tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56871881928121508122024-03-13T10:03:24.005-07:00ShajiMusic is not to be learnt but to be feltSHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-55797507653510696062013-04-28T08:33:00.002-07:002013-04-28T08:48:19.883-07:00MUSIC or SOUND?<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<h4>
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You have probably seen the Hindi film named <i>Dirty Picture. </i>A
befitting name indeed! It profited big time by deriding the hardships of the South
Indian film actress Silk Smitha’s shattered life that ended in her suicide. Vidya
Balan, the current day actress pranced through the hugely successful potboiler
practically semi-naked, was honoured with a National Award for best actress! The
song ‘Ooolaala Ooolaala’ from that film was a super hit, credited to Vishal Shekar
as composers. It was sung by Bappi Lahiri, popular Hindi film song composer
of eighties, and Shreya Ghoshal. That song left me perplexed in more ways than
one.</div>
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The very first confusion was the artificial rendering of the song by Shreya
Ghoshal. I always thought of her as a natural! Another shock that assailed me
was that it was a rank copy of the song ‘Ui Amma, Ui Amma’ from the 1983 Hindi film <i>Mawaali
</i>for which Bappi Lahiri himself was the composer. He sang the song
‘Ooolaala’ without mentioning anywhere that it was his own music! But what
really shocked me was the astounding fact that the audio quality of ‘Ooolaala’
could not hold a candle to the audio quality of ‘Ui Amma’ that was recorded thirty
years earlier! Anyone who doubts my word on it may listen to the vinyl record
of <i>Mawaali</i> on a Hi Fi music system.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Similarly A.R.Rahman’s songs in the recently released Tamil film <i>Kadal</i>
was bewildering for me. Though I was happy that even twenty years of continuous
innings in the industry has not diminished A.R.Rahman’s ability to offer creative
music, I was totally unprepared for the shocking fall in the sound quality of
his songs, something I have not seen in over two decades of his career.</div>
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I heard his song ‘Anbin Vaasaley’ from the film <i>Kadal</i> at
midnight on an FM Radio channel. The music arrangements was fantastic but its
rank sound quality, the way different sounds bumped into each other to emerge
without clarity or separation, made one doubt whether it was indeed an
A.R.Rahman song. The next song broadcast was his ‘Anjali, Anjali’ song from Rahman’s
1994 film <i>Duet.</i> The saxophone intro at the beginning of the song
resonated with an astounding clarity, as if someone standing near me was
playing it for my exclusive benefit. Amazing sound quality permeated every note
of that song.</div>
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What is happening? And I can’t believe this fall is happening in
an era when audio technology is scaling new summits! Was this an inadvertent
mistake that happened during recording or while making copies of the songs? Or
worse, has A.R.Rahman come to the conclusion, after his world-wide success,
that sound quality is not important any more for his music? Is sound quality irrelevant
for music?</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Music happened when man composed the natural sounds in a pleasing
order. In the beginning music was rendered either with music instruments or
man’s vocal chords directly for the pleasure of music listeners. It was a truly
natural music. This natural rendering of music continued for centuries. Many
would have, in that early era of music, desired to record the music so that it
can be heard again and again. But they had no means of doing it.</div>
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As per the recorded history, it was only 155 years ago that a
publisher of books in France found, for the first time ever, a way to record
sounds. Edward Scott was running a press in France. He invented a machine
called Phonautograph that recorded audio on paper. He first densely coated the
paper with the black soot of an oil lamp and recorded on it an old French folk
song that went something like ‘On the edge of the moonlight’ with a female
voice. Thus music became the first ever sound that was recorded! The recording
on the paper looked like the scribbling of a child. But the phonautograph had
no provision to play back the song! Nobody believed the scribbling on the paper
to be the recording of music. The world believed it only in 2008, 150 years
after it was recorded; when it was played back with the help of a computer!</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
By 1890s equipments were made to record sound and then hear it by
playing it back as often as one wished and whenever one wished. Never-say-die
efforts of scientists like Emile Berliner and Thomas Alva Edison made this
possible. The sound record that was then made is, to date, the best audio play
back format that man ever invented. What was first made in the form of cylinder
and then a heavy round disc called the Diamond Record underwent many
improvements and changes over the next hundred years to sustain itself as man’s
most favourite form of audio reproduction.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
With the arrival of the compact cassettes in 1970s, the records
started losing their popularity. But the fact remained that compared to the sound
quality of the records, the sound quality of cassettes were sub-standard!
However, the ease and convenience of handling the compact cassettes made the
unwieldy records that needed highly careful maintenance to beat a hasty
retreat.</div>
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The compact discs that came later had audio quality that was many
times better than that of compact cassettes. But audio of a CD can never
compare in quality with that of a record played on a properly maintained music
system. After spending many years listening to music from records, I can say
with certainty that no modern audio format can compare with the sound of
records.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Today’s technology compresses thousands of songs as MP3 and we
listen to them on computer, iPod, iPad, Cell phones etc. But most of us do not
realize that their sound quality is much worse than that of audio cassette
tapes. The natural warmth of sound that we can sense to some extend in audio
tapes is missing in all possible digital audio formats like MP3.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
In the 1890s audio recording studios were started, mostly in
U.S.A. and Europe. In the following 35 years Acoustical recording method was
followed for recording as neither Microphone nor Amplifier had been invented
then. In those days either a sound-insulated room or places with low incidence
of external sounds were used for sound recordings.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Musicians used to sit before a cone-like contraption, as seen in
the Gramophone Record players that came into vogue later to produce their
music, whether vocal or instrumental. The audio thus produced would directly
carve circular grooves on a wax / shellac plate or record. This system remained
popular for decades as the records could be immediately played back and heard.
Soon portable audio recording systems were also developed. I have listened to a
three-minute record of a conversation in Tamil with a Horse cart driver outside
the Central Railway Station in Chennai recorded in 1907 on one such portable
audio recorder brought from Germany!</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Electronic recording of sound became possible because of the
invention of microphone and amplifier circa 1925. But nobody in those days made
any effort towards recording of the sounds with natural clarity and depth,
without the intrusion of extraneous noises. After all, it was the era of
complete satisfaction that sound could be recorded at all and be heard again
and again at will!</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
The American singer-actor Bing Crosby is important among pioneers
who pushed to move the industry to the fidelity of the recorded sound. I have
quite a few records of Bing Crosby recorded around 1930, and considering the
state of technology those days, their sound quality is indeed something of a
miracle. The sound quality of the Western music records scaled new heights by
the end of 1940s. Even today, hearing the music records of those years
surprises us with their audio fidelity.</div>
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The mono audio recording was in vogue for many decades. Many
records were made with mono sounds that were with impressive sound quality. Then
the stereo sound recording and playback was introduced. This was a system where
the audio was made to emanate through three separate channels on the left and
right and a virtual middle. The stereo recording of audio increased the
naturalness of the played back audio many-fold. The recording and listening of
music entered a new era of popularity.</div>
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But it was only a few decades later stereo recording of Indian film
songs became a popular reality. India’s first stereo film record was that of
Laxmikant Pyarelal’s compositions for the movie <i>Jal Bin Machli Nrithya Bin
Bijlee</i> released in 1971. The songs composed by Ilayaraja for the movie<i>
Priya</i> in 1978 were the first Tamil songs with stereo sound. But it was only
in 1980s that Indian film songs completely shifted to stereo audio.</div>
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Entry of world-class audio technology notwithstanding, the quality
and fidelity of audio recordings in India remained many decades behind its
peers in the western world. Hindi composer R.D.Burman was the first one in
India to attempt to bring world-class sound to his songs. Today when I hear
some of the records of his songs, I am struck with wonder at his tireless efforts
and dedication to bring high fidelity to every bit piece in his songs. Thus
R.D.Burman stands out as the first Indian to create a real hi-fi stereo sound
in Indian film songs. He was gifted at once with an understanding of the
minutest nuances of natural sounds, the music of a genius and a total grasp of the
subtleties of electronic technology. One can endlessly listen to even those
compositions of his with below par musicality, churned out to suit the
fast-changing taste of times for their sheer audio quality.</div>
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But there were very few such composers who wanted great sound
quality in their songs in South India. The good sound quality that we experience
in many of the songs here were entirely thanks to the efforts made by some of
our great sound engineers and audio technicians, based on their personal taste
and understanding. Koteswara Rao who worked with both Gemini and Bharani
Recording studios of Chennai in the era of mono-sound is an important name
among prominent audio technicians of South India. It was he who undertook the
sound recording and sound mixing of most of the songs that had great sound during
1950-60 period.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
S.P.Ramanathan is another important sound engineer who came from
the mono age to the stereo age. He was the sound recordist for many Tamil films
like <i>Johnny, Thanikkattu Raja, Moondram Pirai</i> and <i>My Dear
Kuttichhathan</i> with music composed by Ilayaraja in the early eighties. The sound
that softly envelopes you without being loud was his speciality. But the sound
arrangement that I regard as fantastic was the creation of Emmy who worked with
Ilayaraja during the period 1984-88. When I hear the over 250 records of
Ilayaraja in my collection, again and again, my conviction that the best period
for the audio quality of Ilayaraja’s music was the period when Emmy worked with
him becomes firmer. These recordings by Emmy are brimming with the unique bass
guitar patterns of Ilayaraja in one of the tightest bass sounds I have ever
heard in Indian music. The sounds of every music instrument used in these songs
resonate with a stunning liveliness without getting mixed up with one another.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
A.R.Rahman’s first audio recording studio The Panchathan was
designed by Emmy. He also had played his part in the audio recording of
Rahman’s debut song ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’. Later sound engineer H. Sridhar
started working with A.R.Rahman. Sridhar, who was an expert in digital studio
sound equipment and computerized audio recording, worked with A.R.Rahman till his
untimely death in 2008. Sridhar’s recording genius helped A.R.Rahman till the
film<i> Slumdog Millionaire</i> which had won him the Oscar Awards.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Without any doubt whatsoever, A.R.Rahman can be named as the first
South Indian composer who worked to achieve high fidelity sound in music
recording. It is said that once, many seasons before his debut film <i>Roja</i>
happened, he had tried to play the tape of one of his music recordings on his
car stereo. He was so disgusted to find the sound quality of his recording was so
poor compared to a western music recording he had heard before it. He threw the
tape out of his car in irritated by its below par sound! Probably his untiring
search for achieving a world-class sound quality must have started from that
point.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Rahman toils for weeks and sometimes even for months to carve
every little sound bit in his music. That is why, beginning with <i>Roja</i>, over
the last twenty years he has been able to so consistently serve only the best
musical sound. It is my abiding regret that till date I have not had the good
fortune of fully enjoying the sound of the film <i>Roja. </i>Just because vinyl
records of that film was never released! I am still nursing my big wish that I
should hear the song ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ at least once from a vinyl record! Vinyl
records of A R Rahman’s <i>Gentleman</i> and<i> Kizhakku Cheemaiyile </i>were
released. Their audio quality is something to write home about. <i>Kizhakku Cheemaiyile
</i>remains the last released vinyl record in Tamil!</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
In recent years, vinyl records of A.R.Rahman’s Hindi albums like <i>Jodha
Akbar, Vande Mataram, Guru, Rang De Basanti</i> and <i>Lagaan</i> have been
released. Released at a hefty price, their sound quality is not particularly
impressive. They sounds more like CDs! Originally recorded on the current
digital audio formats, they must have run into conversion problems while
preparing the Analogue Master needed to produce the vinyl records! But I just
cannot imagine what could have gone wrong with the sound of the songs of the
film <i>Kadal.</i> There is no way A.R.Rahman could have okayed this sound!</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Among contemporary Tamil film music composers, sound of Harris
Jayaraj is crystal clear and enjoyable. His sound has its own character. Sound
arrangement of many of Karthik Raja (Ilayaraja’s son) songs is just great. You
can see a unique approach to sound right from his songs of the film <i>Alexander</i>,
released in mid-nineties to the latest songs of his recent release <i>Rettai
Chuzhi.</i> There is great high fidelity in the sound of recently released albums
of films like <i>Engaeyum Eppodhum, Severkkodi</i> and <i>Ponmaalai Pozhudhu </i>by
the young composer, C.Satya.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
One needs an array of high quality audio playback equipment capable
of reproducing high fidelity sound to finely judge the true sound quality of a
recording. Even the wires and cables connecting the array of equipment need to
be the best in class. But it is indeed a fact that those with an ear for high
quality sound and the will to look for it, those who evaluate the sound
arrangement of music on a regular basis can recognize the audio quality of the
original recording even when a song played over radio or a cell phone.</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
There still remains the question:
what is truly meant by sound quality of music? I am sorry to say that that
one cannot define sound quality in words. It has to be felt! However, if I were to make an attempt to
define good sound which is not amenable to a wordy definition, then it will be
something like this. The sound of music should be natural without frills or additional
colours. It should have depth and punch but should never boom. The music bits
should not get mixed up and they must have total clarity and separation. Frequencies
of different sounds should not clash but travel in different layers with
pristine transparency. The sound should have hold, precision and it should be
absolutely enjoyable.</div>
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<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
It is possible to enjoy a below par song of Bappi Lahiri on the
strength of its sound quality! But even the best of music from Beethoven, Schubert
and Mozart becomes a cacophony in the absence of well recorded audio quality.
Even the marvels of music are difficult to appreciate if their sound gives a thumbs
down. Great sound is the heart beat of great music. Very definitely it has its
own expression of emotions beyond that of music. We must not forget that music is
nothing but properly arranged and groomed sound. </div>
</span></h4>
</div>
SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-35477727124742082062013-03-01T23:54:00.000-08:002019-03-28T11:00:46.623-07:00Thiagarajan Kumararaja – A Lone Traveler in the Filmy Forest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">It was
a film awards function of a Tamil television channel. The auditorium was
brimming with popular Tamil film personalities. There were show hosts speaking
without pausing to take a breath. There were singers who were only lending lip
movements to the audio CDs being played. Glamorous screen actresses were
dancing to catcalls. Some of the award winners went into great details of their
achievements as an elaborate post-awards speech. Some award winners were
humility personified while thanking and bowing to everyone from god to the
gatekeeper. Then comes the announcement of award for screenplay to the writer
director of the film</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Aranya
Kaandam</i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">, Thiagarajan Kumararaja! He comes to the stage.</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">One
show host asks him as to how he felt on receiving this valued award.
Thiagarajan Kumararaja smiles as if to ask, “What answer do you expect?” He
mutters something like, “What shall I say!” He moves to leave the stage saying,
“I am happy as ever. That is all.” But the host is persistent. “Many important
screenplay writers and directors present here have praised you! What have you
got to tell them?” He smiles disarmingly as he says, “What is there to be said!
I should thank them!” and walks off the stage. That is Thiagarajan Kumararaja
for you! He is a man entirely different from all the film personalities that I
have met so far.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">He does
not have much to tell us about himself. “I am not an intellectual, not a genius
nor anybody extraordinary. I have none of the listed good qualities like a deep
reading, regular travels, continuous viewing of films or a deep love for the
world cinema or art cinema. I am middle class family boy born in Porur area of
Chennai, growing up roaming around mostly Chennai. Even today, I do not have at
home either an internet connection or DTH TV. I am not particularly interested
in them either”.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">He says
that he is in no way connected to the Face book or Twitter accounts that are
operated in his name. It has been many years since he left watching television.
He has not seen many Tamil films. And, he says, he has seen none of the recent
Tamil movies! This is how Thiagarajan Kumararaja, rated by many as a Director
who can take Tamil movies to the next level of excellence, introduces himself
to anyone who insists on knowing about him!</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">His<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>Aranya Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>had its maiden screening at the
World Film Festival held at New York. But the film had not been completed at
that time. It was a raw first print where colour and light balancing had not
been done, the background score was yet to be done. Yet<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>won the Jury’s Award for the Best
Film!</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">But
Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s simple take on the film is that “It is not a realistic
film or an art film, not an experimental film nor a parallel film. I am
frightened by its categorization as a ‘Noir’ or ‘Neo Noir’ film. It is just a
commercial film with quite a few flaws and compromises. I might say it is a
‘masala’ movie. It has every ingredient of such a film like fight scenes,
murders, bedroom scenes and comedy scenes.” That may be true. But we have not
seen these things written in this fashion or filmed like this before in Tamil
cinema! The raw and very evident fact is that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya
Kaandam</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>shook all traditions
of Tamil commercial films and false dramas of novelty like ‘novel and nothing
like anything before’.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Thiagarajan
Kumararaja picturises the macho symbol of Hindi films, Jackie Shroff, as a
sexually weakened man yet a terrorizing villain. No effort has been made to
artificially prop up the character of Jackie Shroff and he has been portrayed
as one among many other artistes! Jackie Shroff, as a matter of fact, lacks a
‘Tamil’ face. One could say he has a Gujarati face with some Nepali features.
But it does not strain our thoughts to view him as a Tamilian featured parading
as the king of crime-ridden lanes of Chennai’s under world! Thiagarajan
Kumararaja, thus, smashes the worn-out cliché of reality Tamil cinema that you
need faces with characteristic racial features to establish the reality of the
screen characters.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The
committee of Film Censors in Chennai had decreed that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>cannot be released without the 52
cuts of portions that offended it. The Appeals Committee of Film Censors in New
Delhi overruled the order and passed it for exhibition without any cuts. But
the dialogues had to be muted at countless places! The bleep sounds of this
muting exercise harass the viewers from following the narration of the story
easily. In this age where violent scenes that freeze our minds parade before us
on the drawing room television screens and every conceivable kind of sexual
perversions are on ‘free’ play through the Internet, it is difficult to see for
whose benefit the Censors are exercising with such vengeance on a film meant
for adult audience!</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Aranya
Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">was not
a commercial success. I think it failed as it was not properly publicised or
widely released. There is no doubt in my mind, that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>was a film that had all the
ingredients of a great commercial success. There are production house heads
here who had invited this ‘commercially unsuccessful’ director told him condescendingly,
“I do not like your film at all. However, as it has something of appeal here
and there, I am quite willing to offer you another chance at remaking one of
our Hindi films into Tamil.” But I do not blame them. After all their daily
dealings are with the kind who are ever ready and willing to compromise on
everything for the sake of opportunities, money and fame!</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Aranya
Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">won two
National Awards for The Best Debutant Director and The Best Editing. Even at
that stage not many in Tamilnadu had seen the film. In a land where the illicit
DVDs of even the best guarded films of Top Stars are sold from day one, neither
the licit nor the illicit DVD of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya
Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>was available
anywhere. It is a miracle that DVDs of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya
Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>of any kind was and
is unavailable! It would appear that somebody has taken great care and gone to
all kinds of lengths to ensure that the film is not seen by the public! People
all over the world have seen and continue to see this film by downloading it
from Internet, even though the dim print makes for a dismal viewing experience.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Aranyam
refers to forest. That part of Ramayana where Rama and Sita are portrayed
living in the forest is called<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya
Kaandam.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>Thiagarajan
Kumararaja’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya Kaandam</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is the story of human beasts that prey
and play without let or hindrance in the terrible forest that is Chennai
metropolis. The central theme of the film is that men are often terrible beasts
that roam the forest called life. They live with names indicative of beasts
like Singaperumal, Kaalaiyan, Pasupati, Gajendran and Gajapati.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Singaperumal
is the king of forests, the Lion. Gajendran and Gajapati are wild elephants.
Pasupati is the cow. He is the sacrificial animal. Kaalaiyan who arranges the
cockfight is the old bull and a candidate for slaughter! ‘Sappai’ and ‘Subbu’,
the characters that play the love theme in the film, are not beasts. They may
even be humans! In this film one does not see love scenes that are melodramatic
or outbursts of artificial emotions nor do we see the usual display of navels
or cleavages.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">There
are four stories proceeding on different platforms. There are six central
characters of equal importance. There are three different climaxes. Thus<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>avoids all clichés of Tamil
cinema. In the end we are presented with a woman as the most important
character. Here it becomes a film with a feministic view. Thiagarajan
Kumararaja says: “It is a totally imaginary world. In all my life, I have not
seen the men of the underworld or criminals, not even a petty thief. But I
believe that I have succeeded in creating, with a degree of credibility, the
world that I wanted to tell everyone about.”</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The
language used in this film is the local dialect of today’s Chennai, especially
the North Chennai. There is a clever use of the new raft of words spawned by
the cell phone and cricket culture. Picturisation and the camera angles that
broke the grammar of Cinema have taken the film to an entirely different level.
Lightings that remind us of 16<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Century
Renaissance paintings impart a poetic touch to the scenes of the film. It
conveys the reality of seeing the events unfold in the dim lights of the real
world narrow lanes and sparely illuminated rooms that blush unseen with
fluctuations of voltage.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Thiagarajan
Kumararaja might have been aided by the influence cast by many films from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Godfather</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Pulp
Fiction</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that stand to the
names of illustrious film makers like Quentin Tarantino, Bryan De Palma,
Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. He might even have borrowed the
technique of multiple stories unfolding simultaneously on parallel stages from
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu in conceiving his screenplay. But no one can call<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya Kaandam</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>as a film that is based on or
mimicking of another film.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The
background score in the film is not that of a jaded melodrama. Yuvan Shankar
Raja's <i>Aranya Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>the background score is, I must
say, impossibly good. And he has won many awards and much fame for his background
score in the film. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Thiagarajan
Kumararaja has an in-depth knowledge of popular music. Rock is his favourite
genre of music. At one stage of his life, he was particularly fond of Heavy
Metal, a form of Rock. He had a big repertoire of western songs for listening
like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi and
Chemical Brothers. He was an ardent fan of R.D.Burman’s Hindi compositions. In
Tamil he likes most of the songs of M.S.Viswanathan but above all, as far as
Tamil songs go, he is a great fan of Ilaiyaraja. He has magically woven into
the background score of</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Aranya
Kaandam,</i><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">a movie without any
song, many Ilaiyaraja songs as a part of the atmospherics. Thiagarajan
Kumararaja says that when he listens to his favourite music, they keep running
in his mind as countless visuals.</span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Though
the movie is replete with brilliant portrayals by all the important artistes
like Jackie Shroff, Yasmin Ponnappa, Ravi Krishna and Sampat Raj, I have never
seen in any film before, anything like the role of Kaalaiyan portrayed by
‘Koothu Pattarai’ Somasundaram! Every thing about the character like its
concept, direction and dialogues is absolutely scintillating! Nothing in my
memory of any portrayal in any film can hold a candle to Somasundaram’s class
act that is quite simply the most brilliant one! Thiagarajan Kumararaja has
been able to wring the best out of all his actors, natural yet creative,
without the device of anything like novelty for the sake of novelty or a
differentiation for the sake of difference.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The
film places before us the important question: “Do you like Kamal Haasan or
Rajnikant?” The character ‘Sappai’ loves only Kamal. In his films, he is the
‘King of Love’. He kisses the girls, fully on their lips! But, from the point
of view of ‘Subbu’, Sappai’s girl friend, Rajini is more important than Kamal.
He may look ordinary, but he is the ‘Baasha’, the emperor! She loves another
hero of Tamil Vijaykant even more as he keeps saving India from Pakistan!</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">This is
merely Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s way of satirizing the Tamil commercial cinema.
He shows up the absurdities of conception and picturisation in our films. The
Censor Board was said to have been very adamant that Thiagarajan Kumararaja
should bring permission letters from Rajni and Kamal before they allow the
dialogues of ‘Sappai’ and ‘Subbu’! Look at the generosity of our Censors
towards Directors who are true to their calling!</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Thiagarajan
Kumararaja left his budding college education within months of starting it to
pamper his whim to direct a film. He did not work as an Assistant with any
Director. He is very emphatic when he says that he is the creation of
Doordarshan, the television channel that is a joke for many in the film world!
The little that he reads, he reads carefully. The few films that he watches, he
evaluates with utmost attention.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">“I was
never an assistant to anybody. But many youngsters call on me to become my
assistants. I am happy about it. I do not believe in moralizing through my
films. I only want to depict natural human instincts. Crime is a natural human
instinct! I have not done anything after<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya
Kaandam.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>But, now I am
writing a screenplay. I will shoot it if it turns out to my satisfaction.
Writing alone is very important to me. If that comes out fine, I need only a
month or two to finish a film! I am a restless person and do not like sitting
in one place. I keep wandering at all times. That is when I watch people with
great care. That and that alone is my cinema education.”</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Thiagarajan
Kumararaja, with his dangerous honesty, dominance with a difference,
refreshingly novel takes and a unique evaluation of cinema’s place in society,
is a lone traveler in our film world.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Aranya
Kaandam<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>ran for four weeks in
just one cinema theatre in Chennai. I saw its last show on the last day of its
screening. Thiagarajan Kumararaja was there, as a person who bought his ticket,
seated quietly, anonymous to all! </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(December 2011)</span></div>
</div>
</div>
SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-3748446802397205832013-02-03T05:55:00.002-08:002013-02-03T06:04:31.236-08:00Your Caste, Please?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizALpFZAOLWrbY6roM_nliYlMx2h3oJKXGVhikDGtVkQKAJiDdL6RRmgB1m6IvTUpZL0pepJOpce2pctgBRlBxkHVjrVZURsxyz1AXPI2K5ElrB-1IUBL6oxfE-kuHGqeQuvhcAhzJiUM/s1600/divide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizALpFZAOLWrbY6roM_nliYlMx2h3oJKXGVhikDGtVkQKAJiDdL6RRmgB1m6IvTUpZL0pepJOpce2pctgBRlBxkHVjrVZURsxyz1AXPI2K5ElrB-1IUBL6oxfE-kuHGqeQuvhcAhzJiUM/s400/divide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ninety per cent of Indians are
idiots who can easily be taken for a ride in the name of caste and religion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Just about anyone can set off a caste or religious riot here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> – </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Markandeya Katju </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(Former
Supreme Court Judge and current Chairman, Press Council of India)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Caste comes with
birth; it can never be abolished’, ‘Caste is a concept that is accepted by
everyone in our society’, ‘Caste is very
important, it tells everyone his true place in society and what he should do in
this life’ are among quite a few pronouncements on caste in India . More than
the caste fanatics, it is the so-called intellectuals who put forward such
justifications for caste. It is these people who have no doubt that, particular
castes have particular characteristics from which they cannot free themselves
even many generations later!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you suggest that
caste fanaticism is a phenomenon only among people of Indian subcontinent and
those nations where migrants from Indian subcontinent are dominant, they will
tell you that there are castes even among nations of Europe like France and
Spain. They will tell you that even among white men there are castes like
Anglo-Saxons and Hispanics. None of
these can be compared to the caste fanaticism that is prevalent in India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Here, when a young man
and a woman hailing from different castes fall in love, an entire village is
set on fire! Some members of both the families are either killed or ‘commit’ suicide
or are maimed for life! If the lovers run away to live elsewhere, they are ostracized
and banned for life from the community. The community’s consuming goal, abetted
by powers that be, is to hunt and haunt the lovers, till their death. Think for
a moment. Does love and sexual attraction between a young man and woman happen after
verifying their caste or religion? A smile and a wink, and a man falls hopelessly
in love with a woman he had not known before. Men and women get attracted to
each other by the way a gesture is made and by the way a look beckons them! Even
the guardians of caste virtues will go to anyone to fulfill their sexual
desires, if they are sure of making it a secret affair! It is the biological
instinct that guides here. The caste and religious distinctions created by man
entirely for selfish reasons cannot stand in the way of a biological instinct.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Divisive factors like
race, language, regionalism and nationalism work virulently and efficiently to
divide man from man, to dominate men and to work their ways to achieve nefarious
political goals. You can see in them a fanaticism that is in no way less than
casteism. My intention is to narrate here how these things confronted me in my
forty years of life and how I made the effort to face them. These are all my
personal evaluations and opinions. You might even say that these are a kind of personal
memoirs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is said that
castes arose and were then followed from one’s calling or trade. But in my
childhood, spent in the hill villages of Idukki district in Kerala, the
experience was totally different. There, people of all castes and religions
whether Brahmins, Nairs, Muslims, Higher caste Christians or Dalits had
agriculture as their calling. Traders in the village markets were people
belonging to different castes. Some of them were traders as well as farmers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bhaskaran, a barber
by caste’s trade, worked on his field till lunch and opened his saloon only in
the afternoon. His eldest son ran a provisions shop. Bhaskaran’s wife, Savitri,
was the dance teacher to our village children. She taught dancing to the girls
of all castes, high or low. No function at our school will be complete without
the dance of her younger son, Salim Kumar, who was my childhood friend. Savitri
was the only celebrity and fine arts centre of those villages!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Oanachan, who sold
both vegetables and dry fish in his shop, was a Dalit. Mynakunjootti, who sold
household goods on installment payment basis, was a Dalit, too. The Brahmins
and Nairs of our place cooked their food on the vessels bought from him! I have
seen daily wage labourers from all castes in our place. Our place was full of
people of all castes doing all kinds of jobs.
Jose and Thangachan, higher caste Christians climbed coconut trees and
betel nut trees. Ramanan Nair, the head load carrier in the village junction or
Vasu Namboodiri who watered our paddy fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Chenda, the
traditional drum of Kerala, is played by a caste called Marar. But in our
villages and towns, Karappattu Kutty Asan and his relatives have been playing
Chenda for generations. They are from the Dalit caste s called Sambava. There
are no temples in our area where their Chenda had not resounded. That tradition
still continues. I still remember the grand function to honour Karappattu Kutty
Asan organized by the villagers when he returned after winning the Special
Award of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Academy. He is not alive today. But his
relations and children play Chenda not only in Kerala but are also in the
temples of Tamilnadu.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I do not recollect
Brahmins being either the priests or administrators of temples in our area. A
few Nairs knowing the rudiments of rituals and even some Ezhavas, considered
low caste, had officiated as Priests! They were called ‘Santhis’ in Malayalam.
There was one ‘Santhi’ in our neighbouring village. He officiated as priest in
many temples and was known as extremely devoted. But one day when he attempted
to rape his teenage daughter, she had cut off his penis with a sickle. He
escaped somehow and ran away from the village. He must still be working as a temple
priest wherever he is, since he knows no other trade!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As a child and as a
teenager, I had close friends across all castes. I used to congregate with
friends like Salim Kumar, Kaniappan, Achan Kunju, Priyan and Sunny in our
friend Srinivasan Nair’s house to play and pass time. When Srinivasan Nair’s
parents were not at home, we used to get into their kitchen to cook and eat
whatever caught our fancy. It, then, never occurred to us to regard a Barber, a
Muslim, a Dalit, a Christian, an Ezhava or a Nair as persons belonging to
different castes. It is only now; when I sit down to write this article, I
remember that we were supposedly born into different castes! I do not think
that the Nair household came to any harm because of the ‘low caste brats’
entering their house! Today, Srinivasan Nair is a happy man, settled in Dubai
as a top executive of a huge corporate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Religions play a big
role in controlling and institutionalizing caste. I have always seen religion
as far more complex than caste and quite active in creating confusions. As an
example, let us suppose somebody wants to know my religion and I respond to
them saying that I am a Muslim, it does not end there. I have to say whether I
am a Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiya, Ibadi, Qurani, Sufi or belong to Nation of Islam!
Alright, take me as a Sunni. Then am I confessing to Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi, Humblee,
Tauheed or Wahabi! If I am, on the other hand a Shia, then do I belong to
Twelvers or Ismaili or Zaidiyya or Bohra? Let us look at what the Islamic web
site ‘Fundamentals of Islam’ has to say: “Muslim world remains divided into
countless sects and sub sects. Every sect has its own laws and disciplinary
rules.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It may require many
articles like this to write about the divisions, sects and sub sects of
Christianity. Christianity has thousands of sects and sub sects in its many
important versions like Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Non Trinity, New
Thought, Jewish Christianity, Esoteric and Syncretistic. You might have heard
of Catholic churches like Roman Catholic, Latin Catholic and Syrian Catholic
and Protestant churches like Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican, Brethren, Baptist
and Pentecost. There are ‘Orthodox’ Christian Churches native only to Kerala
like Jacobites, Catholicate and Marthoma. Like this there are endless numbers
of churches counting as sub sects in each and every part of the world that
follows Christianity!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In Hinduism they say
that the four varnas of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras said to have
been born from different parts of the creator god Brahma. Chandalas are said to
have been born from the dust of Brahma’s feet. But under the sects like
Vaishnava, Saiva, Shaktha, Saura, Smartha, etc., there are thousands of
divisions and subdivisions in Hinduism. Many know that Iyers are Smartha
Brahmins following the line prescribed by Adi Shankara. But how many know of
Smartha Brahmin sects like Kanyakubja, Sarayubarene, Saraswat, Utkala,
Maithili, Gauda, Garhade, Deshastha, Konkanastha, Devarukke, Gauda Saraswat,
Chitrapur, Rajapur, Havyaka, Vaidiki Mulakanadu, Vaidiki Velanadu, Vaidiki
Veginadu, Badaganadu, Hoysala Kannada, Koda, Babbur Kamme, Arvel Neogi, Vaishya
Vani, etc….etc…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Among Brahmins of
Kerala there are many sub sects like Pushpaka, Nambisan, Unni, Brahmani,
Daivampati, Pilappalli and so on. There are countless Gotras and Pravaras as
well. Brahmins are only a small percentage of Hindus. Just imagine the
mind-boggling number of sects and sub sects in the other castes of Hindus. Chettiars,
who are another of smaller castes alone are supposed to have 24 sub sects! All
these countless divisions among different religions and castes seek to prop up
differences, deviations and contradictions. Even among the people of the
outwardly same caste there is hierarchy of superiority and inferiority. They
prescribe different levels of untouchability among themselves!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Does human life that
lasts a short span of 70, 80 years need these countless castes and religions
and the contradictions of their separate laws and rules that create most of the
social frictions, sorrows and losses? Many still believe that caste is being
preserved to maintain racial purity and sacredness! What importance can be
accorded to such remnants of superstitions that bedeviled man during his cave
dwelling days? Have not we heard that ‘Mother is truth but father is faith’? Is
it possible all such faiths of us are true? Do we realize that only a mother
knows about the degree of ‘racial purity’ of her children?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What will happen when
two persons hailing from different castes inter-marry? Will the sky fall down?
I have only one sister. In the gap between her graduation and preparations for
her wedding, she temporarily joined an organisation for work. There she
happened to fall in love. The boy was a Dalit Christian! He came home and asked
for the hand of my sister. My father, who was into social service and was
regarded as one who ignored caste and religion, was beside himself with anger.
He exploded in rage. When it came home, his social inclusiveness and social
responsibility went out of the window! The news reached me in Karnataka where I
was working. My father and my maternal uncles were preparing to create a real
ruckus. My sister remained silent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">She made one thing
plain to me when I talked to her. “If you say no, I will stay away from this
love. But I can never break away from it in my heart. I will spend my entire
life in this house. But please do not ever run away with the impression that I
will change with time and that you can thrust on me a marriage of your choice.”
The suggestions that I could have made vanished before her determination. I
stood by her in that wedding. I had a tough time getting my father to agree to
the wedding which took place braving the opposition of our relatives and family
friends. My brothers and I bade our sister a tearful send-off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Her husband rose from
ranks in his job. Till my father’s death, he maintained a very close relation
with him. I felt that my father, who had more or less disowned me, accepted him
as his own son! My sister is now mother of two children. Her daughter is
seventeen and studying well, standing first in the district. She has even won a
few state-level prizes for her poems. My 13 years old nephew reads a lot and writing
short stories. My sister is happy. And as I write this, the new house she is
constructing is taking shape in our home town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A young boy and a
girl from two permanently warring castes fell in love. The girl got pregnant.
When she became aware of the pregnancy, it was too late. Frightened of the
threat to her life if it became known, she took some potentially harmful medicines
to abort her pregnancy. But the foetus refused to abort. The girl child saw the
light of the day hurdling over all the death traps set for her. She was born
with physical handicaps and many brain deficiencies. My caste is the same caste
of that child, condemned to live her entire life in tears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-7867427362167369242013-01-23T10:34:00.000-08:002013-01-23T10:35:01.850-08:00A Favourite Disciple of Ravi Shankar<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDJzmdfAol15oWVPBxiCNmpoFL0AA9jZqRhZGV4hoRRJlg-oo7I-x6xsCnPpVmI4pP2vz_MUHoccJc_jL1tNfl9r6NbtQ6kxJ_3L84TbnKwQIHcXvYpaiZuh7x-iPPh298HPVe0gRUWc/s1600/Jana+ravi+shanakar1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDJzmdfAol15oWVPBxiCNmpoFL0AA9jZqRhZGV4hoRRJlg-oo7I-x6xsCnPpVmI4pP2vz_MUHoccJc_jL1tNfl9r6NbtQ6kxJ_3L84TbnKwQIHcXvYpaiZuh7x-iPPh298HPVe0gRUWc/s400/Jana+ravi+shanakar1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Is it possible to get A.R.Rahman? If it is
not possible, how about Balamuralikrishna? At least S.P.Balasubramaniam?” These
were the questions posed to me by a Manager in charge of Music in an important
Malayalam TV Channel on the morning of 11<sup>th</sup> December, 2012, the day
Pundit Ravi Shankar passed away! The idea was to get a few popular figures in
the field of music to talk about Pundit Ravi Shankar and get it telecast as a
channel tribute. I told him that there is a person in Chennai who is better
qualified to talk about Pundit Ravi Shankar. “Is it Ilayaraja?” he asked me. I said,
“No. He is Pundit Janardhan Mitta.” He responded saying “Even I do not know of
him. So where is the question of viewers knowing of him?” Then I asked him, “Do
you know who Vilayat Khan is?” He said, “I have heard the name somewhere, but
cannot place him.” “Do you know who Annapurna Devi is?” I continued. He said,
“No”. “Nikhil Banerji?” “No”. “How about Shahid Parvez?” He did not know him as
well. I disconnected telling him that it was no surprise that he had not heard
of Pundit Janardhan Mitta. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If Pundit Ravi Shankar represents a great
peak of sitar then Ustad Vilayat Khan stands as another great peak. Nikhil
Banerji is another peak in the world of sitar. The genius of Annapurna Devi in
sitar is well known. She was the first wife of Pundit Ravi Shankar. Ustad
Allauddin Khan was the father of Annapurna Devi and a Guru to all the above
sitar maestros! If Shahid Parvez is the present day sitar wonder, then Pundit
Janardhan Mitta is South India’s best sitar maestro.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Among the few disciples of Pundit Ravi Shankar,
Pt. Janardhan Mitta is an important one. He had moved closely with Pt. Ravi
Shankar for almost half a century. But, as he had spent almost 45 important
years of his life in the film music industry, barring composers and artistes in
the industry he remained unknown to common people and music fans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My relationship with Pundit Janardhan Mitta’s
music began from the days of Salil Chowdhury composing music for the Malayalam
film <i>Madanotsavam. </i>The song ‘Saagarame Shaantamaka Nee’ from that film
was later translated into the Tamil song ‘Kaalamagal Medainadakam’. It is one
of the most emotional songs that I have heard. I can never forget the
sorrow-filled parts of the sitar portion in the song. Janardhan’s sitar music
had also starred in the many songs of another of my ideal Malayalam film music
composers, Baburaj. Baburaj was greatly infatuated with Hindustani music. He
had composed many songs in ghazal, tumri and dadhra styles. And he unfailingly
made great use of Janardhan’s sitar music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After I became a resident of Chennai, I
searched for and visited many music artistes who played some fantastic
instrumental pieces in many of my favourite numbers to spend hours of marvelous
times with them. Important among them are flute wonder Guna Singh and violin
genius Rama Subbu. That was how I first met Pundit Janardhan Mitta. That
relationship continues to this day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Pundit Janardhan, who was the sitar artiste
dear to Salil Chowdhury, was not aware of the difference of opinion between his
Guru Pt. Ravi Shankar and Salil Chowdhury that was practically music tiff.
Salil Chowudhury had, in many of his numbers like ‘O Sajna Barkha Bahaar Aayee’
in the film <i>Parakh</i>, used sitar for a western technique like obbligato.
At this, an angered Pt. Ravi Shankar had objected saying that Salil Chowdhury
had no right to trivialize the treasure of Indian music, the sitar, like this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Salil Chowdhury had reposted to this
criticism: “I am not in the sad position of having to learn from Ravi Shankar
how to be an Indian in music or how to go Western.” Later, however, Ravi Shankar
corrected himself saying that his stand on the issue was wrong and that the
score of Salil Chowdhury was superbly creative. He also said that he could
never have composed music for films like Salil Chowdhury, S.D.Burman or Madan
Mohan!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Pt. Janardhan had called me the evening of
the day Pt. Ravi Shankar had passed away. Seeing his number on my cell, I greeted,
“Good Evening, Punditji”. He sounded tired when he responded: “How could this
day be good, Shaji?” I could feel the heaviness of his sorrow in his voice. I
could feel his heart crying out in memory of his Guru Pundit Ravi Shankar, a
person he worshipped, someone he valued like his own life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Pt. Ravi Shankar was born in Benares, Uttar
Pradesh. Bengali was his mother tongue. His father was an advocate. His elder
brother was the internationally renowned Indian classical dance genius, Uday Shankar.
Ravi Shankar started his artistic career as the dancer in his brother’s dance
troupe at the age of 10. He started on his foreign tours then itself. He heard
and was mesmerized by the sitar play of Ustad Allauddin Khan at the age of 14.
He, at that very inspired moment, left dance to learn playing sitar as the
disciple of Ustad Allauddin Khan. Ravi Shankar completely dedicated himself to music.
