How Sweet Shreya!!

We know how Ghantasala encouraged and supported SPB right from his first song "Emi ee vintha mohamu". In fact, many yesteryear singers used to adopt and support upcoming singers and help them in their growth. Shreya Ghoshal, three times national award winning singer, is one new generation singer of that kind.

Shreya was to sing a song for the Telugu movie "Villagelo Vinayakudu" which is being directed by Sai Kiran and music by Mani Kanth. The same song was already rendered a newcomer called Swetha Mohan. As the director Sai Kiran was not satisfied with her rendition, Shreya was asked to sing the song. She heard Swetha's version before her rehearsals and was impressed. Shreya said "She sang beautifully. Whose voice is this? She sang better than me. I can't improvise this. I just have to follow her." She refused to sing and advised the MD to keep Swetha's version. She even called Swetha and congratulated her.

Hariharan, who was there in the recording theatre, was impressed with the way Shreya encouraged an upcoming singer and appreciated her. By the way, Swetha Mohan is none other than the daughter of famous singer Sujatha.

reference: http://www.eenadu.net/archives/archive-21-9-2009/ncineshow.asp?qry=kalagura

JPF Music Awards

Ilayaraja, Rahman and Shri Krishna nominated for the JPF music awards in the best album category.

Look for Indian albums nominated in the following site.

http://www.jpfolks.com/09albumnoms.html

Many Many happy returns of the day Ilayaraja sir. I wish I could write millions of things right in this post on the occasion of his birthday. But due to many constraints I am unable to.

Long live Ilayaraja .

An article in Sakshi paper on Ilayaraja

I don't usually see much about our Raaja in Telugu media. But this one is a very well written post about the Maestro.


http://www.sakshi.com/main/WeeklyDetails.aspx?Newsid=25378&Categoryid=5&subcatid=13

Non-Telugu singers

This post by Suresh inspired me to write after a long time.

I have listened to the song "naa madi ninnu pilichindi" from Aradhana many times. As a kid I always thought it was very different and unique. I later started feeling a little "odd" whenever I heard the song. I never realised it myself that it was sung by a Hindi singer (I was small then and it was the first time I heard about Rafi). I somehow felt that the degree of oddness in that song was not very high.

Later I encountered many many songs which made me feel very odd (Many of them are due to horrible lyrics, but writing about that will make my post horribly long). Naturally and unfortunately, many non-Telugu singers who sing Telugu songs are very well reputed.

Once me and my mother were listening to radio and my mother was irritated with the female singer's accent and started criticising and I joined her. After the song, they informed that it was sung by Lata Mangeshkar. I sort of felt bad then. I listened to some Telugu songs of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle. They are great singers but not those songs. There surely are not many songs by them.

But more recently, I see a lot of Hindi singers surviving in Telugu industry in spite of their intolerable performances. I have not liked a single song by Udit Narayan in Telugu though I actually like the Hindi Udit. Sadhana Sargam is also not so good (She is better now). Disturbing thing is that there are many north singers entering Tollywood continue to sing more whereas many singers here are not getting enough opportunities.

My post is titled Non-Telugu singers, not North singers. I think I should talk about other Non-Telugu singers. Can anyone believe that Vani Jayaram and Chithra are not from Andhra Pradesh? I can't.
Most south Indian singers including the recent Karthik, Tippu have good accent. They are not a problem.

Yeah, That brings up another issue. When there are good South Indian singers around, why does anybody need to go for Sonu Nigams or Kailash Khers? (I Can't imagine Telugu worse than his). Bad thing is that the big and reputed Music Directors themselves are going for these Northers. Good thing is that I see many good South singers these days. I hope they all get opportunities and make place for themselves in the Industry.

Ugadi

Andarikee Virodhi Naama samvathsara Subhakankshalu.

Wish you all a happy New year.

www.idlebrain.com

This site is dedicated to Telugu cinema etc. Though there are many sites in the same category, this one is different in a good sense. Most sites care only about the upcoming movies or movies just released and stars of the current day. Idlebrain occasionally pays attention to the legends of yesterday's cinema as well. The Velugu Needalu series by Srinivas Kanchibhotla is one from that category. So far legends Ilayaraja,Jandhyala, K Balachandar, S P Bala subramanyam, K Vishwanath, Vamsy, yandamuri, Bapu ramana, Veturi were focused.

