Singer Willian Chia Ah Ting always creates a stir when he takes the stage to sing.

Firstly, he sings and dances to Tamil songs and secondly, he does it in a female voice.

According to Chia, 35, he started impersonating a female voice while still in secondary school.

“I used to sing in Ning Baizura’s voice in talent contests and won several times,” said Chia, who is a trained make-up artist.

That was until he heard a Tamil song from the blockbuster movie Uyire sung by veteran Indian playback singer S. Janaki.

The song Nenjinile Nenjinile not only struck a chord in him some 18 years ago but also turned him into a diehard fan of Janaki.

“She was 60 years old when she sang that song but her voice was that of a very young girl,” said Chia.

His reverence for the singer was so great that he tracked down one of her nephews on Facebook and arranged a meeting with Janaki at her home in Hyderabad, India.

“Meeting my idol in March this year was one of the major highlights of my life,” said Chia.

Chia, who was born and brought up at Padang Meiha Estate in Kulim, Kedah, speaks fluent Tamil, Telugu, Mandarin, Teochew, Hokkien and Bahasa Malaysia.

He picked up Tamil and Telugu from the estate where his parents worked as rubber tappers.

“My late mother Chew Guat Hoon was half-Indian and half-Hainanese while my father Chia Liang Hee was Teochew,” said Chia, who is the youngest of six siblings.

Chia said he hoped to record an album as well as move to India and work in the movie industry there.

Check out the following links:

> YouTube link of Chia singing Nenjinile Nenjinile “in her voice” for Janaki at her home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAtPTokiuJY

> Chia singing and dancing the karagattam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oft5VIA2vr4

Source:
courtesy of THE STAR

by Wani Muthiah

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]