Sai Vignesh

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sai Vignesh

• Sai Vignesh is an Indian playback singer, musician, Carnatic vocalist, music teacher, and content creator, who predominantly renders his voice to Tamil and Telugu language songs. He rose to fame in September 2022 for lending his voice to the song “Varaha Roopam” from the Kannada film Kantara.

• Being an ardent devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, Sai, since childhood, performed devotional songs on various occasions at the Sathya Sai organizations. ^[5]The Times of India

• As a child, Sai used to perform along with his grandmother V. Vijaylakshamim in her singing cultural programs. Sai’s father observed his interest in music and got him admitted to a music class, where he received training from the Indian musician Lakshmi Ananthakrishnan. Talking about how he got inclined towards music at a young age, Sai replied,
  

  My grandmother used to sing, and also hear Carnatic music on the radio, every morning and noon. I used to listen to them regularly. My father is a keyboard player and my aunts sing bhajans at home. So, my love for music started at home itself.” ^[6]The Times of India

• In 2018, Sai voiced the song ‘Kaalai Theme’ from the Tamil film Kadaikutty Singam.

• Sai received professional music training from the Indian musician T. R. Vasudevan, who hailed from Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu.

• Sai won the “Sing with Shankar Mahadevan Contest 2014, ” which was organized by Shankar Mahadevan Academy in June 2014. Apart from it, he received the opportunity to perform live with him at a concert in Bengaluru.

• The All India Radio (AIR) ranked Sai as a “B-High” grade artist in the music category. There are four grades i.e. B, B-High, A, and Top, which are awarded on the basis of the performance quality of the musician by a committee of music experts.

• In an interview, Sai stated that one of his favourite film directors is Gautham Menon.

• In an interview, on being asked about his inspiration in music, Sai stated that he was immensely influenced by Dr S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, an Indian playback singer and music composer.

• Sai’s first live concert was held in London for Britain’s 18th Saiva Conference on 7 May 2017. Subsequently, he performed in more than 1000 live concerts in India as well as other countries including the United States, Canada, London, Singapore, Australia, Germany, etc. Apart from this, he received an opportunity to perform with a few popular musicians such as Ilaiyaraaja, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Shankar Mahadevan, K. S. Chithra, and D. Imman. ^[7]Sai Vignesh

• As a mentor, Sai imparts professional training in music to various aspiring singers through online and offline classes.

• While Sai was studying in Class 8, he recorded his first jingle for the film soundtrack composer Vishal Chandrashekar.

• Sai received professional training in Carnatic music for almost eighteen years, and consequently, he primarily refers to himself as a Carnatic musician.

• In 2019, Sai joined the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) as an empanelled artist.

• In 2020, Sai created Gandiva, which is an Indo Classical Contemporary Fusion band, based in Chennai, India. He established the band along with dancer Kavya Muralidharan, and music producer Navin Shankar. On 1 January 2021, their first video “Shiva Tandava” was uploaded on the YouTube channel, which amassed more than 1 million views.

• In an interview, talking about his super hit song “Varaha Roopam” from the Kannada film Kantara, Sai revealed that before recording the song, he was not familiar with the Kannada language and said,
  

  I have sung the climax song in the film, titled Varaha Roopam. It is a very intense number. While Kurumugil was a romantic melody, this song was special because I’ve been learning Carnatic music for 18 years and have always wanted to sing a classical number with a contemporary touch. I am very thankful to composer Ajaneesh Loknath for calling me to sing this one. Even here, I was originally asked to sing the track version. But it was a good experience to learn the lyrics and sing in Kannada, a language that I’m not familiar with.” ^[8]The Times of India

  https://twitter.com/hombalefilms/status/1583350820967305216

• The Kannada film Kantara, starring Rishab Shetty, was theatrically released in India on 30 September 2022. Soon after the release, Sai’s debut Kannada song, Varaha Roopam stirred controversy after a Kerala-based multi-genre music band, Thaikkudam Bridge, accused the director of the film Rishab Shetty and the production house Hombale Films of plagiarising one of their songs Navarasam. On 24 October 2022, the band, through an Instagram post, alleged that the tune of the song Varaha Roopam was deliberately copied from their song Navarasam, which was originally released in 2015. As a consequence, the Thaikkudam Bridge band filed a case at the Kozhikode District Court on 27 October 2022 against Rishab and the production house. On 28 October 2022, the district court passed an interim injunction against the Kantara filmmakers and ordered them to remove the song from all streaming platforms including theatres, social media accounts, and digital platforms. In addition to this, the Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Company Ltd, who held the copyrights to the “Navarasam” song, filed a petition at the Palakkad District Court. Although, Rishabh Shetty denied the accusations of copying the song but removed the song “Varahsa Roopam” from all the streaming platforms as per the instructions of the district court. On 3 December 2022, quoting the lack of jurisdiction, the Palakkad District Court lifted the ban on the song, and consequently, the song was again available on all the platforms. In an interview, on being asked about the controversy surrounding his debut Kannada song, Sai replied,
  

  I cannot speak on behalf of the music composer or the film’s team. I had not listened to ‘Navarasam’ before we recorded the track. In my opinion, the mood of both the tracks are different. ‘Navarasam’ depicts nine bhavas (emotions), whereas ‘Varaha Roopam’ concentrates on the Bhoota Kola culture and is more about divinity. ‘Varaha Roopam’ is not based on the same set of Ragas as ‘Navarasam’.”^[9]The News Minute

• In 2022, Sai received positive acclaim for his song ‘Kurumugil’ from the Telugu film Sita Ramam.

• Sai, in 2022, was invited to judge Kuralosai 916, an online Tamil singing competition on YouTube. Each contestant in the show was assigned a specific music category and based on the category they had to upload a two-minute video of any Tamil song.

• Sai Vignesh has a self-titled YouTube channel, where he uploads videos of his cover songs; the channel has more than 10000 subscribers. On his YouTube channel, Sai uploaded the unplugged version of his Kannada song “Varaha Roopam” on 9 December 2022, and within three days, the video amassed views of over 250K.

• Sai, who has worked with several popular music directors like Ilaiyaraaja, Yuvan Shankar Raja, A. R. Rahman, and Harris Jayaraj, had rendered his voice to more than 500 recordings. ^[10]Sai Vignesh