SPB: A Musical History - Part 17: Emergence of Rahman and the changed reality

 

(You can read the earlier parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 , Part 7, Part 8, Part 9,  Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15 & Part 16)

In 1992, A R Rahman made a sensational debut with the movie, 'Roja'. Rahman's emergence changed the way things were done in the music field. The way the songs were recorded changed as did the quality of the recording. People were stunned by the new crystal clear sound they heard. Not just the recording but other facets of music making changed as well. Synthesizers were used heavily and the dependence of real instruments started decreasing. Loops and samples could be bought and integrated into music. Technology enable functions like auto tuning, which meant that a less than perfect pitch could be corrected. Each track could be recorded separately and the singers need not sing the whole song in one shot. They can record line by line. The last aspect would have a major impact on the career of great singers including SPB.

Rahman's emergence also led to the emergence of a new breed of singers. The dominant voices till then were SPB, Janaki, Chitra, Yesudas and Mano. Rahman brought in new voices like Hariharan, from Hindi, Unnikrishnan, Unni Menon, Udit Narayan, Shakul Hameed, Sadhana Sargam and many more. The new voices and new sounds captured the imagination of the audience so much that even Illayaraja had to shift to Hariharan and Unnikrishnan from SPB and Yesudas. The new recording techniques helped even not so great singers to get a chance in movie singing and their songs also became hits. In Illayaraja's case, the need was to deliver songs quickly to the director/producer and hence there was great need for singers like SPB, Yesudas, Janaki and Chitra who could record the song quickly. In Rahman's case, there was no hurry since he was taking up only selected projects. So new voice were experiment with in every movie and this trend caught up with other music directors of the day.

At the same time, the old guard was slowly losing its voice. Susheela's voice was almost gone by now. Janaki started sounding strained. Yesudas was still good but he was definitely past the peak. SPB's voice though, retained its tone except when in the upper reaches, where I felt he was a bit more louder than what he used to be earlier. None of the singers who came after Rahman's entry have turned into legends or had a career as long as the earlier but then the changed reality was to get a few hits and then become an in-demand stage singer or a reality show judge. SPB's career was definitely hurt by this change and he was not singing as many songs as he was singing earlier. It didn't happen all of a sudden, the transition slow but steady.

Illayaraja's dominance of Tamil film music continued till 1995 and SPB was still his preferred singer. In Rahman's case he did call upon SPB to sing in many of the movies but SPB would not dominate an album. He would have one song in the album. Other music directors like Deva used SPB but they too sought out the more current singers. Let us how SPB sang in these changed circumstances.

Rahman made SPB sing in his debut film and that song is still famous. 'kadhal rojave' was the song. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urr36-p9e5s

Based on Kapi ragam, this is perfectly in SPB's zone. SPB brought in the required sense of loss to the song and it is still so popular that you hear it sung in many reality shows. His tone for Rahman's song was slightly different. I think that may be because of his own contribution to the song as Rahman was known to give more freedom to singers.

'Ejaman' was released in 1993. SPB dominated this album along with Janaki. Music was by Illayaraja and the songs were big hits. 'nilave mugam kaatu' by SPB and Janaki is an instant classic. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm7pCKKlN9s

The earlier 'kadhal rojave' and this song were probably recorded within a year of each other but observe the difference in the tone of SPB in both these songs. In Raja's song the tone is quite different from the Rahman song. It is not something to do with recording quality but the way SPB sings is different for both these music directors.

SPB featured in Rahman's second movie, 'Gentleman', in 'en veetu thotathil' song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X1nM5vp6z4

This was another huge hit. In this too you can hear SPB's tone in tune with how he sang for Rahman. You can also hear the freedom he has got from Rahman.

From the same year, 'rooozhi koovum neram' from 'Maharasan', music by Raja

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52xmI4ic9j4

Again, observe the tone. You can actually differentiate a Raja and Rahman song just by SPB's tone.

One of the (only?) albums of Rahman which was dominated by SPB was 'Duet' (1994). I have a feeling that could have been because of K.Balachander, who was a big fan of SPB. All the songs in the movie were hits and the movie was a big hit as well. The song, 'en kadhale', was one of the songs many people shared in Social Media when they heard the news of SPB's death. (It was a video of SPB performing in a reality show)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0CtfXRibAw

Once again the SPB's tone for Rahman is clear. He adds his own bit to the emotional quotient of the song. Observe how his voice chokes at certain moments. He wants to make the emotion obvious, something he was probably not allowed under Raja's baton. 

Here is the clip that was shared a lot on social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEPLQ6XoZq8

'konji konji' from 'Veera' also happened in 1994. This was a Rajni movie and as usual SPB was his voice. Illayaraja the music director.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5sDN_wvVXw

While newer heroes like Prabhu Deva, Aravind Swami, Ajit, Vijay had new voices for them, SPB continued to be the voice of Rajni. 

Here is SPB singing for Rajni in the movie, 'Badshah' (1995). Music by Deva. As usual, SPB sings the 'opening song'. 'naan autokaaran'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv5rEvaBDDU

This is the typical high energy SPB. It is interesting if you hear the same song in Telugu. The tone in Telugu is a bit different

He again sings the opening song for Rajni in 'Muthu'. Music by Rahman (1995)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6OE6ZLldRk

He got the National Award for 'thanga thamarai magale' for Minsara Kanavu (1997)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwARVZCNHA8

You can hear SPB having fun. He sings with a deliberate slur. The tone as I mentioned is his tone for Rahman songs. He sounds a tad different in this song.

While Rahman did use SPB in most of his movies, it was sparsely. SPB, with the exception of duet, usually got one song out of the four or five songs in the movie. In some cases he would have got two. The days were he sang all songs in an album were slowly vanishing. Yet, SPB was doing his best in the songs that were given to him. Not just by Raja or Rahman but also by the likes of Deva, Vidyasagar and others.

Here he is, pairing with Janaki, for one of Vidyasagar's biggest hits, 'malare mounama' from 'Karna' (1995). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRjKULlhot4

SPB is in good form, getting the freedom to do his 'nakras' and he does full justice to the song.

'Kadhal Kottai' (1995) was a major hit and SPB sang the most famous song in the movie, 'nalam nalamaria aval'. Music by Deva

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksbjs1K56BA

For Deva, SPB's tone was similar to how he sang for Raja.

For music director Baradwaj, SPB sang 'satham illadha thanimai', for the movie 'Amarkalam' (1999)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYtGePU8ttM

This became very famous because it was a breathless song. SPB's voice is more in Rahman song tone. (I personally feel he is a bit loud when he goes to the upper regions. That is why I am not a big fan of this song. )

SPB sang for young heroes of those days as well. In the earlier songs you have heard him sing for Ajit. In 'Endrenrum Kadhal' (1999) he sang for Vijay. Music by Manoj Bhatnagar. 'O thendrale' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl-PXlXBetE

Let me leave you with a few more hit songs of SPB from the 90s.

'sithagathi pookale' from Rajakumaran (1994). Music by Raja

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSmkxoN2lFA

'thoda thoda malardhadenna' from 'Indira' (1995)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgkSNkZhxCQ

'ennai kanavillaiye netrodu' from 'Kadhal Desam' (1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbKB9JZnFWM

Will close with the superb, 'vana kuyile' from 'Priyanka' (1994)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqTie7eK2L8

With the coming of newer music directors like Yuvan Shankar Raja and Harris Jayaraj and the dominance of newer heroes like Vijay, Ajit, Dhanush and others ensured that SPB's demand went down. In the next part let us see how SPB did post 2000.