Just(in) a minute, a Karnataka farmer turns into Bieber! 

CHITRADURGA : “OOH WHOA, OOH WHOA, OOH Whoa You know you love me, I know you care”

Imagine  pop icon Justin Bieber wearing a lungi and a shirt, wielding a spade and bursting into this famous song and making dance moves in a field in Karnataka.

Or the legend Michael Jackson singing and dancing to his Thriller song...

“It’s close to midnight And something evil’s lurking in the dark”.

I t may sound incongruous but a field in Hiriyur in Chitradurga district is the stage for these icons. And the first one with ‘Bieber’ singing uninhibitedly and dancing wearing lungi and all, speaking in the local Kannada dialect is there on the social media platform though not many are aware of it.

The young man who looks anything but like these two greats is an unassuming 26-year-old farmer. But when he starts singing, with English accent, and makes his dance moves, he brings these two to life.

Meet Pradeep H R, a farmer from Hindasagatte village situated on the Huliyar road in Hiriyur taluk. He enthrals local audience with his western songs and dance. Even though the villagers don’t understand the language, they are all praise for Pradeep.

It’s remarkable that Pradeep  who had little knowledge of English and failed in the subject during his graduation could sing English songs. This is because he was determined to master the language. “This was the time I developed an interest in the English songs and western music,” he says with a smile.
Unlike others who find it difficult to learn the English language, Pradeep picked it up easily and is so good at it that his lecturers would applaud him.

Today he sings pop music easily ---  songs in English and Chinese and Japanese too for hours together. “I don’t know either Chinese or Japanese languages. But I listen to the songs in those languages repeatedly and  follow the accent and tune. I always plug in earphones and constantly listen to songs whatever I am doing,” he says quite disarmingly.

Pradeep who completed BBM at Vedavathi College in Hiriyur, later went on to become a farmer as per his father’s wishes. During those days, he would bowl over his college mates with his cricket commentary. And this talent of mimicking led him to becoming a popular singer.Pradeep says, “By God’s grace, I can change my tone and pitch to suit the track and the singer.”

For Pradeep, singing is just a hobby, but the real bread and butter comes from the farm lands, where he still takes up agricultural activity and grow veggies and other crops.  Every morning he wakes up in the wee hours and goes to the farm along with his father, inspects the crop and takes up watering. While working on the field, he plugs in his earphones, listens to the songs and sings as it is in the original track.

Remembering the day when his father scolded him for dancing in the field, Pradeep says, “I get carried away when I start singing the songs of Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, Nick Jonas and others. I don’t feel exhausted even in the scorching sun, whenever I am working listening to the songs through my smart mobile. Sometimes I dance to the tunes unknowingly.”

“Thriller, Dangerous, History,  Blood On the Dance Floor, Off the Wall are some of the songs which I can sing without the help of the smart phone,” he says.If music be the food of love... “Singing English songs has helped me to work better in the field — it creates a new space for enjoying whatever I am today,” says Pradeep.