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Random Thoughts on TFM

Topic started by Gowri (@ 161.142.100.86) on Tue Apr 9 03:06:08 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Gangai Amaran writes:


Research findings have established clearly that folk music preceded traditional, classical music in TamilNadu. Cave men & tribal men made sounds that devloped into a language. These people gave simple tunes without any rules, but a sense of music was apparent even then.
In my childhood days, there was no cinema as there is now. Performers travelled from village to village telling stories . Songs were interwoven in the sories. The appreciative audience offered these performers whatever they could.This was the beginning of symphony.
During the era of silent movies as recounted by our present CM Dr.M.Karunanidhi, a great lover of arts, musicians used to sit in front of the screen & sing, render music & dialogues at appropriate places to keep the audience enthralled.
To the best of my knowledge Sri Shankaradas Swamigal, a magan was the individual, to the best of my knowledge who gave filip to integration of music, verse & dialogues in a drama. Great creations such as Meenakshi Kalyanam, Yesu can be attributed to this Mahan. He included songs in appropriate places. 'Kayatha Kanagathe' is a prime eg. He established the Bala Nataka Sabha, where only children were involved in enacting all the roles. Then came Sakthi & Vaira Nataka Sabhas.
Nawab RajaManickam was a note-worthy person of these days who enacted plays using grand props & settings. Sakthi Nataka Sabha has gifted to the world of Tamil Cinema such greats as Shivaji Ganesan, V.K.Ramaswamy etc.,The troup used to consist of about 60 members & it was important for each artiste to be thorough with the dialogues & songs of all characters for each actor was made to paly a different role each day. Vaira Nataka Sabha has contributed greats like M.G.R & Nambiar.In the early stages of talkies, people who sought to act in movies had to be endowed with good looks, good voice & capacity to sing.Kittappa, Bhagavathar, P.U.Chinnappa, all great singers & actors of yesteryears were persons endowed with such gifts. As these actors act & sing, the orchestra had to move along with the actor & this recording was done in single track. The records were created with the whole gorup doing a special recording of the same song all over again in the studios. Saraswati Stores of A.V.Meyappa Chettiar was a renowned company that released records of film songs. Gramaphones were owned only by the very rich, who preferred carnatic trend in film music also & hence the songs of those days were based entirely on carnatic music.
We owe a great deal to the Britishers for introducing technology into cinema. Ellis.R.Duncan is one person I can single out, whose assistants after learning the tricks of the trade from him branched out to make their own movies. Drama, thus developed intocinema & in its wake came studios, recording with mike etc. The concept of dubbing was not known in those days. For a song to be perfected the entire troupe would work for months, paid on a monthly basis.
If you look at the chronology of singers, Kittappa was followed be T.R.Mahalingam, who was followed by T.M.Soundarajan,Seergazhi Govindarajan, all persons who could sing in very high pitches.
G.Ramanathan brought a fresh air to cine music. But folk songs were not appreciated in those dyas.Along with Papanasam Sivan who was a great composer he gave a variety of songs. There was no need do to go to a Kutchery. The Tamil film songs were strongly based on Carnatic music tradition.
P.U.Chinnappa was followed by Chidambaram Jayaraman,Tiruchi Loganathan. Gantasala was followed by P.B.Srinivas, S.P.B ,Mano etc., K.J.Yesudoss is a singer who emerged with a diiferent voice. Sivaji Ganesan, the recipient of Dada Saheb Palke award, could sing eloquently, but did not do so in movies giving way to the playback singers. Though T.M.S. claims that he used to change his voice to suit Sivaji & M.G.R. , but his voice defintely suits Sivaji best & it is my personal view that he has not really changed his voice much.
The domination of actors & singers from the Telugu field existed for a time. In order to sing for Telugu actors such as Nageswara Rao, N.T.RamaRao, Adi NarayanaRao, P.G.Lingappa, Chalapathi Rao etc. several singers such as Gantasala, P.B. Srinivas were introduced in Tamil. Other singers from Telugu field are S.Janaki, P.Susheela. Music obviously has no language barriers.
All the veterans of the early days had paved & smoothed the road for us in the present days. The trials faced by Viswanathan Ramamurthy,G.Ramanathan,S.V.Venkatraman are not faced by the present day musicians. Illayaraja's way was smoothed by his peers & in his turn he has shown the way for the next generation.
M.S.Viswanathan started his career as a chorus singer in K.V.Mahadevan's troupe & then became a great music director. He changed the history of Tamil cine music by giving lighter, melodius songs appreciated by all.Sudarsanam & Devarajan Masters were also great music directors of the day. Hindi music was popular then, & several songs were based on hindi music tunes.M.S.Viswanathan- Ramamurthy were great, for, they took the essence from other music but managed to deliver their own creations & hence their music is able to withstand for long.Chandrababu with his interest in western music also got them to make songs for him mostly based on westwern style.
Shankar Ganesh have directed music in several films. V.Kumar was a music director who was brought into film music by K.Balachander from his drama days. Kunnakudi, Deva , A.R.Rehaman are people who entered the film music line from other related fields such as devotional music, jingles, etc.
A.R.Rehaman is an extrememly talented youngster & some of the music rendered by him, can only be done by someone who has a wonderful understanding of music & the medium.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Gowri (@ 202.184.134.8) on: Thu Apr 11 02:48:17 EDT 2002
  
