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SPB - The Greatest Ever Melody Singer

Topic started by Dorairaj Pichaiyan (@ gateway7.ey.com) on Thu Sep 24 19:12:00 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I enjoy SPB's voice the most. Statrting this topic
for TFM users to be able to share their views
about the melody king SPB

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Raguvaran (@ 64.124.150.131) on: Fri Nov 2 23:27:21 EST 2001
  
  Isai Priyan:
  
  hehehe,
  
  why are copying me for???
  
  
• From: Shangeetha Pooshanam (@ 64.210.241.103) on: Sun Nov 4 12:25:42 EST 2001
  
  Hello folks
  I was interested by these topics about SPB, but I was rather disturbed by some people called raguvaran (@212), Raguvaran (@64), Isai Priyan (@ 157.95.211.50). Raguvaran (@64), Isai Priyan (@ 157.95.211.50) are I believe the same person who are posting under different names & IP addresses, why?
  
  Who is SPB?
  
  S.P.Balasubrahmanyam: the name evokes images of the voice beyond compare litting & melodious with a stylistic variation that conjure a visual image from pure sound.
  
  Born in 1946 at konetampet in Andhra pradesh , SPB grew up in a modest environment, SPB liked to sing in social events , but did not under go any kind of musical training, at a light music competition in 1963, SPB’s voice charmed the ears of late Shri Kothandapani who introduced him to the film world as the play back singer in the telugu film “SRI SRI MARIYADA RAMANA”, in 1966, ever since he has never looked back & today he is one of the very rare multilingual singer who has sung in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tulu, Oriya, Bengali,, till date he has sung well over 40,000 songs in 35 years, that works out to be at least 3 songs per day!, he has also composed music for 35 films in a variety of languages.
  
  Here is a list of SPB’s National awards compared to M.rafi’s awards, please note that M.rafi has never won a national award, Dr.KJY has won 7 national awards till date, who has also crossed 40,000 songs, in his 40 year service.
  
  SPB’s non-national awards are innumberable , that is “best play back singer”, association’s awards, state awards, fan club awards, film fare awards, hence I can only list his national awards.
  
  SPB’s National Awards:
  
  1979 - Sankarabharanam
  1981 - Ek Duje Keliye
  1983 - Sagara Sangamam
  1988 - Rudra Veena
  1995 - Gaana Yogi Panchashari Gavai
  1996 - Minsara Kanavu
  2001 - Padma Shri Awar
  
  M.Rafi’s awards (note he has no national awards to date)
  
  Year Track
  1960 Ka Chand Chaudhvin Ka Chand
  1961 Chashme Badoor
  1964 Chahunga Mein Tujeh
  1966 Baharon Bharasavo
  1968 Dil Ke Jharoke Mein
  1977 Kya Huva Tera Waada
  
  Most of these people seems to misunderstand the term bass & kattais, here is an explanation;
  
  Bass; deep sounding, the lowest pitch in music, lowest male voice.
  
  Kattais ; as there are 1-37 keys in vocal, with keys
  
  1-5 being mudhal kattai (lowest one)
  
  6-10 being rendam kattai
  
  11- 15 being moondram kattai
  
  16-20 being naalank kattai
  
  21- 25 being aiyntham kattai
  
  26-30 being arank kattai
  
  31-35 being elank kattai
  
  36 + being ettank kattai (highest one)
  
  Most of the songs are sung between keys 16 –30, which includes (4th, 5th & 6th kattai), every male singer has bass, even singers like Hariharn, Unni Krishnan have bass, this bass can be achieved at singing in lowest notes (keys 1 – 4) not many singers have done this, certainly not the new good for nothing singers.
  
  SPB, KJY, Ghantasala, Balamurali Krishna & M. Rafi are the only singers who have touched key 1, in order to access the bass of these singers, one must clarify as to which one of these singers has the deepest voice at key 1, this voice should also have the punch in it, this is where SPB stands out of the rest.
  
  M.rafi, Ghantasala, BMK have soft voice, hence they do not sound as deep as SPB. KJY being a carnatic boffin, does not also sound deep as SPB between keys 1-5, this bass has to come deep from the throat, this is very rare & difficult to do so, only SPB is capable of this to date, best bass means a singer can sing very effectively at the highest pitch (key 36+) without screaming or sounding feminine, many male singers who lack bass sounds very feminine at high pitches, typical examples are T.R.Mahalingham, Unni Krishnan, Hariharan , Udit narayan , Sonu nigam , Kumar Sanu, Punkaj udas, …etc.
  
