Page 38 - Seniorstoday May 2022 Issue

Music

The queen of

Indian pop

Narendra Kusnur tells us why Usha Utup is an intuitive, soulful artist,
whose value goes far beyond the sum of her gorgeous sarees, classy
adornments and beautiful bindis

WHEN one thinks of Usha Uthup, one Usha Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami, she
always visualises a charming lady in a saree, became known as Usha Iyer following her
big bindi and sparkling jewellery, belting marriage to Ramu Iyer, and later as Usha
out popular English, Hindi and Bengali Uthup after marrying Jani Chacko Uthup.
songs. At nightclubs where most singers Coming from a senior police officer’s family
chose western attire, she had shone in her and brought up in Mumbai, she got exposed
saree. In fact, in her biography The Queen to different kinds of music while visiting her
Of Indian Pop, she says, “The saree is truly mother’s home in Chennai. Her elder sisters
a global garment. It has many avatars. It Indira and Uma also sang, and were known
is not just a garment but an identity and as the Sami Sisters.
our language. It is actually the garment
of a woman’s soul. If Mother Earth ever
appeared in a human form, she would come
in a saree”.
Uthup’s life story has been captured in
vivid detail in the Penguin Random House
India book, originally written in Hindi by
Vikas Kumar Jha and translated to English
by his daughter Srishti Jha. It’s been around
54 years since the singer dazzled audiences
by presenting English songs in a saree. Born

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