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SPB the greatest singer that India had ever produced

Topic started by greatest_spb_fan (@ 212.2.14.241) on Thu Aug 2 04:57:19 EDT 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

why don't anybody start a thread like 'SPB the greatest singer that India had ever produced', pls

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Raguvaran (@ 212.2.14.241) on: Fri Aug 17 11:21:53 EDT 2001
  
  Ram ;
  
  Mind ur words & do not get excited, so If Rafi ruled north, then SPB ruled south, is that what u r saying?,
  
  Correction Rafi ruled in HFM, as u know there are several languages in North india, not just Hindi, Rafi did not rule in all of them, because the majority of indians are hindi speaking & it is the national languages, any Hindi singer is popular nation wide in india,than a S.Indian singer like simple as that.
  
  But with few exceptions like, rafi, lata, R.d. Burman, S.D.Burman, the northies lack talents, it is fact, even the nation's most popular MD mr.ARR is tamil, from s.india!.
  
  I agree 100% with Mr.Ram Lakshman, he is not talking Rubbish.
  
  "chand mera dil", by Rafi was not that great, he lacked shruti control & layam, at high octaves he often flared. where else SPB never lost any shruthi or layam in any songs that he had sung, take "naanum unthan oravai, naadi vantha paravai", in mythili ennai kathali, he starts the song in "nallan kattai", & proceeds to "ettank kattai", with great control & stays on ettank kattai for some time, same applys for "shankara aaaaa", singing from "muthalangati" to "ettank kattai" is easy, but not from 4th to 8th.
  
  I am telling you this from my personal singing experience.
  
  SPB's voice has a better bass & punch than Rafi, it is fact.
  
  SPB's voice is very heavy at low octaves, take "saa re ga ree ga pa tha pa", in shankaraparanam, excellent bass!, another exapmle "Thuli thuli nee padama seethai yamma", from sirpukkul muthu, when he starts his heavy voice from "muthalan kattai" & goes all the way up to "ettankattai" with great ease, another example "kamban enngu poonan shali enna anaal", from jathi mali, he sings some bits of the songs from "muthalanghatai" to "ettank katai" with great ease, he also switches from quickly from "muthalan kattai" to "ettank katai", this is amazing. another example is "kalai jhan kattu padintu katroda polla", from kalaijan(kamal film, pardon me for misspelling), another example is "unna partha pinbu naan" in khadal mannan, I can go on.............., but I have not got the time.
  
  Right, coming back to rafi, his "madhuban mein radhika nache re", he is out of control with all the swaram bit.
  
  SPB has never ever lacked this ability as Rafi lacked,
  
  So I conclude by saying that SPB is the greater than M.Rafi+Kishor Kumar
  
  thanx
  
  
• From: marathamizhan (@ cpc38.acns.fsu.edu) on: Fri Aug 17 11:27:37 EDT 2001
  
  Ram,
  
  Your comments lack refinement.No one needs an approval from you about SPB's greatness and talent.I would be happy if you prefer not to write about some one whom you dont know properly rather than giving stuff like this.Mr.Swami's and SL's opinions had facts to support their argument..but urs didnt..it was just a personal opinion put into a long passage..which communicated nothing.
  
  
• From: marathamizhan (@ cpc38.acns.fsu.edu) on: Fri Aug 17 11:32:27 EDT 2001
  
  Raghuvaran,
  
  Well said...but i guess it wouldn make much of a difference to his opinion coz iam doubtful abt his capability to understand it...
  
  
• From: rajaG (@ kcecfp02.sprint.com) on: Fri Aug 17 12:05:40 EDT 2001
  
  Comparing SPB's Hindi songs, especially the ones which he has intentionally fooled around on the stage, with Rafi or KK's Hindi songs is ridiculous. SPB is NOT a seasoned HFM singer, period. To be a playback singer in any language, apart from the basic musical talents, one has to KNOW the flow and feel of the language, as well as the inherent culture and emotions of the people. One cannot completely master this aspect unless one has been exposed to the local culture for a sustained period of time. Singing must have proper pronunciation - while it is the basic minimum, it doesn't end there. Which is why even when most Carnatic singers who (courtesy of Dikshathar Krithis) have a working knowledge of sanskrit, render "Bhajans" during the thukkada segment, it sounds like a south Indian song. Not because they are scr*wing up the tha, tHa, Ta, THa, da, dha, DHa....etc. Despite their accurate pronunciation, the sangadhis, the briga, the emotions, are all that of typical South Indian culture. Most people north of the Vindhyas wouldn't even notice that the artist is presenting a "Hindi Bhajan" until a significant portion of the song has been rendered, unless they are told beforehand. There are exceptions, but this is the general rule.
  
