Birthday Jukebox: Usha Uthup’s Bad Girl Voice Never Gets Old

Celebrating the music of original diva of Indi-pop, Usha Uthup.

Singer Usha Uthup performs during a programme organised by PHD Chamber at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. 

(Photo: IANS)

From Indian pop to filmy to jazz, birthday girl Usha Uthup has rocked the Indi-pop scene with her bright Kanchivaram silk sarees and trademark bindi since the late 1960s. And there is no stopping her. Usha still performs at concerts around the world with the same enthusiasm, even as her audience ages before her eyes.

A Tamilian by birth, Usha Uthup has sung in almost 14 Indian languages and eight foreign ones. Usha, who admits that she loves singing in Bengali, finds Malayalam the hardest to master and Tamil as the simplest.

In an interview with Tribune, Usha admits that she doesn’t find anything odd about singing bhajans as an Indi-pop singer. "Come on, what’s so strange about it? I have sung bhajans before in concerts and religious gatherings, although I have never cut a bhajan album. I thought I should add this category, too, in my musical repertoire".

Here’s a jukebox to celebrate the talent of the dynamic singer: