Sayanora turns music director

Sayanora Philip will make her debut as a composer with Kuttanpillayude Sivarathri, directed by Jean Markose. The singer, who has worked with the likes of AR Rahman, found composing to be quite the challenge. 

"I never thought about venturing into music composing until Jean, who is a good friend, urged me to do so. My immediate reaction was to say no. But, then it occurred to me that such opportunities come rarely. So, I have taken up the project and given it my best," she says. 

The audio launch was held recently at Kochi and already one track, Chakka paatu, has earned good reviews. 

Sayanora says she was part of every discussion since the project was conceived, so was quite familiar with the script. "Kuttanpillayude Sivarathri is a dark comedy. It has a lot of humourous sequences and hence the music should reflect that flavour. There are four tracks and I have done each one differently. While Chakka Paatu is more of a naadan paatu, another track, sung by Suraj Venjaramood, has a country feel like an old English song., Then there is a lounge version of the same song, which I have sung. The last one is a love song which has a folk flavour," she says. 

In an industry where there are few women music directors, Sayanora hopes more women will venture into the field. She believes one reason why there are so few women composers is due to the nature of the work. "Many times, composing and programming can go on for a long time. This isn't a time-bound job, sometimes we need to work in the early morning. Maybe, that is one reason why we don't see many women in the field," says Sayanora, adding, "Sithara Krishnakumar turns a composer through Udalazham and I think the songs are beautiful. Now, with the changing times, more women are likely to turn music directors."