(KS Chithra receiving the Harivarasanam Award 2017)
Harivarasanam Award for the year 2017 has been awarded to the veteran playback singer KS Chitra by the Kerala Government. State minister Kadakampally Surendran stated that KS Chitra has been bestowed with the honour for her contribution to propagating the spirit of secularism and universal brotherhood.
Harivarasanam is a devotional song in Malayalam which is written in eight stanzas called “Ashtakam”. The song was written in 1947 by Kambakudi Kulathur Srinivasa Iyer. Guruswami Iyer used to sing this song after Athazha pooja, just before closing the Sabarimala temple’s door.
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra often referred to as Chithra is an Indian playback singer. KS Chithra or simply Chithra was born on 27th July 1963 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Chithra has sung more than 25000 songs in numerous Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Oriya, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Tulu, Sanskrit and Badaga. Chithra has also sung in foreign languages such as Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, Malay and English. Chithra also known as the Melody Queen of India, Little Nightingale of India has won six National Film awards which is the most by any female singer in India. Known as Chinna Kuyil in Tamil Nadu and Vanambadi in Kerala, KS Chithra has won different state film awards as well. She is also known as Sangeeta Saraswathi in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Kannada Kogile in Karnataka.
Chithra is the first woman from India to be honoured by House of Commons, British Parliament, United Kingdom. She was honoured at the Qinghai International Music and Water Festival by the Government of China. She is the only Indian singer to receive such honour from the Chinese Government. KS Chithra received Padma Shri (civilian honour of Republic of India) in the year 2005. Chithra presented her maiden concert at the world’s prestigious concert hall Royal Albert Hall in London. She is the only south Indian female singer to do so.