By the time he was 20, Ravi Shankar was already a music genius. His fame spread
across India. His music concerts in India and abroad were of prodigious count.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Janardhan Mitta was born into a Telugu family
in Hyderabad. His father was an advocate, too. A music teacher used to come to
their house to teach his elder sister music. His sister used to learn sitar, as
well, from him on occasions. Janardhan, who was fascinated on seeing this,
started practicing on sitar whenever he got time. Pretty soon, he started
playing the sitar well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He was invited to play sitar for radio
events. Janardhan, without the benefit of having learnt sitar properly from a
Guru, became the ‘court’ musician of Hyderabad Radio station! When Pt. Ravi Shankar
came to Hyderabad for a music event in 1955, Janardhan Mitta had the
opportunity of meeting him. He was introduced to Pt. Ravi Shankar as a humble
local sitar player. He wanted to play sitar before the maestro. But Ravi Shankar
declined assuring him that he will listen to him during his next visit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Pt. Ravi Shankar visited Hyderabad again soon
enough. Tensed by the occasion, Janardhan played something forgettable on the
sitar. After listening to him, a surprised Pt. Ravi Shankar said: “You do not
know the basics of playing the sitar! But, goodness me, you certainly have
played some advanced bits so effortlessly”. Reassured by Punditji’s smile of
approval, Janardhan fell at his feet and beseeched him, “Nobody taught me.
Guruji, please accept me as your disciple and guide me along the right path.”
Ravi Shankar did not have any reservations while accepting him as his disciple.
He was then living in Delhi. Thus Janardhan made frequent trips to Delhi from
1956 onwards to learn sitar from his beloved Guru.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At that time, Ravi Shankar’s stay in India
was only for brief periods! He was frequently visiting all the important music fora
in the world to give his sitar concerts. Ravi Shankar had come close to George
Harrison, the guitar artiste and singer in the Beatles Troupe, and soon became
his sitar Guru as well. It was this ‘Ravi Shankar impact’ that made Harrison
play sitar in a few songs like ‘Norwegian Wood’. It was George Harrison who had
called Ravi Shankar the ‘Father of World Music’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The album ‘East Meets West’, which he had
made with Western classical music maestro Yehudi Menuhin, became very popular.
The album ‘Passages’, that he made with American classical music composer,
Philip Glass, many years later, was very popular as well. Ravi Shankar held
fusion concerts with superstars of popular music like Bob Dylan and Eric
Clapton. He was not merely an India musician famous all over the world, the
fame of having introduced Indian Classical music to the world was his, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There was not much demand, then, for
classical sitar music in South India, especially not in Hyderabad. It was a
time when Janardhan was in a dilemma to continue with music or to seek some
other work. Then in 1958, he was invited by Sarathi Recording Theatre of
Hyderabad to play the sitar for a film. He accomplished the job easily and
received good payment, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Many opportunities followed from the film
industry. That made Janardhan decide that his career lay in playing sitar for
the film industry and in January 1959, he migrated to Madras, which was the
then centre for the making of South Indian films. In Madras he played sitar for
the film music of Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films besides devotional
albums. Now and then a few Hindi, Oriya and Bengali film opportunities also
came his way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Janardhan who started playing sitar for
composers like Master Venu, Rajeswar Rao and Ghantasala continued his work
playing sitar for, more or less, all the film composers of India like Salil Chowdhury,
Laxmikant Pyarelal, Viswanathan Ramamurthy, K.V.Mahadevan, Baburaj, Ilaiyaraja
and A.R.Rahman. One can say that practically 90% of sitar pieces in the popular
South Indian music came from Janardhan! He had a special talent for playing
sitar pieces for background score that enhanced the emotions of the film
scenes. I would suggest that you listen carefully to the background score of
the film <i>Pesum Padam</i>. One could deeply feel the emotion-stirring beauty
of the sitar play in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Pt. Ravi Shankar scaled every height that an
Indian artiste could dream of. He was bestowed every award of Government of
India, including Bharat Ratna. He stayed, for the most part, in America. He
would stay in India only for two months of the year. Pt.Janardhan Mitta
continued his music lessons from Pt.Ravi Shankar by visiting him wherever he
stayed in India. He practiced his sitar lesson for 10 days a year, staying with
Pt.Ravi Shankar in his 3 acres farm house in his native Benares. Pt.Janardhan
learned playing sitar at his Guru’s feet for almost 50 years!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Janardhan, too, has travelled to many
countries and given concerts of both classical and film music. He has given
classical music sitar concerts in many centres in India as well. In some of
Ravi Shankar’s sitar concerts in South India, Janardhan had jointly played
sitar with his revered Guru. Some sitar pieces played by Janardhan had found a
place in the album ‘Passages’ of Philip Glass and Pt. Ravi Shankar. He has also
released a few records and cassettes of classical music of his own. He has the credit
of composing music for a few Telugu films. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Pt. Janardhan Mitta was the President of the
South Indian Film Music Artistes Union for many years. He had, during his
tenure, taken steps to increase the remuneration levels of music artistes and
introduced quite a few new schemes for music artistes living in penury. He is
now untiringly working full time for the spread of Hindustani classical music.
He is running a forum in Chennai called Vishwa Kala Sangam, just for Hindustani
music. He continues to give regular music concerts accompanied by a young woman
tabla player, Rimpa Shiva.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Janardhan Mitta says: “My Guruji was
instrumental in making Indian instrumental music stand tall in the world arena.
The role played by him in raising the standards of life for Indian musicians
and getting them their due respect in our society is truly historical.
Janardhan Mitta worships his Guru like an incarnation for teaching him the
secrets and techniques of Hindustani music on the sacred premise that ‘don’t do
cheating in music’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Today, Pundit Ravi Shankar is no more with
us. But there is Pundit Janardhan Mitta who reminds us of his guru. How many
people know that he can hold his own in the ‘Top sitar players of the world’? I
despair to know when we are going to honour with all due respect Pundit
Janardhan Mitta’s miraculously potent sitar music and his lifelong service in
the cause of music!</span></div>
SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-44554918469492385202013-01-23T10:07:00.004-08:002013-01-23T10:07:46.914-08:00The Malayalee Sensibilities of Music<br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“There is
nothing as great a music system in this world as Carnatic music. There may be a
few others that are pleasant to hear. But none of them have the greatness or the
importance of our music system.” This is no sooth-saying of an ordinary person!
It was no less than the Guru of Carnatic music, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer! Most
of the people here will contend that this opinion of the omniscient Guru is
indeed correct. Is it possible that the venerable Semmangudi reached this
conclusion after attaining a complete understanding of all the other music
systems in this world? If he has reached this conclusion only on the basis of
his understanding of Carnatic music, is it tenable or credible?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Melissa
Holliday is an Australian friend. She can sing very well. On an occasion I
presented her a record of Madurai Mani Iyer’s rendering of a Swati Thirunal <i>krithi</i>
‘Saarasaaksha Paripaalaya’ in Raag Pantuvarali (Kamavardhini). After listening
to it, the question that she asked me was, “Is it some tribal chant?” We can
dismiss her question as a matter of ignorance. My question is, “Isn’t there a big
mistake somewhere in claiming, with just an understanding of a music system
that is native to a few provinces in India which is a small part of the world,
that our system of music is the greatest system in this world?” We Malayalees
have for long been fostering an attitude very similar to this, that what we
know is great and everything else is trash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By now, we
have a long history of writing in Malayalam that regards Western music with
varying degrees of revulsion and buttresses it with ‘scholarly’ evaluations
like ‘Over doing of Western music’ and ‘Noisy Western Music’. If this is the
standard of evaluation of the classical system of music that has developed over
a millennium and spread to all parts of the world, then I can imagine nothing
more absurd! What Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi or Tchaikovsky created are
not mere ‘noises’. These are wizardries of music that can reach, touch and
transform the most delicate emotions and moments of human heart!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And if these
smug critiques refer to the Western popular music (Pop) then to consider the
prodigious output of the likes of John Lennon, Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael
Jackson, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder as noise is height of
ignorance. Most of these are sculptures in music that unify light music, the
excitement of beat, incandescent moments of emotions and universal brotherhood
into one moment of creative greatness. This Malayalee thought that seeks to
trash the Western music as noise, when compared to a white woman’s
understanding of Madurai Mani Iyer’s rendering as a tribal chant is a much
greater distortion and very unbecoming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In Malayalam
film music, in the many songs composed by Salil Chowdhury, M.B.Sreenivasan,
Johnson, Ilayaraja and Shyam, we get to hear the great fusion of tunes steeped
in Indian classical music and scintillating background instrumental scores that
are so beautifully in western music style. But our traditionally handicapped
listening style makes us listen to the lines of the lyrics and then the tune in
which the lines are sung often completely ignoring the glorious background
instrumental music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To add
insult to injury, we grumble aloud that too much importance is being accorded
to instrumental music. Our complaints then borrow the tones of our innate
beliefs in untouchability to ask why should accompanying instruments, that
should stand with deferential humility well behind the vocal music, be given
such prominence. As far as Malayalees are concerned lines of lyrics are what
count and they should be loud and clear! When we set the sacred lines to tune
we should not stretch, shorten or split them! It is just blasphemous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We refuse to
understand that the words of the lines need to be stretched, shortened or split
to suit the requirements of the tune to give the whole line the musicality that
go on to make a song out of lyrics. The beauty of a piece in the background
score whether it is a sitar or flute or tabla used with equal or more
prominence in a song barely reaches our ears. If the lines of lyrics alone are
important, why have a song at all. It should be enough to read or recite the
lines as a poem. Why bother to set the poem to music, at all? Or for that
matter, why have instrumental music at all as a background?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How many
among us would have noted how in the song ‘Maanasa mine Varu’ sung by Manna Dey
for the film <i>Chemmeen</i> the Harmony and the Obbligato of the instruments
flute and Oboe in the background gives the song a creative completeness? But
then we are Malayalees and our strong belief is that instrumental music only
‘helps’ to discount the clarity and importance of lyrics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">These kinds
of opinions emanate from the wrong notion that poem and music are synonymous.
As I have already written in a previous article, you need language to create a song.
But you need neither language nor lines to create music. Good music can stand
on its own strength without the lines of lyrics. Take Mozart’s violin
composition Serenade 13 in G Major, for example. You can write lines in any language
any time to the tune of Serenade 13 and make it a song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I would like
readers to carefully listen to Johnson’s background scores in many Malayalam
films like <i>Thoovaanathumbigal </i>and<i> Namukku Paarkaan Mundirithoppugal.</i>
One can then experience the verity of the proposition that instrumental music
can stir our emotions on par with any song or even surpass it. But then we have
to improve our discerning power from a mere ‘awareness of the song’ to an
‘awareness of music’. We can understand the real creative contribution of a
composer only by listening closely to the instrumental scores of composers in
songs. Otherwise listeners simply lose the finer points of music in listening
merely to the lyrics of the song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another
essential stipulation that our listeners prescribe for a singer is that he
should have a ‘bass’ voice. We see Yesudas’ ‘bass’ voice as his very great specialty.
My experience tells me that this belief in the essentiality of a ‘bass’ voice
for a male singer is the peculiarity of Malayalees. None of the great and
famous male singers of western music like Michael Jackson, Barry Gibb, Jeff
Buckley, Jimmy Somerville, Sting and John Lennon can be said to have the ‘bass’
voice prescribed by us. Nor did the great Indian singers like Mohammed Rafi and
Talat Mehmood have the ‘vibrant’ low notes. Look at our great singers before
Yesudas like A.M.Rajah or Udayabhanu. They were such marvels but did not have
the ‘vibrant bass’ voice. For this reason, can we dismiss these greats as not
great singers? Many of them were certainly better singers than Yesudas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is
generally said that Malayalees are not given to star worship. But, at least in
the matter of music, I do not think it to be true. I know many Malayalees who
are in no doubt whatsoever that Yesudas is the greatest singer ever to have
been born in this world. Here there is no further room for critical analysis or
evaluation of great music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exactly like
our overweening commitment to Carnatic music, we are stuck with an
ignore-everything-else interest in some particular ragas of Carnatic music. The
countless number of popular Malayalam film songs from the ‘Golden Era’ of
Malayalam film music had been composed in ragas you can count on your fingers
like Mohanam, Madhyamavadhi, Aabheri, Hindolam, Ananda Bhairavi, Shuddha
Dhanyasi etc. I cannot help remembering the comment of a musician friend from
Tamilnadu that most of the Malayalam film songs he had heard sounded more or
less the same. As you keep composing the songs in a few ragas, the possibility
of the song becoming familiar faster increases through the process of the song
reminding us of earlier famous songs. The Malayalee tendency of appreciating
only the familiar things and viewing the unfamiliar with suspicion is again
evident from this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then there
are Malayalees who make a ‘to do’ about their appreciation of songs with a deep
knowledge of music. Right on top of their menu is the requirement that ‘sangatis’
must have deep and grave import. The more involved and difficult to sing the sangati
is, the better it is! Then they can delight for hours and days, explaining the
unexplainable. They will accept the greatness of a song only when the sangatis
score more on the scale of difficulty. ‘Gangey……and ‘Madhumozhi Raadhe Ninne……………..Thedi’
are some examples where lung calisthenics stretching the lines are called for
and therefore, count as great songs! Delicate expressions and beautifully
portrayed emotions in a song is the basis of good music. But, sorry, it is not so
for Malayalees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Malayalees
love music programs, but, please, please reproduce exactly as it was recorded.
Omit nothing. And do not add anything as well. My friend, why should you attend
a music program? You will be better off listening to a DVD recording of the
song. Why should another singer and a music troupe go to the trouble of
reproducing the same thing? When a famous song is reproduced in a forum,
everywhere in the world, listeners applaud and accept the changes made with a
sense of musicality. In fact, most listeners come looking for such nuggets of
creative beauty. When Mehdi Hassan sang his famous film songs, audience waited
with bated breath for the creative changes he rang up at every different
concert!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Only those
who know that the music we have not heard is much more than the miniscule that
we have heard can realize that there is no such thing as the last word in
music! No form of art that does not understand the changing times or fails to
reach newer and different audiences can survive. Carnatic music faces this frightening
prospect today. We should be ever ready, without forgetting our tradition or
the path we had travelled, to understand the new world and changing times.
While remaining conscious of the greatness of our traditions, we will do well
to remember that there are other even greater traditions in this world. For a
listener who can in all truthfulness realize the limitations of what he has
heard and therefore keeps both his mind and heart open to newer and fresher
listening experiences, the music will always be the language of the heart and
soul. Beethoven or Thyagaraja, Ustad Amir Khan or Michael Jackson, Mehdi Hasan
or Salil Chowdhury, Madan Mohan or Baburaj, are all but a local dialect of the
universal human language called music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-23089200933921293652013-01-11T08:01:00.002-08:002013-01-11T17:47:06.598-08:00Dr. Verghese Kurien: Paving The Milky Way<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPJlarCk7RJnOU68hoPolPEv_rXUWIpZ_QmgTBqRDHLshv6p53KMTOesZQfi7Ld2ATsMZwd1uXZ_LMohPzEF_TvO-C2jllAhfxjDzPQwvWIoMYbtInlW9mU8PgH4nkmzpLJQpDkpn9E8/s1600/verghesekurien.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPJlarCk7RJnOU68hoPolPEv_rXUWIpZ_QmgTBqRDHLshv6p53KMTOesZQfi7Ld2ATsMZwd1uXZ_LMohPzEF_TvO-C2jllAhfxjDzPQwvWIoMYbtInlW9mU8PgH4nkmzpLJQpDkpn9E8/s400/verghesekurien.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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They always say what can one man do? </div>
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One man can do a lot if
he dedicates himself to the task. </div>
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One man can create an AMUL. </div>
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– Dr. Verghese
Kurien</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Years ago</b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> I have </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">traveled</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> widely in the state of Gujarat. Anand town is on the State Highway
between Baroda and Ahmedabad. It has a sleepy railway station on the Mumbai -
Ahmedabad line. As you travel on the state highway you can see factories
bearing sky-high legend AMUL. Whenever I used to travel on the route, my mind
would inescapably remember Dr. Verghese Kurien. I had always regarded him as
one of my ideals. I could never think of him without a sense of admiration. I
had always longed to go into his office to meet him and shake hands at least
once. The thought of ‘who am I for that?’ curbed my ambition.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dr.Verghese Kurien
was the one, over the last 63 years, who had built brick by brick the AMUL
brand that is the face of the internationally famous, commercially successful
empire that markets milk and milk products. The story goes back to the small
town of Anand. AMUL stands for Anand Milk Union Limited. It is the name that
showed the world how a single person with a will can eradicate the poverty of
millions of people with a product that spoils in a matter of a few hours! It is
a name that showed how the destiny of a nation can be rewritten for the better.
Dr.Verghese Kurien is the only Indian who showed how it could be done!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dr.Kurien was never
the owner of or the investor in AMUL. AMUL is a miracle that happened when, as
a Government employee, Dr.Kurien came forward to be a social entrepreneur. AMUL
is among the most massive of the cooperative unions of people! It is an union
of 16200 village cooperative units. Common people, all 32 lakhs of them, are
the owners of AMUL! Today AMUL stands before the whole world as its greatest
cooperative organisation that grosses a turnover of over Rs.12, 000 crores in milk
and milk products.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are few
organisations in the world that can stand in comparison with AMUL in
manufacturing breadth of products like our daily milk, butter, milk supplement
for children, cheese, skimmed milk powder, curd, milk butter, ice cream, cold
milk drinks, milk-based health drinks, sweetened milk concentrates, milk
sweets, etc or in its geographic spread or its scale of operation. Dr.Kurien,
as the head of National Dairy Development Board, launched Operation Flood to
replicate the AMUL pattern of cooperative dairy development all over India. It
is this ‘Operation Flood’ that made India the largest producer of liquid milk
in the world! It is one of the few reasons that India could stand tall in the
world as an example to the other nations! Dr.Kurien achieved all these as a
Government employee on a monthly salary, taking all the monumental works in his
stride as if it is all part of his every day work!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Variously called as
the Father of India’s White Revolution, India’s Milkman and other such
endearing names, Dr.Kurien had Malayalam as his mother tongue. He was born in
1921, as the scion of a rich family, in Kozhikkode, a part of Madras province
in the pre-Independence India. He graduated in Physics from Loyola College of
Chennai and later took a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Madras
University. Later when he topped the exam in Metallurgy at Tata Steel’s College
of Technology in Jamshedpur, Government of India sent him to America for
further studies with a scholarship grant. He joined Michigan State University in
1946 and returned to India as a Mechanical Engineering scientist. He was to
later remark that none of these achievements of him in higher studies was of
any use in his later career!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While granting him
scholarship for higher studies Government of India had laid the condition that
on his return he must serve Government of India for a few years wherever he is
posted in India. That was how he reached Anand in 1949. Anand was then direly
impoverished with scorching summer and water famine and without any basic
facilities. Dr.Kurien was sent there to erect new machinery for the Government
milk dairy. Born with a silver spoon and having lived in America cocooned in
all comforts, was given a dilapidated garage to stay in Anand. He could not
stand the sounds and smells of cows and buffaloes tethered all around. He had
an aversion for milk even as a child! Seeing no way out, he waited for his
agreed term with Government to be over. In the meanwhile, he kept sending his
resignations. Finally his resignation was accepted before the agreed term
expired! As he was packing his bags with great relief, Tribhuvandas Patel, a
leader of farmers in Gujarat, called on him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tribhuvandas Patel
conveyed his belief forcefully that he could do something good for the dire
poor who toiled night and day and yet could not eke out a living. He told him
that Gujarat needed his service and exhorted him to stay. Dr.Kurien could not
overlook the gravity and force of the request made by Tribhuvandas. That day he
staked his life for the poor farmers of Gujarat. Thus the legend of
Tribhuvandas and Verghese was born and the rest is the history of India’s White
Revolution. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In one of his
reminiscences down the road many years later Dr.Kurien had said: “Till then I
knew nothing of either milk or agriculture. Only those people who are conscious
of what they do not know rather than what they know can execute their work
properly.” He requested his friend from his American stay, Harischandra Yadav,
to come down to Anand for a few days. He hailed from a dairy farming family. The
friend who came as a guest for three days stayed on for 35 years shouldering
important responsibilities in AMUL. Dr.Kurien brought together many able
persons from different fields and led them with a great clarity of purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dr.Kurien was not well
versed in Gujarati language. His Hindi too was a laboured effort. English was
his lingua franca. But that never cramped his style. Dr.Kurien’s contributions
to the widely noticed and timely creative advertisements of AMUL were direct. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dr.Kurien’s stay at AMUL
was a saga of achievements and awards after awards sought him out. Government
of India conferred on him every honour it had except Bharat Ratna award. The
award for being the World’s Top Manager (1993), highest award of the Milk
Industry in the world, Walter Peace Prize, World Food Award and Magsaysay Award,
he had got them all. In many of these awards, he was the only Indian to get
them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When his time of
retirement came, he was not allowed to retire. He too was not the retiring
kind. But at the ripe age of 85, Dr.Verghese Kurien was rather forcefully shown
the gate at AMUL, the organisation he had so lovingly built. Political forces
that wanted to clamp their hands on AMUL had cleverly outmaneuvered him. But
even after this unseemly event he did not abandon either Anand or the many
organisations that he had founded like the world-famous National Institute of
Rural Development.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Selfishness was not a
part of his mental vocabulary, but Dr.Verghese Kurien was supremely confident
of himself, his work and decisions he made to further the cause of farmers. For
this he was accused of being head-strong! He had always wanted all the
Divisional Heads in AMUL to report to him directly so that he could guide them
better. For this, he was dubbed a dictator. But never in his life was he a
partisan giving concessions to favourites or recommending an individual. His
work ethics, moving ahead of times with foresight, impartial and unbiased
evaluation and unbending determination for the cause were the basis of his
management legitimacy. The Presidents and Prime Ministers of India and
Dignitaries from abroad threw protocol to the wind and visited him in Anand to
gain the insights of his problem-solving philosophy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is what he has
written in his autobiography </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">An Unfinished
Dream</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: “Farmer sheds his blood as sweat to produce
food for us. When he eats his meal in peace, when he gets the respect
and an income equivalent to other trades and industries, then alone will my
dream be fulfilled. The journey that I started in Anand 60 years ago is not
going to end till every poor farmer in our country triumphs.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dr.Verghese Kurien,
who was a complete atheist and rationalist, wanted his body to be cremated in
an electric crematorium and the ashes to be strewn on the soil of Anand. He
also insisted that his funeral be free of the usual rites and that there be no
memorial to his name. His wish was implicitly carried out after his death on 9<sup>th</sup>
September, 2012. Dr.Kurien used to cite the following lines of Alfred Lord
Tennyson whenever he talked of his own death<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunset
and evening star,</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And one clear call
for me!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And may there be no
moaning of the bar,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I put out to
sea.</span></div>
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<!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-88222841808116899592012-11-11T08:44:00.003-08:002012-11-21T10:07:23.723-08:00Philip Francis: The Music We Never Heard<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg_8S2HYcZuLbIW-CQQ3pqvAEqadlQ6RTu0ZBYxs6BZc12WT1EtayrGcww4LcwAfLSKA5U5_rwN7N3pEb1mIjeHZ_huAD8Be3PjhLw6ARoofMy33tIXIelnbGUXmwm0n-k4RZ-UqMdSsM/s1600/Philip+Francis12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg_8S2HYcZuLbIW-CQQ3pqvAEqadlQ6RTu0ZBYxs6BZc12WT1EtayrGcww4LcwAfLSKA5U5_rwN7N3pEb1mIjeHZ_huAD8Be3PjhLw6ARoofMy33tIXIelnbGUXmwm0n-k4RZ-UqMdSsM/s320/Philip+Francis12.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Whenever I visited
the home of Sabira, daughter of that eternal marvel of a composer of Malayalam
film music, Baburaj, I had felt that the house and the people within were all
like a Baburaj song. I always felt that the family was like a love-filled
Baburaj song of sincerity, truthfulness and simplicity. On a rainy day they
told me about Philip Francis, the musician. He was a person who loved the songs
of Baburaj like they were the very breath of his life. At that time I only
thought of him as another singer among thousands who worshipped Baburaj. But
when I got to listen to the songs sung by Philip Francis in an album titled
‘Baburajinte Swarabhedangal (Variations of Baburaj)’ I felt that nobody else
had sung those Ghazals of Baburaj that every Malayalee knew well. Philip
Francis, the musician was not another one among thousands of singers. His was
the rarest among rare musicians!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Who was this
Philip Francis really? We will see this personality wearing many hats and find
it hard to define him. Let us see. He was the best Ghazal singer ever from
Kerala. He was the only real Tabla Ustad with a national stature from Kerala.
He was India’s Cultural Representative to the Republic of Guyana, a Latin
American nation. He was a great instrumentalist who was a self-taught maestro of
Guitar, Harmonium, Keyboard and Conga Drum. He was a musician equally adept at
western classical and Indian classical music styles. He was one of Kerala’s finest
church choir masters. He was the music director of many heart-melting
devotional songs. He was an assistant to Malayalam film music composer
Ravindran in a few movies. He was the one who scored the enchanting background
music of the film <i>Oridathu Oru Puzhayundu</i>. He was the composer of the
very many mellifluous light music songs that were broadcast from Trichur Radio
Station of Kerala. He was chosen by the citizenry of Trichur to be counted
among 50 all-time great personalities of Trichur. That he was a rare
multi-faceted music genius who made music the language of his heart and spent
every day and night of his life steeped in musicality just about sums up Philip
Francis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">As I said Philip
was the best Ghazal singer to have come out of Kerala. A pacifying voice most
suited for Ghazal, an unparalleled temperament that acknowledges the
sovereignty of music and a well-modulated singing style that concentrated only
the mood and emotion of the song were the stand-out aspects of Philip’s Ghazals.
As the devoted fan of such great Ghazal singers as Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali,
Hariharan and Jagjit Singh, Philip incorporated many outstanding aspects of
their singing style in his own style. With a unique rendering of over 150 great
Urdu Ghazals he made them indelibly his own. Apart from these he rendered many
songs that Baburaj in an entirely Ghazal format. One should listen to Philip’s Ghazal
renditions of Baburaj’s eternal songs like ‘Innale Mayangumbol’, ‘Kadale
Neelakkadale’, ‘Kavilathe Kanneer Kandu’, ‘Nadigalil Sundari Yamuna’, ‘Oru
Kochu Swapnathin Chirakumaay’, ‘Paavada Prayathil’, ‘Suryakanthi’,
‘Surumayezhuthiya Mizhigale’, ‘Thaliritta Kinakkal’, ‘Thaedunnathaare Soonyathayil’
and ‘Vaasantha Panchami Naalil’. Listening to them in Philip’s mellifluous
voice makes us feel that this must be the way Baburaj would have dreamed of
hearing his own songs!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">It was through
his extraordinary felicity in playing the Tabla that Philip Francis became
Ustad Philip Francis. He learnt playing Tabla at the feet of Ustad Fayaz Khan
of Delhi Gharana, the oldest Tabla Gharana, staying in Delhi as his disciple
for 6 years. Were he to concentrate only the Tabla, Philip Francis had both the
genius and the felicity with the instrument to have become an Ahmed Jan
Tirakhva or Alla Rakha or a Zakir Hussain. Fayaz Khan had on a later date
commented that Philip was among his most talented and felicitous disciples of
all time. Fayaz Khan impressed upon Indian Council for Cultural Relations
functioning under the Ministry of External Affairs of Government of India about
the considerable abilities of Philip Francis. This led to his appointment as
the Cultural Attaché of India to the Republic of Guyana, a nation in South
America with the people of Indian origin almost forming a majority. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Playback singers
like S.Janaki, Jayachandran, Minmini, Srinivas, Gayathri and Pradeep
Somasundaram were all Philip’s who had worked with him. Malayalam film
industry’s favourite playback singer S.Janaki had said: “Philip was a musician
the whole world should have known about.” Jayachandran’s take was more
specific: “It is rare for a person to talented both as vocalist and
instrumentalist. Philip was one such rare musician. Philip was very much the
person that today’s music, which has been losing its musicality, needed.”
Philip’s music was both admired and encouraged by such elites of Trichur’s
cultural scene as Dr.S.P. Ramesh, Dr.Pisharody Chandran and the yesteryear
music composer Pradeep Singh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">In spite of all
this, how did Philip Francis end up as an artiste not very well known outside
of Trichur? It is tough to put one’s finger on the exact reason for this sorry
turn of events. Probably a look at the life and times of the person that was
Philip will yield some idea. Philip was born on 5<sup>th</sup> November of
1964, the last of five children in a lower middle class family in Trichur. All
the members of the family were musically inclined. Philip’s childhood
inspiration for music came from the famous numbers of Mohammad Rafi, Kishore
Kumar and Baburaj, invariably sung by his elder brothers. Among them Rajan
Francis went on to become Kerala’s famous sound recordist. Church became his
heaven because of the musical instruments there and these became his play
mates. That was the school where he became the self-taught maestro of many
instruments. Philip was more interested in music than in the formal education. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">By the time he
was 15 he had started playing the Conga Drum for light music troupes. In the
1970s, Voice of Trichur was one of the most famous light music troupes in
Kerala. It was the favourite troupe of all the famous playback singers of the
time in Kerala. When Johnson, a playmate from his childhood joined Voice of Trichur
as the guitarist, Philip too arrived there as the Conga player. Then followed
many happy years of stage music programmes all over Kerala, all over India and
the foreign shores as well. Philip, who spent all his time trying to master
some musical instrument or the other, was ever on an intellectual tour to
arrive at the yet unseen frontiers of music. And when his elder sister,
permanently settled in Ahmadabad, started sending him cassettes of Ghazals sung
by the maestro Ghulam Ali, he was at once smitten by this romantic format of
music starting him on a search for Ghazals. Philip, who was till then
concentrating on musical instruments, was set on the path to becoming a Ghazal
singer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">With the sorrow
of a failed love affair weighing his heart, Philip left Kerala in 1990. He was
introduced to Ustad Fayaz Khan in Delhi who accepted him as his disciple.
Simultaneously he learnt Hindustani classical music by joining Gandharva Maha
Vidyalaya, a hallowed institution established 55 years earlier by such doyens
of Hindustani music as Pundit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar and Pundit Vinayak Rao
Patwardhan. Philip paid his fees for this formal music education by teaching
others to play the Guitar and the Keyboard, which he had not learnt through
formal education! Philip is remembered by Ustad Fayaz Khan and the then
principal of Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya, Vijaya Varma as a ‘personification of
hard work, humility and blemish less humaneness’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Philip returned
to Kerala in 1996 as an Ustad of the Tabla. But his restive musical mind was
too disquieted to allow him to concentrate on Tabla as it was treated as a mere
accompaniment! He believed that he will be a huge success as a Ghazal singer, a
vocation that few dared to enter. Unfortunately for Philip Ghazal held the
attention only a few fans in Kerala and he could not find a purchase there. Sad
fact was that Kerala neither recognized nor found any use for his rare music genius
and his felicity with instruments not found in others. It was a time of crisis
and Philip had to restrict himself to such mundane parts as teaching music in
the church and instructing children on playing the music instruments. But
amidst all these he earned the love and affection of every student he taught
and left the indelible imprint of his personality on their minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">It was during
these days that he worked as an assistant to composer Ravindran besides
composing many songs for All India Radio, Trichur. He had roamed around in
Chennai and Mumbai with the expectation that some opportunities will turn up.
But Philip was a musician innocent of any trade tricks or the capacity to get
the opportunities he deserved. Philip was a pure artiste who could not even
collect the fees due to him for the work done. Yet he was optimistic that he
will, one day be recognized and that he will succeed. But no such thing
happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Then came the
invitation to go to the Republic of Guyana. There he organized and presented many
cultural shows for the general public of that country as well as specific
programs for people of Indian origin in that country. He sang Ghazals and
played Tabla. I remember reading an article on the website of Guyana Chronicle
about Philip’s Tabla concert held on 3<sup>rd</sup> December 2003. I had the
good fortune of listening to the recording of the event in a concert hall in Guyana.
I heard the endless ovation after Philip’s rendition of Baburaj’s ‘Oru Pushpam
Mathram’ in Desh raag and ‘Thaedunnadhaare Soonyathayil’ in Raageshri raag, I felt
again that music has no language. I remember too, reading Philip’s comment that
for him music meant Bach, Beethoven and Baburaj. This told me that Philip could
effortlessly transcend the borders of wide and varied systems of music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Philip had been
allotted a bungalow to stay in and a luxury car to travel in, in Guyana. But
constant call of Trichur was irresistible for him. He carried the nostalgia for
Trichur like a calling card. Philip longed to live in Trichur, his own soil,
where people recognized him rather than live in a land where nobody knew him
even when it came with all creature comforts. He would come back on leave
whenever he could. On one such homecoming he married Vidhu, a well educated girl.
He returned to Guyana with his wife and travelled to other countries like
Trinidad, Canada and America. In many places that he visited he left memories
of ‘Ghazal Mehfils’ that he held there. On 23<sup>rd</sup> December of 2005
Philip had a son born to him in USA. He named his son Johann after his greatest
favourite in Western classical music, Johann Sebastian Bach. When his term of
appointment in Guyana ended, ignoring the possibility of getting it extended,
he returned to Trichur. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">After his return
he organized a huge national festival of music called ‘Clarion 2007’ in
Trichur. Musicians arriving from all over India presented on the festival forum
diverse programs in Western classical, Hindustani classical, Carnatic music,
Folk music and Jazz. Doyens of music like Philip’s Guru Ustad Fayaz Khan and
Sarangi Ustad Liaquat Ali Khan participated. It was a huge cultural success for
Trichur. But it was a cruel blow to Philip’s financial standing as well. Philip
made many brave attempts to come out of the deep financial hole he was in.
Nothing succeeded. During this time he released a few devotional albums and
composed music for the film <i>Oridathu Oru Puzhayundu.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">As far as his
personal life was concerned, it was a torrential rain of problems. Problems
began to mount from the time he arrived from the comforts abroad to the below par
life in Trichur. Indebtedness, financial dependence on whims of others took
their toll. The sad truth was that even those close to him had no idea of his
greatness. Our social value system, which prescribes high education, employment
in highest echelons and a guaranteed and enviable monthly income, can be very
cruel to a sensitive artiste.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Philip was on a
listless journey with friends, Ghazal mehfils, church music rehearsals and
recordings. But these brought nothing tangible for his problems. Things came to
a pass where meeting daily needs became an uphill task. Having boxed himself
into an intolerable corner, he decided to seek better fortune abroad again.
This time he intended to travel to Gulf countries as a Ghazal singer or a music
teacher.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">It was 26<sup>th</sup>
February 2008. Philip had recorded a song for All India Radio, Trichur. After
the recording he had started on a visit to see a few of his friends riding on
the back of a disciple’s bike. That bike collided with a bike coming the other
way, just in front of the compound of the church where he had spent
considerable part of his life and learnt the early lessons in music. When
Philip fell from the bike his head had hit the edge of the cement platform.
Philip sat up saying ‘I am alright’ but fell on his back the next moment.
Somewhere in its depth, the brain had been damaged. Philip did not recover consciousness.
