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Jacintha Abisheganaden (1957), also known as Jacintha or Ja, is a Singaporean singer and actress. Jacintha studied at the National University of Singapore with a degree in Arts, majoring in English Literature. She is a founding member of performance company TheatreWorks.
Abisheganaden was born in 1957 to musician parents: Sri Lankan classical guitarist Alex Abisheganaden, a recipient of the Cultural Medallion, and a Chinese mother who sang and played the piano. She studied piano and voice from her early teens and also sang in the Singapore Youth Choir, where she met her future collaborator Dick Lee. Growing up, Abisheganaden listened to a wide variety of music – not only vocal jazz and traditional pop, but also artists who ranged from Stevie Wonder to Joni Mitchell to South African star Miriam Makeba. Abisheganaden was a big fan of Brazilian bandleader Sergio Mendes during her upbringing, and she has been quoted as saying that she was "obsessed" with Barbra Streisand.
Abisheganaden first came to prominence in 1976 when she won a local television talent contest, Talentime, singing jazz. She continued this winning streak in 1981, when she nabbed the Best Female Performer award for her role as Nurse Angamuthu in General Hospital at the Drama Festival.
In 1983, Abisheganaden released her debut album Silence on WEA, on which Dick Lee wrote nine out of the ten songs. The new wave album, containing a cover of the Bee Gees' "Run to Me", was reviewed positively, with The Straits Times calling it "probably the most impressive debut album...from a local singer." In 1985, Abisheganaden returned from the States temporarily (where she moved with her husband) to act in TheatreWorks' Love and Belacan, three playlets co-starring Lim Kay Tong. In 1986, Abisheganaden returned from the States permanently to record her second album, and played a series of live jazz shows at The Saxophone.
In the mid-nineties, actor Lim Kay Tong introduced Abisheganaden to Ying Tan, who signed her to his Groove Note label. Her first jazz album was released in 1998: Here's To Ben – A Vocal Tribute To Ben Webster. Abisheganaden's second album for the Groove Note label, Autumn Leaves: The Songs of Johnny Mercer (1999) has seen the title track being used for TV series Alias, while the bonus track "Here's to Life" was used as the title track for the Hollywood movie Play It to the Bone.
In 2004, Abisheganaden performed her own cabaret jazz show, The Angina Monologues at the Old Parliament House, Singapore. In 2006, Abisheganaden served as a judge on the second season of Singapore Idol. In 2012, Abisheganaden returned to the stage after 13 years, playing herself in Ong Keng Sen's National Broadway Company, a musical commissioned for the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay's 10th anniversary.
01 - Jacintha - O Ganso.mp3
02 - Jacintha - So Danco Samba.mp3
03 - Jacintha - Dindi.mp3
04 - Jacintha - Once I Loved.mp3
05 - Jacintha - Desafinado.mp3
06 - Jacintha - So Nice.mp3
07 - Jacintha - Wave.mp3
08 - Jacintha - How Insensitive.mp3
09 - Jacintha - Corcovado.mp3
10 - Jacintha - Waters of March.mp3
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