Read Velugu Needalu

Another series of article named Maestro Ilayaraja, A technical celebration of music by RS Balaji has so far discussed some of Raja's great songs.

Read Maestro Ilayarja

The series Mattilo manikyalu (Best movies, but box office failure) discussed some of the famous movies like Rudraveena, Swathi kiranam as well as movies like Sudiundalu, Chengalva Poodanda, Ee chaduvulu maakoddu that are not so famous.

Read Mattilo manikyalu

For any recent movie, we see dozens of reviews on net(doesn't matter how bad the movie is). Even for some old movies we can find reviews in idlebrain. You can read them here: http://www.idlebrain.com/nosta/svm.html

Isn't it like advertising the site? may be yeah. But I feel these articles deserve this much advertising.

Vani Jayaram

At around 10:15 pm yesterday, I was about to go out when my mother called (I reside in a hostel). She said with good amount of excitement that Vani Jayaram was hosting a show on ETV and the show was going on then. My mother was excited because I like Vani mam very much and I have never seen her on TV before. I ran to the TV room. By the time I went there, the show came to an end. I just had a look at her and heard a little from her voice. Her divine voice reminded me some of my old memories.

Long Long back, me and my mother were listening to the song "Ennenno Janmala Bandham" from the movie Pooja (Telugu). I pointed out to my mother, the very different feel the female voice in the song had. My mother, a very big fan of Susheela (as a matter of fact I myself am), commented that the song would have been more beautiful with Susheela's voice. I could not agree with her as the voice I just heard was unlike any other I had heard before. It was when I heard the song "Aanatineeyara" from Swathi Kiranam (Telugu), I came to know about the legend Vani Jayaram. I later heard many other songs of Vani mam and obviously became her fan.

I wish she had sung more in Telugu.

See my earlier post on Vani Jayaram

http://musicandmyth.blogspot.com/2009/01/jayaram-vani-puthri.html

I saw this interview of Balu only recently. As usual he was very simple and modest.

Here is a bit of it.

Anuradha SenGupta: When you sing for Rajinikanth, or Kamal Hassan, I don’t think you are trying to sound like they are singing. Am I right?

SP Balasubrahmanyam: Most people think that I change my voice for actors that I sing for. But that is not right. You are absolutely correct. The style can be different. I just try to get the vibrancy of actors in my singing. When I sing a romantic number for Kamal, I try to get the style in my singing. I mostly sung for them. It also helped me to dub them properly.

My take on this: First of all, I feel that that was a very bad question asked by the interviewer. She should probably have asked him if he had tried to sound like them rather than "telling" him what she thought. I don't know well how he sang for Kamal or Rajini(as I don't know much about Tamil songs), but there are many instances where he sounded like the actor himself singing. He is being modest as usual.

You can watch/read the interview here.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/being-balasubrahmanyam-the-perfectionist/68767-8.html

Sahasra Kantha Balasubramanyam III

There is no Telugu not knowing the movie Shankarabharanam. It was actually popular all over India. Songs from Shankarabharanam (esp. Shankaraa) show another dimension of voice modulation by SPB. Every music lover should listen to them.

There is one song I have always loved from my childhood. That's "Prathi Rathri" from Ekaveera. I didn't know the singer(s) at that time. Ghantasala and Balu together sang this master piece. I don't want to talk about the song at all. You yourself find the beauty.

http://www.chimatamusic.com/playcmd.php?plist=172

Another stunning performance by SPB's voice is Tallo Tamara(Tamil: Tangathamarai) from Merupu kalalu (Minsara Kanavu).

The song kadasaaridi veedkolu from Amrutha (Tamil: Kannathil Muttamithal) is not popular in AP, but all SPB lovers should listen to this. This song was sung by MSV in Tamil, not SPB. So even if you are a Tamizh, listen to it once.

Listen to the song "Ghallu Ghallu" from Swarna Kamalam and I am sure your ears will be full of pure nectar. His voice in this song is very pure, soft, soothing and many such things. There are many songs by him like this, but I somehow feel this is too good (probably because of the great composition as well).