After five days of struggle with Death, Philip was pronounced dead. Philip was
then 44 years old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Philip should
have been famous all over the world. But he passed away unknown, so
disquietingly anonymous. Philip Francis, the genius who knew that love and
music are not two different things, an artiste who never demanded a price for
his music and a humane person who preserved his smile professing music and
brotherhood among all life’s sorrows remains just a memory to those few who
knew and cherished him. Even as Philip rests in peace, the minds of people who
knew of Philips, who had heard his song at least once, will keep resonating
with the lines of that honest, humble Baburaj song: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>In the end you may become dust unto dust</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>but
the world will still warm to the purity of your love</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">My mind goes to a Ghazal
Philip had sung:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Who says that
love does not survive on earth?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Unblemished love
slumbers in peace, in graveyards.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-36484076230534941922012-09-14T22:03:00.000-07:002012-09-14T22:03:44.413-07:00Rajesh Khanna: A Dream Song for Everlasting Fame <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapNuTelebFFY8sZeLeuCXDVSd18Es8k3ubURhHWUc7CiVAWbx1zljMxtKbxXPxbrTqUWJ6uhP6IzGtsH5HLqEvBM24u3pSKKMkBN6R74j4T68NGsvYsp5-7yjy0dQhNWYMLRBDx4K3mU/s1600/Rajesh+Khanna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapNuTelebFFY8sZeLeuCXDVSd18Es8k3ubURhHWUc7CiVAWbx1zljMxtKbxXPxbrTqUWJ6uhP6IzGtsH5HLqEvBM24u3pSKKMkBN6R74j4T68NGsvYsp5-7yjy0dQhNWYMLRBDx4K3mU/s400/Rajesh+Khanna.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Hundred years ago, in America there was a movie super star named Rudolf Valentino. He was born in Italy the year the technology of cinema was invented! Acting in the early years’ silent movies as a hero in action and romantic films, he became the high idol of popular art of the time and worshipped like a human god. He started acting at the age of 19 and became a super star at 23! He was popularly called as the ‘Latin Lover’ by young girls and also men who were partial to handsome men. He became their sex symbol. More than his acting talent the movements of his body, his sleepy eyes and his firmly fleshed body attracted his fans. He shined over the film field for only six years before he passed away due to lacerating ulcer of intestines, at the age of 31. Law and order broke down in the city of New York because of the frenzied behavior of his hysterical fans. Many of his ardent female fans and even some of his male fans committed suicide! Some film stars cause a deep impact in the minds of their fans that can go to the point of self-destruction!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">More than half a century later, here in India when M.G.Ramachandran, a super star of Tamil cinema, passed away, quite a few of his fanatic fans committed suicide. There were countless murders, robberies and violent incidents related to the death of this hero of the masses who always projected himself onscreen as the ‘ideal citizen’! A further quarter century later, when Raj Kumar, a super star of Kannada cinema, passed away, there was an explosion of violence and riots! These were angry expressions of emotional connect some actors had with their fans. However, nothing of this sort ever happened in the history of Hindi films. Nothing stirred either during the lifetime or after passing away of such top stars of Hindi films like K.L.Saigal, Karan Diwan, Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor. Most fans do not even remember today, when most of these top stars passed away!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">However, Rajesh Khanna, who was formally declared by the film industry to be India’s first Super Star, at the height of his fame created among his fans, especially female fans, an unprecedented degree of fanatic devotion and extreme passion. For the first time ever, Indian women who are supposed to be shy, modest, reserved and generally the typical bride of the dynasty ran after a film actor. And it was not born of the wrong notion of Rajesh Khanna as the ‘companion of the poor’ as it was in the case of M.G.Ramachandran! More than his acting talent, it was the sexiness of Rajesh Khanna’s body language, his drowsy eyes and his winks that drove them to lust after him. Rajesh Khanna became their sex symbol with his attractive voice that expressed a dreamy and poetic love and a voice modulation that wooed and titillated them. This was something that has not been seen before or after Rajesh Khanna!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Teenagers, college girls, married women and even women past their middle age flocked in unmanageable numbers to film-shooting floors to catch at least a barest of a moment’s glimpse of their adored star. In Mumbai, women stood outside his bungalow for an entire day for his ‘audience’! Even in the villages where he went for outdoor shoot, women braved a near-riotous situation to watch him. Madness went to the extent of a few women garlanding his photographs to ‘wed’ him. They cut their fingers to place ‘tilak’ with blood on the forehead. Some wrote love letters to him in their own blood. The newspapers of those days were rife with stories where women from far flung areas claimed either that they were his wives or that they were pregnant with his children. And when his female fans got to catching distance of Rajesh Khanna they went berserk tearing off his clothes. They blocked his vehicle to cover it with their kisses. Producers had to appoint security staff to protect Rajesh Khanna from his female fans! Rajesh Khanna had the distinction of being the first actor in India to be protected from fans by a Police Department deployed in full strength! After the success of his film <i>Aradhana</i>, he was subjected to mobbing by female fans even in a very sedate and sober city, Chennai.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">“Pushpa………what is this Pushpa……I see tears in your eyes, again! Pushpa, how many times have I to tell you that I cannot bear to see tears in your eyes! I hate tears Pushpa…..I hate tears!” This is typical of Rajesh Khanna lines and in those days there were few women who were not taken in by them. Rajesh Khanna attracted women in different costumes, sometimes in garish costumes that fully exploited all the colourful possibilities of the colour film, sometimes in a simple Guru kurta and dhoti, occasionally in a Gurkha topi and sometimes with a simple lengthy cotton <i>gumcha</i> tied around his waist over the kurta.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Rajesh Khanna’s debut film <i>Aakhri Khat</i> (Last Letter) was released in 1966. His last film <i>Wafa</i> (Faithful) came in 2008. In this career spanning four decades he acted in 163 films in all. It is difficult to believe that over a hundred films of him were huge successes. Seventy films celebrated Golden Jubilee! Over twenty films had Silver Jubilee runs! At the height of his career all his 15 films made in a three year span were huge hits! This is an achievement that no other actor has managed in the history of world Cinema!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">There were a significant number of male audience and even a few in female audiences who did not like his long square face, his barrel body and his ‘acting’. But even they could appreciate his screen presence and what could in totality be called ‘style’. Dancing was an art simply beyond Rajesh Khanna. But the kind of ‘body’ moves he adapted to hide this inability, became his typical ‘dance style’. Dancers who copy this style on stage receive ovation even today! I can assert that the reason for the huge success of Rajesh Khanna’s repetitive shakes of his head, winks and facial expressions were the hundreds of impossibly great song numbers to which he had pasted his lip movements. I will go so far as to say that Rajesh Khanna the super star was made by the songs he enacted onscreen!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">S.D.Burman composed the music for his world-famous film <i>Aradhana</i> which had songs like ‘Mere Sapnon Ki Rani’, ‘Roop Tera Mastana’ and ‘Kora Kaagaz Tha Yeh Man Mera’, all super-hit numbers sung by Kishore Kumar. S.D.Burman fell seriously ill, with only the tunes composed for the songs. At that stage his son R.D.Burman took up the responsibility and arranged the music for the songs, besides composing the background score of the film as well. The trio of Rajesh Khanna, R.D.Burman and Kishore Kumar that started then, went on to create majority of Rajesh Khanna’s popular songs. Anand Bakshi became the trio’s lyricist. Kishore Kumar’s voice and rendering style fused exactly right with Rajesh Khanna’s body language and lip movements. And that was the story of how Kishore Kumar became India’s top singing star, overtaking Mohammad Rafi, through songs that Rajesh Khanna lip synchronised on screen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">There were some marvelously great numbers sung by Kishore Kumar under R.D.Burman’s baton even in some of Rajesh Khanna’s lack-lustre films. One can cite as examples numbers like ‘Zindagi Ke Safar Mein’, ‘Jai Jai Shiv Shankar’, ‘Karvatein Badalte Rahein’, ‘O Mere Dil Ki Cheyn’ and ‘Chala Jaata Hoon’ of <i>Mere Jeevan Saathi </i>and ‘Ek Ajnabee Haseena Se’, ‘Bheegi Bheegi Raton Mein’ and ‘Hum Dono Do Premi’ of film <i>Ajnabee.</i> The trio also gave us some of the impossibly great numbers like ‘Hamein Tumse Pyaar Kitna’ from <i>Khudrat</i>, ‘Mere Naina Sawan Badon’ from<i> Mehbooba,</i> ‘Pyaar Deewana Hota Hai’, ‘Yeh Shaam Mastani’ and ‘Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai’ from <i>Kati Patang,</i> ‘Yeh Kya Hua’, ‘Chingari Koi Bhadke’ and ‘Kuch To Log Kahenge’ from <i>Amar Prem</i> and ‘Nadia Se Dariya’, ‘Diye Jalte Hain’ and ‘Main Shayar Badnam’ from <i>Namak Haram.</i> Even after 40 odd years these numbers are popular as listeners’ choice on FM stations and television channels. And you can count among these some very popular numbers sung by R.D.Burman himself viz. ‘Duniya Mein Logon Ko’ from <i>Apna Desh.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">R.D.Burman even made Mohammed Rafi to sing for Rajesh Khanna. The big hit number ‘Gulaabi Aankhein’ from the film <i>Train</i> is a great example. However, Mohammad Rafi had sung only a few numbers for Rajesh Khanna. Among these, the hottest numbers are ‘Chup Gaye Saare Nazare’ and ‘Yeh Reshmi Zulfein from <i>Do Raaste</i> in Laxmikant Pyarelal’s music, ‘Akele Hi Chale Aao’ from <i>Raaz</i> under Kalyanji Anandji’s baton and ‘Gunguna Rahein Hain’ and ‘Baagon Mein Bahar Hain’ from <i>Aradhana</i> for R.D.Burman. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Even though Rajesh Khanna did not have the singing ability of Shammi Kapoor, he had this remarkable ability to lip-synch with songs as though he himself was singing them and sway his body exactly to rhythm. He had no direct contribution in the makings of his songs but, it is said, he had a few metrics for the creation of great numbers. As soon as a song took shape, he would hear it out once or twice and leave. If after sleeping over it for two days, he is unable to recollect its first few lines, then he would reject the song itself! Rajesh Khanna cleverly ensured that both R.D.Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal remained on their toes and competed for the chance to work in his films.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Next to R.D.Burman, it was the duo of Laxmikant Pyarelal that scored for most of Rajesh Khanna’s films. Among their Rajesh Khanna hit numbers are the songs of Kishore Kumar like ‘Kisa Ke Phool Se Aathi’ from <i>Do Raaste, </i>‘Mere Dil Me Aaj Kya Hai’ from <i>Daag</i>, ‘Aathe Jaathe Khubsoorat’ from <i>Anurodh </i>and ‘Gorey Rangey Pe Itna’ from <i>Roti.</i> But it was Kalyanji Anandji who scored the music for the film <i>Safar</i> which had what is widely regarded as the most important number of Kishore Kumar for Rajesh Khanna. That number ‘Zindagi Ka Safar’ is famous even today. And one of the most famous sad songs of Hindi film ‘Jeevan Se Bari Tere Aankhen’ was also from the same film. But the number that can be considered most famous all over India, including non-Hindi speaking areas, ‘Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhaana’ sung by Kishore Kumar for the film <i>Andaz</i> was scored by Shankar Jaikishen duo.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">And there were some marvelous gems from other composers for Rajesh Khanna like ‘Hazaar Raahein’ from <i>Thodi Si Bewafai </i>with Khayyam wielding the baton, ‘Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi’ for <i>Khamoshi</i> by Hemant Kumar, ‘Yeh Lal Rang’ from <i>Prem Nagar</i> scored by S.D.Burman and ‘Zindagi Pyaar Ka Geet Hai’ from film <i>Souten</i> by Usha Khanna. The great maestro of Indian popular music Salil Chowdhury made an important musical contribution to Rajesh Khanna’s film life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">In 1969 a Rajesh Khanna film without a single song or any dance was released! It was the first attempt of its kind in Indian commercial films. The film’s success was ensured by the nail-biting story and narration borrowed from the English film <i>Sign Post to Murder</i> by Yash Chopra. The film was <i>Ittefaq</i> meaning coincidence. The film depended entirely on its background music for effect. It was a job that demanded great musical creativity, imagination and a felicity with instrumental music. It is said that some doyens of Hindi film music refused the job. In the end Yash Chopra had to turn to Salil Chouwdhury. Looking at the film today, the background score is still a wonderful inspiration. Importantly, the film succeeded beyond all expectations. A commercial film without the song and dance succeeding was unthinkable in those days!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Two years later, Hrishikesh Mukherji-directed film <i>Anand </i>was released. By far, it is the best picture that Rajesh Khanna had acted in. It got Rajesh Khanna the Filmfare Award for the Best Actor. The film also went on to win the year’s National Award for the Best Picture. The four songs in the film with an emotion-charged background score are immortal numbers of Indian film industry and all-time greats. It is impossible to imagine any Hindi film music fan who had not internalized the quality of the film’s music and its emotions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Kahin Dhoor Jab Din Dhal Jaaye’, ‘Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli’, ‘Main Ne Tere Liye’ and ‘Na Jiya Laage Naa’ are the four immortal songs that come to our mind when we think of Rajesh Khanna even today! The important fact that is worthy of note is that these songs were sung neither by Kishore Kumar nor Mohammad Rafi! It was Manna Dey and Mukesh who sang these all-time great ‘Rajesh Khanna’ numbers! But after the run-away success of these songs Salil Chowdhury never again composed music for Rajesh Khanna films! It is said that this was mainly because the maestro refused to accept Rajesh Khanna’s insistence on veto power against songs he disliked.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">After the success of <i>Anand, </i>the theme of a cancer-stricken hero dying during climax scene in the film spread like cancer to the entire film industry in India! It is also strange but true that the runaway hit <i>Anand</i> was the first step downhill for super star Rajesh Khanna. Amitabh Bachchan who had appeared in a supporting role in the film drew much attention and appreciation. It was just the second film for the lanky young man. He won the Filmfare Award for the Best Supporting Actor. Amitabh Bachchan ensured his place by stoically continuing to act with Rajesh Khanna in the films <i>Anand </i>and <i>Namak Haram</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Amitabh Bachchan slowly but surely changed the Rajesh Khanna era in Hindi films, that was barely pushing along with love, winks, love failure and sad songs on the strength of some great music. With his ‘Angry Young Man’ roles he occupied the throne of superstar with an All-time Great tag. But it was not Amitabh Bachchan who destroyed Rajesh Khanna. It was Rajesh Khanna, all on his own! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">A BBC feature that had an interview with Rajesh Khanna had commented that he had the ego and pride that was more swollen than that of Napoleon Bonaparte! Later, journalists who knew him well, like Ali Peter John wrote that Rajesh Khanna thought that he was God. Rajesh Khanna’s stay at the top was shrunk rapidly by his heavy drinking habit, wrongly advised industry-related decisions, regular late show at shoot spots, frequent no-shows for shoots, never keeping his word or time, sudden change of moods, a mélange of other strange habits and tantrums.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">It is said that Rajesh Khanna could never identify friends who sought his well being and he could never work with his equals. People who knew him closely commented that he lived listening only to the flattering words of parasitical yes-men, he never had the patience to hear out people and he had zero tolerance for any kind of criticism or a differing opinion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Many years after losing his prime and glory in films, Rajesh Khanna, the man who did not have the ability to look beyond his own self drew into politics! But he was unable to sustain himself in politics. Rajesh Khanna passed away at the age of 70 on July 18, 2012 lived a cancer-stricken lonely life for many years. These lines written by poet Sahir Ludhianvi but pronounced loud and clear by Rajesh Khanna himself in his 1974 film Roti (Bread)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Honour<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Fame<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Wealth<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Respect<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Nothing ever lasts in this world<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Where I stand today<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Somebody else stood yesterday…<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-25160511954808421242012-09-02T07:03:00.000-07:002014-06-03T07:13:30.350-07:00Michael Jackson: The Eternal Child of Music<br />
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</span></a>The swirling mid day wind is moving the tall coconut trees and
making the leaves shake to the beat patterns of it. Mango trees dance to the
wind letting the ripe mangoes fall to the ground in rhythm. The cooling summer
day breeze carrying around the sweet whiff of fruit mangoes. When I look at the
huge mango tree standing tall before me offering its fruits unfailingly, I am
reminded of Michael Jackson’s ‘giving tree’ that he regularly kept referring
to. “Trees are the great inspiration of my music. When I climb and sit on
my ‘giving tree’ music and poems spring from me on their own. I created many of
my songs like ‘Heal the world’, ‘Will you be there?’, ‘Black or White?’ and
‘Childhood’ sitting on that tree. I look at trees with great love. Their
kindness moves me to tears. I would always like to sit on them like an eternal
child.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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When Michael Jackson passed away, I did not write much beyond a small note in
Tamil in the Ananda Vikatan weekly. This made many of my readers conclude that
I did not like Michael Jackson and his music. I have heard many remarks from
them while talking of Michael Jackson, “You don’t like Michael Jackson, do
you?” It was indeed a truth that in 1980s when Michael Jackson was at the
height of his world-wide fame, I had not liked him! People like me were
irritated at his grunts, growls and shouts while singing and the manner in
which he merged music and dance into one single art. We truly hated him then
for being the chief of all the people who made music for ‘watching’ rather than
for listening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We were in those days western music puritans! Rock was our ideal form of world
music. Pop was alright. But that pop had to be within the confines of
conventions decided by us. Those were the days when most western music bands in
India tried singing his songs even when they were very difficult to render
effectively on stage. We never sang a Michael Jackson song in our band. Our
preoccupation was with a satirical singing on how it will look if Michael
Jackson were to sing our favourite songs of 50s, 60s and 70s. We mimicked the
songs of Rolling Stones, Queen, Phil Collins, Lionel Ritchie, Police, Marvin
Gaye et all at the top of our voice with Michael Jackson’s typical grunts and
growls like ‘ah’, ‘aai’, ‘ooi’ ‘oh’!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Above all, we found it inconvenient to digest his overwhelming world-wide fame
and the fact that everybody knew of Michael Jackson. The very basis of our
‘purity of music’ fundamentalism was that music that is hugely popular cannot
be quality music! The fact was that this kind of pre-judgment and prejudice
against the music of Michael Jackson prevented us from making the effort to
listen to his songs with discernment. But a video tape on the making of the
song ‘We are the world, we are the children’ made in 1985, which came to me many
years later changed all my imagined opinions of Michael Jackson and his music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Many of my famous favourites like Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Stevie
Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel sang the important parts of ‘We are
the world’. Even the singers who sang in the background were very famous
singers! Later, I was simply stunned when I saw Michael Jackson in the video,
sing his parts of the song without any background music and then with
background music in the recording studio. His singing proved to me that he was
a better singer than my aforementioned favourites. I had goose pimples
listening to his deeply expressive rendering style with immaculate pitch
fidelity and his slight but very becoming vibrato. I was assailed by a feeling
of guilt that I had not bothered to listen to such a rare singer with the
discernment that he always deserved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Thus it was that Michael Jackson had taught me that there is no place for
pre-conceived notions in appreciation of music and that one should not form any
opinion whether it be a singer or composer before listening to at least a few
of their songs closely. From the day of that realization I have avidly looked
for his music and music videos and listened to and seen them. Whenever I bought
an audio or video player it was Michael Jackson’s music that was first played
on them. I have collected CDs of most of his songs, his music videos, videos of
his stage shows, Blue Ray discs, books written by him and on him and even his
rare and difficult to get vinyl records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Still the question remains, why did I not write on him when he died? This is an
age where, when a big personality passes away, it becomes a major source of
feed for most of the media for days together. Writers and journalists who knew
nothing of him or his work jumped with their hands and feet as experts on
Michael Jackson, armed with tidbits of information from Internet and massive
downloads of anything and everything that was written on him. Today anyone can
become an expert on anything, courtesy of Google. All you need is the Key words
and names to type in. Most of the obituary write-ups on Michael Jackson were of
this genre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
I cared enough for Michael Jackson to shy away from being considered one out of
a score of such writers. Even when written with a deep understanding of his
music and factors that moved him to create his music, you will still be counted
along with that superfluous writer crowd. So I kept away from writing on
Michael Jackson who changed my perspectives of popular music and my understanding
of the world music industry. But every time I listened to his music and every
time I thought of him an undefined sense of pain used to course through my
mind. Many see and understand Michael Jackson’s life and music with the same
kind of wrong perspectives as I had seen his music during his earlier days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
Michael Jackson is celebrated as by far the best singer of popular music by
experts who evaluate the quality of singing. There is nothing to equal the
heights he reached in music industry as a singer, lyricist, composer, dancer,
choreographer and music producer. He has 23 Guinness records in his name like
most copies of music albums sold in the world, world’s most successful music
tours, music events where most people participated, world’s most watched music
videos, model who received maximum money for acting in an advertisement film,
person who made highest money from music business etc. But what is really
important among all these is the fact that he also holds the Guinness Record
for the most amounts donated to most number of organisations involved in
humanitarian causes and environmental issues!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Michael Jackson who always laid emphasis on lyrics of rare simplicity, a
composing style that included everything from classical music to countless other
forms of music, endless effort to offer only the latest in instrumental sounds
and the endless search for improvement in sound quality, never had the benefit
of proper music training! He did not receive any kind of training in dancing
either. A formal education, too, eluded him. He could never read or write
musical notes. He created all his wondrous songs by singing the scores to his
fellow musicians whenever a music part played in his mind! Just imagine how
miraculous is the happening that Michael Jackson reached all the heights of the
creative art with his music and dance that came from the instructions of no
master! As I have said repeatedly, music is not to be learnt but to be felt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Michael Jackson’s voice, which you will never forget once you hear it, had more
feminine traits than masculine traits. He had a soft but high pitched voice.
His voice could travel up and down the four octaves with ease. His voice had
the strength and quality to hold the notes for any length of time without
slightest of pitching problem. It was remarkable that his voice sounded like
that of the musical instruments. He had no peer in the industry in mimicking
the sounds of music instruments like drums and bass guitars. Expressing the
emotions of lyrics through deep rendering is the strength of Michael’s singing
style. And in dancing every cell of his body was beating to a rhythm. He
himself used to say,’ I am a slave of rhythm’. Through his dance he gave some
shape and visibility to the abstract art form named music!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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For him dance and song were never two things apart. When he started singing at
the age of five, he started dancing to his very first song. He could sing with
ease in a flawless pitch dancing at the same time without ever getting
breathless. James Brown the singer, who called the ‘Godfather of Soul Music’,
was Michael Jackson’s ideal in this respect. After performing the impossibly
difficult steps that he himself had innovated James Brown could sing
emotionally without any stay! The affects of James Brown on Michael Jackson’s
rendering styles and dance movements were very direct. After watching James
Brown on stage for the first time as a child, Michael Jackson only wanted to be
an entertainer like him. He learnt the James Brown style just by watching him
constantly from distance!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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When Michael Jackson climbed the stage in 2003 to give away the BET Award for
Lifetime Achievement to James Brown, he got tearfully emotional saying “There
is none other than this man in my life who taught me and inspired me.” In 2006
when James Brown passed away, it was the same Michael Jackson who delivered the
final condolatory speech amidst inconsolable tears. The world phenomenon that
we call Michael Jackson evolved by keenly watching such great singer- actors
and dancers as Fred Astaire and Jean Kelly, great singers and entertainers like
Sammy Davis Junior and Jackie Wilson, singers like Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross,
Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson and learning with a deep commitment from
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson’s father, worked as a daily wager in an iron
factory. He was a failed stage singer as well. He had, with his younger brother
and friends formed a music band called Falcons. They sang the songs of Chuck
Berry and others. Joe had nine children. Michael Jackson was his seventh child.
It was Joe Jackson’s stubborn efforts born of a burning desire to achieve the
success that eluded him through his children that created first the hugely
successful music troupe called Jackson 5 and then Michael Jackson, the super
star of world pop music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Joe readied his talented children for great successes by compelling, forcing
and at times lashing. Michael Jackson, the most talented among them received
even more of that treatment. When his son called out ‘Dad’ in pain, Joe would
admonish him, “I am not your dad. I am your trainer and manager, that is all.”
It appears that Joe Jackson behaved more like an animal trainer in a circus
towards Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson never knew, unlike other children of
his age, what it was to play and be playful. Even normal schooling was denied
to him. The countless small wishes and their fulfillment in part or full that
make up the childhood were totally absent from Michael’s lost childhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine was a deep believer in the Church of
Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian sub sect. Even today she participates in one
of the most important rituals of the church, which is to go from house to house
to spread their faith. Michael Jackson was brought up from childhood to believe
in and practice the archaic prescriptions of the church. Michael Jackson has
written in some detail in his autobiography ‘Moon Walk’ about his regular
visits to the ‘Kingdome Hall’ or the church hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and his
sincere following of the faith and its practices. Pre-marital and extra-marital
sex relations, divorce, homosexuality and marriage of the homosexuals,
preventing or curbing of pregnancy, abortion, gambling and use of tobacco or
intoxicating and hallucinatory drugs were all ‘crimes’ deserving sentence of
death, according to Jehovah’s witnesses. Coming as he did from a community that
even regarded differing with father or husband as a big sin, Michael Jackson’s
life was spent amidst the realities of life and the deeds proscribed by his faith!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
In the early days, Joe Jackson arranged music events for the band of his
children in the night clubs where women stripped and danced naked! Michael
Jackson, not quite 10 years old yet, sang love songs standing behind the girls
as they stripped and danced. Michael Jackson has written on how he was
subjected to mental strains watching grownups crying out obscenely as they
caught the inner garments thrown by the stripping dance girls and held them to
their noses to catch the body odour of those girls. Michael Jackson has
recorded the trauma of a child as his older brothers, on their music tours,
brought girls to the rooms where brothers stayed together and how they made
love to them on the other half of the bed in which Michael Jackson was lying,
trying to catch up on his sleep. The sex plays that he had to watch from his
childhood and a religious faith that declared them to be absolutely sinful had
between them left Michael Jackson greatly confused and disturbed. This
confusion had continued through his life and left him destabilized.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
The thought that he was ugly and his facial features were repulsive had deeply
rooted in his mind from Michael’s childhood itself. Michael had said that his
father had regularly abused him saying, “Where did you get your thick nose and
ugly features from? None in my family had born like this.” Because of this he
hated watching himself in the mirror like other teenagers when pimples made
them to examine their faces in the mirror. This chip on his shoulder had made
him take recourse to plastic surgery later in his life to ‘improve’ his
features. But, contrary to what many people believe, Michael Jackson did not
make his skin white because of his inferiority complex as a black man. As he
suffered from a skin problem called vitiligo he started having white patches on
his skin. Little by little, parts of his chest and hands became totally white.
It was at this stage that he underwent a series of difficult to carry out
surgical procedures to totally change his skin to white. This was even believed
as the reason for him to create his ‘Black or White?’ song!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
Jackson 5 was the first music band in the world to achieve the rare distinction
of all their first four songs hitting No.1 of the charts. This record remains
unsurpassed to this day! In the same manner, Michael Jackson who became the
international star with his very first album ‘Off the Wall’ never came down
from that pedestal. Thriller, BAD, Dangerous, History, Blood on the Dance floor
and Invincible were the rest of the seven albums recorded by him. These seven
albums along with many singles were Michael Jackson’s contribution to the world
of popular music. He has sung and recorded about 150 songs. Many songs like
Billie Jean, Stranger in Moscow, Wanna Be Startin’ Something, Man in the
Mirror, Earth Song, They Don’t Care About Us, Human Nature, Who Is It?, Don’t
Stop Till You Get Enough, Beat It, Black or White?, Gone Too Soon, Smooth
Criminal and Heal The World are all his eternal songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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In 1984, while acting in an advertisement film for Pepsi he had a very bad
accident. He was dissatisfied with the five takes of a scene and was going for
a sixth take when the burning debris of a pyrotechnic arranged for the take
fell on his head. His face, hair and scalp suffered bad burn injuries. It took
a few years for Michael Jackson to recover through many types of plastic
surgeries. The many different types of pain-killers he had taken during this
period gradually made him addicted to them. Along with these he also started
taking different kinds of drug stimulants to cope with training for dance shows
and long hours of stage shows. He became addicted to them as well. Soon he had
regular drug regimen for insomnia and lack of appetite. To the last day of his
life this cocktail of drugs with dangerous side-effects made his life possibly
the most miserable existence. His body at the time of his death was a
compendium of all terrible afflictions that modern medicine could cause. When a
wash of his stomach was taken for post mortem, it contained only a variety of
prescribed drugs! The coroner’s verdict was that his death occurred from an
overdose of liquid drug Propofol that is generally administered to bring about
complete anesthesia before a surgical operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Beatles still remain the number one in the world of popular music, whether it
is sales value or the entertainment value. Elvis Presley comes very close next
in the list. Michael Jackson believed for many years that he could not surpass
the handsome whites Beatles and Elvis Presley because he was ugly and black.
But the world over Michael Jackson is the personality that most people
recognize, much more so than either of Beatles or Elvis Presley! Even in India
Michael Jackson is recognized from line drawing of his form, hat, hand gloves
and shoes! Michael Jackson brought to India in 1996 by Shiv Sena, an
organisation that is touted to uphold the culture of Indians especially the
Marathi culture! This exemplifies the artistic potency of Michael Jackson to
transcend all cultural barriers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Media had the habit of first creating a debate over whatever Michael Jackson
did in his personal life and then making a commercial profit out of it. When he
brought home a male monkey and a python as pets, they made out that he sexually
lusted after animals! When he married the only daughter of Elvis Presley, they
dubbed it as a clever move to take over all the musical rights of Elvis legacy!
And when the marriage failed within the year, they tom-tommed from roof tops
that it came about as homosexually-inclined Michael could not satisfy the
beautiful Lisa Mary Presley! When he had two children from his former house
maid, they pronounced that they were not his children. When he made efforts to
shield his children from the crowd and nasty press photographers using masks
and veils, they cried hoarse that it was violative of children’s rights!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
When he came forward to provide the small pleasures of childhood to indigent
children, the media diagnosed that he suffered from a mental condition that
craved for sex with children. Soon enough, a number of cases were filed against
him on this score. He suffered the humiliation of climbing the court steps to
vindicate himself against much vilification and orchestrated demonstrations.
The environment of distrust that media created against Michael Jackson was such
as to make even the ardent fans of his music believed that he was mentally
warped and had problems related to sex. But none of the countless charges
against him were ever proved. He never went to a jail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Michael Jackson had a long history of being betrayed by the people he deeply
trusted. A person born in Pakistan but living in England named Martin Bashir, a
television reporter, cleverly ingratiated himself into Michael Jackson’s life
as his friend. He made a film on the personal life of Michael Jackson, titled
‘Living with Michael Jackson’. Such was his dominance of the thought process of
Michael Jackson that he almost succeeded in putting all the words he wanted
into Michael’s mouth. Then he showed this cleverly got up film to the world
with his pronouncements and pontifications. Michael Jackson had taken in a boy
suffering from cancer and abandoned by doctors. He got him treated and cured
and made him feel at home. But paparazzi Martin Bashir, falsely pronounced to
the world without any evidence, that Michael Jackson had sexual relations with
the boy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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In 2003 when Michael Jackson had some financial difficulties, Abdulla bin Hamad
of Bahrain, one of the world’s richest men approached him as his fan. He
provided the finance needed to overcome the emergency, promising to do whatever
he needed. Michael Jackson, in 2005, after the release from all his cases,
stayed in Bahrain, unknown to anybody, as the guest of Hamad. During this time,
he spent his time in different Gulf countries with his children. He was able to
roam about freely there, wearing a burkah like a Muslim woman covering the face
entirely. In those days, it was Hamad who bore all his expenses. But he later
went to court saying, “I spent all that money in return for an album of Islamic
songs and the right to Michael Jackson’s autobiography.” But Michael Jackson
contended that he had given no undertaking and considered the money spent by
Hamad for his holiday to be a gift from him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Michael Jackson had composed, sung and recorded two Islamic devotional songs
during his Bahrain days, ‘Islam is in My Veins’ and ‘Give Thanks To Allah’
written by Hamad. But on no occasion had he said in public that he had
converted to Islam. His legal advisers had totally refuted all such news. But
it appears that Michael Jackson had believed that a conversion to Islam will
bring a stability to his life which was flowing away uncontrollably in a flood
of prescribed drugs and mental instabilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Coming out of his holidays in 2009, Michael Jackson decided to hold stage shows
again. He made bold to attempt what no other music superstar had ever attempted
as the last music tour of his life. He agreed to hold a music show every
weekend and every holiday at London’s O2 Arena, contracting in all for 50 shows
at the same venue. The event was to start in July 2009 and end in March 2010, a
nine months tour in effect. All the shows over nine months were sold out in
advance! The rehearsals for this mega event were made into a music documentary
film titled ‘This is it’ and was a huge commercial success when released later.
In the history of music films this was the most viewed one ever!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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With only a few days to go for the event, thirty years to the date he started
as a solo singer Michael Jackson was found dead. Michael Jackson’s
contributions to the world music and culture came to be properly evaluated only
after his death! A childhood lost in pain and a life lived in consistent
misguidance led Michael Jackson the man to many strange passes. But the magical
light of his art, something that no other entertainer in the world ever had,
brightened the whole world. Michael Jackson, the giving tree of soulful music
and great kindness has been felled forever. Will a wonder tree like him ever
grow again in this world? </span></div>
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SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-29535552910741621112012-08-18T12:10:00.004-07:002012-11-18T20:18:29.863-08:00Mehdi Hassan – The Music Eternal <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We part now</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We may meet again in dreams<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like the dried up flower<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That blooms between pages of an old book... <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">-Mehdi Hassan Ghazal<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was an afternoon of this past June, when I was talking to a friend of mine in his factory. I had in my hands a good length of metal wire, chancing my strength, when I received an SMS from my </span><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">music</span><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">friend Babu from Bangalore. Frozen in shock by the message, I had strained my hands against the metal wire and blood dripped from the cut finger on my left hand. Tears welled up in my eyes. Suddenly the world was dead to me and I simply walked out of the place, wandering aimlessly under the hot sun. Mehdi Hassan, my ideal ghazal singer was no more! Where am I to go? In a weird hallucination his songs went floating one by one in my mind. When I started writing articles on music in Tamil six years ago, the one on Mehdi Hassan was among the very first. I had dedicated my book of articles on music, ‘</span><i style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Isaiyin Thanimai’</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> in Tamil, to Mehdi Hassan. For me Mehdi Hassan was not a musician’s name, but the name of a deeply felt emotion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan was the living example of the singing heights at which a singer can continue to sing decade after decade, of how a singer should render his songs in an impeccable pitch, completely naturally and totally true to music and yet be emotionally overwhelming. His utterly devoted fans addressed him respectfully as ‘Khan Sahib’. He was the builder of the bridge, entirely with the sweetness of his music, between two nations that had lived in hatred for 65 years. That summer day, well and truly cooked by an angry sun, the great singer, a perennial source of my sensitivity to the truth of music, passed away. The voice that held us spell-bound, rendering thousands of ghazals with an out-of-this-world musical chastity, will never again waft live in the airwaves!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thar Desert in the North Eastern part of Rajasthan holds many villages hostage to desiccating hot winds by day and biting cold by night. Luna is one such village which is wracked to this day by terrible shortage of water and lack of any kind of progress. Pokhran, where India ‘tests’ its nuclear devices, is not very far away from here. Indian border with Pakistan is not very far, either. It was in this village that Mehdi Hassan was born on 18<sup>th</sup> July of 1927. It was a big joint family, a family of musicians. His father and his uncles were all classical singers. Rajasthan means a province of kings. Mehdi Hassan was born in a traditional family of musicians who were court musicians for 12 generations in one court or the other of the kings of the many small vassal ‘kingdoms’ of the area. But the Indian Classical ‘dhrupad’ music which was their forte was not the musical form ‘approved’ for or by Muslims.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dhrupad is a classical form of music created out of devotional songs that were sung in Hindu temples since many centuries. The Hindu kings were the patrons who sustained the evolution of this form of music. The singers who were Muslims largely followed the ‘khayal’ system of music that evolved from thirteenth century onwards from singing traditions brought from Persia, the modern day Iran, and patronized by Muslim rulers. There were pressures, direct and indirect, that Muslim singers adopt only ‘Khayal’ singing. However, Mehdi Hassan’s forefathers did not change to ‘khayal’ singing. They continued to be ‘dhrupad’ singers in the courts of Hindu kings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was a custom to call Muslim musicians ‘Ustad’ and the Hindu musicians ‘Pundit’. But musicians from Mehdi Hassan’s family were called ‘Pundits’ because of their ‘dhrupad’ singing traditions. The founding doyens of Hindustani music like Mian Tansen and Abdul Karim Khan had all converted to Islam from Hinduism. Mian Tansen who was reputed to have lit a lamp by singing the Raag Deepak and brought rains by singing Raag Megha Malhar was born as Ramdhanu Mishra! Grand father of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, the founder of Agra Gharana, was again a Hindu who converted to Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan’s grandfather, Imamuddin Khan was not only the court singer of the ruler of Rajaputana, but he also sang in the courts of Kings of Nepal, Indore and Baroda. The then King of Nepal was his disciple as well. Mehdi Hassan’s father Azeem Khan and maternal uncle Ismail Khan were court singers at the courts of small kingdoms like Manakpur, Chattarpur and Bijawal. And they taught and opened the doors of musicdom to Mehdi Hassan. He was taught both ‘dhrupad’ and ‘khayal’ singing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan began to perform as a mature vocalist at the age of eight, but did not have the benefit of a formal education. His very first concert was at the court of Maharaja of Baroda, where he rendered the alaap of Raag Basant for forty minutes. Patronage by kings enabled Mehdi Hassan to perform in many courts of kings of small provinces and live a fairly comfortable life and grow with his music. Along with riyaaz of music, he was training his body with regular exercise. He nurtured his body with a sumptuous diet of mutton, milk and nuts. He strongly believed that a well-built body and strong lungs were essential for a good singer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And then came 1947. Mehdi Hassan was 20 years old. Indian subcontinent was heaving towards freedom. The small kingdoms and their courts faced the prospect of being swept away. Mehdi Hassan’s entire family, making a living with music supported only by the courts of these small-time rulers, was pushed to face frighteningly uncertain times. Indian subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan, as a condition precedent to Independence, and Muslim and Hindu minorities were frightened and forced to emigrate. Ominous slogans of ‘Pakistan for Muslims’ and ‘Hindustan for Hindus’ began to be raised and Mehdi Hassan’s family, leaving all their possessions, found refuge in the town of Chichawatni in Pakistani Punjab.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Going was tough in the new environment and family was living in dire poverty. Mehdi Hassan worked as an assistant in a cycle repair shop to support his family. His father, a genius in music, started a fuel wood shop, finding no other way to make a living. Mehdi Hassan was so hurt by the stark reality facing them that he started a cycle repair shop of his own. The effort flopped and he found work as an assistant in a workshop repairing cars and tractors. Somehow, he earned his daily keep. But even in such dire times, he did not give up his music practice, not even for a day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When a little money came to his hand, he left for Lahore, where the then Radio Pakistan had a station, looking for opportunities. There, many who heard him praised his singing style. He even got the opportunity of singing a song for the Radio. Everyone spoke of the difference in his singing style. But no follow-up opportunity came his way. Frustrated, he started working in the farm of a person known to him. He worked day and night for the next eight months on the arid desert-like two acres field and made it lush green. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He used the money earned from the enterprise to make another foray in search of opportunities, this time in Karachi, the centre of Urdu films in Pakistan. That was in 1956 when he was 29. This time he was able to immediately secure a few singing opportunities. The first song was the ghazal ‘Nazar milte hi dil ki bat ka labon par charcha na ho jaye</span>’ in the film <i>Shikar.</i> The same year opportunities came to sing and record six more film songs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan, with great self-confidence, stayed in Karachi. But, he secured a mere two songs in the five years that followed. He found it tough competing with great playback singers of those days like Munir Hussain, Saleem Raza and Inayat Hussain Bhatti. Truth to tell, nobody in the film industry of those days liked Mehdi Hassan’s style of rendering which was more like singing to his own self without any exaggerated expression of emotions. On the other hand, the songs he sang in those days over the radio was broadcast all over Pakistan was widely noticed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In those days, Noor Jehan who had emigrated from India during India-Pakistan partition was at the height of her popularity both as singer and actress. In one late night broadcast, she happened to hear Mehdi Hassan’s ghazal ‘ Yeh Dhua Sa Kahaan Se Uththa Hai’. She was simply stunned and wanted to meet Mehdi Hassan immediately. After the ghazal Jis ne mere dil ko dard diya’ in the Sasural in 1962</span> Mehdi Hassan became Pakistan’s most important playback singer. In the twenty years that followed it was he who sang all the ghazal songs of the Pakistani films.