  As SPB having the best bass he easily reaches key 36+, without sounding feminine or as if he is screaming or straining his voice, M.rafi although lacks the bass of SPB was extremely good at higher pitches, which is very difficult to do without a very deep bass, but some how M.rafi superb at highest pitches, simply Superb!.
  
  Typical example of SPB’s key 1 songs are, “thuli thuli nee paadamma sithiyamma”, when he sings “aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh” from key 1, then key6, then key11, then key 16, then key 21, then key 26, then key 31, then key 36+, this is simply superb!.
  
  Another example is the song “sa re ga re gapa tha pa”, from the ever green shankaraparanam, he starts again from key 1, with a very deep voice all the way to key 36+, without any strain at all. Now think about the reverse process of singing in key36+ down to key 1, and SPB does this superb again in the song “ka ma re gama gasa maga sa re saa netha ma pa, sa re sa re (vedham athanilum oru nataham) from “salanghai Oli”.
  
  Now consider singing the entire song in highest notes, that is key 30+,SPB again does this beautifully in “naanum unthan uravai naadi vantha paravai”, from mythili ennai kadhali.
  
  Some people says that TMS was very good at high pitches, I do not agree at all, because he always strained his voice to the maximum limit, any songs sung by TMS always sounded as if he is singing in high pitches, take the song “paatum naane paavamum naanee” from thiruvizhaiyadhal , he sounded as if he was singing from high pitch from the beginning, which is wrong, he sounds the same at high & low pitches, hence you can distinguish whether he is singing in high pitch or not, his carnatic singing & pronunciation is terrible. Although TMS was good at modulation & expressing feelings, but he does not have an amazing voice of SPB.
  
  SPB being a “frog in a well” when it comes to carnatic, is awesome in terms of pronunciation of swarams & singing, even Bala Murali swallows some swarams when he sings it, when you listen to SPB’s shankaraparanam you can clearly understand all swarams, as they are all crystal clear.
  
  KJY , like some one mention is bhajan singer, an excellent carnatic singer, but in cine world, he is so boring, always the same style, you can not tell whether he is singing sad or happy, or joy or excitement. He was hopeless at modulation, expressing emotions. Jayachandran was better than him in romantic songs, but SPB ruled over everyone in Romantic songs, superb expression, beautiful voice.
  
  SPB is not just the greatest singer, but he is an excellent dub artisists, he mainly dubbed for Kamal, Mohan, N.ravi, Nagesh, ..etc. He has also scored music for
  About 35 films so far, with a mesmorizing songs from Sikaram.
  
  I hope I did not offend any body, this thread is being misused badly, so many swearing especially from this raguvaran @212., please guys, I beg you to stop this nonsense & behave bit maturely .
  
  
  IMF;
  
  Lata Mangeshkar did not sing over 40,000 songs, she only sang 15,000 to date.
  
  thanks
  
  
• From: Raguvaran (@ 64.124.150.131) on: Sun Nov 4 17:23:45 EST 2001
  
  Shangeetha Pooshanam:
  
  chappaathi chappaathi thaan roti roti thaan!!
  
  
• From: Raghuvaran (@ 212.2.14.241) on: Mon Nov 5 04:45:07 EST 2001
  
  Shangeetha Pooshanam:
  
  
  Well explanation.
  
  
  
• From: Raguvaran (@ 64.124.150.144) on: Mon Nov 5 09:07:01 EST 2001
  
  not well explenation!!
  
  
• From: Isai Priyan (@ 157.95.211.50) on: Mon Nov 5 10:18:26 EST 2001
  
  Shangeetha Pooshanam,
  "KJY , like some one mention is bhajan singer, an excellent carnatic singer, but in cine world, he is so boring, always the same style, you can not tell whether he is singing sad or happy, or joy or excitement. He was hopeless at modulation, expressing emotions. Jayachandran was better than him in romantic songs, but SPB ruled over everyone in Romantic songs, superb expression, beautiful voice"...
  I bet you are the same raguvaran212.. crap.better try something else.
  
  
• From: Raghuvaran (@ 212.2.14.241) on: Mon Nov 5 10:26:42 EST 2001
  
  Isai Priyan (@ 157.95.211.50) & Raguvaran (@ 64.124.150.144) are the same crap, R u two married or something, why do you hate me so much, ???
  