Read Sahasra Kantha BalaSubramanyam II

The fame factor

When I was a kid, I used to think I should be as famous as Chiranjeevi, Chandra Babu Naidu and many others I knew about. As I grew up, My idols changed but my ambition only intensified. When I started discovering my interest for music, especially when I started discovering that much of the music I admired was by none other Ilayaraja (Believe me! I discovered him myself, I heard his name only a few times earlier but never heard anybody talking about him or his greatness. It is possibly because I was in that sort of environment all my boyhood). When I learnt that all the movies Sagara sangamam, Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari, Geethanjali, Abhilasha and many other diverse movies had music by a single person, I was stunned. I kept on discovering more, more and many more unbelievable facts about that single person till date. Unfortunately, many of these unbelievable facts include things like no Padma award for him, existence of people who criticise him and compare him with others(most such people don't even know 10% of his music). I used to feel very bad for his work not being recognised as much as it should be.

I started wondering, if the man who revolutionized the Indian film music, who took it to another level, who inspired innumerable music directors, who completely dominated the Telugu, Tamil film music for decades, who could compose great music for more than 50 movies in a single year had not become all that popular, how would I be famous.

As an old quote says, I believed that an artist's full satisfaction comes with recognition for his work. I in fact believed more, I believed that an individual's full satisfaction comes with his recognition in the society. But it was when I learnt about Raja, his personality, his music, how immaterial fame is to him, I started to rethink about my beliefs.

Though I started feeling that fame is not all that important, I am not as saintly as Raja to think it is almost immaterial. When I become more mature and dedicate myself to something I love and live in my love, probably then I will start feeling like how he does. I would like to end this article by thanking Guru Ilayaraja for not only giving music sufficient for an entire lifetime but also for having in him many things to learn from.

PS: Even if you are a person who care for fame, don't worry. He is very famous among intellectual community. Also read what NAUSHAD ALI (Doyen of Hindi film music, India) said: Ilayaraja has achieved 100 times more than what any of us have achieved; only time can tell the quantum of his achievements.

Lord Shiva's songs in Telugu movies

There are many many great songs on Lord Shiva in our Telugu movies. On occasion of Shiva Rathri, I thought of listing some of them here.

1. Mahesa Papa Vinasa from Sree KalaHasti Mahatyam sung by none other than Ghantasala.

2. Deva Deva Dhavalachala Mandira from Bhukailas. Who else could have sung it so uniquely?

3. Neela kandhara deva from Bhukailas, again by Ghantaaswara Ghantasala.

4. Siva Siva Sankara from Bhakta Kannappa sung by Rama Krishna.

5. Sankaraa from Sankarabharanam by SPB with voice modulation as usual.

6. Om NamahSivaya from Saagara sangamam by S Janaki, deserves much more than national award.

7. Aanatineeyara from Swathi Kiranam sung by Vani Jayaram, no comments.

8. Om Shivoham from Nenu Devudini by Vijay Prakash. This is my first song of Vijay Prakash.

9. Namo Bhutanatha from Satya Harischandra, another song by Ghantasala .

10. Kanaraara Kailasa Nivasa from SeetaRama kalyanam.

11. Om Maha praana deepam from Sree Manjunatha sung by Shankar Mahadevan.

12. Om Namahsivaya from Paramanandayya Sishyula katha.

A Great Achievement of Indian Music by A R Rahman

I am really excited as our beloved Rahman won two oscars, one for his original score in Slumdog and another along with Gulzar for the song "Jai Ho".




Congratulations Rahman for making our and your music popular. I wish you achieve a lot more in future.

Mano on Ilayaraja n Rahman

Singer Mano talked very sound about his Guru Ilayaraja and well-wisher Rahman. He said,"To talk about Ilayaraja is like a discourse on God. It was he who game me a career as a singer. To see him is a gift. To sing a song under him is a boon. He is the fastest musical mind I have ever seen in my life. He himself is a treasure of instruments. He can compose native and original tune in just 20 minutes. I challenge, no one can compete with him, even today. He is the best and no.1 in the area of background music too. "

He talked great of Rahman, who gave him new life as a singer. Mano, who was long considered as a carbon copy of SPB, got unique recognision and fame with Muqala from Premikudu (Kadhalan). He said," Rahman has his own strategy and power to create magic tunes. For the song Muqala Muqabula, Rahman asked me to do something different by changing my voice. He wanted a little variety and he said you can do something that will make people sit up and ask who the singer is.''