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Though these songs were released first as film songs, Mehdi Hassan later elaborated them in different forms and popularized them as stage ghazals. Apart from these, he also created many special ghazals in his own music and it was through these ghazals that Mehdi Hassan became famous outside Pakistan. His ghazal music attracted much more fans in India, Nepal and Gulf countries than in Pakistan itself. He has sung many thousands of songs in Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Rajasthani, Marwari, Sindhi, Pashto, Bengali, Persian and Arabic. But his repertoire of over two thousand ghazals was truly the world of Mehdi Hassan’s music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I doubt if another singer like Mehdi Hassan had been born in the history of man. The musical silence that he infuses between the lines and words of his ghazals cannot be heard but can only be felt. When we lose ourselves in his ghazals we are overwhelmed by sorrow and pain like waves in the sea during the high tide. But we never once desire to come out of them. When he renders ‘Dekhna Bhi To Unhe, Door Se Dekha Karna’ our eyes moisten in memory of the love that had disappeared for ever from our life. It makes us feel the sorrows of all men who live bearing the pain of true love lost for ever. The voice and rendering style of Mehdi Hassan is the alter ego of the pain, sacrifice, dedication and resurrection of love. The clarion call of that voice is that death is preferable to a life without love. Many ghazals like ‘Kya Toota Hai Andar Andar’ of Mehdi Hassan have the ability to melt even the stoniest of human minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan was born to be a total ghazal singer and nothing else. His song is the soul that animates his lines and his music. His rendering style conveys the impression that he sings entirely for his own self. There is no place there for exaggerated emotions or artificial pretensions or the egotistic ‘come and watch my musical prowess’ challenges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His rendering is totally innocent of pyrotechnics or forced emotions. Yet he sings in a fashion that all the emotions of his ghazals strike the chords in the depths of our heart. If this is not magic what is it? Mehdi Hassan’s ghazals are woven with endless ecstasies of simple ragas and meanings expressed in exact words and tones. Mehdi Hassan raised ghazal singing, once looked down upon as the art of high class courtesans, to the level of khayal and dhrupad singing and even better, he won for it the popular respect and appreciation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even when Mehdi Hassan was a great classical singer with ability to render any difficult classical raga with all its emotions and nuances in detail, he chose the lighter version of the classical music, the ghazal, as his signature form of music. He effortlessly expressed the many dimensions of classical music through ghazal. He brought the many finer points of dhrupad and khayal singing besides scintillating expressions of Rajasthani folk music into his ghazal rendering. Naturally no other ghazal singer in this world could match the soft touch, nuances, the poetic touch, the bubbling emotions, the magical silences that Mehdi Hassan delineated in his rendering. The music form of ghazal which had over ten centuries of tradition was rejuvenated to popularity by Mehdi Hassan. In fact the popular opinion is that Mehdi Hassan has bequeathed to the world a new music form, The Mehdi Hassan ghazal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan mostly rendered the ghazals penned by the great poets of Urdu and Persian literature. But when he renders <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Shola Tha Jal Bujha Hoon</span>, <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Dil Ki Baat Labon Par Lakar</span>, <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Zindagi Mein To Sabhi </span>Pyaar Kiya Karte Hain, Ranjish Hi Sahi Dil Dukhaane Ke Liye Aa, Yoon Zindagi Ki Raah Mein, Bhooli Bisri Chand Umeedein.. etc, the lines of these poems become Mehdi Hassan’s own lines, his very own music animated by the indescribable depth and sorrows of his voice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan was decorated with every possible award that a musician can win in Pakistan. King of Nepal had accorded him the highest award of his land. He was accorded the Saigal Award in India. Mehdi Hassan, who counted hundreds of prominent people from the world of Music, Cinema and Politics like Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachhan, Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, Hariharan and Shreya Ghosal as his fans, not to mention millions like me from all over the world as die-hard fans, was essentially simplicity, honesty and humaneness personified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A few years after the two horrifying and debilitating wars were fought between India and Pakistan, Mehdi Hassan came to India in 1978 to stay a few days in his native village of Luna. He was most pained to see that his native place still did not have connecting roads or electricity or water supply. He announced that he was not going to participate in the dinner being hosted in his honour at the residence of Governor of Rajasthan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The village of Luna was given electricity supply facilities within three days. When the Government told him that they did not have the financial allocation for roads and water supply, he offered to raise funds through a ghazal concert in the nearby town of Jhunjhuna. Nearly 15,000 fans thronged the concert organized with the help of the Government. He donated the entire fund collected for the development works in the village of Luna. Mehdi Hassan was moved to tears by the sight of poor students being taught under the trees, squatting on the ground, in the Government Primary School in his native village, due to paucity of rooms. He arranged to build two class rooms at his own expense!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Towards the end of 1990s, his hemiplegia and lung problems caused Mehdi Hassan to retire from music. In the year 2000, he came to Kottakkal Arya Vaidhyashala in Kerala, looking for a cure to his diseases. The event then organized in Kozhikkode was the last time Mehdi Hassan ascended the stage! There was some temporary relief, but no lasting cure resulted from the treatment. An event was organized in Mumbai in 2008 to honour him. But since some Pakistanis were behind the terrible terrorist attack that year, Mehdi Hassan could not come to India, being a Pakistani!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In this period, amidst all his debilitating health problems, Mehdi Hassan composed and sang a song with Lata Mangeshkar, fulfilling her long time wish! He sang and recorded his portion of the song in Pakistan and sent the tape to Lata Mangeshkar. The song Tera Milna Bahut Acha Lage Hai was released only in 2011 through the album ‘Sarhadein’(Borders).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan spent his last years in terrible misery. He was struggling to breath because of his lung problems that was the result of constant singing without a break from the age of five. He also suffered from Parkinson’s disease and was bed-ridden the last few years, unable to recognize people. Seeing the pathetic condition in which he was lying in a Karachi Nursing Home unable to pay for his treatment, media had made it a headline news everywhere!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mehdi Hassan had 14 children through his two wives. Many of them live in places like America! But it was his lot to live in a dilapidated house with peeling paint and broken steps during his last days. He had not mastered the art of deal-making to encash his out-of-this-world music. Countless were the free events and causes that he sang for during his lifetime. He lived a great and humane life trusting only his music, truth and hard work.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He was called the Voice of God by many! He was by far the best ghazal singer ever born. But he did not have, in his old age, the money even for the medicines he needed! Today Mehdi Hassan is liberated from all his sorrows and lies in eternal state with his immortal music as his guard of honour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ilaahi Aansu Bhari Zindagi Kisi Ko Na De…..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dear God!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Please don’t bequeath to anyone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Life filled with tears alone!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Push no one into the depths of total helplessness!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-219118813611995672012-08-18T10:53:00.004-07:002012-08-19T04:40:36.158-07:00Chuck Berry: The Grand Father of Rock<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsUPoWWr1zScBkOej1ClhNbhn0UE0uYPn2K9m5bxMjUtXkKkRpZeonkysFdePsEFPP6phzusjdScpbRBKUAAth_RbGAK-jrQM5M6Eq8S0R3bPadS7uFVxxvVNZyuA7BSCJKrPjymsa1vQ/s1600/chuck+berry+record.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsUPoWWr1zScBkOej1ClhNbhn0UE0uYPn2K9m5bxMjUtXkKkRpZeonkysFdePsEFPP6phzusjdScpbRBKUAAth_RbGAK-jrQM5M6Eq8S0R3bPadS7uFVxxvVNZyuA7BSCJKrPjymsa1vQ/s400/chuck+berry+record.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Way back up in the woods among the evergreens</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Who never ever learned to read or write so well</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But he could play the guitar just like a ringing a bell</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Go go</span>..Go Johnny go… Johnny B. Goode<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">As my living room resonated with that peppy Rock N Roll number in Chuck Berry’s joyous voice, accompanied by emotion-rousing guitar licks wafting from the micro grooves of a black record, my young daughter happily enacted the delightful scene of playing the imaginary guitar, rocking her head to the fast beat of the all-time great number. She is five. But that song Johnnie B. Goode is 55 years old! So what if she has no clue, which those song lines are against racism? The guitar music of the black boy Johnny B. Goode</span> who is living in the dark green plains of Louisiana is going to be written up in multi-hued lights all over the world, breaking all racial barriers! The song’s beat and peppiness will not fail to attract the listeners into its captivating fold.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">For some time now I had taken to hearing music from black discs. Do not run away with the idea that music is now released in new black CDs. I am referring to Vinyl records. After listening to music over the last thirty years, starting from Audio Cassettes to Compact Discs, Super Audio Compact Discs, Digital Video Disc – Audio, Computer, various media players, iPod, iPad and many such media turn by turn, I have come to the considered opinion that no medium has that extraordinary high quality high fidelity sound clarity and separation which a well produced vinyl record can unfold!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">But where do we get such records today? The last vinyl record in Tamil language was that of film songs of <i>Kizhakku Cheemaiyile</i> by A R Rahman released in 1993. The last records produced in India belonged to the period 1990-93. Thereafter all the factories producing copies of vinyl records in India closed down. A few copies of records were produced abroad for the Hindi film <i>Dil To Paagal Hain</i> in 1998 and <i>Veer Zara</i> in 2004 for release and distribution in India. Today, on demand, hundred or two hundred copies per title have begun to be released in India. These are now available in Indian markets for film music, ghazals and classical music. But these records sold only through select music store or two in big cities of India. Last year an album of some Malayalam film songs of Yesudas of the period 1995-2005 was released as a vinyl record by the valiant efforts of my friend Shijo Manuel, a die hard record fan and the Music Manager of a Malayalam FM radio station. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">But the price of these vinyl records produced in Germany, Netherlands or England and distributed here ranges from Rs.800/- to Rs.2500/-! Vinyl records of international labels, which are sold only through a few music stores like Rhythm House of Mumbai, carry price tags of Rs.1000/- to Rs.5000/-! How can one afford such listening experience? The records that I now listen to are from my old collections as well as ones borrowed from music friends from all over India. Fortunately, a few extremely rare records of Chuck Berry, who is known as the creator of Rock N Roll have been part of my collection since long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When we talk of popular forms of Western music, two forms stand out. One is Pop music and the other is Rock music. Pop is short for popular. It means that pop music is the form popular among people. But what about Rock? The meaning that comes to mind when we say Rock is of stones, boulders, etc. What is the relationship between these hard materials and music? But Rock also means shake or move or as in rocking the cradle. English language has for hundreds of years used the word rock in that sense. But its entry in the dictionary of music is merely sixty years old.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">But the word Rock did not enter the world of music alone. It first entered the music along with Roll, as Rock & Roll. Roll can mean rotation, Roll as in roll up or roll on the ground, continuing roll of sound, continuing beat of drums or stream of words. Thus Rock & Roll became a new form of music meant for fast dance numbers. This new form took shape with Chuck Berry’s song ‘Maybelline’. Later, Chuck Berry took this form of music to worldwide fame through his two songs ‘Rock & Roll Music’ and ‘School Days’. Chuck Berry raised his clarion call worldwide through the lines of his song ‘School Days’: ‘Hail, hail Rock and Roll, Deliver Me from the days of old ’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Gospel music has slow beat but has high note elaborations and it became popular among American black people in the 1930s and 1940s. Another form of music that was the forte of American black people for a long time was Blues which deeply reflected their sad life and mental stresses set to a slow beat. From this was born the Rhythm & Blues form of music which appealed to the tastes of young so much that it became very popular. But it was still the music of black people. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">During this same period Country, Pop, Jazz and Swing remained exclusively the music of the whites in America. Hillbilly and Bluegrass were forms of country music with a fast beat that were mostly popular among whites for dinner time dances. But none of these soft forms of music had the virility or excitement to reach large masses. It was the age when blacks did not look at the forms of music of the whites and whites would not look at the forms of music of the blacks! It was a terrible age when racial hatred had totally segregated the popular music.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In such a time of deep divide, a roughly 30 years old black young man from Missouri, then considered an unimportant state of United States of America, changed the scene and brought both the blacks and whites together under the sway of his unique form of music. He created his new form of music by fusing the lyrics of Blues that touched the heart, the excitement of Rhythm & Blues, the high pitched appeal of the Gospel music, fast paced piano movements of Jazz and Swing, Guitar dominance of the Country music, the dance appeal of the Hillbilly and ‘I don’t care’ attitude of Blue Grass.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When he proclaimed through this new form of music ‘Deliver us from the days of old’ the world of music was stunned. It became the national anthem of young people between the ages of 15 and 50 coming from diverse communities and races. That was how Rock, popular to this day, was born. And with it the racial divide in music began to disappear slowly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Chuck Berry chucked out the acoustic guitar sound of Country music and brought electric guitar into his music. Not only the lead guitar but also the bass guitar and rhythm guitars became electronic. He soon changed the way the popular guitar was used and improvised many new playing techniques. He replaced the soft piano movements with faster plays of jazz techniques. Snare drum became the leader of drums in beat. He also gave great importance to the vibrant kick base. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">He greatly toned down the importance of Harmony and made the solo singer the centre of his music. He made the accompanying instruments complete the Harmony. He laid emphasis on simple but musical lyrics. He kept aside the problems of race, poverty and politics and played up in his lyrics love, sex, infatuation with girls, different models of new cars that were part of teenage dreams, wine and rebelling against controls and conventions. When he sang like ‘Roll over Beethoven, I’m taking a bit of your space, and you tell Tchaikovsky I said so’, it greatly excited the younger generation who hated the conventions of classical music. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Chuck Berry, with his lean 6’ 2” frame, burnt black complexion and skinny cheeks, always looked twenty years older than he really was. It will surprise no one, if at first sight, you guessed him to be a poor farmer from countryside shriveled by the sun or a small town butchery shop owner. In 1950s, even a few of black girls had commented that he was ‘kind of ugly’! But those who had heard him only on the Radio or from a gramophone record, thought of him as a very handsome man. And those who saw him in his stage avatar gaped open-mouthed at his sky high self- confidence, his highly entertaining showmanship and unfailing sense of humour!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">He developed a stage dance movement called Duck Walk to suit his songs that started unexpectedly and ended quickly. If there is a dance move to equal it in this world, it is Moon Walk alone, created by Michael Jackson! Chuck Berry’s Duck Walk was unique where he played his difficult guitar notes, performed his dance steps to the beat bending at knees like a duck or ostrich moving his neck back and forth. To this day nobody has succeeded in copying this style of dance! Chuck Berry’s singing and dancing on the stage as he played his guitar gave him a superhuman feel. Even his unhandsome looks added notches to his attractive stage persona. He sang and danced in dripping sweat even in the cool environs of air-conditioned halls and even in cold winter months!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">He created many world-wide hit numbers like ‘Johnny B Goode’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Memphis Tennessee’, ‘You Can’t Catch Me’, ‘Little Queenie’, ‘Maybelline’, ‘No Particular Place To Go’, ‘Let It Rock’, ‘Promised Land’, ‘You Never Can’t Tell’, ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’, ‘Reelin’ and Rockin’, ‘Carol’, ‘Thirty Days’, ‘Too Much Monkey Business’, ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’ and so on. Just as Rock music started from his songs, it can be said that Rap or Hip Hop too evolved from his songs. His song ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ was a forerunner to Rap music.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Chuck Berry had always stayed on the Top Ten List of Music Artistes and All-time Great Guitar Players of World. Without the distinction of black or white, there are very few great musicians of the world who had not copied Chuck Berry’s songs or remixed them. Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Jerry Lewis, Elton John, Conway Twitty, Uriah Heap, Bruce Springsteen, Simon Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Van Helen, AC/DC, Paul Anka and David Bowie have all done it. It will be difficult to find any Rock Guitarist who is not influenced by his guitar techniques. Jerry Lewis had once remarked: “Elvis and I are great, but we are not Chuck Berry!” John Lennon had said: “If there is another name for Rock & Roll, it must be Chuck Berry.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Chuck Berry’s life reads like a strange fiction book filled with crimes, confusions and countless unexpected twists in tale. Born in 1926 as Charles Edward Anderson Berry, one of the six children of the part-time pastor of a church in St.Louis, Missouri, he became famous as Chuck Berry. In those days, blacks did not have the right to buy land or house in their name in many parts of America. Though they did have that right in the area where Chuck Berry’s family lived, they owned neither a house nor anything particularly valuable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">His father also worked as a carpenter. His mother was a part-time teacher. She sang well as well. In their deeply religious home, the church choir conducted regular music rehearsals. These were Chuck Berry’s initial experiences in music. He started participating in them from the age of six. In the very beginning of teens he took up the guitar. Without knowing anything much about it he played it and sang in a school event. It was liked by all. Very soon and in short order he learnt the basics of guitar. Between school hours, to earn money, he worked as an assistant at Hair Dresser’s shop. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Is it a must that children brought up in a deeply religious way should grow up as good persons as well? At 17 Chuck Berry got down to stealing at the streets with a few friends. They looted three shops in Kansas City with an old revolver that did not work. Later, when they tried to escape in a car they had stolen at gun point, they were caught by the Police. They were sentenced to three years in Jail. He sang by forming a group of four in that Juveniles Correctional Facility.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When Chuck Berry came out of Jail on his 21</span><sup style="line-height: 115%;">st</sup><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> birthday, his family compelled him into a marriage. His first child was born the next year. Chuck Berry worked as a daily labourer in an automobile workshop, as a sweeper in his housing colony and as a night watchman. He was willing to do any job that fetched him money. With money thus earned and saved, in 1950 he bought a small house that was forty years old in a locality where only poor blacks lived. It was from this house that he created the immortal songs like ‘Johnny B. Goode’, ‘Roll over Beethoven’ and ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’. Today the government has registered this house, where he lived till 1958 as a place of historical importance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Whether he was a bird in Jail or a watchman outside it, he never gave up on his music. In all these places he spent his time playing on his guitar and singing. Soon, he started working with the music groups there. Then one day the lead singer of the music band of Johnny Johnson, a great pianist himself, took ill. Not having any alternative he invited Chuck Berry, still a greenhorn with his guitar to perform at the New Year Eve Event of 1952. But with his uncanny feel for entertaining and unique singing style, Chuck Berry made the event an unprecedented celebration! None too soon Johnny Johnson’s band became Chuck Berry’s band!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In those early days, Chuck Berry was mostly concentrating on Blues. He borrowed the entertaining stage techniques of T. Bone Walker who had created a few famous Blues songs by then. Chuck Berry was an ardent fan of the then dominant music personality with the funny name of Muddy Waters who had created the runaway all-time hit Blues numbers like ‘Hoochi Coochie Man’ and ‘My Home in Delta’. Chuck Berry also regarded the singing style of Nat King Cole, who was practically the history of Jazz and Swing music styles, as his ideal. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">All these three were blacks and their music reached only black people. Chuck Berry thought that if he combined the singing and stage styles of these three great men with the Country music of whites the resultant new style music will reach both blacks as well as whites. Chuck Berry decided that his lyrics should not have, in the language or pronunciation, anything that reminded of blacks. Later it was this fusion music that was celebrated equally by blacks and whites that took Chuck Berry to the heights of fame.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In 1955, Chuck Berry went to meet his idol Muddy Waters in Chicago with the desire to release a music record, a desire that had animated him for long. There ensued the strangest of dialogues lasting a bare three minutes that can be said to have catapulted Chuck Berry to an international status of a cult star. The dialogue went like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Good Morning, Sir!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “What do you want?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “I am your great fan!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Come to the point!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “I am a singer, poet and composer!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “I am one, too. So?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “I want my music record released.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Go right ahead.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Which firm can be ………”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Go to Chess Records. See Leonard Chess.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Thank you, Sir. May I sing a song of mine? I have the guitar.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> “I have the piano itself here. Spare me. Just leave!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Chuck Berry put in his attendance the very next day at the office of Chess Records. He cited the name of Muddy Waters to gain entry. He sang a few of his Blues style songs for the benefit of Leonard Chess, plucking his guitar. But none of his songs impressed Leonard. Heart-broken, before leaving, he sang his own version of the old Country music song Ida Red. Leonard Chess was impressed and a recording agreement was signed immediately. In the next few days that song was recorded with many changes titled ‘Maybelline’. A completely bluesy number ‘Wee Wee Hours’ was placed on the B side of the record. That record sold nearly a million copies! What followed is the happy history of Rock & Roll music. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Most of Chuck Berry’s songs became super hits. He made money hand over fist and fame played his tune. His investments in orchards, houses, agricultural lands, restaurants and motels, night dance halls, etc. flourished. Chuck Berry became the idol to follow for millions of music lovers and thousands of famous musicians as well. But his music alone was the ideal to follow!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In 1959, at the height of his fame as a world-wide super star, he was arrested by the Police for the crime of raping a fourteen years old Red Indian girl. Brought in from Texas, she was a bag checker in his dance floors at night. By day she was apparently soliciting secretly. Chuck Berry was sentenced to five years in jail for bringing a minor girl from another state and forcing her into prostitution. Two appeals reduced the sentence to two years of jail. Chuck Berry was in jail during the years 1962-63. But that was also the period when his songs were sung by world-famous music stars and became famous in nooks and corners of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Chuck Berry who came out of jail was an embittered man unwilling to trust anyone. He disbanded his music troupe. He snapped his relations with Chess Records and shifted to Mercury Records. He undertook his music tours alone, with just his guitar for company. He earned much notoriety by holding music events with substandard local bands without any rehearsal. Short temper and unsociable habits became his calling cards. He refused to sing a song on the stage more than once, however persistent the fans’ requests for encores were! During this period he released many songs, but only a few like ‘Nadine’ succeeded. But none of them brought in the kind of money he expected.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Chastened, he returned to Chess Records. ‘My Dinga Linga Ling’ released by Chess in 1972 was the number that sold maximum number of records during the chequered music career of Chuck Berry. This tasteless song of below par music secured the kind of success which many of the great musical creations of Chuck Berry, the creator of Rock & Roll music, did not receive. The reason was not far to seek, it was the double entendre in the narration of lyrics, the kind that even an adolescent student will shy away from. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">When I was a little biddy boy</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My grandma bought me a cute little toy</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two Silver bells on a string</div><div style="text-align: justify;">She told me it was my ding-a-ling-a-ling</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My Ding-A-Ling My Ding-A-Ling won't you play with My Ding-A-Ling</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My Ding-A-Ling My Ding-A-Ling won't you play with My Ding-A-Ling</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I was little boy In Grammar school</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Always went by the very best rule</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But every time the bell would ring</div><div style="text-align: justify;">You'd catch me playing with my ding-a-ling</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once while climbing the garden wall,</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Slipped and fell had a very bad fall</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I fell so hard I heard birds sing,</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But I held on to My ding-a-ling</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once while swimming cross turtle creek</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Man them snappers right at my feet</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sure was hard swimming cross that thing</div><div style="text-align: justify;">with both hands holding my ding-a-ling</div><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Though happy at the way money came pouring in, Chuck Berry was confused by the success of this absurd song. He did not record a single song for the next two years. He appeared set against recording another song. But pressures of contract made him consent to release a few songs. With that he came out of Chess Records, once and for all. The song ‘Rock It’ released through the music label Atco, four years later, was Chuck Berry’s last recorded song.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">He continued with his music tours, all alone. He kept performing with any indifferent troupe that came his way, with disastrous consequences to his reputation! Still, the crowds of fans kept storming his events to just get a glimpse of this super star of international fame. It is said that he had always resorted to every trick of trade to collect money and not let it go out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">He had held a huge musical event in White House in 1979 at the request of President Jimmy Carter, who was his ardent fan. Within a few days of this event he was arrested again. This was for cheating the Government of Income Tax that was not paid for many years. He was sentenced to 4 months in prison and additionally 45 days of social service. During this period of social service Government arranged for over ten musical events. The proceeds of these events were appropriated by the Government towards the penal amount due from Chuck Berry! Chuck Berry continued to hold over 100 music events every year banking on the fame of his songs. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In 1990, it was discovered that the women’s toilets in the restaurants owned by Chuck Berry were fitted with hidden cameras. 59 affected women went to court against Chuck Berry. But they were not able to prove that he did it. But he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay compensation to those women to mitigate this new blemish in his reputation. An obscene video was put on sale everywhere with the claim that he performed in it! But it was never proved that it was he who was on tape. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In a subsequent sudden raid by the Police Department on Chuck Berry’s residence they found a little grass and drugs, some weapons and obscene video tapes of young girls below the age of seventeen. He was sentenced again and a fine of 5000 dollars was levied as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">In the year 2000, Johnny Johnson, who was the first one to get Chuck Berry to sing and who later served in Chuck Berry’s troupe as a pianist, went to court against him. He advanced the argument that he too had worked in the creation of over 50 songs of Chuck Berry like ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and that he had received neither money nor credit for it. But he could adduce no proof for his claims. Court dismissed the claim ruling that there was no basis for the claim raised after 40-50 years of the event. Johnny Johnson passed away within two years after that. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Every person lives with his very personal and secret thoughts. Who else can tell what he had thought or done in his secret and personal moments? Psychology says that criminality is a human trait. Man escapes indulging his criminal thoughts because of the social and personal obstructions that happen on a day to day basis. Chuck Berry has spoken very little in his public life. He has never spoken about the dark recesses of his mind. He had neither shown excessive pride in his successes nor publicly displayed his disappointment over his failures. He made no effort to deny or justify the charges leveled against him before the people!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">He had remarked, just once: “I am not a very great person. Money was always important to me. My dreams were always about land, home and valuable possessions. But whatever I did, I made the effort to be whole-hearted. I might have failed in the effort many times. I had no part in many of the crimes I am supposed to have committed after I became popular. When millions loved me, it is quite possible that a few thousands hated me intensely.” Chuck Berry’s obsession with money and possessions must have been reflections of his early life where he had no right to anything.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">At the ripe age of 82 he undertook a music tour of many European nations. Fans flocked to his events to see him even though he was in no great shape to sing. He fell, tired, on the stage during a New Year Eve’s show. Today, at 86 he still performs a few nights every month in a night club named Blueberry Mountain in his native place. Nobody has to pay money to listen him singing now! Chuck Berry, weighed down and fatigued by his age plays on his guitar and makes the effort to sing in a low sunken pitch.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Go Johnny go</span>… Johnny be good!</div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-13479965567787481922012-03-27T12:04:00.002-07:002014-12-08T21:30:39.825-08:00Marvin Gaye – A Singer Who Dared To Ask 'What’s Going On'?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJlvnqHQCGP23KpgIaVPNTnXak5MtKFpp6tcHvgScdeU8WF26M9XregiY0bSQkvEG4wMabpefq_OPTbLh9VOiTsCH3FZyuOejxwXuQfGPJLrGihW6BPKC1u5bwNU7EcuVdfX_5YunTvI/s1600/Marvinn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUJlvnqHQCGP23KpgIaVPNTnXak5MtKFpp6tcHvgScdeU8WF26M9XregiY0bSQkvEG4wMabpefq_OPTbLh9VOiTsCH3FZyuOejxwXuQfGPJLrGihW6BPKC1u5bwNU7EcuVdfX_5YunTvI/s400/Marvinn.jpg" height="400" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Reji’s father was a high-ranking official in the then famous Punalur Paper Mills. Being an old-fashioned Christian, as far as he was concerned music was something that you sang as devotionals only after the evening prayers and in the church on Sundays. His only goal in life was raising the children ‘properly’ to become officers. But Reji at his age of twelve, desired to learn Carnatic music! It shocked his father like a bomb blast. Has anyone brought up in Kerala’s Marthoma Church tradition ever learned Carnatic music? He had never heard of it! What will the world come to if a true Christian takes to singing ‘Vaataapi Ganapatim Bhaje’ and ‘Paahimaam Shree Rajarajeshwari’? Reji was sternly warned. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">After a year or so he thought of another way to learn music. He desired to own a Harmonium. The plus-point was Harmonium comes with music which does not have any devotional ‘lines’ attached to it. But his father mercilessly quelled that desire also. He told him in unmistakable terms that the cursed thing called Harmonium shall not darken his doors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Many years later when I met Reji in his room in Lala Guda of Hyderabad he was surrounded by piles of music instruments. Different types of Electronic keyboards, Tablas, Dholaks, Harmonium and Guitars literally littered the place. The room walls were plastered with pictures of international music stars. Reji had become a famous Western Guitarist of Hyderabad and an expert in pop music among the aficionados of Western music in Hyderabad. He had learnt everything on his own. What more! He had a Western Music Band of his own!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I became Reji’s friend first and next his roommate. By then his mother and brothers had settled down in United States of America. They had asked him to go to America to settle there. But he had refused. He used to say that America was not the land of his dreams. The identity he loved was that of a Western musician living in India. He accepted the parcels used to come from his brothers now and then, containing valuable audio cassettes of Western Music. Thus he kept on adding to his already formidable collection of western music. We spent marvelous days and nights living and listening to all that music. That was how I came to listen and love the music of all those great Western music artistes that was rarely available in India in those days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Though we loved to listen to almost all genres of music, we were particularly impressed by the soulfulness and deep emotional highs of Afro American music. Our taste and appreciation covered a vast expanse of music from Aretha Franklin to Nina Simone to <strong><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-weight: normal;">Ella Fitzgerald</span></strong>, from Ray Charles to Chuck Berry to Stevie Wonder. But from among them, Reji and I found Marvin Gaye was a particularly unique singer. His Soul Music filling our dark and sultry small room late in the night, transported us to unknown lands that can only be traversed through music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">For more than a century Afro American music has become an inalienable part of everyday American life and its important cultural accomplishment. Its forms are many from the Gospel Music, Blues, Jazz, Rock n’ Roll, Rhythm & Blues, Soul to the current Hip Hop. The early Afro American music had evolved from the songs of the slave labourers, counting African folk traditions as its roots. Through this music the black slaves exchanged their sad tales, preserved the unbroken thread of their tragic history and finally retained and raised themselves as a sane society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Preponderant majority of Afro American slaves took to Christianity and it was only natural that they brought their rich traditions of music to the Church. Thus an Afro American music that was devotion-oriented took shape and remains alive, truly lively and well to this day. Today this is known as Gospel music. But, increasingly its religious identity is getting eroded and lyrics are being set to music for their sheer artistic enjoyment. Gospel music songs are being released with pure market-orientation. We can cite the likes of Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Shirley Caesar, <strong><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-weight: normal;">James Cleveland, Donnie McClurkin,</span></strong> Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Yolanda Adams, Whitney Huston et all are important Gospel singers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Music that evolved from the depression, the sorrow, the anger, the grinding poverty and yearnings that Afro Americans experienced in their movement against oppression was called the ‘Blues’. Blues songs are great examples to illustrate the saying that ‘deeply moving songs are the saddest’. W.C.Handy, Robert Johnson, Gary Davis and Mamie Smith can be described as the pioneers who developed Blues genre of music. Bessie Smith, B.B.Kings, John Lee Hooker, Diana Washington, Sarah Vaughan are all frontline singers of Blues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">During this development of Afro American music a new tradition of music evolved, that was both creative and capable of expressing diverse emotions. It was a genre that can be rendered with imaginative impromptu elaborations. It was ‘Jazz’. Though it was basically rooted in ‘Blues’, ‘Jazz’ incorporated many types of scores and beats within itself and made extensive use of stringed instruments, brass instruments and drums to elaborate itself. Jazz caught the imagination and the tastes of most Americans. Jazz exponents like Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday and Miles Davis became names that were widely popular everywhere. The contribution of these great artistes to American music is immeasurable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Rock n’ Roll was the result of waves created in the American taste for music in the 1940s by these Afro American traditions of music. It had a fast beat and pattern of music that suited dances. Rock n’ Roll was a form that swayed to two electric guitars, the Lead Guitar and the Rhythm Guitar. Jazz drums also join in to set the trend. In the early stages of its evolution the Double Bass was used for the base. Piano and Saxophone were also played as frontline instruments. In 1950s Electric Guitar took their place. The snare drum always played a fast beat. Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richards were the pioneers of Rock n’ Roll. Elvis Presley, though not an Afro American was considered the King of Rock n’ Roll and was called the ‘White man with the voice of a Black’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">It was also at this point of time the Afro American genre of music called Rhythm & Blues was formed combining the musical features of Gospel music, Blues and Jazz. To this day R & B remains a popular genre of music. Ray Charles, James Brown and Stevie Wonder are the pioneers of R & B. Tony Braxton, Whitney Huston, Mary J. Blige, Maria Carey, Rihanna are all important practitioners of R & B.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Soul Music emerged from R&B genre. Some consider Soul as merely another label for the old and traditional R&B style. Actually it is a new genre of music that evolved with continuous efforts of creative music artistes like Bo Diddley, Sam Cooke and Ray Charles who experimented by combining music features of Gospel music and R&B. Both R&B and Soul were set on a creative growth path by the likes of Smokey Robinson, Luther Vandrose, Otis Redding and Lionel Ritchie. Aretha Franklin is by far the best female voice of Soul. But Marvin Gaye has come to be known as the best composer, lyricist and singer of Soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">When Guardian listed the Top Ten who changed the face of popular music, it listed Marvin Gaye as the fourth. It was R&B which heralded the arrival of Marvin Gaye. From there he changed to the more sensitive and refined Soul music evolving it to his own unique political statement and personal music style. He wrote his own lyrics and music, sang them and produced them. He was equally facile at playing the piano, keyboards and drums. At the same time he had a voice that combined force and sharpness with a sensitively sweet timbre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">His Soul music reverberated as an instrument of social change. Many of his albums strengthened the voices that were against racism (What’s Going On?), for sexual rights (Let’s Get It On) and for strong families (Here, My Dear). Marvin Gaye songs have diverse range from ones with imaginative stories to dance numbers with fast beats. At every stage in his growth ladder Marvin Gaye had demonstrated his personal integrity and his deep emotions. Marvin Gaye’s was a sorrowing heart that found comfort in music. His biographer writes that ‘his music is comforting. His songs are meditations. His music alone was his means of survival.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Marvin Gaye, the second of three sons of a priest Marvin Pentz Gay, was born in 1939 in Washington D.C. His father was a devout priest of a fundamentalist Christian sect called House of God that had broken away from the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The new church had formed combining the ancient Jewish religious dictates and the religious directions of the Pentecost Church. It prohibits leisure, holidays, festive celebrations, non devotional music and arts for the members of its churches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Marvin Gaye had started singing in the joint prayers of the church at the age of three. At the age of five he started singing by himself. He received his early training in piano and drums from the church orchestra. Music was an asylum for him from nightmarish family environs of his childhood. His father, as a fierce follower of his religion and very strict disciplinarian, was a habitual critic of everything that his children did. Most of the days saw him beating Marvin black and blue. These travails of his childhood left him confused and agitated throughout his life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">After graduation, Marvin Gaye left home, joined Air Force to serve for some time and returned to civilian life as a musician who sang with road-side bands. Around this time he was introduced to narcotic drugs like cocaine. Slowly he graduated to bigger music troupes like ‘Rain Bows’ and ‘Moon Glows’. When Moon Glows went to Chicago, Marvin Gaye went with them to Chicago and settled there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">In 1961 while singing in Chicago, Marvin Gaye’s pleasantly deep voice and singing style caught the attention of Perry Cardy, the Director of Motown Recording Company, which was the biggest Music releasing organisation in America of those years. In the beginning Marvin Gaye had to be contended playing the drums and the piano for such famous singers as Smokey Robinson. He wooed and married Anna, Perry Cardy’s younger sister. Anna was 17 years older than Marvin Gaye. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">When Marvin Gaye got his first opportunity to sing solo, he had to struggle with his throat. The early attempts were all miserable failures. Then the single ‘Stubborn Kind of Fellow’ released in 1962 was a moderate success. His next two singles ‘Hitch Hike’ and ‘Can I Get a Witness’ came within Top Thirty of America’s sales list. ‘Pride and Joy’ released in 1963 took Marvin Gaye to Top Ten.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But these successes as a singer of dance numbers did not fill Marvin Gaye with happiness. His love was for light music numbers that overflow with sorrow and soulful emotions. He felt tortured by the pressures exerted by Motown to get him to sing only dance numbers with a fast beat. The cold war between the commercial outlook of the recording company and his own devotion to soulful light music lasted the entire duration of his contract with Motown recording company. Later Marvin Gaye was to remark on this period of trials along these lines: “I did not want to continue standing and shaking my ass. I only wanted to sing good clean melodies perched firmly on a stool.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">‘Together’ was an album of duets he sang with Mary Wells which was released in 1964. That took Marvin Gaye to the top of sales chart. They had together sung many famous duets like ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘What’s the Matter with You, Baby?’ Marvin Gaye achieved great successes with his solos as well. He continued to top the charts. He achieved great fame with his songs like ‘Ain’t That Peculiar?’ and ‘How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You’ that were released in 1965. He topped the charts with 39 albums out of 40 solo albums released by Motown. Most of his songs were written and composed by him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Many great duet numbers of Marvin Gaye were sung with female singer Tammi Terrel. He had sung many hugely successful hit songs with Tammi including such hits as ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ and ‘Your Precious Love’ released in 1967. Their duets like ‘Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing’ and ‘You’re All I Need to Get By’ created history. Marvin Gaye was deeply in love with Tammi. But they could not live together as they were both caught up in different marriage tangles. While Marvin Gaye was living in an embittered marriage, Tammy was living in a torturous relationship. Tammy, while participating in a stage show in Virginia in 1967, fainted and fell in the arms of Marvin Gaye. Soon she died of brain tumor. America’s love song duo of undying fame was no more. This separation subjected Marvin Gaye to unbearable emotional pain. That was the time one of his greatest hits ‘I Heard It through the Grapevine’ had released. But Marvin Gaye was in a deep state of depression. He stopped performing on stage drowned himself in drugs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Marvin Gaye was also drowning in a lot of personal problems as well. His sad marriage was one. He was beginning to feel that the many love songs he was composing to further the commercial cause of his Motown were utterly meaningless efforts in total disconnect with newly awakening politics of Afro Americans in USA. He spent the entire year 1970 in seclusion. But he came up the very next year with the song ‘What’s Going On?’ This famous song of Marvin Gaye very clearly enunciated the parting of ways with the past both in terms of singing style and contents. The very open political call of the song confused the Motown. At first they refused to release it. But it came out nevertheless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">This song changed the face of Afro American pop music. Marvin Gaye had established through this album the emotional uniqueness of Soul music by combining in it Jazz and features of Classical Music. He continued to compose and sing songs that explicitly took up positions against racism, poverty and destruction of environment besides shoring up political struggles. The success of this album also eased the stranglehold of Motown on his fellow Afro American artistes. Singers like Stevie Wonder got the opportunity to advance with their own choice of music. Marvin Gaye had played the drums for many of the early songs of Stevie Wonder who happened to be blind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Soon Marvin Gaye changed direction again and became more interested in Jazz. He started composing songs dripping with sex and one of his most famous numbers ‘Let’s Get It On’ released in 1973 was the most blatant. Even today it is considered a song that in the annals of American music is considered one that was most explicitly loaded with sex. By far his greatest commercial success, the song expresses the yearning for sex and the restlessness it generates. But it has a unique significance. It heralded the return of Marvin Gaye from songs with political agenda to songs of a very private world. After the release in 1973 of his album ‘Marvin and Diana’ that he sang in the company of the world super star singer Diana Ross, the album ‘I Want You’ of his solo songs was released. I consider this album to be the best by far of Soul music ever released. Everything about it had come out superbly. Every word of it sounds in Marvin’s voice as if it converses from his soul. If you look at it only as a poem, it is again truly the greatest emotional album of poems of love that I have heard so far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Marvin Gaye spent most of the 1970s in court to fight his case for divorce from Anna Cardy. Motown, seeing that he could not come for recording because of his preoccupation with the case, released the album ‘Got to Give It Up’ consisting of his old songs rendered on stage and it too became a run-away hit! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">‘Here, My Dear’, an album released in 1978 after his divorce, spoke of his married life with all his deeply embittered feelings. Anna Cardy sued him for libel asking for a big fortune as compensation as the album had many private details of their failed marriage. Marvin Gaye married Janice Hunter, 18 years younger than him. Though he started working on his next album, he could not complete it. His drug addiction had hit a new high. His second marriage too ended up soon burdensome and painful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Marvin Gaye fled to Europe in 1981 to escape his many cases of Income Tax default in America. He released his album ‘In Our Lifetime’ from there. Completely different from his other songs, it had deeply philosophical outlook. His relations with Motown came to an end because of the copyright dispute over this new album.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">He was continuously in the news for all wrong reasons. His drug addiction was climaxing. His disorderly behavior in public became frequent. In spite of it, the release next year of his ‘Midnight Love’ was a good come back. ‘Sexual Healing’ which was released next was a big hit and confirmed the come back. He made up with Motown in 1983. He joined a stage show celebrating their silver jubilee. But Marvin Gaye’s drug addiction and suicidal tendencies continued.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">His life became increasingly lonely. He was getting even more addicted to cocaine. With nowhere to go and unable to stay rooted to anything, he decided to return to his parent’s home where from he had run away from many years before. In reality it was a tragic end to the sincere journey of a great artiste embarking on a search of self through music. It was a desperate last effort to again get hold of his deeply shattered life. But it only led Marvin Gaye to greater bitterness and mental depression. It is impossible for any person to return to the warmth and security of his mother’s womb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Marvin Gaye’s father was deeply embittered by his son’s non-religious music. He hated his son’s free lifestyle and the huge fame he had achieved. He was on a serial bout of disowning and insulting Marvin. His discussions with Marvin always ended in bitter confrontations. His father was violently abusive totally ignoring Marvin’s mental conflicts and depressions. These confrontations hurt Marvin Gaye. The international music star and the national emblem of black American music reduced to nothing but tears.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">On 9<sup>th</sup> April of 1984, a day before his 45<sup>th</sup> birthday, Marvin Gaye quarreled with his father. His father had started battering his mother for misplacing some business documents. When Marvin tried to interfere, his father’s anger turned towards him. Quarrel became a big fight. The priest, blinded with anger took out his pistol and shot his son. Shot in the shoulder and chest, Marvin Gaye collapsed and never </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">got up </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">again to ask 'whats going on'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Reji never returned to his father’s home nor stayed there. Later he moved to and settled in America. On 1<sup>st</sup> April of 2007 he called me from Marvin Gaye Memorial Park in Washington D.C. There he was participating in the week-long Marvin Gaye Memorial Music Festival titled ‘What’s Going On?’ being conducted in the ‘Marvin Gaye Amphitheater’. Drenched in our Hyderabad memories of Marvin Gaye's songs, we both were speechless in deep sadness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-86171591806359817342012-03-23T04:36:00.004-07:002012-03-23T04:49:22.621-07:00T.R. Mahalingam – The Honeyed Voice of Tamil Language<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1PG078qY2vyrdLsFpwYFT6DM_czRXorXIM-hoaUR2m1S5Tnb_tG0OQkEHNWmV-nZ6J3c3m0IcwqSt5CQmj5MjkwIR119EJUKIuFa4N2svm4ORKTqhdM6_YMrFJUGJdyupfp_s-LQW1Tg/s1600/trmahalingam+col.