‘A song is a song is a song’: Usha Uthup brings nostalgic charm to Kolkata retro night event

Kala Mandir turned into a time machine on Thursday evening as House54’s ‘Retro Night at Usha’s Cafe’ concert paid a tribute to the indomitable Usha Uthup. The Padma Bhushan awardee singer, whose husky timbre once defined Kolkata’s nightclub culture, enthralled the audience with a bouquet of songs from yesteryears that defined her musical legacy.

The night celebrated the very arc of Uthup’s extraordinary journey, from her early days at Trincas to her star turn in Bombay’s club scene and her eventual homecoming to Kolkata. Hosted by Anindya Chatterjee, the concert mixed warm banter with high-energy live music. Singer Upal Sengupta joined the duo for special duets, and together they recreated what was a gentler, more glamorous era of Indian pop culture.

The evening’s standout moment came when Uthup, Anindya and Upal slipped into Harry Belafonte’s Matilda. As they sang, the stage lit up with archival visuals of Belafonte himself. The audience broke into applause as Uthup and the two musicians jammed freely with the video, creating the illusion that they were performing alongside the late legend.

In her chat with The Telegraph Online ahead of the show, Uthup spoke with characteristic charm about her relationship with music. 

For her, retro isn’t an era — it is an attitude. “Everything about yesterday is retro. So, for me, it’s retro every night,” she said, laughing. The idea behind a thematic night delighted her, because in her words, “Everybody wants to listen to the old songs with a new covering.”

But the heart of her philosophy lies in stripping away labels. Asked whether being typecast as the voice of “bad girls” ever bothered her, she dismissed the notion with typical candour. “I’m very happy singing any song, because a song is a song is a song,” she said. For her, originality trumps perfection. “It’s not about how good or how bad a singer you are. It’s how original. And I’m 100% original. I’ve never copied anybody.”

Uthup refused to view today’s music with skepticism. She insisted that great work is still being created; it simply needs time to earn the label of “classic”. She rattled off names across genres, from Adele and Diana Krall to Arijit Singh, Shreya Ghoshal and Hariharan as her favourites. “There is no dearth of talent. The sky is the limit,” the 78-year-young singer signed off.