  The purpose of my long introduction is to once again state that to compare SPB's Hindi songs with Rafi/KK's Hindi songs is not fair. This is similar to saying that Lata, Asha, Rafi sound horrible in thamizh/thelugu, so they are really inferior singers to Unnikrishnan or Ramakrishna, for example.
  
  Only a comparison between Rafi's Hindi songs and SPB's thamizh/thelugu songs or KJY's Malayalam/thamizh songs makes any sense. KJY, for the record, has sung songs in Bengali and English too. That was a good gimmick or novelty, and just that. (The fact that ARR has made a trend out of novelty/gimmick is a separate ocean which I will not try to cross now)
  
  Talking about these three (Rafi, KJY, and SPB) when it comes to sheer technical delivery, raw musical talent KJY stands taller. Hari muralivaram, Pramadha vanam veendum, dhEva sabaathalam are just 3 examples which the other 2 cannot deliver, and have not done so - period. And there are lots more like these. Rafi was an established playback singer and the best of his times. Naturally, SPB and KJY picked up and applied many nuances from Rafi, KK, and others. However, SPB has always been an experimenter. Thus he went beyond what he picked up from these masters and left his own stamp on the songs. It is in this aspect of play back singing that he stands tallest. It is true that he heard (just like all of us) rafi's aajaa aajaa, or aajaa rE aa zaraa aa, or akElE akElE kahaan jaa rahE hO.....and took down mental notes. But when he rendered 'manmadhan vandhanaa? aan? namma sangadhi sonnaanaa?" especially that simple yet subtle "aan?" which is NOT in the lyrics, NOT in the MD's composition, that he shows his contribution.
  
  Nobody questions the greatness of any of these 3 artists. But while Rafi was a pioneer in playback singing , SPB took it to new heights.
  
  
  
  
  
• From: Sriram Lakshman (@ a060-0449.snfc.splitrock.net) on: Fri Aug 17 12:49:59 EDT 2001
  
  Ram, your posting is steeped in idiocy. Atleast I expressed my true heartfelt opinions. You have brought in what others have said about the artistes you are defending. That is a clear sign of mental inadequacy and utter lack of knowledge of the subject in question. I have heard enough of all these singers to ignore your banal comments on "perspectives". It is now quite clear that you know nothing about SPB, Rafi and KK.
  
  
• From: SL (@ a060-0449.snfc.splitrock.net) on: Fri Aug 17 12:52:47 EDT 2001
  
  'nA tO carvAn' was not during Rafi's early periods, it happened sometime around the early sixties (a good 15 years after Rafi's advent), another proof of insufficient knowledge.
  
  
• From: sl fan (@ 12.5.10.153) on: Fri Aug 17 13:42:43 EDT 2001
  
  sl, good one on spb..very clear points.
  
  :)
  
  
• From: Amit (@ 216.141.126.194) on: Fri Aug 17 16:32:50 EDT 2001
  
  RajaG, I have to admire the precision and truth in your statement:"...while Rafi was a pioneer in playback singing , SPB took it to new heights"
  So true. As Isaac Newton said, "I stand on the shoulder of giants". Great artistes in turn inspire other artistes and thankfully some like SPB have been inspired to achieve greater heights than the old masters. Who will be next? :)
  
  
• From: fan (@ webcacheh05a.cache.pol.co.uk) on: Sat Aug 18 05:27:28 EDT 2001
  
  dear rajaG;
  
  >>SPB has always been an experimenter. Thus he went beyond what he picked up from these masters and left his own stamp on the songs. It is in this aspect of play back singing that he stands tallest. It is true that he heard (just like all of us) rafi's aajaa aajaa, or aajaa rE aa zaraa aa, or akElE akElE kahaan jaa rahE hO.....and took down mental notes. But when he rendered 'manmadhan vandhanaa? aan? namma sangadhi sonnaanaa?" especially that simple yet subtle "aan?" which is NOT in the lyrics, NOT in the MD's composition, that he shows his contribution.
  
