Crooning divas of Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Vijayawada is the cultural hub of Andhra Pradesh and music, dance and theatre fields are flourishing in this city. Nowadays the public are showing interest in listening to film-based songs and everyday these orchestra programmes are being organised in the capital city. 'The Hans India' interacted with some of the singers to share their musical journey.

Shivaleela had started his musical career with Blue Bell orchestra in 1991 and later she joined with Mayur orchestra. With a melodious and expressive voice, Sivaleela received appreciation from all sections of people. She had started singing right from her school days and participated in many competitions. She won first prize in the State level competitions.

Sivaleela was trained in light music from Malladi Suribabu and D Mohan Krishna. She has more than 300 devotional and private songs under her belt. Besides, two Telugu States, she has also performed in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Dubai. Sivaleela has performed with great singers like SP Balasubrahmanyam, Mano, Suseela, Ramakrishna, Anand, Geeta Madhuri, Hemachandar, Sravana Bhargavi and others.

Music director Koti gave her the opportunity for playback singing for "Oke Mata" movie. She has given a number of programmes in both All India Radio and Doordarshan. Sivaleela started her own orchestra namely Vijayi Orchestra in 1997 and has been organising programmes since then.

V Kalyani Kishore is another singer receiving applauds even from the critics for her melodious voice. Kalyani started learning music from her school days with the inspiration of her grandfather and also guru in music. She participated in competitions and won awards for her not only film songs but also light and devotional songs.

Kalyani says that music has become a part of her life. She had started her music journey from 2005 and participated in a number of orchestra programmes. Kalyani's first programme was in 2005 at Kakinada with Gangadhar and troupe. Kalyani said that she has been continuing in this field with the support and encouragement of her husband Kishore.

KR Sudha Rani is a noted classical as well as light music singer from Vijayawada. She had music training from Annavarapu Ramaswamy, Pemmaraju Suryarao and Ampolu Murali Krishna.

She has given more than 3500 performances not only in India but also in other countries like United States of America, Europe, Italy, and Malaysia. Sudha Rani said that it was the privilege to get an invitation to give a performance in Malaysia through ICCR. She also rendered vocal support to many dance ballets. Besides classical concerts, Sudha Rani also participated in orchestra programmes and devotional concerts.

More than 400 albums of Sudha have been released. Sudha Rani is presently anchoring for different programmes on Doordarshan Saptagiri channel. Many cultural and social organisations felicitated Sudha Rani during her music journey.