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1PG078qY2vyrdLsFpwYFT6DM_czRXorXIM-hoaUR2m1S5Tnb_tG0OQkEHNWmV-nZ6J3c3m0IcwqSt5CQmj5MjkwIR119EJUKIuFa4N2svm4ORKTqhdM6_YMrFJUGJdyupfp_s-LQW1Tg/s400/trmahalingam+col.jpg" width="371" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was from the elderly Lukose Chettan in my native place that I first heard of T.R.Mahalingam and I was twelve or thirteen then. Once, when talking about the contemporary film music, he said: “What you boys hear and sing nowadays is run-of-the-mill stuff. You guys must listen to the Carnatic music based Tamil film songs sung by T.R.Mahalingam.” He even made a weak mimicry of some of those songs. He made me stare at him in wonder by declaring that he had seen T.R.Mahalingam with his own eyes! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Lukose Chettan claimed that he had seen T.R.Mahalingam in Cochin when he had come for the Golden Jubilee celebration of his wildly successful film</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Gnana Soundari.</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Directed by a Malayalee named Joseph Thaliyath, it was a Christian devotional story based film made in 1948. The songs of the film</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Gnana Soundari</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> were not only super hits in Tamilnadu but were just as famous in Kerala. T.R.Mahalingam addressed thousands of his fans in Cochin’s Padma Theatre. Lukose Chettan demonstrated to me how the super star of those days, T.R.Mahalingam appeared on the balcony of the theatre and waved to his fans. The audience reached the heights of frenzy when they saw their handsome singing hero in person.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But it was much later I could truly listen to and appreciate the singing of T.R.Mahalingam. It was in the nineties in Chennai. I was engaged in the making of an advertisement film for the music album, titled ‘Legends-T.R.Mahalingam’ brought out by HMV. For me it was an opportunity of the life time to hear most of his songs in fairly good quality sound. I could also see the film clippings of some of his song scenes. I must say that T.R.Mahalingam, the actor did not catch my fancy. But, I was amazed by his extraordinary singing prowess demonstrated in his wide range of songs from Carnatic classical to simple light music. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar was the super star of the earlier era of Tamil films. But the considered opinion of connoisseurs of Tamil films of pre-1950s is that it was P.U.Chinnappa who was the undoubted star both in singing and acting. And T.R.Mahalingam was a great singer who lost his way as an actor in the film world. He took up the Carnatic music-based film music tradition pioneered by the likes of Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and P.U.Chinnappa. In the era before play-back singing and advanced recording technology took over, the success of a film or a drama depended on the number of songs and how a singer actor sang those Carnatic classical music-based songs on the stage or screen. It was an era when the Indian stage and screen was entirely music-centred and singers alone were the stars at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Many great singer actors emerged from the South Indian drama stages of the time. S.G.Kittappa was the first super star among them. He was an exceptional singer. Some say that he was a good actor as well. His dramas popularized Carnatic music among the larger public. It is said that nobody before him ever sang rare ragas like Devamritha Varshini with such detailed enunciation. Fans who had listened to his voice in dramas and records never forget the intensity of his magnetic, high pitched, precise singing. Unfortunately, S.G. Kittappa passed away in 1933 at the age of 28, before cinema could become a talkie. But his rare high pitched singing of great resonance had become the most influential style to emulate among singers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In those days when sound systems were not emerged, singers had the compulsion to sing in high voices that reached everyone in the audience. That is why the performer singers of the early era had to train their voices through strenuous exercises to sing in high pitched voices. Great singers of those days, faced as they were with no technology and many practical difficulties, produced amazingly great music. Today we are left with highly sophisticated technology but very little good music to go with it. From the pure Carnatic music of pre 50s most part of our popular music became bumbling mumblings that are difficult to identify as either speech or song and music lovers are left to regret this indifference. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Coming back to T.R. Mahalingam, there is none greater to have taken forward the S.G.Kittappa style of singing. Though T.R.Mahalingam, like S.G.Kittappa, had sung most of his songs in very high pitches, had no problem in singing in lower pitches as well. His ‘Naanandri Yaar Varuvaar’ and ‘Kanngalin Vennilave’ are all such songs. His immortal song ‘Senthamizh Thean Mozhiyal’ from the film<i> Maalaiyitta Mangai</i> starts with high notes, then becomes a light music elaboration and moves towards a dance number like springiness. All through this T.R.Mahalingam’s voice and singing style stands out in all majesty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In his great songs like ‘Aadaikatti Vandha Nilavo’ from the film <i>Amudhavalli </i>the wealth of his voice and the exact fineness of his singing are on display. His pitching sense is very exact. His creative rendering surprises us at unexpected moments. The example of the fine musical flourish he employs just once in rendering the end of the line ‘Kaaduvittu Vandha Mayilo’, which makes us hear the song a hundred times over.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is said that late Seergazhi Govindarajan was a great fan of T.R.Mahalingam. It is also said that he went to great lengths by training his voice and singing style to adapt T.R.Mahalingam’s style. But in my opinion, while he succeeded in being able to sing at high pitches he came nowhere near to T.R.Mahalingam in terms of originally natural singing and flawless rendering style. T.R.Mahalingam sang some songs with Seergazhi Govindarajan. The two songs in the film<i> Agathiyar</i> ‘Namachivaayam Ena Solvomae’ and ‘Isaiyaai Thamizhai Iruppavane’ are excellent bases to compare the two singers. T.R.Mahalingam effortlessly floats along rendering the song in his lovely singing style and flawless pitching, showing no strain whatsoever with fluent musical flourishes and lively emotional expressions. But the efforts of Seergazhi Govindarajan are forced and labored.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I have to admit that I was never able to appreciate either the voice or the singing style of Seergazhi Govindarajan. I have been of the opinion that his voice defied musicality, notwithstanding the many honorifics like ‘one with bell-metal voice’ bestowed on him. As a playback singer his voice neither suited the voice of any actor, nor was he able to adapt his voice to suit anybody. Though he had gone on to sing some songs for the likes of M.G.R, Sivaji Ganesan and Muthuraman, his songs were mostly in the nature of a disemboweled voice in the background.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My appreciation of Govindarajan’s voice is that it naturally trembles away from his pitch. We can clearly see this in the duet ‘Chithirame Chithirame Sirikkakkoodaadha’ when we compare him with the rendering by the fellow singer P.Suseela. In places like ‘Sirikkakkoodaadha’ he clearly strays from the pitch. He has this problem on most of his landing notes. We can see this even in his very famous songs like ‘Aadi Adangum Vaazhkaiyada’ and ‘Ullathil Nalla Ullam’. His excessive gamakas are highly labored to the musically sensitive listeners.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But listening to songs of T.R.Mahalingam like ‘Aandavan Darisaname’ in the film<i> Agathiyar,</i> we realize what a music marvel he is. His voice always flows effortlessly. The musical flourishes manifest themselves with flawless pitch in any note on his mere wish. We can see T.R.Mahalingam’s wizardry and craft of light music rendering in his many songs like ‘Aasaikonden Amudhame’, ‘Sangam Muzhangi Varum’, ‘Illaya Kanniyin Azhagiya Vadhanam’, ‘Ethirkondu Varaverkuthe’, ‘Kaatchiyum Neethaan Karpanaiyum Neethaan’, ‘Madhuramaana Rusiyullathe’, ‘Naan Deivama Illai Nee Deivama’ and ‘Kannirandum Ondrai Ondru’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Like his role model and self-professed master S.G.Kittappa, T.R.Mahalingam started singing on the stage while still a child. He became famous in no time at all. It was his high pitch songs that earned him his fame. He was a Star singer in the Special dramas of those days. T.R.Mahalingam garnered fame and name as successful drama artiste and singer when he was a mere 14 year old boy and entered the film world on the back of that fame. The debut film was <i>Nandakumar</i> produced by AVM in 1937. T.R.Mahalingam acted as the young Krishna in the film. The songs were hits but the film failed. He had a continued run of 10 unimportant films thereafter. Not one of those films could establish him as star. He was mentally tired, but ploughed on nevertheless. That was when AVM produced the film <i>Srivalli</i> that had been scripted by Shankardas Swamigal for the wildly successful Special Drama of the same name. As he was yet to establish himself as a successful artiste, T.R.Mahalingam was engaged as the main protagonist on a very small fee.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">T.R.Mahalingam was the Murugan in the film <i>Srivalli</i> released in 1945. That film established him as a big artiste. The film also turned out to be a great start for the production company of AVM. It was in this film that he sang his all-time famous high pitched number ‘Kaayaadha Kaanagathe Nindrulaavum’ with an amazing artistry that is envied to this day. This was a song already made famous by S.G.Kittappa’s magnificent rendering on Special Drama Stage and T.R.Mahalingam rendered it flawlessly with such magnificent style that even the diehard fans of S.G.Kittappa accepted him instantly. The film which celebrated Golden Jubilee in many theatres made T.R.Mahalingam a super star.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">AVM released their social film<i> Naam Iruvar</i> in 1947 immediately after India attained Independence. Tamil language’s national poet Subramanya Bharathi’s patriotic songs were the main attraction of the film. T.R.Mahalingam captivated an entire generation of people with his immaculate rendering of Bharathi’s songs like ‘Solai Malaroliyo’, ‘Vaazhiya Senthamizh’, ‘Vetri Ettu Thikkum Kotta’ and ‘Vittu Viduthalaiyagi’. When he visited a cinema hall in Madurai during a screening of the film, his fans danced carrying T.R.Mahalingam on their shoulders. Though the success of the film owed a great deal to the ecstasy of having attained Independence and the famous lines of Bharathi, there was undeniably the role of the voice of T.R.Mahalingam, as well. <i>Vedhala Ulagam</i> released in 1948 by AVM was another runaway hit film for T.R.Mahalingam. There were many Bharathi songs in this film too. Songs like ‘Senthamizh Naadennum Pothinile’ and ‘Theeraatha Villaiyaattu Pillai’ in the stellar voice of T.R.Mahalingam were super hits. Mega hit film <i>Gnana</i><i> Soundari</i> followed next. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But the next film <i>Idhaya Geetham</i> by the same director of <i>Gnana</i><i> Soundari</i> with T.R.Mahalingam as the hero with a social theme was a big failure. T.R.Mahalingam’s fame as a star did not help the film at all. But his song in the film ‘Vaanulaavum Thaarai Neeye Idhaya Geethame’ still plays on the lips of the fans of his music. The film<i> Laila Majnu</i> that followed was also not successful. It was around this time that T.R.Mahalingam took the worst decision of his life. He decided to produce and act in his own films. He produced, on his own, films like<i> Mohanasundaram, Chinnadurai</i> and <i>Machcha Rekhai.</i> <i>Mohanasundaram </i>was based on the famous novel of J.R.Rangaraju. The film too became famous for the duets he sang with G.Varalakshmi like ‘O Jagamadhil Inbam’, ‘Pulli Maanaippola’, ‘Kanneer Thaano’ and ‘Kanavilum Unnai Maraven’. But the film itself was a big commercial flop. He also produced films like<i>Theruppaadakan</i> and <i>Villaiyaattu Bommai.</i> These were not even released. This totally crippled T.R.Mahalingam financially.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is said that he was totally abandoned by those around him when he lost his money and that he was saved from a difficult situation by Kannadasan’s film <i>Maalaiyitta Mangai</i>. Kannadasan boldly cast T.R.Mahalingam as the hero of that film which he himself produced. Many directors and big actors of the day had tried to dissuade Kannadasan because T.R.Mahalingam had drifted too far from the mainstream of the film world of the time. <i>Maalaiyitta Mangai</i> was a musical and Kannadasan boldly made the decision against all advices.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is said that when the work on the film started Kannadasan’s friends in DMK party had pilloried him for casting a Brahmin as the protagonist in the film. In the Dravidian politics of those days anti-Brahmin sentiments were at their zenith. Kannadasan made T.R.Mahalingam sing ‘Engal Dravida Ponnade’ which was, in parenthesis, a high praise for the principles of DMK to pacify his party friends. Importantly, this was the film in which T.R.Mahalingam’s two immortal songs ‘Senthamizh Thenmozhiyall’ and ‘Naanandri Yaar Varuvaar’ featured. (The word was that Kannadasan wrote the song ‘Naanandri Yaar Varuvaar’ for the film<i> Mahadevi</i>. But M.G.R had rejected it as he did not like it. In its place A.M.Rajah - P.Suseela duet ‘Kannmoodum Velayilum’ was picturised in <i>Mahadevi</i>)<i>.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">T.R.Mahalingam’s standing in the film world much improved after the film <i>Maalaiyitta Mangai.</i> But this lasted only a short while. The era of singer-actors like him was long past. The era of M.G.R and Sivaji Ganesan had started. Arrival of playback system obviated the need for actors to sing. Moreover, as dialogue was more important than songs in the films with social themes, which was the rage of the new era it did not suit his style of acting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">T.R.Mahalingam was also against the music trend of the time. He accepted songs that were in the traditional Carnatic music mode and rhythmic melodies. The taste of Tamil film music was remoulded by playback singers like A.M.Rajah, P.B.Srinivas and T.M.Soundararajan. T.R.Mahalingam could neither understand nor accept the new trend of playback singing. He was adamant about the tradition of actors singing their songs which was already relegated into oblivion. He refused offers to act insisting that he alone will sing for him. He also flatly refused to sing for other actors. He occasionally acted in films where he had the opportunity to sing.<i> Thiruvilayaadal (1965), Agathiyar (1971), Thiruneelakhandar (1972) </i>and <i>Raajaraaja Chozhan (1973)</i> were such rare films. His songs in these films were marvelous. ‘Isaithamizh Nee Seida’ of <i>Thiruvilayaadal</i> and ‘Malainindra Thirukkumara’ of <i>Agathiyar</i> were not only popular then are avidly listened to even now. Since he chose to stand aside rather than sing without an acting role or act without singing, the film world had to look beyond him. And his fans lost the opportunity of enjoying what could have been many more of his sweet songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Unable to understand his fall from grace in cinema, T.R.Mahalingam left Madras, the capital city of Tamil Cinema and retired to his native village Thenkarai. The super star of golden jubilee films like<i> Gnana Soundari</i> and<i> Srivalli</i> returned to the drama stage again. He sang and acted in dramas till his last, savoring the memories of his past as the wealthy super star of the masses. T.R.Mahalingam passed away in 1978 at the age of 58. But even today his enchanting voice and singing can be heard as the honeyed word of classical Tamil language, casting the magic of the soothing moonlight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-1664657899463615722012-03-14T10:49:00.002-07:002012-03-14T10:53:36.382-07:00Edith Piaf – The Eternal Voice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5sEi4tzVmrDWoQlG4xKWVricy9CdZnes2XkhJ66vQi4wb6MwHVbRNJztaPSrDpfb_axY5YK_YnpUDH69V6bDlIImoSArKvcTzN6IM5xUfW_jibl5cF6fZMMa5CMDJg3xHog1CusVBvw/s1600/edith-piaf32933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5sEi4tzVmrDWoQlG4xKWVricy9CdZnes2XkhJ66vQi4wb6MwHVbRNJztaPSrDpfb_axY5YK_YnpUDH69V6bDlIImoSArKvcTzN6IM5xUfW_jibl5cF6fZMMa5CMDJg3xHog1CusVBvw/s400/edith-piaf32933.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">No music instrument can reproduce the kind of music that raises emotions and melts our hearts like the human voice. No instrument of music that is either stronger or more ancient than the singing human voice and nothing can stir us like a great singing voice. Edith Piaf, a singer from France, is the owner of one such strong and soulful human voice of all time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One can say with confidence that Edith Piaf is the best example of a status where the singing voice becomes more important than the composition and the lyrics. Hers was the voice which frontline composers and lyricists waited for. In her time, the ultimate dream of every French lyricist was that Edith Piaf should render his or her poem in her soulful voice. Edith Piaf was the cultural emblem of France and personification of music in Paris, where she lived.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Piaf is a name that stands for the little sparrow. She was small made, standing to a height of barely four feet and eight inches. But no pop singer in France has ever reached half her height and stature. The most famous of all music artistes that France had ever created, the name of Edith Piaf has been even given to a planet in the Milky Way! 3772 PIAF. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When the French film <i>La Vie en Rose</i> (Life in the Red) was released in 2007 portraying the life and music of Edith Piaf who was born in 1915 and died in 1963, her life again became the most talked about all over the world. Marion Cotillard who played Edith Piaf in the film won the Oscar Award for the Best Actor-Female. ‘La Vie en Rose’ was the title of Edith Piaf’s very famous 1946 music album.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Her famous songs like ‘Sous le ciel de Paris’(1954), ‘Mon Legionnaire’ (1936), ‘Tu es partout’ (1943), ‘Le Fanion de la Legion’ (1936), ‘Hymne de l’amour’ (1949), ‘Les Amants d’un jour’ (1956), ‘La Foule’ (1957), ‘Les neiges de Finlande’ (1958) and ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ (1960) will always dominate the French minds leaving a deep impress for all times to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The way Edith Piaf stole the hearts of American fans through her French songs is another testimony to the contention that language is no barrier to music. She acted in about ten French musical films. She appeared in a large number of French musical plays as well. All these were highly respected for their artistic merits and they were also huge commercial successes. Many films and documentaries have been made on her life. Her autobiography ‘The Wheel of Fortune’ was released in 1958 and sold a million copies setting a record. 46 years after her death various accounts of her life are still being avidly read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Edith Piaf was born in Paris on 19<sup>th</sup> December of 1915. When she was born, her mother </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif;">Anetta Giovanna Maillard </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">was not quite yet seventeen. She was a street singer. Now and then she also indulged in the oldest profession of women. The father of the child, Louis Gassion, was roaming as a street acrobat. Annetta did not have the money to go to a hospital to deliver the child. Finally in a Paris street, under the biting cold of a frosty December, beneath a lamp post, she delivered that child with two ogling policemen for company.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Annetta was a drunkard. She spent her life in aimless wandering. She travelled with circus men. She would go roaming from carnival to carnival. She used to get her customers in wine halls. She left her child with her parents who were too addicted to drinks. Two years later, when at last the father of the child was found, she practically threw the diseased, dirty but tender bundle of girl at the acrobat and walked away. Her father had neither the money nor the time to bring up the child. So he left her with his mother who was running a brothel in Normandy. Edith was brought up in her childhood by the women of the brothel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Edith lost her eye sight affected by an undiagnosed eye disease at the age of three and remained blind till she was seven years old. Titine, one of the women in the brothel, looked after Edith like her own daughter. It is said that the inmates of the brothel spent a great deal of their earnings for treatment to get Edith her sight back. There is also the story of the inmates of brothel taking Edith on a pilgrimage to the Monastery of St.Theresa and Edith miraculously getting her sight back even as they prayed there! Edith was the darling of all the women in the brothel and they bestowed their love on the little wisp of a girl. Later in her life, Edith Piaf had reflected that her life with the women of the brothel was the golden phase of her life, cocooned in happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Edith’s father returned when she had completed ten years of age. He needed assistance in his profession of performing and begging on the streets. In spite of the stiff resistance put up by Edith’s grandmother and other women, her father forcibly took her away with him. The entire brothel wept for her. Titine fainted. Edith herself wept inconsolably on parting with Titine who was like a mother to her. Later Edith had the mortification of having to live in the company of her father on streets. After every show of acrobatics she had to go around hat in hand to beg from the onlookers. She had to sleep in smelly lodgings.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">On one occasion when she was going around with hat in hand one of the onlookers asked her to demonstrate her acrobatic skills for him. But she did not have any acrobatic skill. Her father joined in insisting that she perform something for the onlookers. On being forced by her father, with great reluctance she sang the only song she knew. It was the National anthem of France, La Marseillaise! She sang the lines of the song which begins with ‘Oh children of the Fatherland’ with all the emotions welling up from her mind. Her sad voice reflected her mind brimming with sorrows, loneliness and disappointments. Heart-warmed, the normally stingy crowd of onlookers showered money. Thus Edith Piaf’s very first music show, unintentional though it was, was a huge success!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Sensing that her songs had more fans than her father’s stale acrobatics, Edith became a street singer. Before she knew it, she followed in the footsteps of her mother. At the age of 15 she left her father and started living on the streets of Paris, singing and begging, in the company of another girl she had befriended. Though Edith was pathetic to look at, her voice quickly gained fame on the streets. Her beautiful, highly emotional voice drew even the most inattentive passerby to her.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At sixteen, Edith fell in love with a seventeen year old street boy and gave birth to a child. She named the child Marcelle. Living in a dingy, dirty room with an infant but without any money was a big challenge. In spite of it all Edith made valiant effort to be good mother. When the child died of malnutrition before it was two years old, Edith was heart-broken. But the challenges of living in the street did not allow her to dwell on her sorrows and soon she was back to singing on the streets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Around this time she fell into the clutches of a cruel pimp called Albert. She had to accept his domineering companionship in spite of knowing how mercilessly he exploited the prostitutes under his control. Edith wanted the protection of a male against the vagaries of her street life. But he forced her into prostitution and kept all her earnings to himself. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Customers were not attracted to her small, below average physique. Edith somehow escaped from the pain of prostitution by convincing Albert that she could earn more by singing on the streets and that he could keep her earnings. She finally was truly rid of him when police started chasing him for killing one of his prostitutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One wintry evening with cold winds blowing, Edith was singing in the darkened corner of a street. At that time Louis Leplee, the owner of a Café-cum-Cabaret was walking by. Noticing the attractive potential of her voice, Louis Leplee, then and there, gave her the chance to sing in his Café. It was he who named her Piaf, meaning the small sparrow. It was said the name was apt for her small physique. Edith was very nervous during her first performance. She was shivering inside the black shirt that Leplee gave her for a bright look. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The love ballads that Edith Piaf rendered so emotionally soon became the big talk of the city of Paris. Music fans began talking about the gypsy girl who had a voice that squeezed the hearts of all. Edith Piaf became the singer of that night club. That black shirt also became her permanent signature dress. Famous men like actor Maurice Chevalier and poet Jacques Bourget became her friends there. Raymond Asso, a very rich man with knowledge of music, became her friend, too. Though a married man, he was physically attracted to her.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Louis Leplee took her to a recording studio and recorded her first song ‘Les Momes de la cloche’. It was the moment when her life as a musician was suddenly unfolding! But that same week Louis Leplee was found murdered in his house. The shadow of suspicion fell on Edith Piaf also. Her past presented her in a very bad light to police. Left no alternative, she sought protection from Raymond Asso whose advances she had spurned once. Asso used the influence of his wealth to rescue Edith Piaf. That set them on the path of love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Asso was fiercely in love with Edith Piaf. He dedicated his wealth and efforts to advance her career in music. He turned her identity from that of a street girl into one of a cultured woman, much in the fashion of the drama ‘Pygmalion’ by George Bernard Shaw. It was Asso who in association with poetess and composer, Marguerite Monnet, who brought out the records of the early hit songs of Edith Piaf. Edith became a star, riding those early songs to fame and wealth. Asso also played the role of her Manager.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But this relationship did not last long. Asso was a very strict and extremely dominating type of person. Therefore, Edith Piaf left him and took as her lover singer-actor Paul Maurice who had the power to take her into the portals of who-is-who of Paris, living its high life and culture. It was Paul Maurice who taught her to speak chaste French and to conduct herself in the social mores of the sophisticated class. In the process she wiped out from her life all that represented her life in the streets. She became the most desired person among the top citizens of Paris.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Quickly Edith Piaf became the most successful entertainer in Paris. She became a close friend of the most famous French dramatist and film director Jean Cocteau. He wrote a drama especially for Edith Piaf. It had the intention of bringing out all her acting talent on stage. Following its massive success, Edith acted as the female lead opposite the popular French actor Louis Perrault. She left Paul Maurice for the company of lyricist Henri Contet. He was the lyricist who wrote a good portion of the songs Edith Piaf was to sing later in her career.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Many men came into the life of Edith Piaf and went. There were lovers in hundreds and three husbands. Edith Piaf did not stay faithful to any man she married or lived with. She had admitted that her thoughts on sexual life were formed by her upbringing in a brothel as a child and being into prostitution at a very young age. She tells us in her autobiography: “I had no emotional involvement in human relationships because of the way I was brought up. I thought if a boy calls a girl she cannot say no to him.” She had admitted that she was a veteran of sexual relations with many males before she had completed fifteen. She had developed the habit of having spontaneously emotional sex of a teen girl with every man she met.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Second World War was a very controversial phase in the life of Edith Piaf. She worked with Nazis and sang for them when Germany occupied Paris. It was only after the war that it became known that she had helped many French Army men who were held prisoners by Nazis to escape.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">During the time of war both her father and mother came back into her life. Edith Piaf was only too happy about the return of her father. She supported him till death. But she had to repeatedly visit the police stations to get her mother released. Edith Piaf is on record that when she was dining at a high class restaurant with her friends when her mother had come and held her hand out to beg! Edith Piaf said: “I tried my utmost to reform my pitiable mother. But she would escape to continue her old life begging on the streets.” Soon her mother died in a cheap lodge from an overdose of drugs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">After the war Edith Piaf came to be known internationally. She travelled over Europe, America and South America. At first she only received a lukewarm welcome in America. There she was stamped as the singer of sad, teary songs. But as she received rave notices of music critics of ‘New Yorker’ she gradually rose to big fame there also. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">She appeared eight times on TV in the Ed Sullivan Show which was at that time a very famous television show in America. Edith Piaf was the first Pop singer to sing in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Salle Pleyel of Paris, both reserved exclusively for classical music. Olympia Music Hall, a famous Music venue in Paris hosted many shows of Edith Piaf. Later it was an Edith Piaf music event which saved it from bankruptcy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When Edith Piaf toured New York for her music program she fell in love with the then World Boxing champion in middle weight category, Marcel Cerdan. Cerdan was already married with children from the marriage. Yet it was the only real love of Edith’s life. Later Edith Piaf married him. After the bitterness of her many relationships, she discovered true love in this relationship. But ‘Misfortune’ was Edith Piaf’s middle name. Cerdan died in a bad plane crash over Azores Island on his way to meet Edith. Edith Piaf, now deeply depressed, did not recover from this loss.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Edith Piaf herself was a survivor from three car accidents. But in a particularly bad accident in 1951, she broke one arm and many ribs. Doctors prescribed morphine as a pain-killer. Edith Piaf soon got addicted to it. She wrote in her autobiography: “Nothing else remained then in my life save for the moment of comfort that I reached slowly after the drug was injected into my body.” After that she became accustomed to an injection of drug before her stage shows.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Edith Piaf loved her champagne from a very young age. She began drinking a lot of it just to forget the pain of her body. She earned the displeasure of her fans as she staggered around in stage often forgetting her lines. This was an unfortunate phase of her life where she wandered from one wine hall to another accosting and collaring strangers to give her company. Once again her life was becoming a sad extension of her mother’s terrible life. Edith remembers this period in these words: “At that point in life I had this uncontrolled fury within me to destroy myself. Nothing could stop me! It would last four to five months. When everyone feels that I have plumbed the depths of hell and there is no chance of retrieving me, I would slowly begin to claw back up the incline.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Even after falling down on the stage many times because of her ill health, Edith Piaf could not think of a life without music. Edith refused to give up her music platforms in spite of repeated advices from friends and doctors. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Around this time a young lyricist named Charles Dumont waited around, days at a stretch, with a poem just to meet her. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When finally Edith got around to seeing him and heard his song, she was emotionally very moved and disturbed. The song was ‘No, I regret nothing’ (Non, Je ne regrette rien). The song was like a statement on the personal life of Edith Piaf. This became by far her best and most famous song.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1962 she was just 47 years old, but she had the look of a 70 year old woman. She was suffering from lung cancer, acutely feeling its rigours. Drugs and drinks on top of that made things only worse. She was falling off at every step she took, but she also intensely desired to marry one more time. She married a Greek youngster named Theo Saparo, younger to her by twenty years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In spite of being the highest paid singing star in the world of her times, she did not die rich. She was generous in giving freely to whoever sought her help. She was also indiscriminate in spending whether needed or not. The only thing she knew well was to please all with her music. And she did that in full and marvelous measure. Her life, alas, was as sad and serious as her music.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1963, even as she was on her death bed, Edith Piaf recorded her last song ‘L’homme de Berlin’ (The Man from Berlin). Many of her old friends like Asso came to see her as word spread in Paris that she was on her death bed. Edith asked Asso to pray to St.Rita. St.Rita was the saint of things ‘totally lost’. That was how Edith looked at herself, completely lost! Edith Piaf passed away in Cannes on 10<sup>th</sup> October of 1963.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Roman Catholic Church refused to conduct a memorial service for Edith Piaf. It pronounced that Edith Piaf led a life strewn with sin alone. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Edith was to be later named as a National Symbol of France! H</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">undreds of thousands of her fans filled the streets of Paris to pay their last respects to their beloved songstress born on streets. That was the only time ever that traffic in Paris came to a grinding halt. Edith still sings ‘Non, Je ne regrette rien’……...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">No<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I regret nothing<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Not the good that I have done<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Nor the bad!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">All are same<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I have no worries<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">All are paid for<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And forgotten<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">All are swept away<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As I keep going forward<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Every day!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">All my memories <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Serve to kindle the light<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Elations or sorrows<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Look back on them I do not<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My old lovers<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Their passions<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Their tremors<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">All are gone<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Blown away like dust!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">No<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I regret nothing<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As my life and pleasure<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now spring anew<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As I start again with you!</span></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-38611361898256437412012-03-02T10:11:00.010-08:002012-03-14T05:28:29.500-07:00Hariharan – A Great Musician Lost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkLckNGz-NOvdqGqhfwI1AKUq29MFouwUdBGHwOVssIhgZJBr1Op_7lD7uv5GvcQWtCFJuScGspIaxE97eDwnz0grXmRo9eGViGeFsxEjTVGNY_kspSogXv-nDDNa_SaVa0tYECtT2zc/s1600/Hariharan+ss(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkLckNGz-NOvdqGqhfwI1AKUq29MFouwUdBGHwOVssIhgZJBr1Op_7lD7uv5GvcQWtCFJuScGspIaxE97eDwnz0grXmRo9eGViGeFsxEjTVGNY_kspSogXv-nDDNa_SaVa0tYECtT2zc/s400/Hariharan+ss(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Paths are not found in the distant lands, they exist in our hearts – Buddha</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">“Hari must be sleeping now thanks to his favourite ‘sharaab’!” A middle aged women sitting behind me loudly commented and a wave of laughter washed around. It was an evening many years ago at Chennai’s Music Academy Auditorium and it was past the time for the start of Hariharan’s Ghazal concert. The auditorium had filled up. Accompaniments like Sarangi, tabla, harmonium, flute and guitar were all tuned up and kept ready on the stage. But Hariharan had not arrived yet though one hour had already passed beyond the appointed time. The crowd was getting restive. Shouts of anger and disorderly expressions of displeasure were beginning to raise their heads in a confused hall. To pacify the crowd musicians arrived on the stage and started tuning the music instruments again. Half an hour later Hariharan walked in with his quick strides and sat on the stage. There was a collective sigh of relief from the audience, but very little of welcome claps. Hariharan in no mood to be apologetic for his late arrival, drawn the harmonium close to him and started singing. “When the loneliness of the night thumps like my heart….” ‘Jab Raat Ki Tanhaayee Dil Ban Ke Dhadakti Hai…’<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A magic descended on the audience. Everything forgotten and they seemed to have been transported to their own worlds of musical bliss. It was a Ghazal written by Bashir Badr, the people’s Ghazal poet of Urdu and set to the musical score by Hariharan himself in his very first album, Abshaar-E-Ghazal means the waterfall of Ghazals. By the time Hariharan had reached the last landing note of the Ghazal, I was lost in an indefinable but overwhelming feeling which left me with moist eyes. I had not heard that Ghazal sung by Hariharan before that. What followed over the next 2 hours was undoubtedly one of the most amazing Ghazal concerts I had heard in my entire lifetime. That unforgettable concert proved to me once again that Hariharan is indeed a very rare Ghazal singer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A few years later, I went to meet Hariharan at Chennai’s five star hotel Le Meridian. I too had played a small part in promoting and marketing some of Hariharan’s albums as our music company held the distribution rights of many of his albums of nineties, but this was the first time that I met him at close quarters. This meet was in connection with a music event to be held in Kuwait. He arrived well past the time he had allotted to me for the meeting. But my enthusiasm remained undiminished as I was to meet in person my much loved Ghazal singer. At the moment I saw him, I greeted him ‘Hariji’ and touched his feet. He smiled but appeared lost in some concerns. At that time he was acting as the hero of leading lady Khushbu in a Tamil film,<i> Power of women </i>and his involved mobile phone conversations was around it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">On the lift to his room from the foyer of the hotel, he asked an attractive woman in modern dress,”Weren’t you in the flight from Mumbai, this morning?” After a short and definitive ‘no’ as if she did not know who he was, she got off at the next floor. Hariharan’s face showed his disappointment. I too felt embarrassed and I told myself about the woman, ‘what a wasted life oblivious to music’! Our meeting became an acutely disconcerting experience, rocked as it was by the combined effects of the complications of the film <i>Power of women</i> and the ‘beauty on the lift’. To my request that he may include some important Ghazals of him in the Kuwait music show, he said rather crossly, ”I will take care of that. I never discuss with anybody on the list of songs for my stage shows.” When I told him that I need to give the list of songs to the instrumental musicians in advance, his reply was, “I will see to it later.” I left the place without wanting to disturb my favorite singer anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">From the time in mid-eighties when I first started listening Hariharan’s Ghazals, I had a great crush on his out-of-this-world rendering style and the rare magnetism of his voice. Though I was a huge fan of Jagjit Singh at that time, till I was introduced to the Ghazals of Mehdi Hassan in the early nineties, Hariharan remained the Ghazal singer closest to my heart. I was wonder-struck and enthused that Hariharan, a South Indian, was so brilliantly and effortlessly handling a genre of music that Pakistanis and North Indians were dominating to the exclusion of almost all others.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I have been an ardent fan of his Ghazals starting from ‘Daayam Pada Hua’ of the album ‘Ghazal Ka Mausam’, one of his early albums that came in 1983, ‘Kuch Door Hamarey Saat Chalo’ from the earlier mentioned ‘Abshaar-E-Ghazal’, ‘Ban Nahin Paaya’, ‘Saakia Jaaye Kahaan’, ‘Awara’ and ‘Hum Ne Kaati’ from the album ‘Horizon’, ‘Kab Tak Yoon Hi’ from the album ‘Reflections’, ‘Haat Mein Le Kar’ from the album ‘Sukoon’ to ‘Kaash Aisa’, ‘Yeh Aainey Se’, ‘Jhoom Le’ and ‘Maikade Bandh Karey’ from the album ‘Kash’ released in 2000. I was a regular listener of his albums like ‘Paigham’, ‘Dil Ki Baat’, ‘Gulfaam’, ‘Qaraar’, ‘Jashn’ and ‘Haazir’. I can keep on listing my favourite Hariharan ghazals like ‘Aa Chandni Bhi’, ‘Ahde Wafa Aahista’, ‘Jab Who Mere Kareeb’, ‘Mujhe Phir Wahi Yaad’, ‘Koyi Pata Hiley’, ‘Jiya Jiya Na Jiya’, ‘Koyi Saaya Jhilmilaaya’, ‘Phool Hain Chand Hain’ and ‘Shahar Dhar Shahar’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His very first film song too is a spell-binding Ghazal. It was the composition of one of my favourite Indian film music composers, Jaidev. That Ghazal ‘Ajeeb Saneha Mujh Par Guzar Gayaa Yaaron’ was the highly noticed song of the Hindi film <i>Gaman</i> released in 1978. Hariharan won the Best Singer Award of the Uttar Pradesh State Government for that song. He was bestowed with the unique honour of singing ‘Kabhi Main Kahoon’ and ‘Yeh Lamhe’ for the film<i> Lamhe</i> by composers Shiv-Hari, a duo formed by Santoor maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma and the Flute legend Hari Prasad Chaurasia. Later, Hariharan gave hundreds of hit film songs in languages as diverse as Hindi, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. He won the National Award as India’s Best Playback Singer, twice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Hariharan, whose mother tongue is Tamil, was born in Trivandrum, Kerala, on 3<sup>rd</sup> April of 1955. His father, H.A.S.Mani, was a native of Trivandrum. Emerging as one of the first graduates of Travancore Music College, H.A.S.Mani migrated to Bombay and ran a South Indian music school there. As a music teacher he had the distinction of creating many famous Carnatic classical singers like Bombay Sisters. A ten years old girl named Alamelu came as his student and learnt from him for nine years. Later, the 31 years old Mani wooed and wed his 19 years old student Alamelu. Hariharan was born a year later. Alamelu herself was a very gifted music talent. Hariharan grew up in an ambience that always brimmed with music. Unfortunately, Hariharan lost his father when he was barely eight years old. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Having lost her husband at the age of 28, Alamelu Mani lived only for her son. She grew in stature as a Carnatic musician learning from legends like Semmangudi and T.Brinda. She also served as the first Principal of the Music School owned by Bombay’s famous Shanmukhananda Sabha. Her disciples run to thousands. She taught Carnatic music to Hariharan as his first Guru. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But, even as a child, Hariharan was attracted to Hindustani music than Carnatic music. And he was particularly partial to the Ghazals of Mehdi Hasan. He loved Jagjit Singh’s Ghazals as well. Having decided that Hindustani music was his destiny, even as a teenager Hariharan managed to become the disciple of the famous singer and teacher Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ghulam Mustafa Khan is the heir of the glorious Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana which was a branch of Saania music tradition established by Mian Tansen himself. Hariharan got completely immersed in this Hindustani music tradition by his music tutelage under Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. His daily routine now included anything between 10 to 13 hours of practice and music training. Hariharan’s consuming ambition was only to live as a Ghazal singer and he was determined to learn Urdu, the language of Ghazals. He consummately devoted his total attention to the subtleties, nuances and flourishes of the Urdu verses. Later his mastery in Urdu won admiration even in Lucknow, the capital of Urdu in India.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the meanwhile, having graduated from college, Hariharan started giving small concerts. His innings with television started from its Black & White era. Composer Jaidev, who officiated as a judge in an All India music competition in 1977 noticed Hariharan who had won it. That was how he was called upon to sing his number in <i>Gaman.</i> But for years thereafter Hariharan did not get any opportunity worth mentioning in films but he was singing now and then a few film songs in Hindi.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But those times were the golden years of Hariharan’s Ghazals. That was when most of his albums I have mentioned earlier in this article were released. He himself composed the music of most of his Ghazals. He took up the Ghazals already popular in Pakistan and India and totally recomposed them in different ragas and sang them. It was no ordinary feat that he succeeded hugely in this labour of love. He acquired a huge fan following all over India and Pakistan through his Ghazal albums and concerts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We could list many things as special musical qualities of Hariharan. His voice counts as a principal specialty. It has a unique romantic touch to it. The indefinably heart-warming nuances of music that he imparts with his voice are inimitable. The fund of his imagination and the depth of his knowledge of music aided by very many years of the most rigorous practice enabled the effortless flow of musical flourishes that are spell-binding. With his grasp of the minutest details of Hindustani classical music on top of an already sound foundation of Carnatic classical music, he commanded absolute felicity in any kind of notes of creative musical expressions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was only after the release of more than ten much acclaimed Ghazal albums, he got to sing the ‘Tamizha Tamizha’ number in Maniratnam's 1992 superhit film <i>Roja</i> under a debutant A.R.Rahman’s baton. In the Hindi version of the Roja he sang the same song as ‘Bharat Hum Ko’ and the Tamil ‘Kaadhal Rojavey’ number as ‘Roja Jaane Man’. It was only from then on that Hariharan came to be known as a full-time film playback singer. Hariharan is reported to have sung over thousand songs in Hindi films but he had very few hit numbers there. These were mostly Hindi versions of A.R.Rahman’s Tamil songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Hariharan won his first National Award in 1998 for the song ‘Mere Dushman Mere Bhai’ in the film <i>Border</i>, with Anu Malik as music composer. I have to mention that there was nothing great about the composition and rendering of the song other than the lyrics which placed upfront the idea of national integration and the philosophy that life alone is important and not war. The second time around, he won the National Award in 2009 for the song ‘Jiv Dangla Gungla’ in the Marathi film <i>Jogwa</i>. He has won the Best Singer award from Government of Tamilnadu, twice, and once each from Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, apart from countless awards like Filmfare, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was in Tamil that he received the opportunities to sing many songs that had quality music which also became super hits. It is true to say that it was in his mother tongue Tamil alone that he was recognized as a full fledged screen playback singer. Hariharan’s parade of hugely successful Tamil songs is quite long such as ‘Nila Kaaigiradhu’, ‘Konja Naal Poru Thalaiva’, ‘Vidukathaiya Indha Vaazhkai’, ‘Rosappoo Chinna Rosappoo’, ‘Kaadhali Kaadhali Kaadhalal’, ‘Kuchi Kuchi Raakkamma’, “Uyire Uyire’, ‘Telephone Manipol’, Kalloori Saalai’, ‘Malargale Malargale’, ‘Kannai Katti Kolladhey’, ‘Oru Mani Adithal’, ‘Minnal Oru Kodi’, ‘Anbe Anbe Kolladhey’, ‘Ennai Thaalaatta Varuvaallo’, ‘Yedho Oru Paattu’, ‘Mazhai Thuli Mazhai Thuli’, ‘Nee Kaatru Naan Maram’, ‘Irupadhu Kodi Malargal’, ‘Pachhai Nirramey’, ‘Kandu Kondein Kandu Kondein’, ‘Chuttum Vizhi Chudar Than’, ‘Nilavu Paattu’, ‘Yaar Solvadho’, ‘Oru Ponnu Onnu Naan’, ‘Oru Poyyavadhu Sol’, ‘En Mana Vaanil’, ‘Vennilavey Vennilavey’, ‘Manjal Veyil Maalaiyiley’, ‘Mudhal Mazhai’, ‘Vaaji Vaaji’, ‘Nenjukkul Peidhidum Maamazhai’ etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">May be the acclaim and success that attended his Tamil film songs and the disappointment at not becoming a super star singer at all India level disoriented and transformed him! Little slip by little slip he let slip the reality of his Ghazal moorings. It appears that post-nineties he saw Ghazal singing as a side line that did not attract the big crowd and began concentrating on becoming a famous playback singer and the most successful pop star of India. In the beginning he appeared to be succeeding in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His album ‘Halka Nasha’ in pop music mode was a success. His first album partnering Leslie Lewis as ‘Colonial Cousins’ was a huge success. But all his efforts at pop music that followed were unmitigated disappointments. After the no show of two succeeding albums, Colonial Cousins were practically lost. He made an effort to resuscitate the Colonial Cousins as a composer duo by scoring music for the two failed Tamil films <i>Modhi Vilaiyaadu</i> and <i>Chikkubukku.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He has been losing his place as a topnotch Ghazal singer from the end nineties onwards. Today he appears standing forlorn with nothing worthwhile to contribute in Ghazals. His later albums like ‘Atma’, ‘Dil Aisa Kisi Ne Mera Toda’, ‘Lahore Ke Rang Hari Ke Sang’ and ‘Waqt Par Bolna’ will make us shake our head in disbelief and make us think that how could </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">he </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">descend to such levels from his own extreme high standards of yore!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">For his ardent fans like me, his Ghazal concerts have long since become parodies that are disappointing in the extreme. His shows on stage have become a stage to demonstrate his gladiatorial narcissism where he sings elaborations that nobody else can sing. Now, he has taken this unbecoming demeanour even to stage shows of film and pop music where he concentrates on proving that he stands way above his fellow stage singers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">If the composer is not strict in keeping him faithful to the score during recording, he apparently takes that as a licence to indulge in such exaggerated flourishes which are totally graceless. Over the years he has developed the habit of shooting himself in the foot by appearing on the stage, taking after some flambuoyant and outlandish western singers, in weird costumes and weird hairdos ill-suited to his appearance. It appears that he believes in enhancing his appeal with all these!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Obviously, no Ghazal singer whose forte is to sit in absolute peace behind his harmonium (read behind his music!) and lose himself in the overwhelming flow of soulful music from his own vocal chords, can indulge in such demeaning gyrations! Who will tell Hariharan that even the likes of Lionel Richie, whom he claims to be his pop music idol, never appeared in such absurd costumes and make-ups?