Here is 'sangeetha jadhi mullai' from the 'Kadhal Oviyam' again. Not much to say here which I haven't said earlier. 'ilancholai poothadho' from 'Unakaga Vazhgiren' The changing rhythm pattern in the charanam is another challenge to overcome in this song. This song, based on Amritavarshini mostly, requires both classical music skills and high energy singing. 'vanin devi varuga' from 'Oruvar Vazhum Aalayam'
In fact the songs of this movie as itself showcase SPB's amazing versatility. Such songs only confirmed SPB's versatility.
SPB, as we saw had sung in movies like 'Shankarabaranam' earlier and so singing classical music songs were not a difficult proposition for him. SPB shows that he can sing such songs with ease. 'poovil vandu koodum' for 'Kadhal Oviyam' Except for a song sung by Deepan Chakravarthy, the whole movie was dominated by SPB. There were exceptions though and one such glorious exception was the movie 'Kadhal Oviyam'. As I said earlier, Raja gave most songs which had heavy Carnatic music touch to Yesudas. Let us now go to the other end of the spectrum: Carnatic classical music. SPB and Janaki bring in the required energy and style. Right from the initial recitation started by Kamal, we know this is going to be a funky song. It is not easy to sing a song with such high energy throughout but SPB does it with ease.Īnother song which combines high energy, stylishness, a new sound and a western beat. SPB ensures that the energy created by the drumming and the orchestration is never let down. The song's opening, which seems to be inspired by the 'Immigrant Song' of LedZeplin, is highly energetic and the tune and orchestration sustain the high energy throughout. SPB had such a voice and so he was called upon to sing these songs.įrom the film, 'Johny', 'senorita I love you' A voice which could fit itself into any genre. In this case you needed a voice which more suited to film music than classical music, a voice which was neutral. While MSV did try some songs in the genre, it was Raja who took it to great heights and in most case, these songs went to SPB (Malaysia Vasudevan too got some of these songs). The second style of songs are what I call high energy songs, with a western base. Both SPB and Janaki achieve that with ease. The song, which tough to sing, must be sung in a casual way so as to give a feeling that the hero and heroine are effortlessly singing it. Kamal, who the style king or style mannan, needed this stylish singing by SPB. Uma Ramanan also does a good job in this song.įor another such song, let us take the song 'perai sollva' from 'Guru' (Tamil).Īnother song whose sound was new to TFM. The melodious voice of SPB and his style are an asset to this song.
That freshness, modernity are also due to SPB's singing. This sound was new to Tamil films in those times (it is still so fresh). Let us take the duet, 'yaar thoorigai thanda oviyam' from 'Paaru Paaru Pattanam Paru'.
He needed the stylishness and the modernity inherent in SPB's singing for these songs to reach the masses. In an earlier article I had mentioned how Raja had used SPB for songs which were providing a new sound in Tamil Film Music then. Now to analyze some songs from the 80s which showcased SPB's versatility. Overall, Raja did depend on SPB for versatility and in case of Telugu and Kannada he almost always used SPB as the male voice. We have Yesudas singing 'kuthu songs', Malaysia Vasudevan singing wonderful melodies and so on. Again, whatever categorization I have done is a loose one. SPB got the major share but the others, including Mano in later days, have a substantial body of work with Raja. Raja loosely followed this pattern of giving Yesudas songs which had a lot of Carnatic music flavor, Malaysia Vasudevan got a lot of songs with folk music flavor, Jeyachandran sang many soft melodies. In this article we will talk about how Raja used SPB versatile singing to give us some everlasting numbers.īefore I begin the analysis, let me also state that though SPB was the foremost singer in Tamil, he did dominate the Tamil film music landscape the way he did in Telugu and Kannada. Two, Raja gave him songs which pushed him hard and ensured that SPB was able to showcase his versatility to the world. His association with Raja in the 80s helped him in two ways: One, he got to sing a lot of popular numbers, which ensured he took his rightful place in the hearts of the people. ( You can read the earlier parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11 & Part 12)Īs I stated in the earlier, SPB of the 80s was a well formed,confident singer with a unique style of his own.