  <<
  
  I agree with the fact that SPB is an experimenter, but I do not agree with you on the fact that he picked up bits & pieces from rafi, certainly not from KK, SPB has always had his style of singing, which is unique style of singing, which stands out tallest amongst all other singers in IFM, including rafi.
  
  SPB's voice has lot more depth,bass & punch(dard) than rafi & KJY. SPB can rock but rafi & KJY can not rock. SPB can sing all sorts of song & varities, but KJY is limited to melodies,(his sad songs are excellent) & carnatic.
  
  But SPB with no classical training sings classical & semi-classical songs a lot better than the Rafi. take rafi's "madhuban mein radikha", he struggles & looses control at swaram bit!, since when spb had done this, SPB never ever went out of control in any of his song, take shankaraparanm, the song "shankaraparanamo", he says the swarms (sa re ga ma pa tha ne sa), very quickly without taking the breath for about 2-3 minutes, there was no stress, he has done this so beautifully, that had Rafi sang this, well he could not!
  
  So SPB is the tallest & fattest in IFM
  
  
• From: fan (@ webcacheh05a.cache.pol.co.uk) on: Sat Aug 18 05:29:50 EDT 2001
  
  amit;
  
  >>SPB took it to new heights"
  So true. As Isaac Newton said, "I stand on the shoulder of giants". Great artistes in turn inspire other artistes and thankfully some like SPB have been inspired to achieve greater heights than the old masters. Who will be next? :) <<
  
  Unfourtunatly no one, perhaps his son SPB charan, but that will be a long long time!!!
  
  
• From: friend (@ webcacheh07a.cache.pol.co.uk) on: Sat Aug 18 08:24:35 EDT 2001
  
  What I do not understand is , Why don't these dumb MDs make use of this genius SPB, I see because, they are a bit jealous that SPB might take a proportion of their song with his magical voice.
  
  What a shame?, I do not know when these mds open their blind eyes & call back this genius into singing like in the 70's, 80's and early 90's.
  
  99% of people dying to listen SPB divine voice.
  
  
  
  
  
• From: makky (@ proxy.sjc.netsetter.com) on: Sat Aug 18 09:22:00 EDT 2001
  
  in tamilnadu every thing is hero worship to the height of idiocrazy.although one can say he is among the one of the good singers in tamilnadu and that too for the last 2 decades and new faces has come challenging in the form of hariharan, sankar mahadevan etc.of course as the time passes people star liking different voices for example when thyagaraja bagavathar was singing there was a very big following for him (just like rajini or m g r fans)and i still feel no body since him has got the reach or control. later on T.M.S. he ruled for some time. in the same way in hindi saigal was a cult figure for some time receiving the same acclode as M.K.thiyagaraja bagavathar. later on mohamed rafi came and rest is known to every body. and i genuienly feel S.P.B is no where in the class of these giants.tamilnadu has the distinction of having unsung heroes many and hyped zeroes a lot. i leave it to your better judgement.
  
  
• From: Prashanth (@ 202.142.159.26) on: Sat Aug 18 10:00:18 EDT 2001
  
  friend ,
  
  I would like to tell you that SPB's voice has been 100pc utilised and his potential was made to be delivered by none other than Isaignyani Ilayaraaja in TELUGU. I need not mention each song of his in Telugu composed by Raaja reason being every song of his (almost 98%) is mellifluous. Why did I leave that 2pc is for the reason either it was a in a group or simply uttering words. This is not a wayward statement made just like that. It is Maestro's Greatness that he moulded SPB's voice in his compositions to be rendered beautifully.
  
  I am ignorant of his Tamil compositions. Of course, I too wonder why this day's MDs are putting him to rest. Or is SPB abstaining from singing ? Nevertheless, he is singing one or two for each MD/movie in Telugu. Manisharma has shouldered the task of what the maestro is doing with SPB. I believe, it is the producers/directors perhaps, who compel the MDs into carry on with those who attain glory with a catchy hit song (eg: Sukhvindar singh, Udit Narayan. These two sound horrible in Telugu, but are mass attracting with catchy numbers). It si the same situation with Balu (SPB) singing one or two in a movie. After listening to the other stuff in the cassette, one gets relieved after lstening to the Gana Gandharva.
  
  Finally,
  
  Give a song to all of SPB's contemporaries. ok, one's ears will have a variety of flavours listening to them. Heed it to SPB finally, one will have "Amrutham" in his ears.
  
  Thats the bottomline in bold.
  
  

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