"I mimicked a few voices and he liked the duplication of R. D. Burman. He asked me to continue to sing in the same voice. When I was recording something told me the song was going to be a hit the beat, the sound and rhythm. I rendered that song in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. It has given me new life. If in a year a playback singer gets the opportunity to sing three or four songs like this, he can stay in the hearts and minds of the people. I am truly grateful to Rahman.''
He followed with hits like Thillana from Muthu, and Azhagiya Lailaa from Ullathai Alli Tha.

Sahasra Kantha Subrahmanyam I

SPB is singer with thousand different voices built in him (How else could he have sung 40,000+ songs without boring us for over four decades). He also pronounces differently according to the actor he is singing for. It is probably difficult for himself to identify his own voice sometimes. I am here trying to discuss some of his masterpieces where he excelled in not only singing but also modulating his voice.

SPB has a voice hidden in him which he used only for NTR. Oh! I am sorry, it was not SPB singing for NTR. It was NTR singing for himself. It is a mysterious fact that only a few know about. Listen to any NTR's song sung by SPB you will clearly understand that it was sung by NTR himself (something seriously wrong with the sentence, right?)

Sample songs: Aresukoboyi (Adavi ramudu), Naa kosame meerocharu (Yugandhar), Aaku chatu pinde tadise (vetagadu).



Whatever was written for NTR applies for any other actor SPB has sung for, especially ANR. He completely changes his voice, it becomes dominantly nasal so as to match with ANR's voice.

samples: All from Premabhishekam (Vandanam, AAgadu, Naa kallu, Kotappa, Devi mounamaa, taaralu digi, oka devuni), anubandham (mallepulu, jim jim etc).

Close your eyes and listen to this song, you will start wondering if veteran actor Krishna was awarded "Padma Bhushan" for his singing. Yeah, this makes more sense than him receiving the award for his acting.

Appana tanna manna (Chuttalunnaru jagratta)

It's time to stop wondering. It is our Balu singing, not Krishna. I know, its hard to believe.

It is very tough to write about all his greats in a single post. I will keep posting more about him and his singing modulation.

Sahasra Kantha Subrahmanyam II

Mutyalu Vastaavaa was sung for Lt. Allu Ramalingaiah garu for the movie Manushulanta okkate. It is said that Allu garu had felt himself singing and could feel his unique style of pronunciation in the song.

Mutyalu Vastaavaa

Listen to this magical song in which Balu shows us his versatility in singing as well as his mimicking skills. It is tough to describe the song in words. It is a great composition by M S Vishwanathan.

Junior (Idi katha kadu)

Let me first describe the situation of the song I am going to talk about. This song from the movie allari mogudu is sort of a battle between two singers. Oneof them is an aged classical singer (Role played by Nagesh), other one is the hero Mohan Babu. This time SPB creates mindblowing magic by singing for both the characters. Observe the variation in his voice. Very good song from Keeravani.

Naa paata panchamrutam (Allari mogudu)

This song shows his involvement in singing a song (As a matter of fact, any of his songs does). It also shows how beautifully he dubs for Kamal hassan. Should mention Ilayaraaja for the great composition.

Kammanee (Guna)

Let us look into the great classic Rudraveena. If you had listened to these great songs, you would have noticed an outstanding village singer (Chuttu pakkala, few lines from Nammaku). I don't think I need to say who that singer is. Whereas he uses his Chiranjeevi voice for the remaining songs he sang. He stuns everyone with his "Cheppalani Undi". OOOH...The entire emotion and all the feelings of the actor are perfectly transferred to the listener.

Listen to RudraVeena songs


Oh my god..It's a never ending post. Shall meet in the next post.

