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This self-trained folk singer from Mancherial becomes internet sensation

Mancherial: Till recently, she was just another daily wage earner, singing folk songs while she went about agriculture activities. She was struggling to make both ends meet and was living in her unfinished house. This self-trained folk singer, Kummari Durgavva, turned into an internet sensation overnight for rendering the song, Adavi Thalli, in Pawan Kalyan’s […]

By Padala Santosh

Published Date - 20 December 2021, 12:15 AM

This self-trained folk singer from Mancherial becomes internet sensation — Kummari Durgavva

Mancherial: Till recently, she was just another daily wage earner, singing folk songs while she went about agriculture activities. She was struggling to make both ends meet and was living in her unfinished house. This self-trained folk singer, Kummari Durgavva, turned into an internet sensation overnight for rendering the song, Adavi Thalli, in Pawan Kalyan’s upcoming movie ‘Bheemla Nayak’.

Hailing from remote Royyalapalli village in Kotapalli mandal, Durgavva ventured into singing since her childhood on her own, drawing inspiration from women who used to belt out ballads and folks songs while taking up farm activities. But her flawless singing skills and unique voice was brought out by Chippari Naresh who operates Naresh TV, a YouTube channel, a few months ago.

“I used to sing folk songs whenever I was engaged in transplantation of paddy saplings and removal of weed to entertain colleagues. My singing talent was known to the world when two songs that I sang, Sircilla Chinnadi and Ungurame rangaian ramlala tungurame, became popular on YouTube recently. The latest song in the feature film Bheemla Nayak helped me earn special fame,” Durgavva told ‘Telangana Today.’

Incidentally, the ‘Adavi Thalli’ song recorded 5.8 million views in just three days after being uploaded on YouTube on December 7. Sircilla Chinnadi garnered 7.82 lakh views on Telangana Folk Songs – Janapada Songs Telugu, a YouTube channel, while ‘Ungurame rangaian ramlala tungurame’ song had 4.20 lakh views on Naresh TV within three months after the release.

The woman with no formal education attributed her success to encouragement and unwavering support of her daughter Shailaja. “It was my daughter who recognized my innate talent and encouraged me to render songs. She started introducing me to music directors,” she disclosed and stated that she would like to continue singing songs in films in the future. She recalled that she lost her husband to some disease many years ago.

Chippari Naresh said that he came across the songs of Durgavva when he was gathering authentic folk songs of Telangana. He stated that he could contact the singer with the help of Shailaja belonging to Mancherial town. He shared that team members of ace music director SS Thaman approached him over the phone for the folk singer to record Adavi Thalli song.

Also read: ‘Adavi Thalli Maata’ song brings folk essence to Pawan’s ‘Bheemla Nayak’

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