Chennai
Your lips let you talk, kiss, pout and smile. For me, they’re also the perfect musical instrument. Whistling is an expression of joy,” says Swetha, 24, Asia’s first female whistler. This is amply in evidence when she whistles the famous song Minsaara Kanna from Rajinikanth’s Padayappa, without faltering, a feat that perhaps comes from the hours of practice she’s been putting in for her act at the World Whistling Championship that will be held July 15-17, in Japan, where she will be one among two participants from India, and the only girl representing the country. A Bharatanatyam dancer, she will be performing in three categories. “I will present a Mozart piece, followed by a rendition of the popular song Paatum Naane, and finally in the Allied Dance category, I will be both whistling and dancing to the song, Minsaara Kanna. I’m representing the country so it’s my responsibility to portray our culture in the best possible way,” she says.
Swetha holds a Bachelor’s degrees in Visual Communication and Editing and Sound Design. She is also a classical singer, whose fascination with the flute piqued her interest in whistling. “Whistlers are nothing but flutes without the bamboo,” she says. “But I never really thought of taking it up as a profession. It was only after I joined the Indian Whistling Association’s (IWA) Chennai chapter in 2008 that I got the confidence to make this my profession,” says Swetha. The IWA, founded by Rigveda Deshpandey (known as The Maverick Whistler) in September 2004, consists of a group of around 500 whistlers from across the country. It conducts regular workshops and competitions to mainstream the art.
With the training and expertise she gained from IWA, Swetha then whistled her way into the Limca Book of Records, Asia, India and Tamil Nadu for whistling continuously for 18 hours apart from winning several other competitions.
Swetha trains hard for breath control, which is instrumental in these successes. “Along with pranayama and jogging, I also whistle while I run on the treadmill for gaining breath control. My vocal trainers also help me perfect the notes. As whistling is new to them as well, they teach me in terms of vocals, which I then translate into whistling,” says Swetha.
Whistling has been a very common in music compositions, particularly Indian film music. There is someone doing the whistling on movie soundtracks or the singles we buy because it’s not always necessary that the singer is adept at whistling too, or even if he or she knows, they might not be professional whistlers. Swetha herself has lent her skill for quite a number of Kollywood film songs. A few notable ones are, Verasa Pogayile from Jilla, Yennada Yennada from Varutha padatha Valibar Sangam and Paravaiya Parakkurom from Kayal.
However accomplished she may be, “Whistlers have an uphill battle to fight to gain recognition and to have whistling accepted as a legitimate musical art form. For the moment, though, most people still regard whistling as little more than a nuisance. Whistling is considered uncivil and equated with delinquent youngsters out to woo girls. Such a narrative must change. Had my parents hushed and admonished me at the mere attempt to whistle a tune, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Awareness is also a big problem,” says Swetha.
She dreams of starting a whistling school in Chennai to popularise the art and bust myths. “Training and technique can be taught only if there’s an institution dedicated to it. Only then will it be established as a professional performing art form,” she says.
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