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Hariharan’s out of this world music talent and his music training beyond human endurance have vanished in his all consuming love of ‘Hari’ as can be seen in his albums like ‘Colours of Lahore in words of Hari’ and ‘Hari and I’. With the arrival of this new and bloated ‘Hari’, the soulful Ghazal singer called A.Hariharan was totally lost. As his Ghazals took the back seat, Hari simply has got too far ahead of his music! Today he is on an ego trip appearing in the reality music shows on television channels. There he terrorizes the already wilted young talents by demonstrating his impossible to reproduce strings of music notes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Recently Hariharan won one more award in a Malayalam film awards function conducted by a Malayalam channel. It was no surprise that he got this award for such an average song sung by him for the Malayalam film <i>Snehaveedu</i> under Ilayaraja’s baton. It goes without saying that he is an important judge in the ‘Music Reality Show’ of that channel! During this show, Hariharan called to the stage the lyricist and singer of last year’s runaway viral song ‘Why This Kolaveri’, actor Dhanush with a bouquet of praise. Hariharan praised Kolaveri to the skies! Dhanush, who was reluctant to sing or even speak in Hariharan’s presence, was his humble self. He said, “Kolaveri is not a song nor am I a singer. The song is a mistake. Please do not embarrass me by praising in this fashion a song which got ready in mere thirty minutes for the publicity of a film.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Hariharan would have none of that. He kept on praising the song and Dhanush’s singing of it calling it a ‘cool’ and ‘trendy’ song. If it was a mistake, he went on to say, make that mistake again and again. All this came about just because the song had an unbelievable success! Hariharan sang along Kolaveri with Dhanush on that stage! To me, Hariharan today is totally divorced from his true music, separated from his roots and claims to be something which he is not! Hariji, please tell me how should a simple fan of your music like me face this deep darkness and immeasurable loneliness of this endless night? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When the loneliness of the night….<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thumps like my heart….<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Jab raat ki tanhaayee…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Dil ban ke dhadakti hai…<o:p></o:p></span></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-29929886660164617982012-02-20T19:42:00.000-08:002012-02-20T19:44:29.127-08:00Singapore Visit<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #b45f06; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Will be in Singapore from 23<sup>rd</sup> February to 29<sup>th</sup> February 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #b45f06; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Participating as a special guest in the Malaysia Vasudevan Memorial Music Show named 'Poongaatru Thrirumbuma' organized by The Singapore Malaysia Vasudevan Fan Club. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #b45f06; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Date and Time : 25th Feb Saturday, 6 PM<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Venue : Singapore Polytechnic Convention Hall</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Contact : Suja / Raja 6338 0024 / 9114 1281 / 8338 3881</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #b45f06; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Readers, friends and all other Tamil Film Music buffs may attend this tribute for the legend.</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #edeff4; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #660000; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Attending a literary meeting and interactive session organized by</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #edeff4; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #660000; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Singapore Readers Forum<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #660000; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Date and Time : 26th Feb Sunday, 10.30AM TO 12.30 PM<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #edeff4; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Venue : Possibilty Room, 5th Floor, Singapore National Library.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Contact : Bharani- +65 91711095</span> <a href="mailto:rmbharani@gmail.com">rmbharani@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #660000; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All are welcome</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-91497417089877990762012-01-10T03:28:00.000-08:002018-03-18T05:49:19.948-07:00Ravindra Jain: Living The Light Of Music<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_V_xCXbbwqUmWPQZW8ukJjUxLrHDN1Wf21x8OfXhkvRgQg3i_tt-6VVNUEE1M0QJvqhIgJI-4JuWUV3cWOxOAnlajZb2fb2regJHeYGlaKBUrUCl16dybNrZZYjdfMPtDtBpXSssZcVE/s1600/IMG_0510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_V_xCXbbwqUmWPQZW8ukJjUxLrHDN1Wf21x8OfXhkvRgQg3i_tt-6VVNUEE1M0QJvqhIgJI-4JuWUV3cWOxOAnlajZb2fb2regJHeYGlaKBUrUCl16dybNrZZYjdfMPtDtBpXSssZcVE/s400/IMG_0510.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After an entire night and morning of music listening, reading and writing, I fell on my bed at mid day eleven into a deep dreamless sleep. Suddenly the cell phone sounded like a piercing sound of hell. I took it, with my barely open eyes casting anger and reproof for being wakened. The call was from Rajesh Sharma, my friend from Mumbai. He was brief and to the point: “You had wanted to meet Ravindra Jain, right? He is in Chennai today. He returns to Mumbai in the afternoon. I am sending you his number and the name of the hotel where he stays. Leave at once to meet him. I will call and tell him that you are coming.” I got up from my bed, still half asleep, and readied myself in a hurry. As I hastened out of my house, I did not forget to pick up a CD of songs of Ravindra Jain. My car drove ahead to the foot tapping number ‘Geet Gaata Chal, O Saati Gun Gunaata Chal’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘My friend, keep going ahead with a song on your lips……..’ It is a happy song that brims with hope and energy. Penned and composed by Ravindra Jain, one of the great composers to have born on the Indian soil with many such melodic gems to his credit. He illuminated countless hearts of music lovers by touching them with the brilliance of his compositions like ‘Akhiyon Ki Jharokkon Se’ (From the entrance of my eyes). His songs like ‘Ghungroo Ki Tarah Bajta Hi Raha Hoom Mein’ (I am ever playing like the bells of anklet) are unforgettable evergreens. His song ‘Do Panchhi Do Thinke’ (Birds couple that flew carrying two twigs) moistens my eyes every time I listen to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ravindra Jain, who has given us many sweet songs based on Hindustani classical ragas, has also shown unusual creativity and flourishes in scoring the instrumental music parts of his songs. He is a lyricist, at once poetic and with a sense of beauty as well. In fact, he has written the lyrics of most of his songs! It does feel strange that, in his four decades as film music composer, he has composed music for only about forty films! But his songs have never failed to make us happy, to bring that smile on our face or a tear in our emotionally moved eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My love of Ravindra Jain musical creations started in 1976 with the songs of the film <i>Chit Chor.</i> In this film, Yesudas had sung all the four songs which had become a raging success all over India. Ravindra Jain wrote the lyrics of all the songs. ‘Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyaara’ (Fair maiden, your village is so lovely) scored in folksy style was on every lip of those days. Foot-tapping number ‘Aaj Se Pehle Aaj Se Zyaada’ (I was never happier than this day before this day) was hugely popular as well. ‘Jab Deep Jale Aana Jab Shaam Dhale Aana’ (Come when dusk falls, come when lamps are lit) in Raag Yamen Kalyan and ‘Tu Jo Mere Sur Me Sur Mila Le Sang Ga Le’ (Let your pitch mingle with mine as you sing with me) in Raag Peelu not only became the favourites of discerning music lovers, but to no one’s surprise became hugely popular hits as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My heart skipped a beat as I prepared to meet a living miracle, a legend who gave the world so many songs that are close to my heart! I arrived at the hotel where he stayed. Before I entered the room, I saw Yesudas leaving. Ravindra Jain was seated in a sofa, dressed in a long white dress. Wearing his big dark glasses, he welcomed me with softest of smiles. He did not look his sixty six years. He did not betray any uncertain restlessness normally displayed by visually challenged persons. I went near him and touched his feet. He said: “Your voice reaches me from a great height. You must certainly be more than six feet tall.” When he learned that Malayalam is my mother tongue, he asked me: “Did you see Yesu? He just left.” He kept talking to me for the next two hours, telling me of his life, his music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Born on 28<sup>th</sup> February of 1944, Ravindra Jain’s father was an Ayurvedic practitioner in Aligarh of Uttar Pradesh. Ravindra Jain’s eyes were tightly closed when he was born. Doctors, who surgically opened his eyes, revealed their foreboding diagnosis that his visual capability was low and that it will completely fade away, soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In spite of lacking sight, he was eager to learn all things new even as a child and was deeply interested in music. His father felt that thinking of music and launching himself in music will guide his son from darkness to light and presented him a harmonium at a very young age. Ravindra Jain simply loved to listen to and learn from his multi-lingual elder brother who read out to him from his books in Hindi, English and French.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When stumped for songs in any letter of the alphabet while playing Antakshari game of songs at home, he was the kind of precocious child who would create songs of his own for the occasion. The social scene in Aligarh, where Hindi and Urdu were the warp and weft of a composite culture that evolved as an amalgam of Hindu and Muslim culture, broadened his capacity for both humane and artistic understanding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Later, learning the classical music in traditional manner over a long period under the tutelage of different teachers, Ravindra Jain was able to obtain the highly valued title of ‘Sangeet Prabhakar’ by the time he was seventeen. Respecting the opinion of his music Guru that staying in Aligarh will not further his prospects in a career of music, he left for Calcutta. There he stayed with a Bengali family and became proficient in Bengali language. He became an aficionado of Rabindra Sangeet. Soon he was teaching music in schools of music in Calcutta and writing and composing songs for Calcutta station of All India Radio as well. He had also recorded a song sung by the popular Bengali singer Aarti Mukherji. It was this impact of Bengali music forms that later made him a great creator of light music that unfailingly touched the hearts of his listeners. Many even consider him a full-blown Bengali to this day. Many, like Yesudas, fix the Bengali suffix for elder brother ‘Dada’ while addressing him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When he had met a Hindi film producer in Calcutta, the producer had promised to give him an opportunity in Hindi films. This motivated him to shift to Bombay in 1968 and there he plunged into full time efforts to become a music composer. In 1971, he was asked by the Director of the film <i>Mehboob Ki Mehendi </i>H S Rawail, to work as assistant to Naushad, the film’s music composer. But he refused the offer point blank, saying that he wanted to be nobody’s assistant. This was the decision of a very clear and determined mind that, even with the daily handicap of a visually challenged person, was supremely confident of his own art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His first tilt at becoming a music composer was the opportunity provided by N.N.Sippy’s production company that had many superhit films to its credit. But the film was shelved before songs were recorded. Later, this company went on to make the superhit movie<i> Sholay. </i>The first film to be released with Ravindra Jain as music composer was <i>Kanchh Aur Hira</i> (1972). ‘Nazar Aati Nahin Manzil’ (Destination is nowhere in sight), one of the best of sad songs sung by Mohammad Rafi, was a superhit song of this unsuccessful film. The first film to become popular with Ravindra Jain’s music was <i>Chor Machaye Shor.</i> It was in this film released in 1974 that the earlier mentioned song ‘Ghungroo Ki Tarah Bajta Hi Raha Hoom Main’ sung by Kishore Kumar stole the hearts of music lovers. This film also had another blockbuster number ‘Le Jaayengey Le Jaayengey Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayengey’ (Large Hearted Lover Will Carry Away the Bride). This song is the staple of Indian marriages in the last 37 years. Ravindra Jain had himself written the lyrics of this song and the blockbuster line ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayengey’ became the title of one of the all-time big grosser film with Shah Rukh Khan playing the protagonist!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This song had a background of many interesting anecdotes. N.N.Sippy, the producer of this film, was reluctant to give Ravindra another chance after his earlier film got shelved. At that time, Sanjeev Kumar was acting in another film of N.N.Sippy. Sanjeev Kumar was a friend of Ravindra from his Calcutta days. And finally, Ravindra Jain got his chance on the insistent recommendation of Sanjeev Kumar. But that was not the last for his problems. Sippy as well as Shashi Kapoor, the protagonist of the film, kept rejecting all the tunes composed by Ravindra Jain!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tired by the repeated rejection of the many tunes sung by him, Ravindra felt extremely frustrated. He told them in a matter of fact tone that he will finally sing to them one more tune and if it fails to pass muster with them, then he will withdraw himself from the film. What followed should certainly rank with top mysteries of film making! Ravindra sang to them a tune that ranked as a very ordinary one in his book of standards. Surprisingly, both Sippy and Shashi Kapoor approved the tune at once, saying that this was what they were waiting for! Truth to be told, no film composer knows why a tune is rejected or why a tune is selected!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From that moment Ravindra’s stars were on a continuous ascendance. As a classy composer of Hindi film music he kept on creating one marvelous score after another. He was called upon by such big banners as Raj Kapoor’s R.K.Films, Rajshree Pictures, Sippy Films and Barjatya Films, now and then, to work his creative magic. Though he did not achieve commercial super stardom, Ravindra Jain is a happy and contended man that he has done more than justice to the opportunities he had been afforded with his superbly crafted songs. His innings as music composer continues up to the recent film <i>Ek Vivah Isi Bhi</i> starring the latest young protagonist Shahid Kapoor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Tera Mera Saath Rahe’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar for the film<i> Saudagar</i>(1973), ‘Jo Raah Chuni Tu Ne’ sung by Kishore Kumar for the film <i>Tapasya</i>(1975) and the earlier mentioned duet ‘Do Panchhi Do Thinke’ sung by Kishore Kumar along with Aarti Mukherji for the same film, ‘Purvaiya Leke Chali Meri Naiya’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Shailendra Singh for the film <i>Do Jasoos</i>(1975), ‘Kaun Disha Me Leke Chala Re’ sung by Jaspal Singh and Hemlata for the film <i>Nadiya Ke Paar</i>(1982) and the beautiful rain song ‘Sona Kare Jilmil’ sung by Suresh Wadkar and Hemlata are great examples of the genius of his music and composing craft. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Fakira Chal Chala Chal’ sung by Mahendra Kapoor for the film <i>Fakira</i> (1976) was full of magical moments of Sufi music. ‘Shyam Teri Bansi Pukare’, a song studded with beautiful note sequences of the Raag Charukesi, was sung so marvelously by Aarti Mukherji and Jaspal Singh for the film <i>Geet Gaata Chal</i> released in 1975. It was a song that created, at once, the sadness of separated lovers and atmospherics of a Bhajan suited to the devotional scene that was picturised on it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You would have noticed that most of the names of the singers cited above are new. Hemlata is the female voice that had sung with Yesudas in the songs of the film <i>Chit Chor.</i> Hers is a voice not very familiar to the world of Hindi films. But she is still remembered for singing the already mentioned song ‘Akhiyon Ki Jharokkon Se’. Aarti Mukherji who sang the song ‘Do Panchi Do Thinke’ is a marvelously emotive Bengali singer. I started liking her sweet voice for that slight tremolo in her singing. Ravindra Jain had introduced, enthused and encouraged many singers with opportunities to sing in Hindi films, exactly the way he had encouraged Yesudas to sing in Hindi. This includes names like Jaspal Singh, Suresh Wadkar, Sushma Shreshta and Kavita Krishnamurthy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Talking on this subject, he narrated how he had always been on the look out for new voices and how in the process he had found the classically trained and pleasant to hear voice of Yesudas. Impressed by the voice of Suresh Wadkar when he went as a judge to a music contest, he gave him a chance to prove himself. Jaspal Singh was actually a practicing lawyer. Ravindra Jain found that he had a voice that exhibited some of the traits of Rafi and Mukesh at different levels. Hemlata was a Bengali girl who was his student. Ravindra narrated how Hemlata, while seeking a chance to sing, had sung before Roshan and Naushad a few of the scores he had composed before he came to be a film music composer. Naushad then went on to imitate one of the tunes sung by Hemlata and recorded the song ‘Jo Chala Gaya Usey Bhool Jaa’ for the film <i>Saathi</i> (1968) with the voice of Mukesh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ravindra Jain was a great fan of the songs of composers like Madan Mohan, Roshan and S.D.Burman. Lata Mangeshkar had always been his favourite singer. With her voice, Ravindra Jain had given many beautiful songs like ‘Tera Mera Saath Rahe’. For this song, in particular, he had waited for two months to get Lata Mangeshkar’s date and as he readied for recording he received a telegram informing him of the passing away of his father. But he stood and recorded the song with heavy sorrow weighing in his mind!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately, his relations with Lata Mangeshkar were always traumatic. Apparently Lata had believed that he was only interested in furthering the interests of new singers like Aarti Mukherji and Hemlata. Ravindra says: “I had always wanted Lata Mangeshkar for my songs. But I was a new person in the industry. Many of my producers were small budget producers. We could not wait for extended periods to get her date. I also thought that new voices would lend new feel and expression to my songs. These factors made me use other singers for recording. Lataji could never accept this. She was always short tempered with me.” But Ravindra Jain, later, went on to win the Lata Mangeshkar award for his accomplishments in music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ravindra Jain’s take on Lata – Asha Bhonsle comparison goes like this: “Lataji’s voice is pure, delicate and suited to classical music. Lataji had a voice made for natural rendering like Rafi Saheb. But Asha’s voice lacked these qualities. She improved the tonal qualities of her voice by rigorous training. Singers can indeed improve their rendering style by voice training. But it is not possible to change the voice quality itself.” There are only a few successful songs for Ravindra Jain-Asha Bhonsle combination. The song ‘Sajna Hai Mujhe Sajna Ke Liye’ (I have to dress up for my love) in the film <i>Saudagar</i> is one such rare song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Mohammad Rafi: “I first met Rafi Saheb in a function at Calcutta. But, there a mob of admirers literally pushed me out. Later, in Bombay, we were both neighbors in Bandra. He used to come to my place in his lungi for the rehearsal before recording. He was humble and a very simple person in spite of being such a great singer. He always spoke softly. It was as if he reserved all his energy for singing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He had only good words about Kishore Kumar too: “The first song he sang for me was ‘Ghungroo Ki Tarah’. Even today I am asked to sing this song at all my stage shows! When I first approached Kishoreda for the song I told him ‘I am a composer from Calcutta wishing to come up. I have set a Bengali-music-type tune for you. You should hear it.’ He said, ‘No need. Get ready for the recording.’ Unexpectedly, on the recording day he came to the recording studio by nine o’clock. At that time nothing had been readied. Even the score sheets had not been given to the music artistes! I was upset and worried. But he surprised me by asking me ‘Just sing the pallavi (first stanza of the song) for me now.’ When I sang the pallavi for him, he comforted me by saying ‘Take your time. I will leave only after recording your song.’ That day, he recorded the song for me after cancelling all his other recordings. And he started calling me ‘Rabindra Jain Tagore’!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In his early days, Ravindra Jain had met Raj Kapoor and asked for composing opportunities after singing a few scores of his. He kept on ringing up R.K.Films to ask Raj Kapoor for that coveted chance. Raj Kapoor had then said: “When the time comes, I personally go knocking on the doors of talented ones.” Later, Raj Kapoor invited him to Pune where his birthday was being celebrated and offered him his film <i>Ram Teri Ganga Maili</i>. Ravindra Jain won the then most credible </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 17.3333px;">Filmfare</span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 17.3333px;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 13pt;">award in 1985 for this film. Raj Kapoor had then told him: “I see in you a combination of Shankar Jaikishen and Shailendra.” They were Raj Kapoor’s favourite composers and lyricist respectively.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When I asked him about arranging the orchestra for his songs, Ravindra Jain had this to say: “Good songs have emotional souls of their own based on their Raaga and composition. Instrumental orchestration should be attuned to this soul. People who merely arrange the orchestra mostly may not understand this. I arrange the instrumentation for my songs myself. Present day arrangers are mere arrangers of sounds without the soul. I have scored the background music for all my films. And I had put them together with great care to synchronise with the film's narrative.” What is a matter of wonder for me is how a visually challenged person could have scored the background music without the benefit of visuals in the totally visual medium of cinema!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Seeing that I was talking about only his Hindi film songs, Ravindra Jain asked me: “Have you not heard my Malayalam songs?” I had liked the songs he had composed for the Malayalam film <i>Sujata</i> released in 1977. Asha Bhonsle had sung the song ‘Swayamvara Shubhadhina Mangalangal’. It was a highly successful song that was frequently heard on wedding days in Kerala. ‘Kalidasante Kavya Bhavanaye’ and ‘Thalippoo Peelippoo’, both sung by Yesudas, were great songs as well. But none of them were in my mind’s radar when I was talking to him. He commented with a smile: “Apparently you are totally immersed in Hindi film songs.” He had also composed music for the Malayalam film <i>Sukham Sukhakaram</i> in 1994. Though the songs were good, it somehow did not reach the audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When I think of Ravindra Jain, I never cease to wonder how in spite of being visually challenged, he handles with aplomb his many roles in scoring the background music for films, composing music, writing lyrics, conducting stage shows, acting in music videos, being a judge of music contests on television and many such assignments. He told me: “In the world of cinema, people will overlook absolutely everything, if you give them what they want. I never faced any problem in the film industry on account of being visually challenged. But in the realities and daily chores of personal life I do face difficulties. But still, I count only my blessings.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He went on to say:”I am able to bring greater intensity and attention to my work, being visually challenged. Physical deficiencies will not depreciate your talents or what is good about you. One should never give up that zest for life.” Then he recited to me this poem that he had written:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Face has but two eyes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Poet Milton who also was visually challenged once said: “Sorrow lies not in living in darkness. Real sorrow is not being able to bear the darkness.” There was not even a trace of darkness on the face of Ravindra Jain. That is because he always lives in the cozy lap of music, a beacon of light that never fades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-23495389122713768112012-01-05T20:57:00.000-08:002012-01-05T20:57:48.212-08:00My Third Book in Tamil<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tnQXiz8uNU4/TwZ-vavfZrI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/J_EadN1RZk4/s1600/new+book+cover1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tnQXiz8uNU4/TwZ-vavfZrI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/J_EadN1RZk4/s400/new+book+cover1.JPG" width="276" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">My Third Book in Tamil </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">'In The Light of Music' got released</span></b></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-9326703911480763652011-11-30T21:26:00.000-08:002012-07-18T01:01:49.185-07:00Shreya Ghoshal: India’s Nightingale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP2kEE04QwXYL-LnubncQEgy_EIKdxPrch9V0KiBPuyeXEY_Lm0nRnL_ewwHJMZgCBWDERgHCIIf9v0DfifuQUSJQDhzL1W1EBZwZWJ1oRq-KDT-PGzOCwYW_5fczdqbvnKctoxJicfZk/s1600/Shreya.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP2kEE04QwXYL-LnubncQEgy_EIKdxPrch9V0KiBPuyeXEY_Lm0nRnL_ewwHJMZgCBWDERgHCIIf9v0DfifuQUSJQDhzL1W1EBZwZWJ1oRq-KDT-PGzOCwYW_5fczdqbvnKctoxJicfZk/s400/Shreya.bmp" width="261" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Maayabono Bihaarini Ami Noi <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shopono Shonchaarini Ami Noi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shondhaar Meghomaala Ami Noi…...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gaan Shudhu Gaan Bhora Ye Jeebon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I am not a wanderer in magical woods<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I am not a traveller in dream worlds<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I am not a dweller on evening clouds....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I am the life where music alone overflows <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is a Bengali song. I will say that this is by far one of the most wonderful songs that I have heard in this past decade. The very first time you hear it, its tune, its lyrics and the way it has been rendered with a rare beauty transports you to the magical woods it sings about. Joy Sarkar, an important contemporary Bengali musician, has composed its music. The many poetic phrases used in the lyrics have been culled from Rabindra Sangeet of Tagore. Just as Tagore is the only world poet to have been born in India in the last 150 years, Shreya Ghoshal is the best female singer to have appeared on the firmament of Indian film music in the last 50 years. And she had sung this Beautiful song. Shreya, the singing marvel is another priceless contribution of Bengal to India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In Indian film music many famous composers like Salil Chowdhury, S.D.Burman, R.D.Burman, Anil Biswas, Bhappi Lahiri to today’s Pritam Chakraborty many have come from Bengal. Singers from Bengal like Pankaj Mullick, Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey and Geeta Dutt have been well known all over India. But that fame was as Hindi film singers. Singing fluently in other languages has often been a big challenge for singers whose mother tongue was Bengali. Manna Dey, Pankaj Mullick and Geeta Dutt could not quite get over their Bengali accented pronunciation even while singing Hindi songs. But Shreya Ghoshal is different. She is a Bengali only when she speaks or sings in Bengali!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shreya is an Assamese singer when she sings in Assamese. In Malayalam, she is a Malayalam singer. And for Tamils, she is totally a Tamil singer. It is for the first time in India that such a singer who understands to a dot, regardless of the language, her instructions with all their minute nuances and sings with the rare felicity of an exact pronunciation. Lata Mangeshkar, with Marathi as her mother tongue has sung a song or two in Tamil and Malayalam. She had pronunciation difficulties there. Shreya Ghoshal was easily able to surpass Lata Mangeshkar in this respect. But this felicity of pronouncing exactly in many languages is merely one of her many amazing capabilities as a singer. No one, who evaluates her regarding any aspect of music, can deny that Shreya Ghoshal is indeed a rare singer!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many famous singers have a speaking voice and a singing voice. But there is no difference between the speaking voice and singing voice of Shreya Ghoshal. Shreya has a sweet and delicate voice that holds in thrall everyone from five years old children to eighty years old elders. It is the voice that males fantasise as the voice of the most beautiful woman. It is the voice of the most desirous girl tenanting their dreams. But surprisingly it is a voice that has, innately, no trace of sexual attractions. The attraction of the voice lies in its delicacy and closeness to the listener’s soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The usual problem of such delicate female voices is that when they reach higher notes of scale they tend to screech. Often, on the lower notes of scale, these voices sound boomy and unclear. But Shreya’s voice shines alike both on lower notes and higher notes of scale. Neither shrillness nor flaws or lack of clarity sullies her voice at any time. It is a great and lovely voice that easily expresses all the sweetness and the emotions inherent in every song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The amazing consistency of her rendering style is another wonder that we can see in Shreya. Usually the standard of rendering of a singer varies by his / her state of mind and body at the time of singing. But in none of Shreya’s songs that I have heard from the time she was fourteen to this date, have I found any decline in standard or lack of consistency! From the time she had appeared on television as a child singer Shreya Ghoshal had demonstrated her amazing talent and standard in music and she continues to record that with an amazing consistency. Each passing day finds it getting more and more polished! It is not an exaggeration to say that her voice and rendering style is absolutely peerless and incomparable in the rendering of Indian melodies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Whether the songs given to her are classical based or ghazal styled or western music based or folk based, nothing strains Shreya. She has this amazing ability to understand a score in totality as soon as she is instructed on it. This ability to grasp the music and emotions of a song with such speed is an extremely rare one. As she internalizes the score she also understands the intricacies of word play of the language.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Regardless of the language of the song she notes down the lyrics in Devanagari script. She uses a self-created collection of accent and pronunciation notations above the lines of lyrics to decipher the nuances of word accents. She gets the relevant person to explain both the context of the song in the storyline and the meaning of the lyrics. She gets ready for recording the song within half an hour, however complicated the score is. Shreya has no trouble whatsoever in singing difficult songs because of her marvellous breath control. Her rendering style is comparable to that of a river flowing smoothly and freely without any restraint.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">There have been other singers in India who had displayed both talented voice and speed of learning. There are many, even now. But more than these qualities, ability to express emotions through one’s rendering style is very important for a singer. Many singers, who handle all techniques exactly, fall down when it comes to expressing the emotions of the song. It is here that Shreya demonstrates her uniqueness by bringing out all the nuanced emotions of a song totally even as she brings her unique voice and rendering style to the song. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">People like me, who fancy vintage songs beyond measures, always watch discerningly how a new singer, male or female, sing our favourite vintage songs. Many contemporary singers often fail miserably in doing justice to what should be a pleasurable task of singing golden oldies. Present day singers disappoint us principally because they are unable to reach out to the soul of those old songs so lovingly created and carefully crafted. But the one contemporary singer, who can render the best creations of my most favourite composers like Salil Chowdhury and Madan Mohan with a flawless fidelity, often going a step beyond the original in creating the feel and mood of the song, is Shreya Ghoshal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Singing a song composed by Salil Chowdhury is a tough ask but when she was just fifteen, Shreya had effortlessly sung with great felicity many songs with difficult scores composed by Salil Chowdhury like ‘Shurer Jharna’, ‘Ni Sa Ga Ma Pa Ni’, ‘Gungun Phagun’, ‘Laage Dhol’ and ‘Akaash Kusum’ in Bengali. Recently, I was overwhelmed hearing Shreya sing on television late C.Ramachandra’s ‘Yeh Zindagi Usi Ki Hai’ from <i>Anaarkali</i> (1953). It was said, not by me alone, that Shreya Ghoshal sang even better than the original sung by Lata Mangeshkar! But Shreya, who is an ardent fan of Lata Mangeshkar, has said that she follows Lata Mangeshkar style in the way she renders with importance given to the words of lyrics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shreya Ghoshal was first contracted in 2002 to just sing one song for the Hindi film <i>Devdas</i> directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali with music composed by Ismail Durbar. But she ended up singing a total of 5 songs for the film! ‘Bairi Piya’, ‘Silsila Yeh Chhahath Ka’, ‘Dola Re’, ‘Morey Piya’ and ‘Chalak Chalak’ were those five songs with which Shreya Ghoshal announced to the world, in no uncertain terms, that she is no ordinary singer! In the nine years since then, there are no heights in the Indian film music that Shreya Ghoshal has not touched.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">One can go on listing her famous Hindi film songs that beautifully express love, songs oozing sensuality, night club dance numbers and sweet melodies. ’Jaadoo Hai Nasha Hai’ and ‘Chalo Thum Ko Lekar Chalen’<i>(Jism 2003)</i>, ‘Bahara Bahara Hua Hain’<i>(I Hate Love Stories 2010)</i>, ‘Theri Ore’<i>(Sing Is King2008)</i>, ‘Yeh Ishq Haaye’<i>(Jab We Met 2007)</i>, ‘Hont Raseeley’<i>(Welcome 2007)</i>, ‘Tere Mast Mast Do Nain’ and ‘Thoo Jo Pal Bar Mein’<i>(Dabang 2010)</i>, ‘Shukraan Allah’<i>(Kurban 2009)</i> and ‘Piyu Boley’<i>(Parinita 2005)</i> are all songs which have been rendered by Shreya Ghoshal with her distinct stamp on them. ‘Ami Je Tomar’<i> (Bhool Bhulaiya 2007)</i> is a justly famous number from her repertoire of songs, of peerless quality with elaborations in Hindustani classical style and lines. When we hear her dance number ‘Soobi Doobi’ from <i>Three Idiots</i> (2009), it is difficult to restrain our legs from stepping up for an enthusiastic jig!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shreya has shown that it is not merely the film songs but also songs steeped in classical music that she is good at rendering with ease. For example, the late maestro Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan had sung and recorded in 1960 a Hindustani classical piece ‘Bhoru Baye Tori Bat Thakat Piya’ in Raag Gurjari Todi. A.R.Rahman had used this classic piece for his film <i>Delhi 6</i> released in 2009. Shreya has sung this song with all its embellishments with a stunning maturity along with Ustad’s voice taken from the old recording. It is a scintillating effort that, if he were to listen to it, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan himself would have applauded!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In Tamil, Shreya Ghoshal remains a favourite singer of composers like Ilayaraja, A.R.Rahman, Vidhyasagar, Harris Jayaraj, Yuvan Shankar Raja, G.V.Prakash and other emerging composers. And she sings in her amazing virtuoso fashion for all without discriminating between veterans and newcomers. Her repertoire of songs includes such famous Ilayaraja numbers as ‘Onnavida Indha Ulagathil’ (<i>Virumandi</i>), ‘Elangaathu Veesudhey’ (<i>Pitamagan</i>), ‘Enakku Piditha Paadal’ (<i>Julie Ganapathy</i>), ‘Kaatril Varum Geethamey’(<i>Oru Naal Oru Kanavu</i>), ‘Konjam Konjam’ (<i>Maaya Kannadi</i>) and ‘Gundumalli’ (<i>Solla Marandha Kadhai</i>). She has sung for A.R.Rahman such scintillating gems as ‘Munbe Vaa En Anbe Vaa’ (<i>Sillunnu Oru Kaadhal</i>), ‘Nanna Re Nanna Re’(<i>Guru</i>), ‘Mannippaaya’ (<i>Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya</i>), ‘Kaadhal Anukkal’ (<i>Endhiran</i>) and ‘Kalvarey Kalvarey’(<i>Raavanan</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The same Shreya who sweetly renders a Vidhyasagar composition ‘Oru Nila Oru Kulam (<i>Ilainjan)</i>, a love song, sings in company of other singers a song like ‘Anndangkaka Kondaikkari’ for Harris Jayaraj. If that is not diversity, Shreya sings ‘Ninaithu Ninaithu Paarthal’ (<i>7G Rainbow Colony</i>) for Yuvan Shankar Raja, renders ‘Urugudhey Marugudhay’ (<i>Veyyil</i>) for G.V.Prakash and ‘Neeyum Naanum’ (<i>Myna</i>) for Imaan. Sure enough, she does a great job of singing new comers N.R.Rahanandan’s ‘Yaedi Kallachhi’ (<i>Thenmaerku Paruvakkatru</i>) and Lakshman Ramalinga’s ‘Ennavo Seidhaai’ (<i>Yaen Ippadi Mayakkinaai</i>). This ‘Ennavo Seidhai’ song is the best melodic Tamil song among the ones I recently heard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shreya has said in an interview: “A.R.Rahman and composers like Mano Murthy, today’s frontline Kannada film composer, place before singers a musical framework for the song. They give the singers the freedom to fill the framework with their range of colours. But Ilayaraja is not like that. He is very clear about what he wants. He does not expect any contribution from singers. He is firmly of the opinion that if the singer sings to the true pitch, emotions take their place automatically.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shreya, who asserts that Kannada is the one language in India where melody songs achieve most fame today, is the favourite singer for all contemporary composers of Kannada films. No wonder she has sung hundreds of hit numbers there. In Telugu, so far, there are many super hit songs like ‘Tharimae Varama Thadimae Swarama’ (<i>Yae Maaya Chesaavae</i> 2010) in her repertoire of over two hundred songs. Shreya, with about twenty songs to her credit in Malayalam, has won the Best Singer award of Government of Kerala.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shreya had once reflected on the contemporary music scene saying that everything had become totally commercial and expressed the heart-felt wish that she were a singer of the golden era that gave importance to a leisurely way of expressing art where the singers and orchestra got together at the same time to lovingly record the song. Though there is cut-throat competition in the film industry, Shreya maintains that there is no competition for her at all. She sees her voice and her rendering style as marks of her identity and has deep faith in the dictum that endless training, not straining, of vocal chords is the only way to grow in music. She sums up that a beautiful voice alone is nature’s gift, but everything else is creative result of our ability to grasp all details and put in the needed hard work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shreya, who nowadays insists on singing only one song a day, believes that she will get the songs that she ought to sing and has the self-confidence to assert quite frankly that those who are in a hurry can certainly have their songs rendered by others. Shreya Ghoshal also reveals that when she feels that the track singer has done justice to the song while listening to the track of the song, she recommends to the music director to release the song as it is. Shreya insists that this had happened many times!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">For many of her fans Shreya Ghoshal is a world beauty! For countless others, she is a beautiful girl next door. It is difficult to deny that her looks too merchandised as a million dollars when she appears on stages all over the world, in the blaze of lights. At present, she constantly appears on the reality music shows of Hindi television channels and appears on advertisements of Jewellery shops. Many feel that the time is not far, when she may start acting in films. But it is also a fact that none among ardent lovers of her music welcome either her sing and dance shows on television or her glamorous appearances in advertisement films.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">After music, cooking is Shreya’s intense love. She not only loves to cook a variety of dishes, she loves to feast on them to her heart’s content. Her favourite is rice with Bengali fish curry and fried fish. When she gets time, she reads books too. She would love to sing for private albums, other than that of cinema, of classical music and other songs. But it is her abiding regret that such opportunities are rare in India and that, if it all such opportunities arise, they will get neither the money nor the respect, due to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shreya Ghoshal, who has won 4 National Awards and countless Filmfare, State and private awards by her present age of 27, is hailing from a family of scientists and learned persons. She is the first woman of her family to have chosen music as the field of her endeavours. Born in a small town in Bengal, brought up in an even smaller town of Rajasthan, she learnt her music there in the traditional style from the age of six. She was identified as a big talent by Kalyanji while singing in a television event in Mumbai, where she had migrated to at the age of thirteen, and was trained by him in the technique of singing film songs. At the age of 16, in 2002, she was introduced as a singer of film songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">From that day on, she has been singing, without interlude, maintaining at all times highest level of musicality that no other contemporary female singer in India had touched. We can call her as the first true Indian singer because of her amazing ability to sing with ease in all Indian languages. We can also call her the current Nightingale of India, acknowledging the sky-high standard of her singing. May her life overflow with music and music alone. Let her, forever travel in the dream world of music. Let her forever live in the high clouds of music never descending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-6763699685986108292011-11-18T12:39:00.000-08:002012-12-03T04:56:31.836-08:00Jagjit Singh: The Last Ghazal of the Night<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFCqHJWqUKmTuvm63AoUlwCUs1p13DUcXSy5tTLd9yi1kjen0z-G8z85Oc0wmQLs4XrFs4TbeGK4OcOXwqYVD4bIakg-g4sfXcGoI0J_bWggJaFqzA8oiRWCrbpLdndKZXzxKvNDOmi0/s1600/JGS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFCqHJWqUKmTuvm63AoUlwCUs1p13DUcXSy5tTLd9yi1kjen0z-G8z85Oc0wmQLs4XrFs4TbeGK4OcOXwqYVD4bIakg-g4sfXcGoI0J_bWggJaFqzA8oiRWCrbpLdndKZXzxKvNDOmi0/s320/JGS.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Dusk was evolving into a dark night on one Saturday evening of last June. Depressed and dull, I was aimlessly trudging in Malleswaram area of Bangalore. I thought fleetingly of entering one of those omnipresent bars for a drink. But on Saturday nights in the Bangalore bars even standing space will be too much to ask for. Supposing I do find a place, the loud music and the noise and shouts of drunks make for an ear splitting trauma that would only multiply the depression that I was in. So I continued my aimless walk along the avenue under the brooding trees. That was when I saw the flex poster nailed on a tree trunk. ‘Come to Chowdiah Hall at 7.30 p.m. on 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;">th</sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"> June to hear Jagjit Singh’s unique music and experience the cool breeze of his voice.’ The concert was only half an hour away but since Chowdiah Hall was not very far, so I hailed an auto.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The program had already started in the huge Auditorium built to resemble the violin of Chowdiah, the legendary musician. There were barely a couple of seats left in the auditorium built to accommodate more than a thousand people. When I bought a ticket and rushed into the hall in search of my seat in a corner of the last row, Jagjit Singh was singing a soulful Ghazal that he himself had penned, composed and sung twenty five years ago: ‘Aye Khuda Ret Ke Zehara Ko Samandar Kar De’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even at 70 his haunting voice had that undiminished flow and depth. And that rendering style bore the so familiar and much loved Jagjit Singh stamp of the seventies! I was once an intense fan of Jagjit Singh but I had stopped buying and listening to his albums when I became frustrated at the sameness and lack of novelty of his later albums. But that night I was completely lost listening to his fifteen or more all-time classics. When I left the auditorium well past eleven after the concert, I had completely forgotten the reasons for my depression! This was not just an experience that I alone felt with the Ghazals of Jagjit Singh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His voice, which is quiet like a river flowing through the plains and his rendering style, is capable of being a balm to the pained mind. He never resorts to any type of gimmickry just to attract attention. He just loses himself singing what he likes as he knows it. His music has no place for egoistic manners like, “Now I am going to a sing a very intricate and difficult piece. You all listen to this” The very form of Ghazal music, which is originated in Persia a thousand years ago and arrived to Indian sub continent about six hundred years ago, is a highly evolved art which is not capable of entertaining such egoism. Though often simplistically defined as a simplified form of Hindustani classical music, Ghazal is innately capable of profound outpouring of emotions like no other music form. Yet these emotions are expressed in soft cadences without loud or dramatic plays. That is the greatness and underlying note of Ghazal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ghazalformat is not for too much orchestration. The usual scene has artistes playing a sarangi and a tabla with a gentle touch even as the vocalist renders the Ghazal sitting in the centre and all of them are lost in a dream world of soft expressions. Ghazals sing of indefinable pains of human life, its unavoidable sorrows, worship of feminine beauty, love, separations, yearnings, philosophy of life, the little pleasures of life like wine, mind that seeks happiness even in the midst of pain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is not easy singing Ghazals well. Total dedication of self to music, a deep understanding of the emotions of the ragas and the meaning of lyrics are an absolute must for a Ghazal singer. The purpose of a Ghazal is not to rock the listeners by singing difficult or intricate pieces. A true Ghazal singer who understands the soul of a raga and renders it emotionally himself becomes the Ghazal. At the moment of singing he is all alone and sings only for himself. Listeners who absorb this emotional rendering experience it as an intensely personal happening. This emotional intensity is the reason why there are so few Ghazal singers of class in this world. Mehdi Hasan, Ghulam Ali, Begum Akthar, Iqbal Bano, Abida Parveen, Farida Khanum, Malika Pukhraj, Tahira Sayeed, Munni Begum, Hariharan……this list of four generations of great Ghazal singers is impossible to extend any further.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When India was partitioned in 1947, almost all our important Ghazal singers migrated to Pakistan. It was only in seventies with the rise of Jagjit Singh that India could hoist the proud flag of Ghazal on an equal footing with those who migrated to Pakistan. Jagjit Singh had a rare, made for Ghazal voice like that of Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali and an entirely honest rendering style that was faithful to emotions of the Ghazal. Whatever the form of music he chose to espouse, they too became Ghazals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While the likes of Hariharan made Ghazal one among their many interests and forayed into film music, pop music, acting on screens big and small, reality music shows and tumultuous stage shows, Jagjit Singh alone lived exclusively for Ghazal. Jagjit Singh’s role in raising the count of the Ghazal listeners in India is an inalienable part of post-Independence history of Indian music. Countless music lovers sought his Ghazals to serve as balms on the pain they experienced in their lives. But Jagjit Singh erased the sorrows in other people’s lives with a music he created out of the countless sorrows of own his life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Though Jagjit Singh was born and brought up in Sriganga Nagar of North East Rajasthan on the border with Pakistan, he was basically a Punjabi Sikh. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, the maestro of Hindustani classical music and Mohammad Rafi, by far the greatest playback singer of Hindi film industry, were both Punjabis as well. The great composers of Hindi film music like Madan Mohan, Roshan, Jaidev, Khayyam and O.P.Nayyar, legendary singers like K.L.Saigal, Suraiya, Shamshad Begum and Ghazal singers like Ghulam Ali, Noor Jahan and Anup Jalotta, the historic figure of Qawwali Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Tabla maestros like Alla Rakha and his son Zakir Hussain were all Punjabis. We can say that Jagjit Singh is an important part of this long list of Punjab’s contribution to Indian music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jagmohan Singh Dheeman aka Jagjit Singh was born in 1941 as the third son among the 11 children of lower level Government employee Amar Singh Dheeman, a deeply religious Sikh. He was brought up as a Sikh who is always supposed to wear a turban. It was this turbaned Sikh who metamorphosed on the music stage as a superstar Ghazal singer with a free flowing and handsome hair. Jagjit Singh spent his childhood days in poverty in a free two-room government hutment with neither electricity nor running water in it. For him even flying kites on the street like other children was an extravagant desire. Instead He roamed the streets feeding grass to the cows on the streets and singing loudly the songs that caught his fancy. When he was seven his family moved to his father’s native town Jullundur in Punjab. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amar Singh, seeing how well his son sang when there was not even a radio in the house to listen to songs, arranged for him to learn from Chaganlal Sharma, a blind music teacher. But he wanted that his son should become a high-ranking government official. Later, Ustad Jamal Khan became Jagjit’s music Guru. By going to the nearby homes with a radio and listening to the likes of Abdul Karim Khan, Amir Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Talat Mehmood, he had become a madly enchanted music lover. He sang on a stage for the first time when he was barely nine. The crowd of fans loved his singing. Many in the crowd came forward to thrust into his hands anything from half Anna coins to two rupee notes. His father, who took those offerings with trembling hands, embraced his son and wept.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jagjit learned Classical music in proper Guru-shishya tradition for fifteen years, but he had no desire to become a classical singer. He was consumed with a passion to become a film singer, where the emphasis was on light music, like his film music favourites like Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar. Even though he did not do particularly well in his studies, he was looked upon with favour both in school and college because of his singing talent. He failed the tests of All India Radio many times, but soon his songs were heard on the air waves from Jullundur Radio station.