మూడు ముక్కల్లో చెప్పేస్తారు

Courtesy: Eenadu

Proscenium for litterateurs

The young man with a golden voice approached the inimitable composer M.S. Viswanathan for an opportunity to sing in Tamil cinema. “Your voice is commendable but your Tamil diction has to improve. Learn the language and come back,” MSV advised him. The youngster took almost four years to do it, before he returned to prove his mettle. And how! S.P. Balasubrahmanyam’s grit and perseverance has now taken him to a dais where he was asked to speak on Kannadasan!

“I love the language,” he said, when he began his speech at the 11th anniversary celebrations of the Kannadasan-Viswanathan Trust held this past week at the Kumararaja Muthiah Auditorium, Raja Annamalaipuram.

Initially, the invite for the show was intriguing! Besides well-known speakers was the name of the illustrious singer, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam! The topic was ‘The garland of songs I rendered for Kannadasan’s verses.’

“I will sing some of Kannadasan’s lines that have touched me and yours too,” he explained. The combo of a medley interspersed with interesting inputs was crisp. His emotional one-liners added to the poignancy. It wasn’t just SPB’s numbers. He also brought alive the melodies of P.B. Srinivos and T.M. Soundarrajan.

“This last song wasn’t planned,” he confessed. “But as I conclude, it is as though Kannadasan is telling me, ‘How can you not sing this song. So here it is,” smiled SPB and sang the ever soothing lullaby in Kannadasan’s words and MSV’s music, ‘Aayarpaadi Maaligaiyil. ’ It was the crowning glory of the evening. “I have been unwell for the past week and told director S.P. Muthuraman so. He said, ‘You just come over and Kannadasan will take care of the rest. So here I am,” began SPB earlier. (SPM is the treasurer of the Kannadasan-Viswanathan Trust and AVM Saravanan, its secretary.) SPB wasn’t his usual exuberant self. Indisposition seemed the reason. “Let’s give him a standing ovation,” said

SPM at the end of SPB’s session and the crowd gladly obliged. Later near the door when SPM told Mrs. SPB, “Take care of your husband’s health. He is our treasure,” the veracity of the words was striking.

“‘How do you compose such exquisite melodies,’ I once asked MSV. ‘I only bring out the music in Kannadasan’s lyrics,’ he told me,” SPB recalled. He seemed as much moved by the numbers he sang as he was by his exchanges with their creators. The invitees on the dais included Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty and M. Murali (Sri Krishna Sweets).

Pa. Lakshmanan of ‘Ilakkiya Sindhanai’ shared several interesting bytes about Kannadasan. His reference to Kannadasan’s wish to have a long life touched an emotional chord in the hearts of the audience.

Dr. Meena Muthiah lighted the ceremonial lamp and Kannadasan devotee Kaviri Maindhan emceed the event. This year’s recipients of the Kannadasan Award were poet Aru. Nagappan and journalist Kayal Dinakaran. Student prize winners, including best speakers Simanjana and Nandini, were feted.

Throughout the evening, S.P. Muthuraman was on his feet literally, making every speaker aware of the need to adhere to the time limit specified. But for such an efficient moderator the evening would have dragged on and made the audience restless.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Saluri Rajeswara Rao award for S.P.Balu

Rasamayi, which has been presenting awards in the name of the renowned music director Late Saluri Rajeswara Rao for the last 13 years, has selected S.P.Balasubramaniam this year for this award.

This event will be held on Oct 25th at Ravindra Bharathi in Hyderabad. Singers will sing some famous songs composed by Saluri Rajeswara Rao.

High court chief justice L.Narasimha Reddy will attend this event as the chief guest. Shantha Biotechnics owner K.I.Varaprasad Reddy, Saluri Koti, Saluri Vasurao, Saluri Purnachandra Rao etc will attend this event.

Courtesy: India Glitz

SPB records Rajinikanth's intro song for Lingaa

It is a reign that singer SP Balasubrahmanyam sings the introduction song for Superstar Rajinikanth in his films. Following the tradition, SPB has sung one more song for upcoming film Lingaa. The legendary singer has recorded Rajinikanth's Lingaa introduction song under AR Rahman composition. Vairamuthu has penned the song. Thalaivar fans are very happy with the news and eagerly waiting for Lingaa music album.

Meanwhile, KS Ravikumar has completed all the talkies of Lingaa and three songs were filmed including the introduction song. Anushka, Sonakshi Sinha, Santhanam, Karunakaran and others are part of Rajinikanth's Lingaa cast. Rathnavelu is the cameraman for this Rockline Venkatesh production.

Lingaa audio releases on Diwali day and movie from December 12.

Courtesy: Times of India

Sankarabharanam was an epic journey: SP Balasubrahmanyam

The digitally restored Tamil dubbed version of Telugu cult classic Sankarabharanam is slated for release in October. Playback singer S.P Balasubrahmanyam aka SPB, who had crooned all the songs in the film, says that it's an epic journey of his life.

Directed by K. Vishwanath, Sankarabharanam released in 1980. "The number of hours I have spoken about Sankarabharanam over 30 years would run into infinity and this is an epic journey in my life," SPB said in a statement. Recalling how he got an opportunity to sing in the film, SPB said, "I still remember the time when the film was shot in Telugu; my brother-like filmmaker K. Vishwanath narrated the story to my father at my home. He requested my father to ask me if I could record the songs for this film before other tracks".

"At that time, I was recording for around 4-5 songs a day. When Vishwanath wanted me to croon the numbers, I openly confessed that I'm not expert in classical genre and someone else than me would do complete justice," he added. It was Vishwanath's assistant Pugazhenthi who trained SPB in classical music.

"I used to hear the songs recorded in the voice of Pugazhenthi relentlessly to get used to the track and then recorded the tracks," said SPB. Sankarabharanama is a very special film for the playback singer as it won his first National award. He feels that "the film dubbed in Tamil with digital restoration will be a delightful experience for the present generation of audience". The film features late actor J.V. Somayajulu, Manju Bhargavi and Chandra Mohan in the lead roles.

Courtesy: Times of India