Hyderabad: The popular number Gala Gala from Race Gurram is sung by the well-known Tamil R&B and hip hop artiste from Singapore, Dinesh Kanagaratnam.
Speaking to us about his experiences while recording the song, Dinesh says, “It was a great experience to work for Race Gurram as the composer S. Thaman featured me as a singer instead of a rapper. I love rapping as that runs in my blood, but I enjoyed singing with a totally different vocal tone.”
Dinesh did not understand the language but he did not consider that a hurdle. He worked towards attaining perfection in pronunciation.
“Each word was pretty long and I got my tongue twisted many a time. But now I love the language. Telugu is simply beautiful and the words are so sharp.”
Talking about the attempts, he made to get the song right Dinesh says, “S. Thaman asked me to write the song in Tamil and record the dummy. He also made me sing in a total different vocal tone. A few days later we reproduced the entire vocal in Telugu. It took me three days to record. And the song sounds fantastic!”
He has sung for music director A.R. Rahman earlier and has many other songs, both in Telugu and Tamil, to his credit.
When questioned about differences between the singing scenario in India and abroad, Dinesh says, “Well it’s totally different in India as anyone who sings is considered a playback singer and a backup singer. I am a self-made performing artiste and have produced five records with two best selling albums in South Asia and South East Asia. It is pretty tough to survive or succeed as a singer if you are not from India.”
Dinesh also mentions the reason for the song being a hit among the masses, “I feel the song is simple and well balanced between western tones and the Indian tone,” he added.
