JOIN USKannada folk song an Internet sensation
Singer Ananya Bhat’s rendering of a passage from a Kannada folk epic, ‘Sojugada sooju mallige,’ has become an Internet sensation.
The words talk about flower and fruit offerings to god Madeva, and ask philosophically, ‘What use is a home to those who go roaming the hills like you?’
Madappa (also Madeshwara and Maheshwara) is a folk deity worshipped and celebrated predominantly in the Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts.
“We just wanted to jam and this is one of the songs closest to my heart. I am very happy about the response. It’s good to know people welcome Janapada (folk) songs,” she told Metrolife. Accompanied by Vishal Naidruv on the guitar and Sumukh Ravishankar on cajon, the video has 220K views on YouTube in just two weeks. It is also a rage on WhatsApp.
The song was featured on YouTube channel ‘Engineer’s Pick’, curated by Anish Ponnanna.
Hailing from Mysuru, Ananya was 15 when she sang her first film song. She is trained at Natana School of Theatre Arts founded by Mandya Ramesh.
‘Olave Jeevana Lekkachaara’ by Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar gave her a break in the movies. Her rendering of ‘Mental Ho Jawa’ in the recent Shivarajkumar-starrer ‘Tagaru’ also brought her fame.
‘Nee thoreda ghaligeyali’ from Lucia is among her hit songs. She bagged a Filmfare award for ‘Namma kaayo devane’ from the film ‘Raama Raama Re’.
Folk songs, whose writers remain anonymous, are passed on from generation to generation, and that is their beauty, says Ananya.
Ananya had learnt the tune of Sojugada soojimallige in her childhood, and rendered it just like she had learnt it. The song was recorded at the ‘Shaale’ studio in Jayanagar 8th Block.