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.