Music And Movies

Part 1: Background - A legend called Gantasala  Part 2: Initial years of struggle Part 3: Baby steps in Tamil land   Part 4: Climbing to numero uno spot in Telugu    Part 5: Tryst with classical music     Part 6: SPB & Raja        Part 7: Non-Raja Tamil songs of the late 70s      Part 8:   SPB, Chiranjeevi and early 80s Telugu film music      Part 9: Illayararaja - Vishwanath - SPB         Part 10: Illayaraja - Vamsi - SPB            Part 11: SPB in Hindi films       Part 12: SPB- Raja - Tamil film music 80s - 1       Part 13: SPB- Raja - Tamil film music 80s - 2      Part 14: SPB- Raja - Tamil film music 80s - 3        Part 15: SPB's domination down south    Part 16: Dominance in Kannada        Part 17: Emergence of Rahman and the Cha...

( 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  & Part 17 ) In the post 2000s, the number of memorable SPB songs came down. He did keep singing the hero intro song for Rajni, I personally am not a fan of 'balelakka' and other songs of the same nature. It was clear that the new gen, with its constantly changing singers and that unending quest for something 'different', was calling SPB only for select songs. There was no guarantee that these songs were good. Telugu and Kannada probably gave more opportunity to SPB compared to Tamil. The Hindi imports became popular in Telugu and Kannada as well, with Sonu Nigam become a big hit in Kannada.  A couple of songs of SPB that I like from the 2000s are Raja songs. I will give them here ...

( 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 ) Versatility - Part 2 In the last post, we looked at some songs which showcase the versatility of SPB in singing modern songs, high energy songs, emotional climax songs and songs that needs a softness of touch. That was quite a range but that was not all. In this post we will look at some more aspects of SPB's singing with the songs he sang for Raja in the 1980s are examples. A genre of songs which SPB was famous even before he started singing for Raja was the comic songs genre. We had in one of the initial posts observed how SPB would mimic the voice of a comedian like Allu Ramalingiah. Raja used SPB for many comic songs. Let us look at a few of them here. 'randi randi randi' from 'Rudraveena' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlbRxxnmzII...

  ( 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 ) We have seen the emergence of Illayaraja in an earlier part. By the beginning of 1980s he had established himself as the foremost music director of Tamil film industry. Veterans like MSV were fading and the other music directors of that era like Shankar Ganesh, Chandrabose and others could not match up to the quality that Raja was delivering.  In the 1980s, SPB had also found his style. This was the culmination of more than a decade of singing. SPB was now extremely confident of himself and his style. With the veteran actors slowly fading from both Tamil and Telugu film industry, SPB, who was the voice of the new generation of actors, was in high demand across languages.  In the next couple of posts, we will not have much to discuss about SPB's singin...

( You can read the earlier parts here:  Part 1 ,  Part 2 ,  Part 3 ,  Part 4 ,  Part 5 ,  Part 6  ,  Part 7 ,  Part 8  and Part 9 ) K. Vishwanath was a man who made most movies based on classical music and his themes were quite similar. Vamsi, who had worked as an assistant to K Vishwanath, was an eclectic director. His themes varied a lot. He could cover serious movies, comedies, thrillers, classical music based movies and so on. He had a streak of craziness in him which reflected in his movies. Illayaraja seems to have loved this streak in him and he also gave eclectic music for the films of Vamsi. It was almost an unwritten rule by then in the Telugu film world that the male lead singer would always be SPB. 'Sitara', the first film that Raja and Vamsi combined together had some wonderful melodies. It is difficult to pick any single one from this. Let us hear 'kuku kuku'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8TlKkqN_B8 SPB's voice suits t...

(MSV-SPB) You can read the earlier parts here: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6   Raja's coming to the scene happened at the right time. M S Viswanathan who was the dominant music director in Tamil was slowly losing his form. Let me say, his form became uneven in those time. If you look at the list of films that MSV did between 1976 and 1979, you will surprised that you have never heard of many of movies. The songs too were middling and forgettable. The other upcoming music directors at that time were Shankar Ganesh duo and Vijaybhaskar. V. Kumar too scored music for some films. Of these Shankar Ganesh would go on to score for lot of films. Like Chakravarthy in Telugu, they too would churn out tune after eminently forgettable tune. MSV though gave some amazing numbers in this period. What I was talking earlier was the percentage of good songs that he gave, which was getting lower. His combination with Balachander produced some melodies which are popular to t...

(Vieux Parka Toure) How different cultures and countries across the world use various ragams has always fascinated me. I had earlier posted about how Mohanam in available almost throughout the world and also about Azebaijani Todi . Yesterday late at night, my twitter friend Vipin Nair (@MusicAloud) sent me a clip of African music asking me if the ragam played was Madhyamavathi, Sree Ragam or Brindavana Saranga. (Vipin had got that clip from his friend @aiyerravi ) When I heard the clip, I was amazed by the playing of the guitarist (Vieux Parka Toure). The playing was crisp and every note sounded so clear. And very importantly, I heard a lovely Brindavana Saranga. This was a revelation to me. I have heard Madhyamavathi in various settings but Brindavana Saranga, to me, has been confined to Carnatic and Hindustani music.   Following some threads from the youtube clip, I came upon some Algerian music. In this I could hear Madhyamavathi. Ragas like Suddha Saveri, Suddha Dhan...

One of the important reasons our movies succeed is because they create an ideal world for the viewers. And in creating this ideal world, music plays a very major role. There have been many songs which talk about an ideal world, a world where everything is in place, good things happen to you and you look forward to living a life filled with happiness. I can probably call this as a separate genre of songs and we have had many such songs in Indian Film Music. "puthiya vaanam puthiya bhoomi", "putham pudhu bhoomi vendum", "suhana safar aur ye mausam hasin", "muthyamantha pasupu", the song I featured earlier, "moodala manaya" and many many more. No wonder these songs become very dear to us because of their message that life is good. If one music director has been called repeatedly to create such an utopian landscape through his music, it has been Ilaiyaraja. There are countless creations of his which do this magic. We will examine some of ...