Read Sahasra Kantha Subrahmanyam I

Young talent: Devi Sri Prasad

The very fresh music was a major factor for the success of the movie Devi(1999). But whole Andhra Pradesh was shocked by knowing that the matured compositions were by a seventeen year old boy hailed from Amalapuram. It was none other than Devi Sri Prasad who was a disciple of well known Mandolinist U.Srinivas. Devi went on producing sensible music for many movies without a pause proved his consistency and capability. In a few years span he became one of the most prominent Telugu music directors of the decade. He is also a singer, dancer, lyricist, and a stage performer.

Though he struggled for a while (possibly due to his commitment for too many movies at once), he has been more consistent recently. His recent ones Jalsa and Aata were very impressive.

Devi's strengths are his selection of singers, melody in his tunes and also the orchestration. About the importance of orchestration he said," If the tune is the heart of the song, I feel that orchestration is the body that compasses all parts. Orchestration is one thing that differentiates one music director to another. Most of the MDs tend to ignore that part. I feel Ilayaraaja is the best in orchestration."

Well known for being a die-hard fan of Ilayaraaja, when asked about his inspiration for music, he said, "I am obsessed with the music of Ilayaraaja since I was kid. He is like God to me. Even if I compose a single song like him, I consider myself very lucky. I think all the music directors who entered industry after Ilayaraaja are fans of him. Ilayaraaja gave new dimension to rerecording in our films. With his exceptionally good re-recording, he popularized that process."

With his brilliance, he entered the Tamil fim industry and doing good there as well. I wish him all the best for attaining greater heights in future and making us all proud.

Best works of Devi: Nuvvostanante nenoddantana, Bommarilu, Jalsa, Manmadhudu, Anandam, Arya, Khadgam, Aata.

Jayaram, Vani Puthri

Vani Jayaram was a very prominent and consistent singers of
south film industry. But she is not as famous as she deserves
to be. As an admirer, I would like to write a little about her.

She is a great singer with unique voice and style of singing mesmerized the music lovers for many years. She has sung songs in all the south Indian languages as well as in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarthi, Oriya and many other Indian languages. She was introduced as a playback inger by the famous composer Vasant Dasai. She is very grateful to him and feels
honored to be introduced by him. She considers him as her Godfather.

She is a very versatile singer with a beautiful voice. Her effortless singing of high pitched notes is extremely beautiful. Her rendition of songs for the movie Swathi Kiranam (Telugu) is a concrete example of her versatility in singing carnatic classical, folk, light and melodious songs. She sang with all popular Music Directors of her time. She alos sang for Pt Ravi Sankar for the Hindi movie Meera.

Now she has devoted her time to Ghazals, geeths, bhajans, folk songs. She also writes poems in Tamil and Hindi. She is running an audio recording unit in Chennai. She has worked with Pt. Birju maharaj, the legendary kathak maestro for two cassettes of thumri bhajans. Guru Kelu charan mohopatra played Pakhawaj for her rendition of Git Govind.

She also organizes workshops and seminars for school children to prevent the onslaught of cultural imperialism. She would like to spend time with terminally ill patients and renders songs for them-an effort to ease their pain and wipe away the tears.

She won national awards for Kelviyin Nayagan(Apoorva Raagangal), Dorakuna ituvanti seva(Sankarabhranam), and Aanati Neeyaraa(Swathi kiranam).

Some of my favorites:
All her songs from Swathi Kiranam, Shankarabharanam, Sruti layalu, Pooja, Swarna Kamalam, Seethakoka chiluka, vidhi cheyu vinthalenno(maro charitra) and many more.

References:
1. Wikipedia on Vani_Jayaram
2. Vani Jayaram

Singer Usha's interview

Well known singer Usha was interviewed by www.idlebrain.com. Summary of the interview is presented here.

* "Singing with Balu garu was high moment for me. He is like a father figure and I shall be endebted to him for my entire life for his guidance and blessings", the three times Nandy award winning singer said.

* A die-hard fan of Ilayaraaja garu and Rahman.

* She said if God had given her a chance to amend her singing life, she would have liked to take a birth few years earlier so that her singing career coincided with THE Ilayaraaja era.

* Favourite male singers: Ghantasala, SPB, KJYesudas, Hariharan, Shankar
Mahadevan, Shaan, KK and Tippu.

* Favourite female singers: Suseela, Janaki, Chitra and Kalpana.

