The cheerful voice of Chinmayi

An immensely talented singer, she has to thank Rahman for giving a dream debut ,a springboard which not many singers would get. For some reason, I didn’t want her to do well then – Can’t comprehend why! But, her sensible stint as an RJ at Aaha FM’s morning show changed my views. I was a daily patron of a part of that show through my strenuous morning journeys. Only after that did I feel like giving the credit that her singing deserves. Now, after her latest rendition, I am a self-proclaimed fan of her singing. As a tribute, let me list some of the wonderful renditions of the cheery Chinmayi.

Oru Dheivam thandha poove (Kannathil Muthamittaal)

 Like I said earlier, a dream debut . A difficult song set in the arresting  Darbari kanada raagam provided her a brilliant platform and she came up trumps – That too, the improvisations in the final portions were impressive even though Jayachandran would have done a better job in the other version.

Enna idhu enna idhu (Nala Dhamayanthi)

Here again, she scored with the fine rendition of a soft melodious number,pleasing to the ear in Ramesh Vinayagam’s composition. The effortless high pitch singing was a highlight in this particular song.

Sandhipoma (E20 U18)

My personal favorite among her songs. Complemented well by Unni Menon, the magic of Rahman & Chinmayi’s faultless singing took this song to a higher pedestal. The association that Chinmayi’s voice had with Trisha was the icing on the cake. That is probably one reason why Trisha’s role in Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya looked agreeable (Chinmayi dubbed for her there) despite the volatile & maddening character she played in it!

Tere Bina (Guru)

When we think this one is Rahman’s show all the way, he suddenly gets Chinmayi to render a humming and a stanza and a sudden low pitch Tere Bina towards the end. The ability to sing low-pitch stuff is one area where she scores over most of the other singers,except,probably Shreya Ghoshal who is as good at low-pitch stuff as Chinmayi is & that is exactly where Rahman uses her to perfection.

I Miss you miss you (Sakkarakatti)

In this experimental song of Rahman, Chinmayi too experimented with two voice modulations - A blend of soft and crude versions in the same song.Her experimentation relatively succeeded against Rahman’s in the attempt!

 

Vaarayo Vaarayo (Aadhavan)

Chinmayi & Unni krishnan’s renditions brought freshness to this otherwise mundane song which seemed to have been inspired by a lot of songs from the past. There again, Harris used her for Low-pitch and Unni Krishnan for the high-pitch stuff – Quite a contrast to the way male and female singers are used in most of the songs – Testimonial to her low pitch talent.

Anbil Avan (Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya)

One song where the composition scored over the singers! An implausible arrangement of instruments, medley of Thavil,drums,nadhaswaram,church organ and what not! This song gave Devan a much needed break and it was Chinmayi at her content best supporting him.

Maiyaa Yashodha (Jhootha Hi Sahi)

This particular song is probably the reason for the emergence of this blog. A wonderful composition this, of Rahman, which on the outside might seem quite a regular for a Hindi film song but a careful listen will make one realize why it is much much better than that. Once again Javed Ali takes care of an exuberant high pitch singing and Chinmayi brings a lot of cute & charming effect with her glad rendition. My admiration of the faultless and precise positioning of her ghamakams and the way she meanders wonderfully back and forth between low pitch & high pitch have made me pen down this blog.

– A fan of the voice of Chinmayi among others'.