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Why are singers from the North (or West, rather) made to sing tamil songs?

Topic started by Gopal Prasad (@ host-207-53-2-187.atl.bellsouth.net) on Wed Jul 2 16:52:41 EDT 1997.
All times in EDT +9:30 for IST.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Rats (@ 66.27.18.157) on: Sat Feb 3 01:31:19 EST 2001
  
  Kupps - Way to go!!! If someone still has any doubts about what you meant in your post, they share the brain of an amoeba. I do not see how it can be made any clearer even to a person with the meanest intelligence.
  
  oNNu mattum nichayam. To adapt what Dharmi says in Thiruvilayadal, "pAttu compose panni parisu vangubavargalum irukkanga. chumma Raja vil kutham kandupidithu pEr vangubavargulam irukkanga". vara vara, the latter seems the chosen way for most people.
  
  
• From: Subbiah (@ 62.253.90.38) on: Sat Feb 3 02:55:55 EST 2001
  
  RagaG / Kupps - good postings... thanks.
  
  So finally some good points are emerging (if we leave out the usual IR Vs. ARR fight !)
  
  1. Irrespective of the origin of the singer, it is the MD who is responsible for the diction in the Tamil Song. Singers also should take pain to show nativity in singing.
  
  2. The trend of directors insisting for songs in 'Tamil killing' style is to be condemned.
  
  3. Definitely a lot of native Tamil singing talent is untapped. The TFM MD's have a moral obligation to (Tamil to) use this vast resource... (even 'Saptha Swarangal' TV program showcased many such talents)
  
  4. (This is my point) - I feel there is a very strong reason for native Tamil singers not coming out to the light (likes of Seerkazhi, Pushpavanam Kuppusamy etc.). That is apart from TFM, no other forms of Tamil Music (folk, Tamil Classical) have been encouraged. So hardly any platform is there for these native singers to showcase their talents.
  
  It is an irony that in TamilNadu, the mainstream classical music prevails only in Telugu...
  
  TV channels which have great influence nowadays, can change this trend and make people listen to Tamil classical / folk songs. At the same time, it would become a good source of singers for the MD's also.
  Any opinions please ?
  
  
• From: prakash (@ 203.200.7.239) on: Sun Feb 4 23:54:29 EST 2001
  
  kupps,the song was abinaya sundari adugiraal...
  
  
• From: Kupps (@ 156.153.255.195) on: Mon Feb 5 01:44:46 EST 2001
  
  prakash, thanks for the clarification
  
  
• From: Vijay (@ 195.102.166.130) on: Mon Feb 5 06:59:08 EST 2001
  
  You know what, folks, I don't have too much of a problem with people who don't pronounce Tamil words perfectly. For example, people like K.J.Yesudass and others used to make small errors, but most of the North Indian singers sing Tamil in a way that makes me think they are trying to make fun of the language (I know they aren't really trying to make fun of the language, but that's how it sounds). Even that's okay. But most of the North Indian singers don't even have good voices! Except Sadhna Sargam, none of the female singers from the North have good voices. Kavitha Krishnamoorthy, Mahalakshmi, Vasundra Das and others may be good at actually bringing out the tune of a song well, but they don't have very sweet voices. They're like actors who are good at acting, but not very good-looking. And they're voices certainly don't suit our Tamil actresses.
  
  
• From: Kupps (@ 156.153.255.195) on: Mon Feb 5 08:34:27 EST 2001
  
  in lighter side:
  
     they're voices certainly don't suit our Tamil actresses Vijay do you think TF has tamil actresses?? :-)
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Mon Feb 5 09:44:37 EST 2001
  
  Kupps:
  
  Nalla Kelvi!!
  
  
• From: pandu (@ 203.199.236.218) on: Mon Feb 5 13:19:19 EST 2001
  
  Subbiah-
  Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram and Pushpavanam Kuppusamy are established singers in Tamilnadu through their proficiency in Classical, light and folk singing respectively. The former has already proved his credibility.
  
  They have their 'makkal mandram' platforms in temples, marriages and other public functions to show their talent.
  
  Why didnt MDs use them in Tamil films is the question? Or, they should have been utilised in the films tuned by the MDs in Kannada, telugu isnt it?
  Fliflo, STS - Any comments?
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Mon Feb 5 14:31:56 EST 2001
  
  Pusphavanam kuppusami has been singing in IR's movies. But the question we should ask ourselves is can their voice be fit for latest heros. Where do they stand when they are compared to leading playback singers such as SPB, KJY, Hariharan etc.
  in movies. Nativity is certainly a big issue. But if there is somebody to beat above singers then I am sure the chances may be bright.
  
  Even Sirkazhi Govindarajan himself sang only limited number of songs and that too, many of them are only philosopichal or devotional.
  
  
• From: S T S (@ 65.3.195.189) on: Mon Feb 5 21:48:44 EST 2001
  
  Fliflo,
  
  Wow. You have reflected mine. I can elaborate on this. It all depends on two things.
  
  1) Current Trend
  2) Suitability (to current heroes)
  
  1) When I say trend, HH or UK are current trend (like SPB or TMS before). When TMS was ruling the roost, Seerkaazhi was there but you can count the number of filmi songs he sang.
  
  2) Also Sivasidambaram's voice won't suite the current young heroes like Vijay/Ajith/Surya. Also it won't suit Kamal/Rajini.
  
  Also I believe since Sivasidhambaram is a doc by profession and may not be aggressively marketing himself for filmi songs. Also the kind of reluctance from MDs to approach a classical singer.Kuppusamy is more suitable for folk songs. Hence IR used him for a folk song. Still, they can be used for odd songs like sad songs or songs come in background. Moreover if your Tamil pronounciation is good/excellent, then that itself is a disqualification.
  
