Rekindled tunes: Sharon Joseph

For singer Sharon Joseph, music is a family affair. Her father is a singer, brother a keyboardist, and grandmother was a permanent singer at a radio station back in that age. Born and brought up in Pune, Sharon's inclination towards music was detected by her father at the age of three. Sharon had just begun to speak. Her father was singing a lullaby for the little Sharon; he was delighted to see his child trying to catch up the lines.

“That was the moment. He realised music is my talent and I commenced learning Carnatic music at the age of four under Meenakshi Subramanian,” recalls Sharon. Sharon's first stage performance was when she was four-and-a-half years old. However, she had to put music on hold to pursue academics and later job. In 2013, she moved to Kochi following her marriage with Dr Joseph George, faculty at Sacred Heart College, Thevara.

Her love for music rekindled after marriage. “My husband inspired me to pursue music,” says Sharon who gives credit to the family. “I could not find a teacher who would give me personal attention, in Kerala. I prefer that kind of learning. Hence I left to Pune to continue my learning under Meenakshi teacher. She is like a mother figure to me.”

Sharon has sung four film songs in four different languages and almost 70 devotional songs. “My first film song happened after my wedding. That was with Mejo Joseph for the movie Hangover. Then, I sang a Marathi song for the movie Madi. I have also lent voice for a Tamil and Telugu song,” says Sharon. Meanwhile, she did an independent project titled ‘Sharon Joseph Medley’. “That was a quick project. There were six covers. Later we cut two songs to reduce the duration of the video. I got my first Tamil devotional song because of this. They approached me after listening to my Tamil cover in that.”

Sharon is currently working on her second independent project, which is again in four languages — English, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. Does she find it difficult to croon in different languages? “No. The Carnatic music contains elements of all south Indian languages. Also, my teacher is a Tamilian and Malayalam is my mother tongue. So, I had no difficulty with the south Indian languages. Since I was brought up in Pune, Hindi and Marathi were also fine for me.” Apart from singing, Sharon loves writing and painting.