  
• From: Raghuvaran (@ 212.2.14.241) on: Mon Nov 5 10:34:35 EST 2001
  
  Raguvaran (@ 64.124.150.144) ;
  
  I swear to god, If I know who you are, I will definetly break your head, I am capable of that, OK, I have done that to so many people, but as you are such a fukin coward, you have to use my same name, look down & see if you have lost your manhood, you fukin a**.
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.25.160) on: Mon Nov 5 13:55:35 EST 2001
  
  1-5 being mudhal kattai (lowest one)
  
  6-10 being rendam kattai
  
  11- 15 being moondram kattai
  
  16-20 being naalank kattai
  
  21- 25 being aiyntham kattai
  
  26-30 being arank kattai
  
  31-35 being elank kattai
  
  36 + being ettank kattai (highest one) "
  
  AAh ! I wonder who told u that ! And a request : It is enough if you share your 'vast knowledge' in just one thread. Dont fill up all the threads and 'enlighten' more people.
  
  
• From: (^!^) (@ 207.43.195.202) on: Mon Nov 5 15:16:39 EST 2001
  
  MS: shhh!!! Please don't prevent knowledge filtering through this excresence from getting to us. :-)
  
  
• From: Raguvaran (@ 64.124.150.145) on: Mon Nov 5 17:20:08 EST 2001
  
  chappaathi chappaathi thaan roti roti thaan!!
  
  
• From: Vallipokan (@ 64.210.248.135) on: Wed Nov 7 16:40:22 EST 2001
  
  SPB is blessed with the most divinest voice, no doubt, that's why he is such a legend.
  
  
  
  
• From: Raghuvaran (@ 212.2.14.241) on: Thu Nov 8 05:14:07 EST 2001
  
  Vallipokan (@ 64.210.248.135) ;
  
  good one
  
  
• From: Raghuvaran (@ 212.2.14.241) on: Thu Nov 8 09:54:00 EST 2001
  
  http://www.themusicmagazine.com/spbsuper.html
  Listening to Vaan nila by M S Viswanathan from the 1977 film Pattinapravesam was nostalgic all right. But if nostalgia can be classified into eras, then this is not the era of A M Raja or Talat Mahmood. It evokes a totally different sensibility: not of romantic melodies and visuals of black and white films, but a more intellectual expression of emotion.
  In Vaan Nila, the orchestra arrangement, rich with guitar chords, accordion fill-ins and a lively chord progression, satisfies a sensibility looking for movement as well as aesthetic wholesomeness. The soulful violin solos add tenderness. The song progresses in an organic way, there are no patchy bits stuck in for lack of better ideas.
  Inbam kattila
  Aval deha kattila
  Kannadasan plays on the word kattil and kattu, in the first line it stands for the cot and the second the body's form.
  The majority of songs are composed by M S Viswanathan, a composer whose creative genius flowered in the demanding genre of film music. Aval oru navarasa natakam is fast, and SPB is breezy, but he was only then (1973) trying to find his own space and style.
  The erotic mood of Idazhe idazhe from Ithayakkani (1975) flows along unexpected chord progressions and melody lines. The double bass is very close to the jazz style, there are flighty but short key-flute bits and accordions fill in unobtrusively. SPB is at his cajoling best.
  The lone classically rich song is Raagangal pathinaaru from Thillu Mullu (1981). Viswanathan uses the sarod and the sitar and SPB does a definitely more creditable job than in Shankarabharanam, again music by MSV.
  There are just two songs each by G K Venkatesh and Shankar-Ganesh. G K Venkatesh, one of the greatest Indian film music composers who made a huge number of wonderful tunes in Kannada, was also popular in Tamil. The song in this tape is Thoduvudenna from Sabatham (1971). His style, characterised by a misleading light, insubstantial touch, was extremely intelligent and his progressions and movements are unpredictably delightful.
  SPB stylishly renders Shankar-Ganesh's cha-cha style song, Unnai naanparthathu from Pattikattu Raju (1975). He improvises set lines in the style of ghazal singers. This was a novelty and one feels it must have been his own contribution.
  Three songs from Ilaiyaraja whose style was moulded by G K Venkatesh also feature here. Ennadi Meenatchi from Ilamai Oonjalaadugirathu was a big hit. Raman aandalum starts with a folk-tribal chant in Kannada, then shifts over to tappanguchi style with the tribal beat tattooing the bits.
  Ilamaiyenum from Pagalil Oru Iravu, can be termed an all-time Ilaiyaraja classic. The melody is incomparable, the interludes with their sweeping violins and flutes are movingly juxtaposed with the guitar, and the chorus on the stanzas is subtle. SPB's tender voice flows with ease over the rich emotions.
  
  
  
  
• From: Isai Priyan (@ 157.95.211.50) on: Thu Nov 8 10:28:54 EST 2001
  
  Raghuvaran (@ 212.2.14.241)
  But what about MK and EK?
  
  Note:
  MK:Muthalang kattai
  EK:Ettan kattai.
  
  

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