  I have one more doubt. Probably you can give your opinion. Why most of the leading carnatic singers (especially male singers) are not singing many filmi songs (excepting KJY, HH, UK)?
  
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 130.203.167.47) on: Mon Feb 5 22:53:35 EST 2001
  
  STS:
  
  This is good subject for discussion. It will be interesting to see why not many carnatic singers were not playback singers. I feel till recently Carnatic music remained more Karnatik, with not too many singers involved themselves in film music. Probably, on their eyes film music was of substandard and was never near to the best carnatic ones. SPB, despite being the best playback singer, was never been considered as a good carnatic singer. And probably that was true. SPB's carnatic songs are not that good to hear unlike his movie songs. But he had an amazing golden voice, ideally suited for film situations. We all aware of Raja's usage of very complicated ragas in movie songs. However, Raja by himself was not considered as a good carnatic singer. However, he had creativity in surplus that nobody could compete. I feel, till date there are two mutually exclusive tracks namely carnatic music and film music. Although, both involves each other to some extent still they were considered to be two different tracks. More like Ilakkanam and Ilakkiyam in tamil. Singers in both these tracks are always not successful in performing the other. How well a carnatic singer can sing wonderful duet songs! How good they are in singing Dappanguthu songs? KJY is one who could handle both in a exceptional manner. Ofcourse, female singers were more successful than men in knowing both. I have seen some carnatic singers singing film songs in more carnatic manner. Leaving few exceptions, not many sang film songs. Probably, they did not want to. Probably, they felt by doing that they break the grammer and go one level lower. Probably, the MD's were also looking for a more versatile singer, which had made their jobs easy. Probably, each carnatic singer was an established one and their ego might have prevented them to work under an MD who does not knew much of carnatic. I feel the answer for our question is either one or a combination of each other.Remember, when Unnikrishnan sang "Ennavale adi ennavale", despite people appreciations, great critics including Subbudu criticised him of breaking the rules. Now we see many youngsters who are good carnatic singers showing similar interest in film music too. But do we get people like SPB or KJY in the future? Only time has the answer.
  
  
• From: Badri (@ 203.199.220.166) on: Thu Feb 8 10:10:20 EST 2001
  
  It is only a matter of getting used to seeing the heros with new voices.
  
  AR Rahman broke the monotony and made North, east west and what not, sing for the tamil heros! It may be unacceptable, but it is true that it broke the myth in tfm (TMS for MGR-Sivaji, PBS/AMRaja for Gemini, SPB/KJY for Rajini and all heros etc).
  It is a myth that voices dont suit heros. Given the oppurtunities all the singers would have proved their ability. It is only the matter of the range of the song and accomodating the voice to the style of the song, be it Sivasidambaram or kuppusamy.
  
  Have they ever tried these voices for Ajit/Vijay/Surya. How can one conclude without seeing it in practical! Imagine AR Rahman used a shrill voice like shahul hameed for sathyaraj and Arjun with a particular variety. He has the talent, while other MDs had the talent to give excuses for their inability to compose to their ability.
  
  As rightly said by STS not all singers with 'Self respect' will not leave their credibility aside and stoop down to compromise their values for oppurtunities to sing for cinema. Did Seerkhazhi ever care for cinema music? He was a classical and devotional musician. He just did his best with the number of songs he got(or requested by music directors to sing) and made 'all' the songs succesful, be it romantic hits or philosophical hits to be remembered world over even today. And so does his son. What is wrong in it! If he is a doc, does it disqualify his tfm singing. It is all in the minds of Music directors. Marketing is only for materials and not for true talents.
  
  
• From: NU Moorthy (@ 203.199.236.6) on: Tue Feb 13 22:00:44 EST 2001
  
  Well said Badri!
  It is clear that there is no 'gnaanam' for MDs to use tamil voices. They neither know tamil nor music. That is the reason why they are calling Hindi voices into Tamil state which had antihindi agitation. Are the politicians sleeping? Cant they insist on a criteria for Govt.awards,to have tamil voices and tamil faces totally!
  Iam sure you cannot do the same in Hindi or malayalam films!
  
  
• From: travis (@ 194.85.200.36) on: Wed Feb 14 04:42:54 EST 2001
  
  'gnanam' of arr i think is not in question... but why, if someone has talent let them sing... SPB (though not strictly tamil) has sung in 6 languages... so imagine if ir had kept us away from spb... or janaki... SPB, chitra, kjy have been singing other language songs including hindi... and anti-hindi propaganda is politics which is, imho, not in any way related to music.
  I also dont like udit's voice except in some songs, I think his voice doesnt suit any of our heroes but nowadays, the trend is music is not solely made for movies... Not like in old days, when we listen to TMS, we can immediately distinguish it was sung by MGR or shivaji. But now, music is made for the album.. SO using exotic(!) singers, we cant even know who is acting out the song.. It can be anyone from Rajni to Vijay or Ajith.. My personal feeling is at least udit doesnt suit rajni.
  
  
• From: CK (@ 203.197.134.131) on: Tue Feb 20 12:06:39 EST 2001
  
  travis - where is the question of linking the general lack of gnanam of MDs with that of ARR. There is no mention about ARRs gnanam specifically anywhere in this forum. Udits and Sukvindar have good voice bu their diction kills tamil! Undoubtedly the present day film industry from IR has the tendency to trade on voices instead of trying new native voices.
  Iam sure if given a chance in the current market, even IR will quit SPB and Yesudas (their voices are already shaky) and will choose udit and sukvinder introduced by ARR; as he did with Hariharan for Thalaata varuvalo, (Cant SPB or Charan or Vijaydas sing it?).
  
  

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