  TM Soundararajan - Singer Par Excellence
  
  Here is one posting from the archives:
  
  
  From: kopula perumal subramanian (@ 202.71.159.161) on: Sun Mar 24 14:01:45 EST 2002
  
  By God's Grace, TMS's fate is great. He is in his early 80s, has the ability to perform over three hours at a stretch, be it carnatic or film music. of course, he shuns film music nowadays and concentrates on carnatic. Just listen to his cassette Tamil isai padaalgal, a pure classic. I think he recorded it some 20 years ago, apparently at the age of 60. Melody, nathaam, poise and control over voice and great rendition — you don't have to strain to catch the lyrics — emotions flow out and no damage done to the ragas. Unfortunately that is the only classical cassette he has released, though I was told that he had the released part 2 too. Clearly I see a revival in his fortunes. For the first time, the State government has honoured with the post of chairman of Iyal, Isai, Nadaga Mandram. Recently he was on Sun TV as the judge of the sapathswarangal finals. He chipped in with his film songs. He neither had notes nor the lyrics with him. Still he rendered the songs the way he had done decades ago — clearly a man of perfection. Yes, TFM has seen tens of singers. Of late they just come and go. Recently I read on the net that Jayachandran was the best singer to sing tamil songs. No doubt, jayachandran's tamil is hundred times better than KJ. But he can never anywhere near TMS, who can infuse life to words, not just sing a lyric. For him, the bhavam is equally important. Just show me one singer who is comfortable with all ranges. Even Md Rafi used to choke when he reached the octave. Once I heard that Rafi had a great regard for TMS's songs. I was told that when Rafi was at the AVM studio, he had a chance meeting with TMS. That was probably after TMS had song oor aaiyram paarvailee unn paarvaie naan aryven. Rafi had hugged TMS, planted a kiss on the neck and exclaimed What a voice! You are born to sing. But the pity is nowadays petty minded are ruling the roost. They obviously get to the top by hook or crook. A couple years ago, I heard KJ reluctantly acknowledge TMS as a singer. Of course, TMS doesn't need his recognition. His VOICE will reverberate for ever. It's like Truth always prevails. Jealous people always said TMS was an arrogant man. Go and meet him you will easily find out how wrong they were all. He is very pious, leads an austere life and always involved in music. Sometimes he is so introvert, he can easily think he has an air of arrogance. In one of the interviews, PS was asked whether she modulated her voice for different actress. She said she did not make any conscious effort. When the question turned on TMS's assertion that he did modulate his voice, she kept mum, apparently did not want to get into controversy, and diplomatically said he could have done it. I just don't understand why we need singers like PS and KJ to confirm whether TMS did what he had said. Don't we have ears for music? Can't we just check it out? Are we so dumb? It will be foolishly if you say he modulated his voice for just Sivaji and MGR. You can easily distinguish his rendition for Jai Shankar, Ravichandran, sivakumar, AVM Rajan and so on. Why from the very first note you can feel mood of the song. Even if TMS reads a sentence, that can easily pass off as a song. For the variety, you name any you can have it — the navarasam, I mean. Who can do better than his western classical songs? I have heard single-dimensional singers, including the great Sirkazhi, crib about their greatness. Do I have to say people should get respect, not ask for it? One more incident pops up in mind when I thought of national awards. When SPB was getting honoured for bagging a national award for Shankarabaranam, he had a check to tell one of the guests of honour Telugu great A Nageswar Rao that he was so proud to 'win' the award so young, meaning ANR had to struggle for his award. And the prompt reply seemed to have been "I don't beg awards, they are conferred on me." Anyway generations come and go. Soon there will be a generation which will the ears for music. It will certainly pay TMS the honours he richly deserves. Don't worry, Time always changes for the better for the sincere, dedicated artists. To sum up, I can quote a question and answer: What is the difference between TMS and Sirkazhi. Answer: Sirkazhi can sing a song, while TMS's voice can act.
  
