With an aim to do something for aspiring artists, singer Aparna Vadlamani founded Hyderabad Couch Breakers (HCB) five months ago.

“Lots of people want to take up playback singing as a career, but only a few end up becoming one. Beginners do not have a platform to showcase their abilities, and this is why HCB was founded,” Vadlamani says. Her life as a mentor began last year at the debut live show of HCB in December last year. Vadlamani left the audiences spellbound with her voice in the packed Ravindra Bharathi auditorium. “People liked our performance a lot,” says Vadlamani.

Her group got an appreciation from Anup Rubens, a renowned music director who told the singer that her voice was extraordinary and their hard work would pay off. Artists from Telugu film industry, including Kishore Pardasani, were also impressed by the show where Sushrut Pandit, a male singer and director of HCB, performed. Their next show is scheduled for June, and the group plans to conduct two shows a year.

How did the name Hyderabad Couch Breakers occur to her? “Sitting on a couch barely a year ago, I was thinking about a title. The name Hyderabad Couch Breakers occurred to me as I wanted to get people out of their couches and have fun with us,” she says.

Born and brought up in Jamshedpur, Vadlamani moved to Hyderabad after her marriage. Despite the family commitments that kept her involved for a few years, her passion for singing got renewed four years ago when she started taking lessons in Hindustani and Carnatic music. She has performed at several live shows. She also sang for a Tollywood movie that was never released. “It was over five years ago. After my first experience, I realised that the industry doesn’t want real singers. It works on a give-and-take concept. I cannot compromise on morals and ethics for anything in the world,” she says. “Having seen the hardships that young artists face in the industry, I decided to promote talented singers. I wanted it to be a revolution of sorts,” the 33-year-old singer says.

Vadlamani thinks that playback singing is not a real test of talent. Anyone, according to her, can sing well in a studio equipped with sophisticated technology. “The feel of music comes in live shows, where there are no re-takes or edits. Your actual talent is proved on the stage only,” she says, adding that reality shows are not the right platform for beginners either as they are ridden with politics and talented people hardly get a chance.

She calls the idea of HCB an entertainment package. Vadlamani explains that apart from having two hours of non-stop live Bollywood numbers at the show, there is also a glamour quotient with a fashion show where models from Hyderabad-based institutes sashay down the ramp.

“While music is a must for all runways, I thought of adding glamour to the show. It is an effective way to bind the audience, which otherwise is very tough to do,” she says.

As the lead performer behind HCB, Vadlamani selects singers whose “sur, taal and ley” are in place. “Being a performer is important, ‘par sur bina taal nahi, aur inke bina sangeet nahi,” she says. Only good singers can hold audience’s attention for 120 minutes, says Vadlamani, who is planning stand-up comedy gigs to promote HCB. “Music is for all. Woh har kisi mein basta hai. HCB is like having strawberry or butterscotch ice cream instead of the same vanilla always,” she says.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Sadaf Aman / April 16th, 2016