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Vani Jayaram's songs

Topic started by avvaiyar (@ 203.116.61.132) on Wed Jan 27 02:29:28 EST 1999.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I'm a new visitor to this website. I couldn't see anyone discussing about Vani Jayaram's songs.
Let me start this one.(It had been there previously pls. forgive me!)

"Ezhu swarangalukkul ethanai paadal..
Ithaya surangathul ethanai kelvi...
Vaazhum manitharukkul ethanai salanam.."

Wow! Beautiful voice!

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: avr (@ 203.197.80.200) on: Sun Dec 23 00:51:43 EST 2001
  
  Naaz:
  
  Since you were quoting the Neela review. VJ has done a fabulous job,right. She sounds very good even today, but not as good as yesterday.
  
  Also, that same review (I just had a look at it now) says that VJ sounds mechanically correct in many places in the Neela songs.
  
  
  About people typecasting someone as a bhajan singer..... we need not convince them. But we can quote examples to prove the contrary - as I have.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Sun Dec 23 01:24:20 EST 2001
  
  AVR -
  
  No, I did not mean to suggest that Lata sings everything in "falsetto." I was just saying that the Lata falsetto (when it happens in certain songs with the Lalalala) may have been pleasing a few decades ago - but now it just sounds a bit Kitschy and Trite (not to mention, somewhat infuriating, when she does so now, given her age.)
  Yes, I read that about the Neela reviews as well. I took it up with the editor/writer of the review and got a response (the previous line in the review talks about good arrangement and post-production values - and I said that to use the word "mechanical" in the next line left one with an ambiguous feeling: was it the singer? Or was it the general technicality that made the singer sound "mechanical" - that was a bit bothways, I thought - so I posed the question). He said that he had not given it much thought - and said he saw the point I was making...He said that VJ was in form - but the song mixing and as her result her "voice" sounded mechanical. I was glad for the clarification (Of course, VJ can sound "mechanical" if that's what one hears - no problem with that, really.) I was more interested in the usage of the qualifier, than what it qualified.
  
  Life is too short to convince other people, I admit. And no that is not my involvement here. I just happy to share my thoughts (some good, some bad, some indifferent) and also pick others' minds on how they receive/appreciate/feel about certain songs by VJ. I beleive that Indian Music is a better place, to have a singer like VJ (among others). But what I see in her as a singer/artiste is accentuated by what I know/feel/perceive to be unique and moving. No impositions.
  Music, like beauty, lies in the ears (or eyes) of the beholder (beholden).
  
  More later.
  
  
• From: avr (@ 203.197.81.121) on: Sun Dec 23 01:42:44 EST 2001
  
  Naaz:
  Then in that case, a "lalalala" is almost always a falsetto. Indeed it is supposed to be one, for a different kind of effect altogether. Then why did u specifically mention "lata's falsetto" in earlier decades? The high-pitched "aare aare" in "dil pukare aare aare" with rafi, was meant o be sung like that. the yoddleyoo act in "woh ek nigaah ja mili" was supposed to be like that.
  
  Even the highest pitch in "happiest moment" isnt a natural VJ tone. A falsetto may have its own beauty, though it shouldnt be done throughout the song, like another favourite singer of yours does, esp. when she is singing "somebody else's" songs in a desparate and pathetic attempt to prove that she is better than "those other singers" :-)
  
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Sun Dec 23 08:46:10 EST 2001
  
  AVR -
  
  I am by no means objecting to the "falsetto" as an aspect/technical feature in a song. LM did it rather well. So well, that it did become her trademark with time. I also believe that the same LM was divine when she did an O Basanti or a Mo Se Chal Kiye Ja Ye. Please don't take my comments personally - I do acknowledge (always have) that LM is one of India's immeasurable and irreplacable treasures. And she will always be.
  
  I have been thinking about the "sweetness" thing for some time and I would like to share my thoughts with you. "Sweetness," (a rather cloying and poor adjective as it is to describe a voice - let's work with that for our purposes here...) is an atttribute that includes (or qualifies) both feeling, and texture. For an edible example: Think Gulab Jamun Vs. Rosagolla. Milk, Sugar, Syrup, Orbs - the effect yet is so different. Now if I were to classify (female) singers (as this is an adjective used only to describe their voices) I would do it this way: LM/KK/VJ and Geeta Dutt (have/had) belong to one family of "voice" texture. AB/SJ/PS/AY - belong to the other. Now consider what Observer said earlier about that song from Natakame Ullagam (that duet with SPB - in the other thread - where he said VJ was wiped out by SPB) - it is not so much a statement of bias as it is a statement of tonal variants and texture. LM's voice (this is my personal opinion) can be sweet - but, like KK's/VJ's and Geeta Dutt's - it has to strive a bit to be "mellow." That is why (once again my PO) the above singers don't come across as entirely successful in the "ghazal" format (when compared to Bhajan/Geet/Dhrupad etc). This is not a lack of "sweetness" - it is merely a consequence of their "timbre" or the tonal resonance of their voice/scale. Whereas AB/SJ/AY voices work well with the "mellow" or "seductive" tonalities (a different kind of sweetness/texture - eg. Umrao Jaan, Ananda Raagam, PS's old hits with Viswa-Ramamurthy - just to name a few from scores of such melodies). LM/VJ/KK have tried their hand at it too - and yes, they have been successful - but one always reverts to their other songs. These forways into "mellow" seem like cute aberrations ( and I mean that in a complimentary way - Bahon Mein Chale Aao, Haanji Haan Maine Sharab Pi Hai, Nadinaen, Thanimayil, Nayak Nahin Khalnayak Hai Thu...a few random examples.)
  This leads us to the pairing: the SJ/SPB team (both under "mellow" ) worked well for IR's many compositions. The VJ/KJY/PJC trio worked well with the MSV/IR compositions. (In Hindi LM/Mukesh, LM/Kishore - AB/Rafi, AB/Talat) This was not a coincidence: It was the compatibility of "textures" of tonality. That's why LM/VJ always get pulled (in the North/South divide) into a debate about "versatility". They can be just as fine in "mellow" numbers - but it is true that their "timbre" works better in songs which are composed on a higher scale/have a peaking octave. The "Sweetness" aspect is intact - only different.
  