  
• From: Gowri (@ 61.6.38.132) on: Thu Apr 11 04:09:33 EDT 2002
  
  Movies and Musicians
  The Origins of the Playback
  
  http://www.sangeetham.com/playback.htm
  
  The voice-lending off-screen 'playback' singing system is part and parcel of the Indian motion picture. Indeed such singers who sing behind the screen are themselves as much stars as their on -screen colleagues. Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Shamshad Begum, Geetha (Roy) Dutt, Kishore Kumar, S. P. Balasubramaniam, P. B. Sreenivos, T. M. Soundararajan, K. J. Yesudas, P. Susheela, Jikki ( P.G. Krishnaveni), Chitra, S. Janaki, and many others enjoy as much fame and name as stars and actors. " Balu" as S. P. Balasubramaniam is affectionately known is a household name not only in India but also abroad like America and wherever Indians live. Indeed in New York there is a SPB Fans Association!
  
  
  Interestingly there was a period when such playback singers were anonymous and received no credit either in the film or on the labels of gramophone records. Slowly the tide turned…..
  
  When did the playback system come into vogue in Tamil cinema?
  In the '30s there were no technical facilities to pre-record songs in a sound- recording theater before the commencement of the film shoot as it is done today. Songs were recorded along with dialogue while the camera rolled. Consequently only artistes capable of singing with their own voices were chosen to act. While the actor sang members of the orchestra sat safely away from the camera range and played the background musical score. If the actor had to walk the accompanying musicians too walked along with him carrying their instruments ! That's why only instruments that could be carried or strung round the necks were used. Harmonium, flute, violin, clarinet, mridangam and such were commonly in use. No pianos or veenas, thank you!
  In outdoor scenes the instrument-players sat under trees or on mats or trolley and played happily. If any player committed a mistake in playing a note or swara in the last line or word the shot had to be taken afresh! In one such song sequence the famed hero and "Stunt King" of Tamil cinema of his day, P. S. Srinivasa Rao playing the lead role of Lord Vishnu was singing a song which was being shot. Being a trained classical musician and also the music composer of the film " Srinivasa Kalyanam" (1934) he noticed a false off -key note being played by one of the instrumentalists. At once he yelled, "CUT!" but the director took no notice and went ahead with his work. Later during the first show of the film at Crown Talkies, Mint Street, Madras the audience howled with loud laughter when they heard Maha Vishnu yelling in English, "CUT!" in the middle of a song in poetic Tamil! A "SOS" message was at once sent to Srinivasa Cinetone Studio on Poonnamallee High Road in Vepery and a technician raced in a car to reach the cinema faster than wind and he simply scissored off the offending frames in English Surely when the frames were removed there was a jump in the sound track and music flow in the picture but nobody bothered about all that in those days!
  In his later years after retiring from movies Srinivasa Rao had his 'bhajan music troupe' in Alwarpet, Madras in which noted citizens like Dr. Mathangi Ramakrishnan, Thangam Aiyadurai, and Y. G. Sundar took part and they were his disciples. He also taught bhajans to M.S. Subbulakshmi.
  The playback system came into existence in Calcutta during mid- 1930's and was used in Bengali and Hindi films. In Madras the famed trio of film pioneers, Muthuswami Iyer ( Murugadasa)- K. Ramnoth-A. K. Sekhar built a studio in Adayar, Madras named Kartikeya circa 1937 and the studio released ads in magazines of that day inviting producers to use the studio. And its facilities which, according to the ad, included a) miniature photography and b) playback system. The first film produced by the talented trio at this studio was " Sundaramurthy Nayanar" (1937). But there is no positive evidence to prove that songs in this film were pre-recorded or sung while shooting was in progress.
  However the first known instance of the use of playback in Tamil cinema took place in 1938 in "Nandakumar". The film was produced in Poona (now Pune ) as partnership venture in Marati and Tamil with the later day Indian movie mogul, AV. Meiyappan as the partner of the Tamil version. The film was directed by well known cameraman and Marati filmmaker, Keshav Rao Dhaibar. The cast included T.R. Mahalingam ( his film debut), T.P. Rajalakshmi, C.V.V. Panthulu , T. S. Rajalakshmi, T.R. Ramachandran ( his debut) and others. To many it was the first film and helping Dhaibar for the Tamil version in the script and direction was another newcomer, later the noted writer -director and producer, A. T. Krishnaswamy (ATK) The talented but sadly under-rated film music composer, S. V. Venkataraman also came into films with " Nandakumar".
