple are parents to Megha, who also loves music.

“We are a totally musical family. We own an audio company called ‘Kinnari Audio’. We travel and do a lot of concerts. My husband and daughter have always been supportive,” she adds.

Chaya says she was never forced to do household chores. “Artistes need calm and support and I am blessed with all of that,” she says.

Chaya is a judge for TV show ‘Gaana Chandana’, broadcast on DD Chandana. “During the pandemic, I have been doing a lot of virtual concerts,” she says.