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">None too soon, he became a Radio star. Once when he was singing in a college function, power failed and the stage was plunged in darkness. Only the loud speaker system was functioning on battery power. He did not stop singing, even for a moment. And not a soul stirred in the crowd! For more than one hour they sat in darkness listening and wildly applauding to Jagjit’s songs! Banking only on the confidence that such appreciation gave him, at the age of twenty, Jagjit Singh arrived in Bombay, seeking opportunities in film singing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He searched for and knocked on the doors of many popular Hindi film composers of the day. He even sang before many of them. But not a cheep anywhere! Jaikishen of Shankar Jaikishen duo of the lot praised his cultured voice but offered no opportunities to sing. The little money that he had was soon all spent. Then came a pass where he did not have the money to pay and get back his laundered cloth. A mentally tired Jagjit then boarded a train without ticket and returned to Jullundur hiding in train toilets for two days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Four years later he again returned to Bombay. He lodged in a room in an old ramshackle chawl with four others. He slept on a rusted iron cot allowing its denizens of bugs to suck his blood. Even rats joined in to chewing up his feet. He used to eke out a living with the help of a rented harmonium by singing at small parties and functions at homes of Bombay’s rich and famous. He even sang free at homes of many film industry persons in the fond hope that someone will notice him and open the doors of opportunities in the film industry. But nobody noticed him. If they had indeed noticed, it was obvious that the deep musicality and the pain of his voice would hardly have suited the sturdy heroes of the film industry gleefully chasing the heroines around the proverbial tree. In a way it was a blessing that he did not become a playback singer. His composing skills, his felicity with words, his deep understanding and love of classical ragas would have been totally lost in films.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally what ended this nightmarish phase of his life was the agreement with HMV to sing and record two Ghazals. It was for the cover jacket of that record Jagjit gave up his Sikh turban and the long hair and beard. He made this new look his permanent one. He did not want to make a Sardarji’s look, the identity of his music. But his father was never able to get around to accepting his son giving up his religious identity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jagjit Singh decided to dedicate his life entirely to Ghazal. It was a time when Ghazal as a genre of music was disappearing in India. He created a very unique style of Ghazal that differed from the occasional Ghazal that struggled to emerge out of film music. He brought in Santoor, Guitar, Violin and electronic instruments as accompaniments in place of the traditional instruments like Sarangi used in Ghazals. He abandoned difficult to understand Urdu poems and chose simple lines for his lyrics. But nothing brought him success instantly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was during one such song recording that he met a Bengali singer, Chitra Dutta. Jagjit Singh, at that very first meeting was attracted to Chitra who had an ever ready to cry expression on her beautiful face, blue eyes that spoke of deep pain and a voice that reminded of a child’s purity. Chitra was married and living a very sad life with her eight years old daughter. Love blossomed in the life of Chitra and Jagjit Singh. With only thirty rupees in hand, Jagjit Singh married Chitra who had obtained divorce from a life that had all the material comforts. Chitra’s daughter Monica with her innocent smile and purity of love became Jagjit’s dotting daughter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jagjit also became the music Guru to Chitra who had no formal training in music. The duo of Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh began recording discs and performing stage shows. But success was yet far away. Next year they were blessed with a son. Once Jagjit spoke of those days: “When Vivek, whom we fondly called Babu was born we did not have any money. Chitra and Monica who had left a comfortable life behind to live with me had to live with me in a one-room tenement. But these did not weigh on our minds at all. Carrying Babu around, those were the days when I felt like one of the richest men in the world. Babu smiled and filled our minds and home with happiness. Chitra went to studios to record her advertisement jingles carrying barely twenty days old Babu in her hands. She sang cradling the sleeping baby in her hands. I roamed around looking for the opportunity of a concert or mehfil”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But soon the travails of poverty became things of past. ‘The Unforgettables’ the record he had cut in 1975 and its cassette were released in the same year to unprecedented welcome. Its massive success established Jagjit Singh & Chitra Singh couple all over India as the most popular singers outside the film world. In the songs of this album which came out with totally different sound from that of traditional Ghazals, Jagjit had creatively used many western music instruments. Some music critics faulted this as a move to destroy Ghazal. In truth, it was a historical event that breathed new life into Ghazals in India. Songs like ‘Baat Niklegi’, ‘Ek Na Ek Shama’, ‘Ghum Bade Aathey Hain’ and ‘Dost Ban Ke Mujh Ko’ remain a live testimony to this day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After this turning point only successes happened in Jagjit Singh’s music life. Money and fame poured in. He flew to all parts of the world conducting up to 400 shows a year. There were no days without a show. He has to his credit over 300 shows in Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditorium alone! The same film world that rejected him now even made films based entirely centred on his music. Jagjit composed and sang totally Ghazal styled songs in them! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Songs like ‘Koyi Gesu Koyi Aanchal ‘(<i>Ek Baar Kaho</i>), ‘Hoton Se Chhoolo Tum’(<i>Prem Geet</i>), ‘Tum Ko Dekha To Yeh Khayal Aaya’, ‘Yeh Bata De Mujhe Zindagi’, ‘Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar’ and ‘Yoon Zindagi Ki Raah Mein’(<i>Saath Saath</i>), ‘Tum Itna Jo Muskara Rahe Ho’ and ‘Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar’(<i>Arth</i>), ‘Nasheeli Raath Ko’(<i>Zulf Ke Saaye</i>) and ‘Hoshwalon Ko Kya Pata’(<i>Sarfarosh</i>) are some his film Ghazals that became wildly popular. The cassette album combining his songs from <i>Saath Saath</i> and <i>Arth </i>released by HMV became its largest selling combination music album ever for them. Doordarshan brought out and telecast the life history of Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869), undoubtedly the greatest poet of Ghazals. Jagjit Singh’s composition of Ghazals in the serial was another milestone of his achievements. ‘Beyond Time’, a short disc cut by Jagjit Singh was the first such effort in India to have been recorded on the multi-track digital recording system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In July of 1990, when he was at the height of his fame, his 19 years old son Babu, around whom Jagjit’s life revolved, died in a tragic road accident. Chitra Singh never again recovered from the trauma of that immense loss. After that event she never again sang even a note. There was a magical quality about the music shows staged by Jagjit Singh Chitra Singh duo. Fans lost forever the opportunity of listening to that enchanting music live. After Chitra Singh no full-fledged female Ghazal singer of mention emerged in India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jagjit Singh returned slowly to the music scene after many months spent in tears over the unbearable sorrow of his son’s death. At first he just spent hours listening to his tanpura. Then he began singing with tanpura as accompaniment. Later he started occasionally singing on the stage with eyes brimming with tears rendering a Punjabi folk song called ‘Mitti da Bawa’, a dirge usually sung by a mother crying over her son’s death in an accident. He had later said that, “Tears I had shed over my son’s death became the album ‘Man Jeete Jagjit’”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jagjit plunged into the world of Ghazals with rare fortitude. In the decade of 1991-2000 he released about 55 albums. I remember this phase well. I had toured entire South India for the publicity of his album ‘Face to Face’ released by our music company. He in the company of Lata Mangeshkar, brought a Ghazal album ‘Sajda’. In 2003 he composed music for the album ‘Samvedna’ comprising Ghazals written by the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Albums kept coming with a vengeance. He was also conducting countless stage shows. In 2001 he sang for an event in Kolkata even on the day his mother passed away!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This was a time when custom had staled his music with none of the novelty either in tune or his arrangements. All his new songs sounded the same as his old songs. After a stage, if he had left composing and background arrangements to other musicians and instead concentrated on singing alone he could have avoided the staleness that crept into his music. Unfortunately, he never thought on those lines. I completely stopped seeking his new songs and kept listening to his old numbers now and then. Then in 2007, he recreated and sang ten Hindi film songs that affected him most and released the album ‘Close to My Heart’. It was a good move but the way he changed the arrangements of the lead song ‘Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaaye’ did not go down well with many listeners who knew the music of Salil Chowdhury.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But beyond all that, what stands out is his historic contribution to Ghazal as a music form in India. Jagjit Singh is the genius who breathed life into Indian Ghazal and popularized it at a time when it had almost disappeared from the music scene. As far as Ghazals were concerned, he was at once a one man movement and one person industry. It is unfortunate that no new Ghazal singer emerged in his footsteps following his inimitable Ghazal style. In his lifetime not one important singer made Ghazal his important forte. There are some singers who sing Ghazal well. But none of them felt inclined to make it their most important form of expression in music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jagjit Singh as an individual lived a very transparent life. He never hesitated in ventilating his opinions explicitly. He lived the life of a very humane and kind person. He helped others without any let or hindrance. He did his best to encourage new singers and musicians. To the end he continued to help individuals and organizations like Child Relief and You (CRY), National Association of the Blind, Library at St.Mary’s and Bombay Hospital. His take on this was: “Nobody helped me in my early days when I was facing utmost tribulations. Helping the needy will not diminish anything. Help confers relief to those who receive it and peace of mind to those who give it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One summer’s day in 2009, Jagjit’s daughter Monica committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan at her home. Two years later Jagjit was admitted in hospital on 23<sup>rd</sup> September after cerebral hemorrhage and after a 17 days’ struggle he passed away in the early hours of 10<sup>th</sup> October. Chitra Singh alone left abandoned to loneliness. Jagjit Singh has sung ‘Your tears are deeper than the ocean’. Will Chitra be comforted by Jagjit’s Ghazals that have comforted millions?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Feel me with your lips<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And make my songs immortal…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hoton Se Chhoo Lo Tum..</span></div>
SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-81266249772566840372011-09-26T05:51:00.000-07:002011-09-30T02:55:39.371-07:00T M Soundararajan – Singer of The People<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmNeN1ThO47WfH1PAJt6xXZHZhwYhUx4D8ba8peP_dWI2hrXM7bsaIZyvfrVex0JX5EMZLko81YNwRbzzmnqgTA0FmATKKMHfpJgFzK-zTwwVzZ-qS74u5SlH-Klu28TjgkO-CgxZXJA/s1600/TMS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmNeN1ThO47WfH1PAJt6xXZHZhwYhUx4D8ba8peP_dWI2hrXM7bsaIZyvfrVex0JX5EMZLko81YNwRbzzmnqgTA0FmATKKMHfpJgFzK-zTwwVzZ-qS74u5SlH-Klu28TjgkO-CgxZXJA/s400/TMS.jpg" width="297" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A current Tamil film singer told me, “I hate TMS songs.” When I asked him the reason for his hatred, he could not name a proper one for it. He lamely said, “His songs remind me of the dust and heat of Tamilnadu.” I retorted: “You must have come to Tamilnadu only during your summer vacations and heard his songs only at the height of those summers.” His opinion was only a reflection of a youngster born in Tamilnadu but brought up elsewhere. Some never outgrow their juvenile state of mind!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Honestly, I too did not like TMS songs in my childhood. It was a time when I was under the impression that Yesudas was world’s greatest singer. But after a few years I started listening to TMS songs. I sang a song of his during a school function as that song had made a deep impression on me. I made a mess of it neither knowing the tune well nor having learnt the lyrics properly. That earned me a warning from the head master to desist from singing again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My memories of TMS go back to a person we had all called ‘Annachi’. In our place all Tamilians are called ‘Annachi’. I do not recollect his name. He was a daily wage-earner in a tea shop. He was a dark slender person who always sported an innocent smile on his face. He used to marvelously render the song ‘Sathiyame Latchiyamaai Kolladaa’. I was absolutely certain in my mind that ‘Annachi’ was my hero from the day I heard him sing that TMS song.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His job was to draw water from the wells of the village and bring it to the tea shop. He used to fill water in two recycled square oil tins dangling from the ends of a bamboo pole and bring them to the tea shop balancing them on his shoulder. I would walk alongside beseeching him to sing the song ‘Sathiyame Latchiyamaai’. Some of the times he would oblige me. I can never forget that majestic opening ‘Sathiyamae’ and the softer landing word ‘Selladaa’. I can also never forget the scene of Annachi leaving our village in tears, after he was dismissed from tea shop work for some reason.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Many TMS songs like ‘Pattikkaadaa Pattanamaa’, ‘Adi Ennadi Raakkamma’, and ‘Poomazhai Thoovi Vasanthangal Vaazhtha’ were very popular in our cool hill villages. I slowly found myself beginning to appreciate his songs for his emotionally rich rendering style. But it was many years later during my Hyderabad days that I have attentively listened most of his important songs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I was then living in Feroze Guda, a semi-slum area of Hyderabad. It was the place bachelors from all over India, coming in search of jobs roamed the streets. They stayed together in small one room dwellings. They cooked, ate and slept in those tenements sharing dreams and talking of landing well-earning jobs abroad. Summer in Hyderabad is hotter than summers of Tamilnadu and people sleep on roofs and terraces at night. I was part of this crowd. There was a bachelor in the corner of our street. But he stayed alone in his room. He was rarely seen outdoors and never interacted with people. His name was Dennis and he hailed from Kuzhithurai of Kanyakumari district in Tamilnadu. Even when the summer heat touched 47 degree Centigrade he never came out! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He will get up quite early in the morning and immediately play a TMS devotional song on his tape-recorder. The songs played would be anything like his ‘Pullaanguzhal Kodutha Moongilgale’, ‘Nee Oru Thaayaanal’, ‘Karpanai Endraalum’, etc. After that till his departure for work he will play some film song or other of TMS without a gap. His tape recorder would again start broadcasting TMS songs as soon as he returned from work in the evening. I do not remember him playing the songs of any other singer! On Sundays the TMS songs will play continuously from morning to night. I was a daily fan of this very devoted broadcast.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Dennis always had a forbidding expression that warned all to keep away. But I wanted to befriend him. My intention was, in particular to see his collection of tapes and have a good look at his tape recorder which reproduced such superb quality sound. My room mates had warned me that Dennis had some incurable skin disease and that it was contagious. His face and exposed parts of the body had reddish allergic skin lesions. This unprepossessing look had alienated him from others.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One fine morning I made bold to knock on his door. When he opened the door he only had his vest on. The skin was coming off his body like thin patties. It was an allergic skin disease called psoriasis. I asked him in Tamil whether we could talk. He did not allow me in. He sent me off saying he was busy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It took me many days and as many efforts to befriend him and enter his room. But once I made friends with him I realized that he was such a wonderful friend. I explained to him that psoriasis was not a big disease and that it was not contagious. That brought him closer to me. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His tape recorder was a big one. It was the original made-in-Holland Philips. His collection of TMS songs was huge. You name a song and he would play it for you. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I had spent many sultry nights in his room listening to TMS songs and talking about them. Whenever I went to his room he will serve me his fantastic tea. Some of the times he had even cooked a meal for me. He would never allow anyone to touch his collection of tapes; much less lend it to anybody. But he had lent to me many tapes which I copied. Even today I have with me the copies of his tapes of TMS songs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">After some years there, the mental depression caused by a failed love affair made me leave Hyderabad for Bombay. With barely a hundred rupees in hand I landed in Bombay thanks to the free lift offered by a tanker lorry driver. I roamed Bombay for two days looking for job. I approached a few distant relatives and old friends for help. But none was forthcoming.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">On a moment of depression I spent twenty rupees of the last thirty rupees that remained in hand on a bottle of beer that I drank. Then I caught a bus to Taloja area looking for a person hailing from my native place. The owner of the house where he stayed said that he had left for the city on a welding job and that the date of his return was uncertain. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At around eight in the night I reached a place called Kalamboli on Mumbai Pune Hyderabad Highway. I tried to thumb a ride in the passing trucks. But no one stopped. I started hiking pointlessly on the highway. My mind had been numbed by hunger and exhaustion. The ‘swish’ of wakes left by thrusts of trucks that whizzed past buffeted me. After what seemed an interminable half an hour I saw a Truck Stop where drivers stopped for rest and refreshment. As I neared it, I heard the TMS song ‘Yennai Theriyuma’ and that woke me up from my numbness. The joint had the name ‘Mani Ka Dhaba’ in red letters on white tin board written on it in English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. It was a road-side eatery. I staggered towards it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There, the usual customers, the drivers and their assistants were busy tucking into the tandoori chicken and rotis with different gravies to ease their way. I went and stood before the cashier there with a pathetic look. He asked me ‘What?’ in a most sullen Hindi. I explained my position to him in Tamil. He could not make out what I was telling him as he did not know Tamil.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He called out to the kitchen. “Come! Somebody here is asking something in Tamil.” A black person who was stoutly built came out without wearing a shirt. He was Mani, the owner of the eatery. It appeared that he was the cook there as well. I told him that I stopped by as I heard the TMS song. He heard out my story with a touch of skepticism. Then he just went back into the kitchen without saying anything. A procession of TMS songs, seemingly so appropriate to my situation, was parading for the benefit of my ears. ‘Pallaakku Vaanga Poenaen’, ‘Kann Pona Pokkile Kaal Pogalaama’, ‘Yaarai Nambi Naan Porandaen’, ‘Sodhanai Mel Sodhanai’ and so on. They made me forget my hunger. I sat there looking at those who were sitting on the cots and eating, waiting for the proverbial ship that will take me to the farther shore, as Tagore had waxed eloquently in his poem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Mani came out and talked to me when he found respite from his work in the kitchen. He was from Trichy and totally plighted to TMS. He spoke of TMS with considerable emotion. His tape recorder was very old fashioned. But his pile of TMS song tapes was unbelievably huge. “Brother, TMS songs alone are my life. Foolish chaps categorise his songs as MGR songs and Sivaji songs. But they are all TMS songs and his songs alone. Till my death my place of living will resound with TMS songs.” Mani served me tandoori roti and chicken gravy. He asked me to rest there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I stretched myself on a dhaba cot under a big tree. I kept carefully listening to the TMS songs that were being played like ‘Ulagam Pirandadu Enakkaaga’ and ‘Arivukku Velai Kodu’. Suddenly the hope that these songs offered dawned on me. They offered encouragement and strength. The songs had a confidence, clarity, a can-do enunciation and above all a majesty that leads one to greater heights. I felt that millions of simple people loved TMS songs because of the hope that it offered in their hopeless lives. Suddenly, I too felt comforted and rejuvenated.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I never knew when I had dozed off. Mani woke me up after arranging with the driver of a Mazda van to take me back to Hyderabad. I could pay him after reaching Hyderabad. I was speechless with gratitude. TMS was singing in the background: ‘Nee Yenge En Ninaivugal Ange’. I did not know why, but tears ran down my cheeks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Many years later when I met TMS in Chennai for an interview I told him the stories of Annachi, Dennis and Mani. I saw the same innocent smile of Annachi on the face of TMS. TMS said: “Brother, when I started my life I too was like your Annachi. At first I had stood in front of many with extended hand like a beggar asking for money so that I can go for my music lessons. Later I became another type of beggar asking for a chance to sing. Did you know that in those days I have even acted as a beggar in a film? You would not have seen it; it was in 1951 for the film<i> Devaki</i> where I sing the song ‘Theeraadha Thuyaraaley Paazhaagiye’ as I beg. In the credit titles they did not mention my name as a singer; instead they put me down as ‘T.M.Soundararajan – A beggar’.” As he said this his smile widened and broke into laughter. “Millions of fans are what I earned in my life, nothing else. That was the biggest alms, the beggar’s bounty that God granted me.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thoguluva Meenatchi Soundararajan was born on 24.3.1923. He was already past 45 when I was born. But even today wherever I go I am still hearing TMS songs played or sung. He is the biggest and most famous of Tamil Playback singers with almost 10,000 songs to his credit. He has a tremendous voice that travels from low bass to the highest notes with utmost ease. TMS, who had dreamt of becoming a classical singer of Carnatic music, had in those days M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar as his idol and ideal. When he began singing he adopted the style of M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar but later moved to his own popular style of rendering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Beginning his career as a singer in films in 1950, pretty soon he became a star singer. During his time as singer he sang as a playback for all front rank stars. He had a unique ability to recreate the emotions in his songs with a dramatic singing style that adapted itself to the acting style of the star for whom he sang and still match it with the emotions required of the song in the film. Everyone is aware how his voice was employed to make a film star, a leader of the people and the Chief Minister of a state. Even today his voice is serving as an efficacious tool to garner the votes of common man!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">T.M.S. was born in a very poor family in Madurai. His father Meenatchi Ayyangar was barely able to eke out enough for two meals a day from his occasional income as a priest. He was also a singer of bhajans. He used to take his son too for his bhajans. Meanwhile TMS cultivated his interest in music by seeing the films and hearing the songs of M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. TMS who could sing the songs of MKT so marvelously well unfortunately flopped in his studies. But he was least bothered. His only goal was to somehow learn Carnatic music from a good master. He did not have the money for the ‘Guru Dakshina’, the token payment for the master. He pleaded and collected pittances from the rich of his Sowrashtra community and with that small amount started learning music in a formal manner as the disciple of Karaikudi Rajamani Ayyangar. But this did not last beyond a year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">TMS says that in that one year he had learnt from his master clear delineation of notes of Carnatic music, the basics of the classical music, twelve varnams and 48 keerthanas. He also claims that after this learning curve he had no more doubts to be clarified in Carnatic music. He says he learnt on his own through utmost dedicated hard work whatever was left to be learned. With that kind of self-confidence backing him he tried to arrange his own debut show, the Arangaetram. But he did not have the kind of money needed to hire the auditorium and other event expenses. So he started accepting concerts however small the concert money paid to him. When he started singing the songs of M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar in some of his concerts it attracted people in droves to his concerts. This kind of adulation for film music encouraged him to try his hand at film music. He was by then married and badly needed the income to run his household.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Central Studio of Coimbatore was in those days producing important Tamil films. TMS started frequenting Central Studio in search of opportunities. At that time the film <i>Sudarshan</i> was being produced with P.U.Chinnappa in the lead role. He joined the studio as an odd job person. He did all that he was asked to do from cooking, cleaning, serving the male and female artistes to taking care of their children. At the same time he made every effort to attract attention to himself in the hope that those looking for a different voice will one day notice him. Once when a P.U.Chinnappa song was being rehearsed before Subbiah Naidu, the composer, T.M.S. stood just outside and sang a P.U.Chinnappa song in a loud voice. When a person who was there asked ‘Is this boy mad?’ P.U.Chinnappa was supposed to have remarked, “No, he is singing well. He has a good voice. If he continues this practice, he can become a good singer.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1950 Director Sundar Rao Natkarni gave TMS his first chance in a film. The film was <i>Krishna Vijayam.</i> In today’s cinema language we can call it a remix song. It was more or less a copy of the song ‘Radhey Unakku Kopam Aagaadhadi’ in Chenchurutti raga sung by MKT for the film <i>Chintamani</i> in 1936. It had the same tune with lyrics changed to ‘Radhey Nee Ennaivittu Oadadhedi’. Its background score had been altered to a more contemporary score. On his own TMS added a few combination notes and Jathis or dance notes. It took about ten hours to record the song. Hearing that song today, one gets the impression that he was a new version of MKT. This song heralded the arrival of a new singer. TMS sang three other songs as well in the same film. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But the struggle was not over for TMS. He got no further chance. After knocking on many doors at last he got a chance to sing ‘Annamitta Veettiley’ in the film <i>Mandiri Kumari</i>, the same year. G.Ramanathan was the composer, but the song itself was barely noticed. TMS was not mentioned in the titles either. This was followed by the beggar’s song mentioned earlier. Two whole years passed without any further chance to sing. Then in 1952 he sang two duets for the film <i>Valaiyapathi.</i> But nothing happened even thereafter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">By this time Chennai had become the centre for Tamil films. Studios in other towns lost their importance. A.M.Rajah and Ghantasala had come up as prominent singers. With the little money left in his hand, TMS arrived in Chennai. He visited various producing companies beseeching for a chance. Nobody showed interest in him. The experience of having sung seven songs in Coimbatore and Salem studios did not wash well enough in Chennai. Money in hand was running out and even eating once a day was becoming difficult. TMS made up his mind to return to Madurai.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As a last resort he approached K.V.Mahadevan who was working as composer in HMV Company and begged for a chance with tears in his eyes. He sang a select few songs that were K.V.Mahadevan’s favourites while asking for a chance. Mahadevan saw the talent in the young singer and immediately engaged him to sing two devotionals. He also arranged to have the fee for the two songs to be paid to him immediately. He advised TMS to approach AVM Studios for a chance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The very next day he went to AVM Studio and put in his attendance before the company’s composer Sudarshanam asking for an opportunity. Sudarshanam took him to the AVM owner Meiyappa Chettiar. T.M.S. sang a keerthanai with all its flourishes. Though Chettiar did not display any reaction he asked TMS to sing a comedy song. He sang a comedy song ‘Nalla Kazhudai’ with all his hearty might. That clicked. TMS got the opportunity of singing two similar comedy songs for the film<i> Chellappillai.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In between K.V.Mahadevan called him to sing in chorus for the film <i>Koondukili.</i> The film’s lyricist Thanjai Ramiah Das liked the voice and singing style of TMS and asked Mahadevan to give him a solo song in the film. That was how TMS got to sing the song ‘Konjum Killiyana Pennai’ in the film. This song in the film<i> Koondukili</i>, the only film in which Sivaji and MGR ever acted together is noticeable even today for TMS’ unique rendering style evoking high emotions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One day as he was aimlessly walking through the streets a car came and stopped alongside. Lyricist Marudakasi got down from the car and accosted TMS. Marudakasi took him to the office of Aruna Films which was producing the movie <i>Thookkuthookki</i> starring Sivaji Ganesan. There were eight songs in the film with G.Ramanathan composing the music. Tiruchi Loganathan, the star singer of the day, was supposed to sing all the eight. Producers asked Loganathan to accept a lower package price as there were eight songs in the film. As he refused to accept the package deal the producers were in the frame of mind to get somebody else to sing the songs. T.M.S, who was in acute financial trouble and on a hungry lookout for a chance, grabbed the opportunity with both hands.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But his travails had a course to run. Sivaji Ganesan, who was basking in the glory of the success that the film <i>Paraasakthi</i>, felt that C.S.Jayaraman who sang for him in that film had the voice that suited him best. Therefore, he wanted that C.S.Jayaraman should sing his songs in <i>Thookkuthookki</i> as well. G.Ramanathan who was already aware of TMS’ talent argued his case. He was of the firm opinion that as most of the songs in the film was folksy in nature the songs will come out well if TMS sang them. But Sivaji was firm on C.S.Jayaraman’s behalf. The goings on depressed TMS who told them: “Just give me three songs. If you don’t like them, I will return to Madurai for ever.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thus three songs ‘Sundari Soundari Nirandariye’, ‘Yeraadha Malaithaniley’ and ‘Penngalai Nambaadhey’ came to be recorded. After Sivaji heard the songs he went straight to TMS and apologized. “When they told me that you are singing the song I thought just another singer is going to sing. But I had not expected the songs to come out so well. Please sing rest of the songs as well.” The songs of the film <i>Thookkuthookki </i>which was released in 1954 took TMS’ career in film music towards fame and set it on a firm path. TMS became Sivaji’s voice in films. His voice, pronunciation and rendering style became the talking point of Tamil world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At that time Pakshiraja Studios of Coimbatore was producing the film <i>Malaikkallan</i> with MGR playing the protagonist. Having heard TMS songs in the film <i>Koondukili</i> MGR had specified that TMS alone should sing for him. Pakshiraja sent TMS a first class train ticket welcoming him to Coimbatore. On arrival he was accorded a grand welcome and treated like a king. In the same Pakshiraja Studios TMS had been insulted and rejected many times whenever he went there pleading for a singing opportunity! After<i> Malaikkallan</i> TMS became the singing voice of MGR as well. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Arrival of TMS saw Tamil film songs getting a permanent makeover. Whether traditional songs or folk songs or western songs, TMS placed emotions upfront in every song of all genres. TMS created in the songs of those times emotional dramas through his eloquently emotive singing style. The light songs, social songs or traditional songs every genre suited him so well. “I have sung all songs given to me with complete devotion of worshipping God.” Depending on the acting style of the actors and the requirements of the characters in the film TMS got his voice to over-emote or underplay in every song to suit the situation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">From the thousands of songs TMS sang I have a long and endless list of favourite songs like ‘Ninaithu Ninaithu Nenjam Urugudhey’, ‘Muthukkalo Kangal’, ‘Kallellam Manikka Kallaguma’, ‘Yennai Yaarendru Enni Enni’, ‘Madhavippon Mayilaal’, ‘Solladi Abiraami’, ‘Poomaalaiyil Oar Malligai’, ‘Thottal Poo Malarum’, ‘Paattum Naaney Bhaavamum Naaney’, ‘Isai Kettal Bhuvi Asaindaadum’, ‘Mullai Malar Meley’, ‘Oaraayiram Paarvaiyiley’, ‘ Maasila Nilavey Nam’, ‘Yaarukkaaga’, ‘Anbae Vaa’, Yaen Pirandhaai Maganey’, ‘Vasantha Mullai Poley’, ‘Yaaradi Nee Moginee’, ‘Paar Magaley Paar’, ‘Muthaitharu Pathithiru Nagai’, ‘Mella Mella Arugil Vandhu’, ‘Naan Yaen Pirandhen’, ‘Malargallaippol Thangai’, ‘Yaar Andha Nilavu’……This is not a list that I can easily complete.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The middle of Seventies signified the end to the highs of TMS’ career, especially after the arrival of Ilaiyaraja. Though TMS-Ilaiyaraja duo had given hit songs like ‘Andhapurathil Oru Maharani’, ‘Nallavarkellam Satchigal Rendu’, ‘Amma Nee Sumandha Pillai’ and ‘Sindhu Nadhikkaraiyoram’, their combination did not last long. It is said that their relation was fraught with misunderstandings and differences. Be that as it may Ilaiyaraja’s arrival signaled the end of TMS era. It was contended that TMS’ voice did not suit the action of new emerging stars like Rajnikant and Kamal Hasan. In no time at all TMS passed from singing a few oracle songs to no songs at all. It was perhaps coincidental that his last few songs were songs of self-pity like ‘Naan Oru Raasiyilla Raja’ and ‘Enn Kadhai Mudiyum Neramidhu’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I have been hearing since many years diverse criticisms on TMS songs. That TMS was not able to sing as per the requirements of composers like M.S.Viswanathan is one such criticism. I have only heard that no singer has rendered hundred percent the compositions of M.S.Viswanathan. I think TMS sang those songs in his own inimitable style to gain the attention of listeners. Another criticism is that his classical music-based rendering is flawed. TMS answers this criticism in this fashion: “I was born with music in my blood. I have been singing from a very young age. I have my strong base in carnatic music. That serves me to sing in cinema.” Classical or not, the truth is that his singing style was attractive for his die-hard fans. We must also take note of the fact that he learnt Carnatic music for just one year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When asked about his songs being classified as MGR songs and Sivaji songs, TMS is humble enough to answer in these words: “Brother, I came here to sing for survival. But I did it with total dedication. When I sing for a hero, I sit for hours noting his talk, pronunciation and style. When I sing I imitate the hero by acting with my voice. That is why my songs are seen as MGR songs and Sivaji songs. There is nothing wrong in it.” This unique rendering style of TMS enchanted simple fans in the belief that actors themselves rendered the songs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A few people believe that a TMS song involves voice calisthenics and mere mimicry. But as a person who has listened to TMS without seeing most of the films in which the songs were picturised, it does not appear that he changed his voice wholesale for any actor. Regardless of who he sang for, his songs were TMS songs hundred percent. He might have changed the tonal effect by the use of nasal twang, roll of tongue or throat-flexing. But I have never accepted TMS’ claim that he sang for one actor from his midriff, for another from his heart and for someone else from his throat. Voice is that which is produced by air that comes from lungs through the vocal chord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But this is not a big deal for me. As already mentioned I have not seen most of the films that TMS sang for. I do not lose much sleep over whether his voice suits the actors or not. I have been enjoying his songs without the benefit of those visuals. In fact later when I saw some of those the song scenes on television, I was extremely disappointed with most of them. The visuals those songs evoked in my mind were far superior to the actual visuals in the films. Even though film music is a part of cinema, I have always believed that film music is something that can stand on its own merits as another genre of music without the support of visuals. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In my assessment the most important feature of TMS songs is the clarity and consistency of the way the emotions are expressed. If a song has exaggerated emotions, it is uniform exaggeration over the entire length of the song. If the song portrays soft sensitivity, the entire song will display that pleasant under-stated elegance. TMS as a singer had never emoted more or less than what was required of the song.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">TMS has been living now in Chennai for many years in practical oblivion. There was news that he was appointed as the President of Tamilnadu Music and Drama Academy in 2002. Then came the shocking news that on 22<sup>nd</sup> June of 2003 he attempted suicide by drinking acid. It was said that he made the attempt suddenly because of acute mental depression. But this was denied by his family. They explained that he drank floor cleaning acid under the impression that it was cough syrup! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">TMS used to say: “Brother, I sing with the mien of a lion.” As I write this, I am watching on YouTube a home video somebody had taken that shows TMS attempting to sing his ‘Deivam Iruppadhu Yenge’ in a high pitch. He could not sing any of the notes properly. That disappointment showed on his face. He was in considerable pain as he accepts the present reality that he is unable to sing. “I still have the voice. I have the desire to sing. The spirit is there. But the flesh is weak. I am old now.” TMS made a stubborn effort to sing at least one line of the high pitched song properly. Breathless, the face reddened and eyes clouded. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A lot of loud chatter could be heard in that house. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to him. Nobody cared that a star singer who touched millions and stayed with exalted fame and felicity was now struggling with the lows of disappointment, at the loss of his art to his old age. I could not suppress my own tears. As I closed my eyes, the faces of Annachi, Dennis and Mani came floating in on my mental screen. Those were the faces of millions of people who drew their hopes to live from the songs of T M Soundararajan.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-83531567216366509302011-09-18T04:16:00.000-07:002011-09-29T07:41:26.696-07:00Shammi Kapoor – Actor of Songs. Lover of Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS71fTAh4WL5zhyphenhyphen_6kyk95c3oHWV1cNjpaHhW-6JqN-J_UwWPaeAGjkN_UU6MzpcrKoG7OHmD7xZt_KMxYPmVD0-eDjf_RzdbvQabeLpSEGaIQj1F_Cib8juEf87Bf7rMgGh3OCM55IWs/s1600/Shammiji+Singing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS71fTAh4WL5zhyphenhyphen_6kyk95c3oHWV1cNjpaHhW-6JqN-J_UwWPaeAGjkN_UU6MzpcrKoG7OHmD7xZt_KMxYPmVD0-eDjf_RzdbvQabeLpSEGaIQj1F_Cib8juEf87Bf7rMgGh3OCM55IWs/s400/Shammiji+Singing.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Time flies. Our present disappears even before we can comprehend its colours. In a fleeting moment it becomes a black and white memory of our past. It is only the future that appears colourful but it </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">never comes! It is said that the nostalgia about the past is a cliché. But then life itself is decaying every passing moment and therefore a cliché. Thoughts of the past haunt us like a black and white classic movie. In reality, we keep living in the memories of our black and white past. In one such scene from the sixteenth year of my life it is eight 'o' clock in the night. I am eagerly peeping through the window into the living room of a rich home in my native village. There is this black and white television showing Hindi film songs in the Chitrahaar programme. But soon I am getting humiliated and chased away after being accused as my peeping through was an attempt to seduce a girl of the family.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Black and white televisions were the ones that brought the idea that songs are for ‘viewing’ to the far flung villages. The houses that had them sported on their roofs something in white metal looked like the skeleton of a large fish. I could watch the songs through the windows of these houses, of course only if there were no young girls. When crows or other birds sat on these new breed trees called antennae the pictures on the television screen will dance like waves. At such times the owner of the television set, who till then was watching with pride the magical scenes appearing on his priceless possession, will come out with his pot belly ahead of him, look up in irritation at the birds sitting on the antenna tree and chase them away in abusive language.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Even after the birds had been chased away most of the time the pictures on the screen would still be dancing like waves. That is when his abusive attention will turn to me standing by his window like “I knew this will happen when I saw your ugly face”. Then he would climb to the roof in an aggrieved mood to set the antenna right. As he did that it was my duty to give a running commentary on how the pictures appeared on the screen, to get the antenna position right. By the time he finished getting the antenna right and came down to watch the television, Malayalam programme would have ended and some Hindi film song programme like Rangoli would be on. Seeing me watch those old Hindi film songs joyfully, he will be even more infuriated. With the choicest abuses on me and the Hindi songs he will shut down the television and slam the window on my face. But insulting an ardent music lover like me was not all that easy!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">By then, I had become more an avid fan of Hindi songs than Malayalam or Tamil songs. I started going to the houses and shops that had television even in the near by villages and managed to watch Rangoli and Chitrahaar without fail. Emson Andrews who was eighteen years older than me became my friend then because he enlightened me with the names of actors who appeared in those songs. He was a daily wage labourer studied only up to seventh but he was my source of information on Hindi films. He would search, beg and borrow old copies of film magazines like Filmfare, Screen, Cine Blitz and Star Dust from somewhere that carried the reportage on Hindi films and read them avidly. He would also lend them for me to read. My very first view of the stars of Hindi films was through those songs I saw on television and what I saw and read in those magazines. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Among those stars I saw, Shammi Kapoor was the one I hated to the core. My first problem was his look. I was accustomed to regard the round face of Prem Nazir the Malayalam film hero as the most handsome feature of an actor. Shammi Kapoor’s long face looked to me more like that of a water melon. His uncombed hair looked unkempt to me. One side of his face looked puffed up and the other side flattened. Lower lip looked full, but the middle of upper lip looked drawn in. For me the only redeeming features of the face shining on the magazine pages were his baby pink complexion like that of a white man and his deep emerald eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Watching his exaggerated body movements and the dancing style he made his own in the song scenes, I felt amused on one hand and ridiculous on the other. His dance movements, as he jumped in the hills, leaped on the trees, dived into the waters, rolled on the ground, shook his head with strange mannerism and lifted his arms with funny involuntary tremors, were appeared to me more like a dancing chimpanzee. But undeniable facts of his songs were that they pulled my mind and the tunes stayed in there undimmed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was during my days in Hyderabad where I could watch Hindi television to my heart’s content and I realized that there were no other film actor in India quite like Shammi Kapoor. I was watching all the actors and comparing them with each other. There Shammi Kapoor appeared totally unique to me. It is not that he could be described as a great actor. His films were made entirely for entertainment. But I have watched most of them many times. In Ferozeguda of Hyderabad t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">here was an open air movie theatre owned by Indian Air Force. Shammi Kapoor’s films were regularly shown there. I watched Teesri Manzil alone at least ten times for all its great songs one better than the other and the visual pleasures of those song scenes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shammi Kapoor never shrank from wearing over coloured dresses that other actors dreaded, outlandish footwear or the absurd headwear that hardly sat well on his head. But his admirers were never put off but lapped them up gleefully. They accepted him because that was the image he had created for himself. Rebellion and non-conformity were the very bases of his image. Shammi Kapoor is the eternal ‘Rebel’ Hero of the Indian Cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Social problems brought by lack of progress even after ten years of independence, the attendant anger of the youth of the time and their repressed yearnings of love found a channel of release in Shammi Kapoor’s image of rebelliousness and non-conformity. Youth of the time were intoxicated by the energy and frenzy that he created with his strange cries of ‘Yahoo…’, ‘Tally Ho…’, ‘Aiyaiyaa Sookku Sookku…’ and so on. His characters wooed and won lovers at will. His films always concluded on a happy note. What else does a teenager need to be elated!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The extra energy and vigour that Shammi Kapoor portrayed, which was not to be seen in other heroes of the time was his unique proposition. It was much later that somebody like Jitendra tried to pattern himself after Shammi Kapoor. Shammi created his own exclusive space in Indian film screen with his trade mark springiness of youth and presentation of self as a ‘grand show piece’. ‘His energetic and lively presence in every frame of his films was something which nobody else could achieve’ is the unanimous view of his ardent fans and today’s superstars like Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I once barely escaped from the wrath of my North Indian girlfriend in Hyderabad for remarking that Shammi Kapoor was not all handsome. According to her simply watching him on the screen itself was a great experience. When I showed her a photograph of Prem Nazir once she made fun of my sense of handsomeness by calling both Nazir and me effeminate! Most Hindi film fans are of the opinion that Shammi Kapoor was very handsome. Though I still find it difficult to accept him as handsome, I have to admit that all his 120 films had great songs and that his song scenes combined impossibly creative energy and sense of beauty to drive away all possibilities of boredom.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Alright! Are not the film songs created by composers and lyricists? Are not the song scenes conceived by the directors and choreographers? In this where does an actor figure? We are familiar with many actors who cannot distinguish between music and noise and who are unaccustomed to even bathroom singing, making drowsy efforts of singing their own songs and synchronizing their lips wrongly to it on screen! This is where we need to see how Shammi Kapoor left all other actors languishing far behind him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I believe that India has not seen a super star actor with Shammi Kapoor’s extraordinary sense and grasp of music. He himself was a great singer. He was duly trained in Hindustani music at a very young age. He had both the interest and concert level singing ability in the various Indian musical forms like Khayal, Ghazal, Dadra, Thumri, Pahadi Dhun, Bhajan and Qawwali. He had the immaculate sense of musicality to explore and listen Western Classical music, Jazz, American pop and Rock & Roll. Popular singer Abhijit had said that he was astonished by the ease and professional competence with which Shammi Kapoor had rendered difficult Ghazals and Qawwalis. Lata Mangeshkar had mentioned that Shammi Kapoor was that rare singer who could easily render all types of songs with elegance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the early days of his film career he had even sung one or two of his own songs. But he was very clear in his mind that his songs should be rendered by those with better professional and musical competence than himself. Later when he made intense efforts to evolve as a uniquely different actor, he chose for his role model a singer and not any other actor! It was the King of Rock & Roll Elvis Presley. Shammi Kapoor made constant efforts to be the Indian version of Elvis.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shammi Kapoor had involved wholeheartedly in the creation of tunes and lyrics of the songs in his films. He himself chose his scores and his lyrics. Even Mohammad Rafi, who became his permanent voice, rendered his songs heeding to his suggestions. Rafi was able to rear a unique rendering style for Shammi Kapoor. That is why Mohammad Rafi’s Shammi Kapoor songs are regarded as a separate genre in Hindi Film Music. His repertoire had everything like the slow dance numbers, the fast dance numbers, love songs that move us and the sad songs that touch our hearts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shammi Kapoor would plan his act and dance on his own mental screen even as the song was being recorded. He would get incorporated the cues both in the music and the rendering style to create the opportunities for the expressions, steps and moves that he had vision in his mind. Only those directors, composers, lyricists and singers who could agree to this and coordinate with him could work in his films. But it is a great surprise that all of the most important composers and directors of those days had worked with him! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The famous duo of Shankar and Jaikishan were practically the composers at his court. Jaikishan was his best friend. Still the composer stars of the pantheon of Hindi film music like S.D.Burman, R.D.Burman, O.P.Nayyar, Salil Chowdhury, Sardar Mallick, Roshan, Ghulam Mohammad, Madan Mohan, Khayyam, Ravi, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji Anandji et all worked with him. He had introduced the woman composer Usha Khanna in his superhit film Dil De Ke Dekho. Mohammad Rafi is the singer who had more or less sung all his great hit numbers. When Rafi passed away Shammi Kapoor wept inconsolably and said: “My voice is gone. What is the need for songs in my films now?” Now and then singers like Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood and Mukesh had also sung for him. Even Kishore Kumar in his last days had sung a song for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Deewana Hua Baadal, Yeh Duniya Usiki, Kisi Na Kisi Se (Kashmir Ki Kali), Dil Ke Jharokon Mein, Main Gaoon Tum So Jao, Chakke Pe Chakka, Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyar Ke (Brahmachari), Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyar Tera, Oh Haseena Zulfonwali, Tumne Mujhe Dekha, Deewana Mujhsa Nahin , Oh Mere Sona Re (Teesri Manzil), Gham E Hasti Se ( Vallaha Kya Baat Hai), Is Rang Badalti Duniya Mein, Tum Ne Kisi Ki Jaan Ko, Jaane Walon Zara Hoshiyar (Raajkumar), Baar Baar Dekho (China Town), Ehsaan Tera Hoga Mujh Par, Yahoo, Sukkoo Sukkoo (Junglee), Jawaaniya Yeh Mast Bin Piye, Chupne Wale Saamne Aa, Sar Par Topi Lal, Tumsa Nahin Dekha (Tumsa Nahin Dekha), Dil De Ke Dekho (Dil De Ke Dekho), Yeh Gulbadan, Khuli Palak Mein, Awaaz De Kar (Professor), Jhoomta Mousam Mast Mahina (Ujala), Lal Chhadi Maidan Khadi, Tum Se Accha Kaun Hai, Meri Mohabbath Jawan Rahegi, Badtameez Kaho (Janwar), Savere Wali Gaadi Se (Lat Saheb), Akele Akele Kahan Ja Rahe Ho, Aasman Se Aaya Farishta, Raat Ke Humsafar, An Evening In Paris (An Evening In Paris), Kiss Kis Ko Pyar, Janam Janam Ka Saath Hain (Tum Se Accha Kaun Hain) and countless other Shammi Kapoor songs are evergreen and ever fresh.