WESTON, MA— Anuradha Palakurthi’s singing journey is truly extraordinaire. She started learning Carnatic music at age six, sang as a playback singer for South Indian films, took a complete break from music for almost a decade and re-started her musical journey again—but this time in Hindustani music.
She has already given live performances and sung duets with Bollywood singing stars like Suresh Wadkar, Kumar Sanu and Indian playback and ghazal singer Hariharan.
On Saturday, Oct. 28, Palakurthi will give a live performance with Bappi Lahiri in a musical program called Bappi Lahiri & Anuradha Palakurthi – Koi Yahaan Naache Naache at Norwood High School Auditorium in Norwood, MA. The event is already sold out.
In an exclusive video interview with INDIA New England News, Palkurthi talks about her musical journey, her inspiration, her favorite singers and her dream. To watch the full interview, please click here or on the video below.
Known as the Indian nightingale of New England, Palakurthi trains Hindustani vocals under Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, a student of Kishori Amonkar of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana.
In 2016, Palakurthi was the featured female singer for visiting Bollywood artists – Kumar Sanu (singing Alka Yagnik’s songs), Suresh Wadkar (singing songs from spectrum of singers from Mobarak Begum, Geeta Dutt, Asha-Ji and Lata-Ji) – and on Oct. 28 she will sing with Bappi Lahiri. Palakurthi toured USA in June 2017 with Suresh Wadkar and Deepak Pandit, as the female lead singer.
Palakurthi recorded a duet with Hariharan for Ekal Vidyalaya – composed by Guitarist Prasanna with Drummer Sivamani and a group of 14 multiple-Grammy winning musicians from across the globe.
Palakurthi sings in six Indian languages, has recorded playback for South Indian films and is working on two private albums – one each with Ustad Nishat Khan of the Agra-Etawah Gharana and Mithilesh Pataknar.
She serves as the Chairperson of MIT’s Heritage Arts of South Asia, known as MITHAS. Her charitable foundation, the Anuradha Palakurthi Foundation, supports the promotion of Indian culture primarily in New England by providing financial support to programs, artists and organizers of events where Indian culture is performed or exhibited.
Palakurthi co-hosts a weekly Radio Music India show on WLYN 1360 that educates listeners on the grammar of classical Hindustani music and entertains them with Bollywood numbers.
Palakurthi lives in Weston, MA, with her husband Prashanth – a software entrepreneur – and is the mother of three children.
