Music heals the soul, says Rear Admiral Nirmala Kannan (retired), who has her own Youtube channel

Music heals the soul, says Rear Admiral Nirmala Kannan (retired) who has her own Youtube channel

A trailblazer, Rear Admiral Nirmala Kannan (retired) has never let hurdles hamper her from reaching her goals. After a career with several firsts to her credit in the Indian Navy, she settled in Bengaluru.

In an email interview, the doctor and musician talks about her love for music and her new avatar as a singer with her own YouTube channel.

Always in love with music, post her retirement, she became “part of a music group, comprising professionals in other fields comprising doctors, an architect, an entrepreneur and a school director, that sang and gave small performances.”

When the pandemic brought their programmes to a halt, Nirmala’s husband, Vice Admiral B Kannan (retired), suggested the idea of a YouTube channel. “He suggested that I put out a few of the songs that I had recorded much earlier, some that I had done whilst serving in the Indian Navy. To my pleasant surprise, the response was encouraging and so I started doing covers of many of my favourites and posting them online.”

 This is how she introduces herself on her channel Rear Admiral Nirmala Kannan (Retd): “Music has been my passion for over 60 years. I grew up listening to popular English songs on Radio Ceylon initially and thereafter on gramophone records. I am a self-taught rhythm guitarist and usually accompany myself whilst singing... My post-retirement pastime continues to be music.”

Talking about the advantage of social media, she says YouTube helped her make good friends, rediscover long-lost ones and renew contact with schoolmates from over 50 years ago.

“I have also been invited to give public performances. So far, I have done live shows at Kolkata, New Delhi, Colombo, Ooty, Coimbatore, Kochi, Salem and twice at Bengaluru.”