Anna Katharina Valayil is an Indian musician who has sung songs in Malayalam and Tamil. She received recognition after singing her hit single Appangalembadum for the National award winning Malayalam movie Ustad Hotel.
Anna was born to Valayil Joseph Varghese and Mini Varghese in Kottayam. Anna has a younger sibling, Becky Mary Valayil. She spent her early childhood in Nigeria with her family till her father Joseph Varghese resigned his designation as Administrating Manager to the chemical company Drury Industries. Anna's father hails from the Pakalomattam. The Valayil family settled at Kochi, where she was further educated at the Choice School, Tripunithara from her 5th grade to her 12th standard. Katharina graduated from St. Theresa's College, Cochin, and later went to Australia to pursue her passion as a pilot from the famous Flying School Moorabbin Aviation Services. She also took her PG in Media Studies from the prestigious Swinburne University. At the age of 28, Anna married Ranjesh Jacob Chandy on 2 February 2013; Ranjesh hails from the aristocratic family Matteethra, Kottayam. Ranjesh is a successful entrepreneur who runs a catering chain in Kerala. Anna gave birth to their daughter Raysha Maryann Chandy on march 4th 2014. She is currently expecting her 2nd child due in December 2015.
Her musical repertoire may lead one to the commercial hit “Appangal embadum” from the National Award winning movie Ustad Hotel but Katharina’s voice is a harbinger of a sizzling bright future in the Indian Indie music scene. Having been raised by her father strictly on Bob Marley, Dylan and Jagger, she picked up her guitar from the 6th grade onwards and sang like the world would heal at just her pitching. She has developed a lyrical style that has brought out commercial hits in the Malayalam film industry which are “Jhonny mone Jhonny“ from the movie ABCD, “Ente kannil nikkaye” from Bangalore Days, “I want to fly”, the Natasha theme song for Bangalore Days (sung and written by AKV), and her latest release, “Laila O Laila”, from the movie Laila O Laila, for which she again penned the lyrics. The leading music director Gopi Sundar from South India discovered her through her guitar guru Sumesh Parameshwar. She started her career in music by singing advertisement jingles in various languages and lending her voice to background scores in films for the National Awardee Gopi Sundar. Anna Katharina is now awaiting the release of the movie Aakashavani in October for which she is debuting as a music director for the song “Kiliye”, which is a blues jazz number. AKV, having a background with her parents Mini and Joseph Varghese who are a Suriyani-Nazrani mixture of Christian origin, gifted her an innate eastern style of singing that came out noticeably and put her on a look out list at a time where singers where classified as either Carnatic or Hindustani, and, if neither of these, Western. After her PG and pilot training she headed back to her hometown from Melbourne, Australia where Cadet Katharina with her Gibson guitar took up the duty to be the evening’s campfire performer at her parent’s beach resort at Marari, Kerala, where she performed to her international audience who ranged from the hippie era to the EDM monks, some days a handful and some days a hall full. Being a mezzo-soprano, AKV started orchestrating and programming her compositions during her pre and post-natal days. With roots of reggae culture handed down through her Nigerian childhood firing up her free spirited aviation days in Australia, Anna Katharina as an artist grew more deep and distinct. In her words “I want my music to be in the hearts and homes of people, and also on top of the billboards. Music is a feeling and I want everyone in the world to feel and experience it.”
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