* Favourite actors: Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR.

To see the full interview click here

Raaja's favourite singers

Ilayaraaja, the legendary Composer, said in an interview to NTV (Telugu) that SPB, Janaki and Asha Bhonsle are his favorite singers. He repeatedly praised them as the best singers. In his words, "I go into trance when they sing. I am really mad about them. I get lot of inspiration from them. They take every song very challenging and perform great. They understand composer's mind very well. They are the best. "

It's a treat to eyes watching him and ears listening to him.

To see the interview click here

My favourite Actors

Kamal Hassan: He is one of the finest actors I know. A very talented and verasatile actor. Even a bad Kamal Hassan's movie can be watched repeatedly for his performance. His consistency is unparalleled. His commitment and involvement in the character are awesome.





Chiranjeevi: As Director Balachander says he can act really well like Kamal Hassan as well as perform in action scenes like Rajini Kanth. A legendary actor he is (You have to argue with Mohan babu before saying so). He is also a great dancer.






Sridevi: Sridevi gurinchi enta cheppina takkuve. She is too cute. Her smile is unique. Her looks are unique. Her facial expressions are very good. She is my most favourite actress.
It is very very pleasent to watch her.






Surya: I really like this young talented Tamil actor. His acting is very natural and superb. I wish he gets nice roles and chooses movies better in future.

My favourite Directors

K Vishwanath: The first name that occurs to me when you ask about directors is Vishwanath. He directed dozens of masterpieces. His screen play is also extremely good. He brings out the best from all the people working with him. he studies all his characters very well. My most favourites of Vishwanath are Swathi Kiranam, Shankarabharanam, Swayam Krushi, Swati Muthyam, Saagara sangamam, Siri vennela, Shruti layalu.





Mani Ratnam: One of the most popular Indian directors. All his movies have great music and cinematography in them. He also brings out the best from all the artists working for him. I really loved Anjali, Geetanjali, Amrutha, Nayakudu, Yuva, Mouna Ragam.

My favourite Singers

Ghantasala: A great great singer with a unique singing style. His devotional and emotional songs are masterpieces of yesteryears. One of the greatest singers of all times.







S P Balasubramanyam: My god..What a singer he is. His voice is mind blowing. Is there any song he can't give life to. What a blessed singer he is. He is the most versatile singer I have known. He is one of the persons I admire the most. No wonder he sang the most number of songs. He is my role model, my passion, my love and what not. I am really lucky to know him. As you might know he is also an actor. I really love to watch him on screen though he is too big to be on screen.



P Susheela: Just a thought of her voice produces tons of pure nectar. I start melting just by listening to her voice. Hers is the best voice I have ever heard. Her crystal clear pronunciation is easily the best. The ease with which she sings is extraordinary. I wish she had sung more songs with Ilayaraaja.







S Janaki: I admire Janaki amma a lot. She is one of the most talented and versatile singers. She excells at any kind of song. The way she manipulates her voice is really great. From Mahadevan to Rahman she produced unforgettable classics. I am really really proud of her as she is from Guntur district.

My favourite Music Directors

Ilayaraaja: There are no words that can describe the
Raaja of music. He is my passion, my obsession, my inspiration, my love, my interest. He is synonym of music for me. The way he captures feelings, subtle emotions in his compositions is unparalleled. If one talks about Raaja, his excellence in scoring the background should be mentioned . I wonder how many movies became successful because of him. All his compositions not only succeed in conveying the right feeling needed for the particular scene but also have great technical values. He is loved by both Carnatic musicians and music-laymen equally. Writing about Ilu(I like to call him so) is like writing Mahabharata. He is a complete and perfect composer.






K V Mahadevan: This musical legend is very well known for the importance he gave to lyrics. He has Carnatic base in his compositions which I really love. He is one of the few and first to bring classical music into masses. His choice of singers is exceptional and he really gets the best from them. All his compositions for Vishwanath are unforgettable masterpieces.






A R Rahman: Another great composer India is proud of. He revolutionized the Indian film music. He is not only a great composer but also a fabulous sound designer. He makes use of the technology like nobody else. The awards he won are countless. He also won the maximum number of national awards as a music director.He must also be credited for making Indian music popular all over the world.