  Just a disclaimer: The above comparisons are my way of working through a point of discussion. They do not by any means (consciously) suggest a preferred hierarchy or order of singers. I have used "comparisons" only to facilitate/explicate a point - and that is how it to be read.
  
  
• From: kik (@ 207.0.105.194) on: Sun Dec 23 21:45:21 EST 2001
  
  RR: I can transfer the song into mp3 - don't know how to do .ra(m?). Also, even with the compression mp3 offers, yahoo
  complains that the files are too big to send by email. I think a website would be the easiest way to u/l the songs. On a
  different note, I discovered a ghazal album by VJ while organizing my tape collection (trying to, anyways) called Parvaaz
  w/ music by Murli Manohar Swaroop. Reviews? Naaz? GR?
  
  
• From: yvs mani (@ 164.100.193.40) on: Mon Dec 24 00:43:52 EST 2001
  
  while watching deiveega raagangal ( srikanth starrer), i found a good duet by JC * VJ :
  paavai nee malligai
  paal nila punnagai.....
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Dec 24 00:49:59 EST 2001
  
  Kik : I have heard Parvaaz. It is a sincere but modest effort. As I said in my previous posting VJ's voice works for Geets/Naghmas - but it is only just-so-mellow in the "ghazal" format. However, here are my picks from the album: "Ki Zamane Ne Jafa"(Side B first song, I think) - beautiful lyrics by Kaifi Azmi and well-done by VJ. "Baat Bas Se Nikal Chali Hai..." - a fast-paced, breezy number which is quite catchy. And the final naghma "Kab mera Nash-e-man ehle chaman..." - opening alaap sets the mood quite nicely and VJ is mellifluous. The other tracks on the album are adequate - but not astounding.
  BTW Parvaaz means The Song Bird.
  
  The above, as usual, is my own personal take on the album. Of course, once you listen to it, you will have your own opinions/favorites from the album. You will enjoy the album a lot more if you are familiar with Urdu poetry. VJ's Urdu pronunciation is on the mark - a good measurement of this is the stress on the urdu "gha" and "qa" - which some singers have a difficulty getting "right".
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Dec 24 00:56:11 EST 2001
  
  Kik - while listening to Parvaaz, pay close attention to the pronunication of the words "gham" and "qatil" - these two words are the pivots of (most) urdu poetry (sorrow and heartbreak!) - and VJ gets them like a pro.
  
  
• From: Karthi (@ 63.21.181.216) on: Mon Dec 24 03:38:07 EST 2001
  
  avr, didn't "Ethi Ruka Nanu" fit the kid in ShankaraBharanam very nicely? I feel VJ's voice was a given for a kid whereas SJ's would be a forced one!
  
  
• From: Karthi (@ 63.21.181.216) on: Mon Dec 24 03:39:38 EST 2001
  
  Naaz, unga comments-a naa othukkareno illaiyo, unga language-a rombave rasikkiren:))
  
  
• From: avr (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Mon Dec 24 03:47:04 EST 2001
  
  naaz:
  No. I never even for once thought that thats a child's voice at all.IMO of course :-)
  
  
• From: avr (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Mon Dec 24 03:48:27 EST 2001
  
  OTOH SJs sangeeta shikshanam was really good ... from the point of view of imitating a child.And I dont think she sounded in any manner contrived while doing the mimicry
  
  
• From: avr (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Mon Dec 24 04:34:51 EST 2001
  
  Naaz:
  
  Are u planning to write a book on VJ (or have u done one already). Just curious to know.U have both the things needed - a language flair and sufficient knowledge of songs by her in many languages.
  
  Thanks,
  AVR.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Dec 24 10:18:03 EST 2001
  
  Karthi -
  
  "Rasigane" endru paadava? "Snegidhane" endru koova-va? (Thank you for your kind words. Yetho, ennal mudinthathai seikiren...)
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Dec 24 10:28:10 EST 2001
  
  AVR -
  
  I don't for a second believe that my "opinions" are quite so profound as to merit a book lenght exegesis. However, thanks for the confidence!
  I am sure it is also apparent (to you) that I am familiar with the repetoire of other singers...I do try to listen to a lot of music, and not just music by VJ. This thread has really rejuvenated my interest in Tamil music. I am not hitting my old tapes/LPs with a vengeance (nostalgia can be murder! :-) )
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Dec 24 10:59:00 EST 2001
  
  Can anyone tell me which film this song is from:
  Nee Venmalligai
  Thaen Un Punnagai
  Mauname Kathalin Maaligai
  
  (the film starred Vijaykanth and Nalini - I think. It was directed by Chandrashekar - Music S-G).
  
  

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