Occupation(s) Vocalist Origin Petaling Jaya, Malaysia | Years active 2002 – Present | |
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Genres Carnatic music – Indian Classical Music Similar Steve Gorn, Saskia Rao‑de Haas, Kalpakam Swaminathan, D K Pattammal, Jon B Higgins | ||
Chong Chiu Sen (commonly known as Sai Madhana Mohan Kumar) is a Malaysian-born Chinese vocalist. He was an apprentice of prominent Carnatic musician, D. K. Pattammal who also adopted him as her god-grandson and named him Sai Madhana Mohan Kumar.
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Biography
He was introduced to Carnatic music through Bhajans. He started formal training in Bhajan singing under the tutelage of (late) Datin Shanthi Jagadeesan and R. Vatsala in Malaysia. Chong was interested in both, playing the harmonium and singing Bhajans. He learned to play the harmonium from Sri Jullius Tan Teck Joo and continued Bhajan training with Vijayalakshmi Kulaveerasingam.
Subsequently, he studied Bharatha Natyam under Usha Srinivasan and started learning the veena under Sangeetha Kala Acharya, Kalpakam Swaminathan. Chong soon realized his reason for traveling to India were primarily to broaden his musical prowess. He had a series of negative experiences with instructors who cheated him of his savings, but eventually found D.K Pattammal. However, during their meeting her husband advised her to not accept him as a student because of her deteriorating health. Before he left, Pattammal asked him to sing for her and his rendition of "Maha Ganapathi" in raga nattai convinced her to accept him. She lateřr adopted him as her god-grandson and name him Madhana Mohan Kumar. After 2006, Chiu Sen continued his music lessons under Pattammal’s granddaughter, Gayathri Sundararaman.