  The 'kid' Krishna was played by 'Master' Sethuraman. Later as Madurai Sethuraman he made a mark as singer for noted Bharatanaytam dancers and toured all over the world. ( A good pal of this writer he passed away sometime ago. )
  T. R. Mahalingam played the 'boy' Krishna and became a star with his very first film.
  A song sung by the actress playing Krishna's mother, Devaki was not up to mark and Meiyappan, ATK, Dhaibar and others were disappointed with the quality of her singing. Understandably they were eager to re-shoot the sequence but for many reasons it was not feasible. Meiyappan and others thought hard and then came up with an innovative idea. Why not replace only the sound track with another voice and shoot the song with the actress moving only her lips in 'sync'? ( movie world lingo for 'synchronization'). AVM gave the go-ahead signal and a prominent classical Carnatic musician based in Bombay, Lalitha Venkataraman was brought and she sang the song. It was re-shot with the actress moving her lips to the Bombay musician's singing. And, lo, playback system was born in Tamil cinema and Meiyappan made South Indian film history !
  And Lalitha Venkataraman took the credit of being the first playback singer of Tamil cinema.
  Even after playback system came into force and pre-recording of songs before the shoot became technically possible artiste themselves sang their songs and not by off-screen voice -lending playback singers. One of the earliest of such singers was V. R. Dhanam ( sister of the noted stage, screen and TV star, late lamented V. Gopalakrishnan)
  The famed filmmaker of his day, Sundar Rao Nadkarni ( he made films like " Haridas"… " Shantha Sakkubai"… " En Manaivi "… " Krishna Vijayam"… " Sudarshan", and " Mahadevi".) recorded a song for " Sakkubai" (1939) which he picturised on T. S. Krishnaveni.
  Another classical Carnatic musician who sang in films behind the screen during late 1930's was the great exponent and star performer, D. K. Pattammal. Her rendering of an emotionally charged patriotic song written by celebrated Tamil writer and journalist, 'Kalki' ( Ra. Krishnamurthy) and composed by Papanasam Sivan, " Desai Sevai Seyya Vareer….." in the Tamil film classic, " Thyaga Bhoomi" (1939) became extremely popular reflecting the mood of the times when the atmosphere was charged with Indian Freedom Movement. Interestingly this song was not issued as gramophone record along wih the other songs of the film and was brought out later as private disc by DKP with no mention of the origin of the song.
  Other playback singers from the world of classical music include (Radha) Jayalakshmi, K. J. Yesudas, Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, P. Leela, and M. L. Vasanthakumari. ( She appeared on screen in a scene in R. S. Mani's "Krishna Bhakthi" (1948). She sings a song in a concert in a king's court. She is slim and very attractive in that scene!)
  Not many are aware that M. M.. Dhandapani Desikar sang playback in a film for Chittoor V. Nagaiah who was himself an accomplished musician with good voice and style of singing.
  Similarly in the AVM production " Penn" the comedian, J. P. Chandrababu sang the hit song "Kalyanam……." for S. Balachandar, a musical genius and also good singer.
  In a chat with this writer during late 1970's SB told him. …. " It was a comedy song and I felt that Babu could sing it better than I could…. and you know the results! …. There was no ego problem at all…only the film mattered ….…you know, Randor… I am also a filmmaker."
  In the early years of playback singing the gramophone discs did not carry the name of the singer. Instead the name of the character was printed on the label. For example in a duet was sung by P. Bhanumathi and T.A. Mothi in the Gemini Studio production, written and directed by Acharya ( T.G. Raghavachari), "Apoorva Sahodarargal" (1949), the disc did not carry the name of Mothi ( a well known playback singer of yesteryears). Instead the name of the character played by the star and fine actor, M.K. Radha., "Vijay" was given on the label.
  As the years rolled over the horizon the playback system came to be accepted as normal and many singers entered the field. Today most actors and actresses do not sing with their voices. They do not speak either! Yet awards are given for "Best Acting"! Ridiculous? But that's the way it is in Tamil cinema… And nobody cares. Neither the film folks nor moviegoers! Happy situation indeed. Cheers!
  
  
• From: passerby (@ 210.212.49.14) on: Thu Apr 11 06:09:48 EDT 2002
  
  Good job guys keep it up!
  
  

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