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">While playing instruments like Saxophone, Piano, Drum or Bag Pipe in the song scenes, he took utmost care to learn and play those notes right exactly how a musician plays it. He used to direct his movements while picturising the songs. He certainly needed no choreographers. His movements in group dances never conformed to the movements of the group. Even his movements while dancing with the heroines were different. Shammi Kapoor would concentrate on his body language even as the group and the heroine dance conforming to the beat. He used movements of his head, eyes, lips, hands and the torso in his dances rather than his feet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He had a way of sliding down the snowed paths of mountains with high pitched shouts like‘Yahoo’ in his love songs. He would romance his heroin wearing only bath robes and hanging from small planes. Anything unusual was par for his course. We would have heard of actors getting injured or even dying in stunt sequences. But Shammi Kapoor was probably the only actor in the world who faced countless accidents during the shoots of love song sequences! ‘My body has no bones unbroken and no parts that were not injured during film shoots. I have often danced with bones in both legs broken. But I was able to bear utmost of pains and hide it well from the cameras’ were his words. Shammi Kapoor attained huge success and great fame not easily but by shedding his own blood and bearing utmost pains.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shamsher Kapoor alias Shammi Kapoor was born in Bombay in 1931, the second son of Prithviraj Kapoor, the great grand father of the Kapoor clan that has ruled the roost in the Indian film industry for five generations now. Raj Kapoor was his elder brother and Shashi Kapoor the younger one. Not being inclined towards studies, Shammi Kapoor stopped with eleventh standard and became an actor in his father Prithviraj Kapoor’s drama company, the Prithvi Theatres. He entered films in 1952 as a hero following in the footsteps of his brother Raj Kapoor who had by then become a star. The film was Jeevan Jyothi, a Raj Kapoor styled family story. S.D.Burman was the composer. The film was a big flop. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the following six years Shammi Kapoor acted in almost twenty films opposite such big heroines of those years as Suraiya, Madhubala, Nutan, Shyama, Nalini Jaywant and Geeta Bali. He tried all types of plots like family, social, political, mythological, traditional and Arabian themes. He kept changing the composers. But nothing succeeded. Those were the heydays of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. All that Shammi Kapoor was left with was a bad name that he made futile efforts to become another Raj Kapoor. That most of his films were small budget films and that Thokar (1953) with Sardar Mallik as composer and Taangewaali (1955) with Salil Chowdhury as composer were well spoken of for their songs were the only consolations he had at that critical time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shammi Kapoor was in love with Geeta Bali, a popular heroine of the time. Geeta Bali came from a poor family background and became a film actress overcoming many difficulties. Shammi Kapoor had a secret wedding with her fearing the opposition of his family as she had acted with both his father and elder brother. Geeta Bali was then a top star. Shammi Kapoor was a failed hero. After the birth of their first child, Geeta Bali completely left acting and took to shaping the acting career of her husband. It was during this time that they strategized with utmost care on song selection, following Elvis Presley, reconstructing a unique hero image and selecting only very beautiful debutante actresses opposite him avoiding popular actresses. This strategy paid off immediately. Tumsa Nahin Dekha released in 1957 was a huge success.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">From there on, Shammi’s film career zoomed up from one success to greater success. It went on like Ujala, Singapore, Preet Na Jaane Reet…. His first colour film Junglee was released in 1961. With this, Shammi Kapoor ascended the throne of a Superstar he had crafted for himself. The same year his daughter was born. He became a serial success with a procession of hits like China Town, Raath Ke Rahi, Dil Tera Deewana, Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, Kashmir Ki Kali, Bluff Master, Janwar, Rajkumar and so on. A string of star heroines of future were introduced through these films. The prominent names that come to mind are Asha Parekh, Ameeta, Saira Banu and Sharmila Tagore. And then in 1965 even as the shooting of Teesri Manzil was progressing, came the shock of the sudden death of Geeta Bali due to small pox.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Unable to bear the loss of his loved wife, Shammi Kapoor shut himself up in his home in isolation for months. Finally he decided to complete Teesri Manzil and then leave the film world. But the film turned out to be one of the biggest hits of his career. He continued acting and films like Budtameez, An Evening in Paris, Tum Se Acha Kaun Hai, Jawan Mohabbath, Pagla Kahin Ka, Andaz and Brahmachari were followed. He won the Filmfare award for Best Actor in 1968 for Brahmachari. At about this time he wedded Neela Devi of Bhavnagar royal family. Neela Devi was an ardent fan of both Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali. She brought up their children as her own. For this reason she decided not to have a biological child of her own!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shammi Kapoor began putting on excess weight because of the after effects of medicines and pain killers that he took after all those accidents during shootings. His drinking habit added to it. He could not control his weight problem with all his valiant efforts. It came to pass that he could no more act as the hero of a film. He shifted to doing character roles. He acted the roles of fathers to his former heroines and even as the father of male protagonists much older than him! He won the Filmfare Award for the best male actor in a supporting role in 1982. In 1995 he won the Filmfare award for Lifetime Achievement. He kept on acting in support roles that came now and then. He appeared for well over a year in an important role in the very successful television serial ‘Chattan'. He directed two flopped films. He even ran a failed film magazine for some time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is said that the name Yahoo on the internet was taken up from his trademark ‘Yahoo’ cry! Shammi Kapoor, who was a great aficionado of internet and computer from the day they came to India. He was the President of Indian Internet Users Association for over twenty years. Designing web sites and browsing the net were his favourite pastimes. Greatly interested in books, he was supposed to have read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged with thousand plus pages in 38 hours flat without putting it down.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shammi Kapoor was connoisseur of luxury cars that were not easily available in India and loved driving them around for hours at a stretch. But at the same time he never hesitated to travel in cycle rickshaws even. He enjoyed meeting his fans and never found them a bother. He interacted openly with everyone and people came away impressed with his candour and humility. He never acted in real life and lived with a transparent honesty. He had many Indian and foreign girl friends even though his wife was his life. He had definite opinions on the distinctions between love, lust and friendship as different human emotions. He loved his drink and was partial to good Scotch whisky. Shammi Kapoor celebrated discerning drinking and eating. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shammi Kapoor lost both his kidneys to dysfunction when he was seventy. He never lost his zest for life even as he progressed from dialysis twice a month to thrice a week. He had been practically living in the nursing home three days a week for the last seven years of his life. Even then his sunny outlook was that he had four days a week to celebrate his life. This was the philosophy and attitude that informed his entire life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">To the last he lived his life busy as a bee with his own channel on YouTube, net life and car drives. On 7<sup>th</sup> August 2011 he was seized by a worst bout of breathing trouble and was admitted to a hospital where he breathed his last after seven days of struggle. His body was consigned to flames on the Indian Independence Day at Banganga Crematorium, quite close to the temple where he had secretly married Geeta Bali. Both the President of India and the Prime Minister while conveying their condolences stated themselves as Shammi Kapoor’s big fans. A man who celebrated life, music and even his failures and pains by living colourfully for seventy nine years had at last become a black and white classic of past. I see him looking in through the peep window of my memories with a broad smile on his lips as he sings: Tum Mujhe Yun Bhulaa Na Paoge.....<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">You will never be able to forget me</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">You will never be able to hold it from humming with me<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When you hear my songs...<o:p></o:p></span></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-58079914823499200662011-07-12T09:02:00.000-07:002018-09-10T12:25:43.282-07:00Ritwik Ghatak – An Unwanted Film Maker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiETpG9CjduSTyqQ5RzMyE-ARezUZTzZbRMx_QIROcgzKjNlvArAIhzQpwR9cVQOk8zO8FkOkvykl2mqEuDqD7dRZIIY78g1QXCOvwzQiMNJbl75hFt_5QdJeyKBI7pG-V82isGBQd4XH0/s1600/RITWIK+GHATAK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiETpG9CjduSTyqQ5RzMyE-ARezUZTzZbRMx_QIROcgzKjNlvArAIhzQpwR9cVQOk8zO8FkOkvykl2mqEuDqD7dRZIIY78g1QXCOvwzQiMNJbl75hFt_5QdJeyKBI7pG-V82isGBQd4XH0/s320/RITWIK+GHATAK.jpg" width="188" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The famous Bengali poet and film director, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, had once said: “It may take some time for the fantasy and the reality of some films, hiding behind the rolls of films, to reach us. Certain films may need more attention from the viewers. Viewers may easily reject such films if they do not have the patience and the mindset to feel them.” It has indeed been found to be true. Many films that are regarded today as great creative works of art were colossal financial disasters at the time of their release. Mostly, this is the fate reserved for sensitive art films that enter emotions in the depths of our mind ever so slowly. In </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">the same article, Buddhadeb Dasgupta emphasizes one point in particular. “Cultural background of a film largely determines the manner of its expression. It may affect proper appreciation capacity of a viewer who has no familiarity with the culture depicted in the film.” </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was while speaking on the works of the Bengali film director Ritwik Ghatak that Buddhadeb Dasgupta had said that an uninformed, illiterate and culturally novice fan is likely to reject any great work of art. It was his contention that as Ghatak’s films are deeply rooted in Bengali culture and history, any viewer who is unaware of these will not be able to understand and internalize his films. But does a viewer really requires such information beyond his artistic sensitivities to appreciate a work of art?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember Thadathil Vijayan who was my neighbour in my childhood. He used to get work to draw a few political party banners or placards once in a while though he was a good artist and sculptor. Hence he lived as a farm labourer in dire poverty. He was an active member of a film club in the nearby town. With barely five years of schooling, he could not even read English sentences. But I first heard of the term ‘Art Film’ from him. I learnt of greats like Eisenstein, Kurosava and Satyajit Ray from him. It was he who told me about Ritwik Ghatak first. He was Ghatak’s ardent admirer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It was many years later that I saw the films of Ghatak. I deeply appreciated his films without the benefit of any understanding of Bengali language, culture or history. A good film serves as a medium of emotional expressions transcending cultures. Most of Ritwik Ghatak films were such expressions of rare sensitivities that remain eternally with us. He places before the viewer complex thoughts and sensitive moments of life through the lives of ordinary and simple people in films that run at a sedate pace and in a simple style. His films are seen as poems in celluloid as he allows emotions, traditions and antiquities of Indian way of life to flow in his cinematic narration.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ritwik Ghatak, considered a classical hero among fans of </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;">serious </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">cinema today, was little appreciated in his days and understood even less. Most of his films ran to empty theatres in Bengal.</span><i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Nagarik</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> was his first film. Completed in 1953, this film was not released in his life-time. 24 years later it was first screened in 1977, a year after his passing away. Satyajit Ray had opined that had</span><i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Nagarik</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> been released before </span><i style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pather Panjali</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">, it would have been recognized as the maiden effort of the Indian alternate cinema.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nagarik </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">remains a model for the modern Indian film. Its unique narration style and direction makes this film an important landmark in Indian films. One of its highlights was the brief but emotional background score by Hariprasanna Das. The film’s form was the herald of the later films of Ghatak, especially in its sense of melodrama.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ghatak was not the one to ever consider melodrama as anything less than realistic narration. As far as the Indian cinema is concerned melodrama with the touch of realism begins and ends with Ghatak. In Ghatak films melodrama is a form of alternate realism. Ghatak takes his thoughts and emotions to the viewer through conscious use of repeated narrations and coincidences.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ghatak, as a person who trained in both folk art forms and theatre and as somebody who had a conscience with traditional value base, chose melodrama as the medium of his expression. His melodrama has been woven with Indian folk and classical elements and Bertolt Brecht’s stage devices of the west.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ghatak had already perfected this form during his days as actor, director and dramatist with Indian People’s Theatre Association. He mentions this in his article ‘Cinema and I’ in 1963: “Melodrama is a much criticized narrative form. But from that alone the truly national film will emerge.” He had elaborated further in an interview in 1974: “I am not afraid of melodrama. Using it as a device is the birthright of the artiste. It is a very important form of expression in art.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ghatak was truly a cinema maker without peer. His art believes in celebrating it with all branches of life. He created his fluent style of picturisation incorporating hope, disappointment, curiosity, laughter and tears. He declared: “I do not believe in the label ‘entertainment’, nor do I accept sloganeering. I would like to deeply meditate on this universe, this world, international situation, my country and my own people. I would like to make films for them. I might have failed in it today. But Time and people alone have to decide”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ritwik Kumar Ghatak was born in Dhaka on 4<sup>th</sup> November of 1925. Dhaka was, like Calcutta, the centre of multi-faceted cultural activities in the beginning of 19<sup>th</sup> century. Many civil movements took form there. Following Independence and Partition, along with lakhs of people who migrated out of fear of riots and famine, Ghatak and his family arrived in Calcutta. Ghatak grieved over the partition of Bengal to the last. Considering himself a refugee was, to his mind, a metaphor for alienation from the basic culture and boycott of one’s own identity. Most of the characters of his films were people who lost their land and livelihood.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ghatak joined the Communist movement and took active part in its cultural organ, IPTA. Before he plunged into drama, Ghatak wanted to be a litterateur but found it to be a form of expression without wider public participation. This search for the form with wider participation of public brought him to cinema. This is what he had to say: “I want to narrate the reality around me. I want to shout out to the people. Today, cinema alone appears to be the suitable medium for this. The reason is that as soon as I finish my work it can reach out to millions of people. I make films for my people.” But Ghatak had to confess on many occasions that cinema was not, for him, a natural medium. His films suffer from many mistakes of carelessness and in particular technical errors in picturisation. In spite of that, they grow on our mindscape like the sorrows and elations we experience from raw forms of music.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ritwik Ghatak entered the world of cinema as an Assistant Director and Actor in the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chinaamul (The Uprooted)</i> made by Nimai Ghosh in 1950. Heavily in debt after being unable to release his maiden film<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Naagarik</i>, Ghatak went to Bombay and worked for some time in Filmistan Studios there. In Bombay, he worked on the screenplays of<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Musafir</i> (1957) directed by Hrishikesh Mukherji and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Madhumathi</i> (1958) directed by Bimal Roy. His comrade from IPTA, Salil Chowdhury, composed the music of both these films. Later in 1959, Salilda composed the music for Ghatak’s film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baari Theke Paaliye </i>(Deserter).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After his return to Calcutta, Ghatak directed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ajantrik</i> (Non machine) in 1958. It was the story of a driver of rented car in love with his old and dented car to the point of infatuation. The film placed before the viewer a very broad canvas story covering different types of people from different walks of life who travelled in that car. The famous Bengali sarod maestro, Ustad Bahadur Khan, had composed sensitive but penetrating music for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ajantrik</i>, as he had done for many Ghatak films. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Meghe Dhaka Tara,</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Ghatak’s much acclaimed and biggest and lone commercial success was released in 1960. Social and economic problems related to partition of Bengal is the basic theme of the film. <i style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">Meghe Dhaka Tara</span></i> is an important musical film. It has many Hindustani raga based songs like the famous Hansadhwani raga number ‘Laagi Lagan Pathi Sakhi’. The film is enriched by many bits of Rabindra Sangeet including Tagore’s famous ‘Je Raathe More Dwaar Khuli’ (My Doors Are Open This Stormy Night) rendered by Hemant Kumar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Komal Gandhar</i> was released in 1961. It is the word for a music note. Gandhar refers to Ga, the third note in the music scale. Komal Gandhar refers to the softer Ga among the two ‘Ga’s. It is more or less the equivalent of the western music note ‘E-flat’. But<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Komal Gandhar </i>is<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>not a music-related film. It is a film on drama troupes and stage dramas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But the Ghatak film I loved most was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Subarnarekha (Line of Gold)</i>. It is the name of a river in Bengal with waters of a golden hue. It is a rare film that used melodrama in place of mechanical realism with great élan. This film too, like other great Ghatak films, was totally rejected by the viewing public. Today it is considered a classic poem in celluloid and a turning point in the history of Indian films.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The songs of the film<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Subarnarekha</i> lent the film a dramatic pace and pseudo-realism. Though there were seven songs in the film, all the emotional moments in the film were held together by one song. The female lead of the film Sita singing that song from her childhood days. Whether she is sitting among hills or she is walking on the banks of Subarnarekha ‘Aaj Daaner Khethe Roudra Chaayai Luko Choorie Kela’is always on her lips. Based on a simple tune, the song describes the natural beauty of the rural landscape of Bengal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today the sunshine and shadows play hide and seek on the paddy fields <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today the bees are foregoing the honey in flowers to mob the beams of morning sun<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today we would not go home<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After the commercial disaster of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Subarnarekha,</i> Ghatak could not find a producer. Undaunted he produced two films on his own. Both films, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (Titash is Name of a River)</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jukti, Takko Aar Gappo (Device, Logic and Story)</i> were never properly released. Around this time, he joined the faculty at Film Institute, Poona. Later, he was to recall these years as the ‘most beautiful years’ of his life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But he came out soon, unable to fit himself into the discipline and authoritarian ways of the Film Institute. However, during the time he was there, he left his indelible stamp on some of the students who trained there. They emerged as important creators in the Indian cinema world of seventies and eighties. Kumar Sahni, Mani Kaul, Syed Mirza, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Ketan Mehta and John Abraham were some of his important students.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ghatak lived with a sharp intellect bent on breaking establishments, an inquiring mind and a very restless honesty. He was a very direct person, impossible to second-guess and difficult to live with. He always argued against all established premises. He strongly criticized Film Festival circuits and Film Awards. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He saw his films as instruments of social change. But his society did not understand his work. He was ignored by the majority of film-goers. He was rejected by film producers. He was ignored during his life-time by important film critics. He died penniless as an alcoholic and a TB patient.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">John Abraham, known as one of the first eminences of the alternate Malayalam cinema, was one who followed Ghatak to the hilt, from his nihilism to his drunken ways. This is what he wrote of his guru<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Ritwik Ghatak<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Unwanted<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Unbearable<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> For him life was holier<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Than his holy worship<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Death of a Ritwik Ghatak is an unusual happening<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">I rise in pride to reminisce on my Ghatak-da</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> He will live eternally<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In my senses and in my soul</span></span></div>
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SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-45862933207126416642011-07-11T08:25:00.000-07:002011-07-11T08:27:05.248-07:00The Screen Sound of Silence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQKRnYFgjLD-4cIqRYtNnOaM5XTSseu3KRgnpdLDA0RA8AT8P6fumR6r2Z5PGp08c8UhT9SL9RM176SBBQMCkA7C4LjO1ZfGzqbL570VN558HiQG3_eKd0mb0Eh_LwfjUzudzbEVfoTrs/s1600/chinese-theater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQKRnYFgjLD-4cIqRYtNnOaM5XTSseu3KRgnpdLDA0RA8AT8P6fumR6r2Z5PGp08c8UhT9SL9RM176SBBQMCkA7C4LjO1ZfGzqbL570VN558HiQG3_eKd0mb0Eh_LwfjUzudzbEVfoTrs/s400/chinese-theater.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px; line-height: 24px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When Director Bala’s Tamil film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Naan Kadavul</i> was released last year, major criticisms were that background music was more of a cacophony and that sound mixing was particularly bad. Many had raised the point that this carelessness with the sound had resulted in making the dialogues at important points of the film inaudible.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As a person who had worked in this movie, my reactions to these criticisms will not be appropriate. But from this background I believe I can certainly talk generally about sound mixing in films and its technology.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We can truly be proud of the Oscar Award that Rasool Pookkutty won for sound mixing. This is particularly so as this department has been one in which India had remained backward for decades together. To cite an example I can mention the fact that the songs recorded in India in 1980s never had the sound standards that we heard in the songs of a Judy Garland or a Nat King Cole released in 1950s. The pathetic inference is that we were at least 30 years behind the norm in sound quality. It was only after the arrival of A.R.Rahman that we developed a tone of our own in the recording of our music. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We know that sound has no border lines. We can hear any sound coming from all directions around us. Without turning around we can judge what is happening behind our back from the sounds that we hear. But the extent of our sight is a limiting factor for the scene. Through sound we can reach many levels of experience that scenes cannot give us. That is why the possibilities of sound mixing in media like cinema are boundless. They do not merely support scenes; they can enhance their meaning and beauty. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At times the sounds take us near the reality and at times it totally diverts us from it. Our experience of seeing becomes complete only through the process of unconscious hearing. Directing sounds thus to change the emotions of scenes is called the Sound Design of a cinema. Sound track of a film is created by appropriately mixing dialogue, music, other sounds, songs if necessary and silence. Dialogue includes the talk among characters at different tonal levels, murmuring to one’s own self and voice over. We can add to these also human sounds like crying, laughter and moaning. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Background music is used to highlight a particular moment in the film or change of emotion in characters. Though film songs are an art form beyond cinema, within commercial cinema they are used to enhance the enjoyability of cinema’s narrative in totality and thus ensure its success at box office.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">All other sounds are used to convey the general environment of what ever is being narrated. With this flow of audio from the surrounding environment the noise of the crowd, the cries and sounds of animals and birds, engine roars and hums of vehicles, the sounds of windows and doors being shut or opened and natural sounds of the patter of rain, noise of winds, the roar of the thunder, flowing of the river the viewer gets the sense of time and place from the way they combine with visuals to render meanings unto them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is an important part of the work of a sound mixer to select in advance the appropriate sounds that are needed along with the main audio track and background audio track to help the narration. Sound recording, sound compilation and sound mixing take place in that order. In films that gives importance to music and songs, the work of a Sound Mixer doubles.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Recording of dialogues and other sounds simultaneously with the picturisation of the narration is called Sync Sound or Synchronized Sound. This is essential to synchronize the audio with the visuals and to establish the authenticity and naturalness of the dialogues. The entire unit has to maintain the discipline of complete silence for recording the Sync Sound. Even the use of any device that produces extraneous or intrusive noise is done away with. In spite of the difficulties that these restrictions entail, now-a-days the Sync Sound recording is becoming the norm. People like Manas Choudhury, Indrajit Neogi and Rasool Pookkutty have proved their expertise in this field and have become star technicians. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Iyan Tapp and Richard Pryke who shared the Oscar for Sound Mixing with Rasool Pookkutty were the technicians who did the Sound Mixing for the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Slumdog Millionaire</i>. Rasool Pookkutty did the recording of dialogues and other sounds on the shooting floors. Sound compilation of other sounds created in the studio along the ones already recorded on the shooting floors is a highly challenging task. Carefully extracting the sounds from hundreds of tracks without mixing them up and synchronizing them with visuals is a task that demands technical competence and creativity of the highest order. The success of the process involves separation of sounds that cannot be easily recognized and making them ‘heard’ distinctly. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is only after every sound is synchronized in their most natural tone in their different tracks that final mix down starts. Multiple tracks are mixed down to final one or two or five or six separate tracks depending on the system of sound reproduction. The final audio will be unified into Mono, Stereo, Dolby Digital or DTS formats. What are the specialties of these formats? How do they ‘sound’ clearly from the speakers of the theatres after reaching the Projection Room from the Studios?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The sound that comes out of a single speaker kept at midpoint behind the screen is called mono-phonic. This is the oldest sound technology in cinema exhibition industry. The sound coming out of two speakers kept on the left and right of the screen is called stereo-phonic. Raj Kapoor’s Hindi film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Around the World</i> released in 1967 is India’s first film with stereo-phonic sound. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Hindi film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sholay</i> released in 1975 was India’s first film with 4-track Stereo-phonic sound. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sholay</i> which had sounds in four separated tracks ‘resounding’ through 4 speakers in theatres became one among India’s all-time super-hit films. The director of the film Ramesh Sippy was to later remark that the sound mixing done for the film in London had greatly helped in the success of the film. The sound of the coin tossed by Amitabh Bachhan and the metallic sound of the old swing in Sanjeev Kumar’s home echoes in the minds of fans who saw the film then, even today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Malayalam film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Padayottam</i> released in 1982 was the first Indian film to use the latest sound technology to great effect. In this film we heard the magnificent vista of six-track stereo-phonic sound. As the number of tracks increase the sounds separate as per the requirements of scene and reach the ears of viewers with all the glory of events taking place around us. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Padayottam</i> was also the first such film with the sound mixing done entirely in India.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Dolby Laboratory established in Britain by Ray Dolby in 1965 invented many new innovations in sound technology. Their continuous efforts to increase the clarity and fidelity of sounds yielded new systems of sound technology like Dolby A, B, C and Dolby SR. Hindi film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1942 A Love Story</i> that was released in 1994 used the Dolby SR sound technology for the first time in India. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The sound technology named Dolby Digital that came in early 1990s is Dolby’s most famous creation. This 5.1 track sound technology has been installed in over 50,000 theatres all over the world. In this system sound emerges from 5 speakers and one sub-woofer. This gives the viewers an audio experience as close to reality as possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the early days audio was printed on one edge of the film as Light Waves. This was called optical transfer. Later the system of printing the sound on the specially made edges of the film which acted as magnetic tape came into use. It was through this technology that it became possible to have more than one track in cinema audio. In Dolby Digital system also the audio is printed on the edge of the film. But the difference is that a special technique called Dolby Printing is used for this.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Digital Theatre System or DTS introduced in America in 1993 has practically wiped out the Dolby Digital system from theaters. We saw in films like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jurassic Park</i> how in this system the sounds are separated into six tracks and reach our ears with great clarity and high fidelity. The sound track of the film in DTS system is not printed on the film. It comes in a specially made CD which synchronizes itself with the film during projection. DTS sound technology reached India through the Tamil films<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Karuppu Roja</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Indian</i> released in 1996. Today there are very few theatres without this technology.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thus Indian cinema has reached the level of Western nations as far as the use of audio technology is concerned. We have also ensured a place for ourselves in the world of audio creation through the likes of Rasool Pookkutty. But, unfortunately, in the majority of Indian films the background scores are just noisy! Even in our realistically conceived films background music sounds over-dramatic. Looking at the farther shore, in completely commercial films of Hollywood we are unlikely to hear this kind of melodramatic music today. In 90% of the scenes of our films rather than having natural background sounds we get to hear an overwhelming kind of background music. Therefore, the depressing fact is that our Audio Directors do not get the opportunity to show their true creativity or undertake experimental innovations. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the darkness of the studio, the sound mixing of a film is reaching its climax….some sounds are being raised….some are being toned down….Loud sounds become soft audio and faint sounds evolve into roars….sounds of distant bells….the lonely cry of a bird flying from foreground into the distance….the pleasantly flowing sounds of a mountain brook nearing us…. An entire new world is being created through sounds. They touch all levels of human consciousness and leave us awakened. And as all sounds mingle finally into the silence and disperse the theatre emerges into light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687188192812150812.post-19084552235001376892011-07-01T08:22:00.000-07:002011-11-15T20:57:33.839-08:00Minmini – Times of a Firefly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiELipqB5SKRrFThfoiuZQ5cRrw89fcCcCJd7ibuVSDwXikNb5vXT8JDpy_0gpdB2mn_4fmBPVaIqr-hUPROYXW8TH8NDV0hPRCjahL1ya5WIUVGY-GjV5pS-EIQj1q9UmPXx9L6TVJmrI/s1600/minmini1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiELipqB5SKRrFThfoiuZQ5cRrw89fcCcCJd7ibuVSDwXikNb5vXT8JDpy_0gpdB2mn_4fmBPVaIqr-hUPROYXW8TH8NDV0hPRCjahL1ya5WIUVGY-GjV5pS-EIQj1q9UmPXx9L6TVJmrI/s320/minmini1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Firefly</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So small<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Yet for one moment in the twilight<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Its sparkle triumphs over all stars<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">To disappear forever<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is unlikely that there will be an Indian who has not heard the song ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ from Mani Ratnam’s film Roja even once. It garnered hitherto unheard of popularity among film music buffs because of its new format, its simple tune that got everyone’s ears at the very first hearing, its fine music score and the quality of recording that brought out every note with a clarity which never heard before in Indian film music. But not only that, the lilt in that female singer’s voice that embraced you in its desires and the lively rendering style so impacted the listeners that it remains a much appreciated song about the last twenty years. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Everyone knows that Minmini sang ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ which was the first song of A R Rahman who is today considered among towering personalities of world film music. When Rahman became famous all over the world, the song ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ as his debut song which is still among his most important songs became world famous as well. Today it has become a song that is most enthusiastically rendered even by Americans and Chinese, albeit with their quaint pronunciation. Many may even know that Minmini sang the equally famous Hindi and Telugu versions of the song as well. But today no one pauses to ponder what happened to the once famous singer who with just one song had garnered fame equal to that of A R Rahman. That is fame for you, here today and gone tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Many thought ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ to be the first song of Minmini because of the immense attention it drew. But Minmini had been singing in films for five years before the film Roja was released. Her first film song was for the Malayalam film ‘Swagatham’ released in 1988. But her name was not Minmini, then. It was just Mini. Contrary to what many believed, it was not A R Rahman who introduced her to Tamil films, it was Ilayaraja. And it was he who changed her name to Minmini from Mini. Minmini’s first Tamil song found a place in the film Meera that was released at the beginning of the year 1992.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Minmini sang songs of diverse genres but the way she sang some of her songs in classical Carnatic ragas is unbelievable. She had never learnt Carnatic music! Leave alone Classical music she never even learnt the basic notes starting with sa, ri, ga, ma. Without knowing the positions of any note on the scale, she sang raga-based songs flawlessly. Apart from her many songs in Malayalam, songs in Tamil like ‘Manamagale Manamagale’ in Raga Shuddha Saaveri and ‘Maasaru Ponne Varuga’ in Raga Maayamalava Gowla composed by Ilayaraja for the film Devar Magan are great examples of her felicitous rendering. Even today, after all her experience of singing raga-based songs, Minmini cannot sing any classical piece of music. Nor can she identify any raga!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Before she became well-known, the Malayalam composer Vidhyadharan had once called Minmini to render the track of a devotional song to be sung by S.Janaki. Before instructing her on the tune of the track, the composer asked her whether she knew Classical music. When she said ‘No’ he was beside himself with anger and shouted at his assistant for bringing her in spite of his clear instruction to bring a singer who had trained in Carnatic music. He asked Minmini to leave. But musicians present there were already aware of what Minmini was capable of. They convinced Vidhyadharan sufficiently to give her a chance to rehearse. But when he heard Minmini sing he maintained that it was a lie to say that Minmini did not know Carnatic music!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Like this the music and life of Minmini was stranger than fiction. She quickly gained the attention of people like a firefly (Minmini in Tamil means firefly) shining and gaining attention with a scintillating brilliance and then disappeared from the scene even faster. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The birth place of Rosily called as Mini was a village called Keezhmaadu in Aluva area near Kochi. Mini had at the age of five displayed a rare singing talent and before long had won many state-wide awards. She became famous through stage shows and devotional tapes. But her home was without electricity, radio, a cassette player or a phone!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Mini was born last of four girls in a poor family in 1970. All the four girls had the singing talent. Her father Joseph was a part-time employee in an Aluminium company. But it was not often that he attended his work. He was a music-lover. Mother was Theresa. She had that rare singing felicity that enabled her to recollect the film songs that she had learnt in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam from her childhood and to impart them to her four girls.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Mini started singing at church functions and soon graduated to the position of prime stage singer of such famous music troupes of Kochi as Kala Bhavan and C.A.C. As many of her cassettes became famous she became, by eighties, quite a popular singer in Kerala. She used to receive her invitations for stage shows and recordings at a phone in the nearby panchayat office! In spite of the pay being poor, she kept singing day and night.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Mini was having Asha Bhonsle and S.Janaki as her idols and following their rendering styles. Philip Francis, an extraordinary musician living in Trichur at that time, introduced to Mini the world of Ghazals. Mehdi Hasan, Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh sang to her from the cassettes gifted by him and both enriched and mellowed her singing style. Tours undertaken for her endless music programs in Kerala, other parts of India and abroad and continuous music recording engagements affected her school studies. In spite of getting admission to study classical music at Kerala’s famous R.L.V. Music College she could not find the time to join there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">She sang her first film song at the age of eighteen. During this time she sang with Yesudas, Jayachandran and S.P.Balasubramaniam on music shows. One day Ilayaraja expressed his concern on the scarcity of good new female singers to singer Jayachandran, he strongly suggested that he should try Mini. Ilayaraja bade Jayachandran to bring her immediately. Jayachandran then left this message for Mini at the office of C.A.C, the music troupe with which Mini was singing at the time. Not wanting to lose their best singer, they never told Mini about it!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When a few months later Mini learned of this, she could not believe that a great opportunity was hers. Finally when Mini entered Ilayaraja’s recording studio at Prasad studios, Chennai ,her idol Asha Bhonsle was singing, standing amidst hundreds of music instruments and musicians, the song ‘Panivizhum Maalayil Pazhamudhir Cholayil’ for the film Meera. A clearly flustered Mini, who pinched herself to see if it was all for real, was asked by Ilayaraja to sing a song to demonstrate her ability. Within the hour Mini had become Minmini and was standing at the same spot stood on earlier by her idol Asha Bhonsle .She sang a song for the same film: ‘Love Enna Lovvu’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ilaiyaraja continued to give Minmini some very sweet numbers. ‘Oru Maalai Chandran Malarai Theduthu Malai Adivaarathile’ is a good example. This was picturised in the film Unnai Vaazhthi Paadukiren. Minmini sang this song with S.P.B. with finer expressions. This was especially evident in the way she had rendered lines like ‘Kulir Veesum Maasiyile…Oru Degam Vendhadhu Mogatheeyinile’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Minmini has sung many such songs for Ilayaraja with great felicity. One such honeyed rendering with Ilayaraja composing is ‘Raathriyil Paadum Paattu’ sung with Malaysia Vasudevan and Arulmozhi for the film Aranmanai Kili. Minmini was able match Malaysia Vasudevan note for note in bringing out the fine and tender sentiments of the song. One can see Minmini’s standout talent in the song ‘Adi Poonkuyile Poonkuyile Kaelu’ of the same film when she renders the line ‘Kukkoo Kukkoo Paattu Sokki Sokki Poachu’ in the charanam portion set over a complex beat. Then there is the duet song ‘Muthaalamma Muthaalamma’ in the film Maappillai Vandhaachu where her rendering stands head and shoulders above that of co-singer Mano.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Minmini was great when she rendered for the film Chinna Maappillai with clarity and felicity the song ‘Kannmanikkul Chinna Chinna Minminigal Minna Minna’, which includes her name also in the lyric, a song that was so totally western. The same Minmini went on to sing for the film Enga Thambi the song ‘Malaiyoram Maankuruvi Maavilaiyil Paattezhudhi’ set to Kiravani Raga with flawless fidelity to the Raga strains in the composition. While she conveyed the yearnings of love so well in the high pitched song ‘Anbe Anbe Vaa’ in the film Yezhai Jaadhi she expressed a sensuality in the folksy dance number ‘Kurrukku Paathaiyilay Marrichi Vazhiyil Ninnu’ for the film I Love India that speaks of her versatility. Just listen to the line ‘Onna Paarkarrappo Ullaara Onnu Varudhayya, Neeyum Parisam Pottu Orasi Paarka Varuviya’ to feel the heat of the sensuality!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Minmini has sung the song ‘Kuthaala Kaaththukku Maththaalam Ethukku' with Malaysia Vasudevan in the film Chinna Devan. At the end of the first charanam Malaysia Vasudevan had woven magic with an extraordinary rendering of the word ‘Maane’ at the end of the line ‘Ini Thaangaadhamma Maane’. Minmini riposted with a brilliant enumeration of Malaysia Vasudevan’s bit in the last line of next charanam ‘Adhu Pola Yogam Yedhu’ with the word ‘Yedhu’. ‘Kothumani Muthumani’ number of the same film was a brilliant illustration of possibilities of Minmini’s voice and her unique ability in imparting unique sensuality to songs. '</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kuthaalakkuyile </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kuthaalakkuyile</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Ukkaandhu Pesalaama’ from Thirumathi Planisamy is another brilliant song from the Minmini Malaysia duo.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Minmini has sung less than ten songs under A R Rahman’s baton. After the path breaking ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ she sang ‘Chithirai Nilavu Chelaiyil Vandhadhu’ with Jayachandran for the film Vandicholai Chinnaraasu. Sensuality conveyed in a subdued tone was the song’s undertone. Minmini had barely a couple of lines in the emotional number ‘Yeduda Andha Sooriya Melam’ of the film Pudhiya Mannargal but her lively rendering made her stand out. This song, which she sang with SPB and others, is a gem from among A R Rahman’s great creations. There is a very special pitch shift at the end of this song but it went unnoticed. It was only when he very demonstratively resorted to pitch shift in the ‘Humma Humma’ number of Mani Ratnam’s film Bombay that everyone noticed it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Minmini sang with Sunanda the female version of the hit number ‘Ennavale Adi Ennavale’ for the film Kaadhalan, ‘Indiraiyo Ival Sundariyo’. The lively Karuthamma number ‘Pachaikkilli Paadum Ooru’ became famous both because of the unique beat that consisted of cocks’ crowing sound and Minmini’s ability to render a song well in husky tone. The arrangement of backing vocals of the song ‘Raasaathee Enn Usiru Ennadhilla’ from the film Thiruda Thiruda is a great example fine backing vocal arrangements. It was rendered by Minmini. The ‘Sambo Sambo’ number set in Spanish music mode for the film Pudhiya Mugam and the sensuous number from the film Gentleman, ‘Paarkaadhe Paarkaadhe Panchaangathai Paarkaadhe’ (an adaptation from Osibisa number ‘Kilelay Kilelay’) were the last songs that Minmini sang for A R Rahman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Even though she had sung in many languages, it was only in Tamil that Minmini was given maximum singing opportunities. She received only a few chances to sing in her own mother tongue. Even among these few chances a few of the more popular numbers were under Ilaiyaraja’s composition. The ‘Kaakkaa Poocha’ number from the film Pappayude Swantham Appoos is an example. The same song in the Tamil film Enn Poove Pon Poove, ‘Kaakkaa Poonai’, was also sung by Minmini.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">‘Ee Vazhiyay Nila Villakkum Yendhi’ under Mohan Sithara’s composition is one of those rare songs that brought out so well the ability of Minmini’s rendering style to expressive singing. ‘Sowparnikamrutha Veechigal’ for the film Kizhakku Unarum Pakshi with Ravindran as composer, ‘Neela Raavil Innu Ninte’ and ‘Oonnjaalurangi’ for Lohitha Das film Kudumbasametham with Johnson as composer, ‘Kannaadiyatril Avall Kanaga Nilaavu’ for the film Vaachaalam again with Johnson as composer and ‘Paadhiraavaaya Neram’ for the film Vietnam Colony with S.Balakrishnan as composer about sums up Minmini’s Malayalam film songs worth mention!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">After the huge success of ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ Minmini became a very busy playback singer recording furiously at about eight songs a day on average days, going up to twelve songs on some days. She was participating practically non-stop on the stage music shows and recording of devotionals. Then one day, in a Tamil Film Star Nite held in London where many stars of Tamil Film world took part, as Minmini was singing her voice suddenly ceased altogether. She was not even able to speak for many months after that!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Minmini’s voice was more or less cultured to resemble that of S.Janaki. Her voice got patterned unconsciously from her childhood by singing songs of S.Janaki. Apparently such voices do not have the recuperative ability of one’s own natural voice, when subjected to the strain of continuous singing. It is possible that excessive pressure exerted on vocal chords by years of continuous singing had caused a sudden snap in her voice. Expert treatment and therapy restored her speech and to some extend her singing ability. But that old magic was gone from Minmini’s voice and singing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Minmini’s wedding with the keyboard artiste Joy had been fixed when she was working furiously shuttling between recording theatres and music shows. Joy married Minmini who was slipping into depression because of her inability to sing. Composers who loved her singing came forward to book her and record her song line by line and word by word, if necessary. But Minmini stopped singing on her own as she had lost confidence in her own capacity to sing. She spent all her money on treatments and therapies. Years rolled by. But when she regained the confidence to sing again, there was nobody to call her.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Having lost her all, with no means of living in Chennai, Minmini had gone back to Kerala many years ago. Today, with her own two teenagers to raise, Minmini is living with her husband in Kochi, running her own school of music. She claims that all her problems with the voice are now past and that she can sing like before. But, now there is none to invite her for recordings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>SHAJIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13825307503066871285noreply@blogger.com