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Gems of K S Chitra

Topic started by AVR (@ 143.127.3.10) on Mon Jun 10 09:36:14 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Off late, K S Chitra has become one of my hot favourites amongst female singers. Her voice has a unique and rich timbre which I really enjoy. lets take this opportunity to discuss songs by her in Tamil and various other languages - Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. Her songs sung under the tutelage of Ilayaraja, AR Rehman, Ravindran et al are really excellent, moreover she has a delightful classical touch as is seen in her rendition of "alaipayuthe" and the Sindhubhairavi songs. She has done a great deal of Hindu and Christian devotional albums in Southern languages...lets discuss those. My favourite Chitra song so far remains "gopika vasantham" and her duet with SPB in the Telugu
movie Swathikiranam. What a voice and that sharpness!

So please, lets discuss her songs!! :-)
(If this topic has been discussed in full detail - similar to the Vani Jairam thread - please post a link to it). Otherwise lets make this an encyclopedia of KSC songs.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.87.30.219) on: Tue Jul 8 20:56:53 EDT 2003
  
  Ravi -
  
  In a recent poll conducted by this portal Sadhna Sargam had 250+ voters who said that she "deserved her success in tamil films." Who am I to disagree with mass-appeal and acceptance?
  
  I am still trying to work out how negatives are spun around as positives by the sheer relativism: Sadhna tamizh is not as bad as Chitra's hindi, or Udit Narayan's tamizh is flat-out worse than Sadhna's "recent" tamizh. Or how Sadhna has come a long, long way since "koanjam mainakkkale" and sounds "more" tamil now, and is simply ahead of Adnan Saami...
  
  All of which, if I were to subscribe to postive thinking myself, is only proof of tamil people's limitless capacity for acceptance and celebration (by comparison, or by default.)
  
  Why, even after a 1000+ songs in tamizh Chitra does not get her two LA's right or her IN's (chinna and periya) are used interchangably, depending on her preference at that particular moment, I suppose. To most this might seem as nitpicking or nothing quite so serious...and I might agree, but for this: If one starts making conscessions for these glitches, then where does it stop...what is the difference between little and colossal? And what becomes the yardstick for perfection in the delivery of language? That Chitra is better than Adnan in tamizh? Or SPB's hindi is passable if you listen to Hariharan's telugu?
  
  Regarding your statement that Chitra's voice was not utilised to the fullest in tamizh...From the mid-80s to the late 90s she was queen-bee in tamizh and telugu (besides malayalam where she was always the one and only.) I doubt the "fullest" was not acheived for lack of opportunity or challenges. Fact is: Her songs in the 90s for tamizh films became run-of-the-mill. She (in my opinion) brought nothing original in voice or delivery to those songs. They were sung with adequate commitment no doubt, but they did not register as marvels of voice or artistry. Yet, there was no way out for tamizh listeners. Once you have only one voice as supreme (in a commercial sense, for a decade plus) and it is that voice that you hear day in and day out, film in and film out, then you give in - without option or escape. In political terms, this imposition might be close to "propaganda." Complacency sets in - both for the listener and the singer (and also for the MD.) Isn't this the case with the "acceptance" of Sadhna and her tamizh these days? When all the top MDs line-up to sign on a singer who has no cultural grounding (nor aptitude) in/for the language, then you are only going to get faulty, flavourless tamizh, and soon that faulty tamizh turns into flavour of the week, month, year and decade. So much so, even native speakers (who should know better, but don't) begin accepting it as "paravaillai, cute-aa irukku. Munbu padina tamizhukku idhu evvallavu mael..."
  Such generosity (and voluntary abdication of cultural pride/language/ethos) were not touching for its naivete, it would surely be pathetic.
  
  So: To answer your original question - Chitra's hindi may not be AS BAD AS Sadhna's tamizh (in your opinion.) But, sadly, bad is bad. And I seldom play the relative game :-)
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.25.241) on: Tue Jul 8 23:09:02 EDT 2003
  
  "Why, even after a 1000+ songs in tamizh Chitra does not get her two LA's right or her IN's (chinna and periya) are used interchangably, depending on her preference at that particular moment, I suppose. "
  
  Please susbtantiate with examples. Personally I have not found errors in pronunciation.
  
  Sadhana is sweet voiced - sure. But I cannot listen to her thamiz on and on. Tonal quallity - Sadhana is definitely pleasant - I agree. But once again, "I" personally never had to shut my ears or anything with Chitra. With SJ..oh yeah.
  
  I think the "passability" which you were discussing about SPB's hindi and HH' telugu is more of a perspective issue. A "basically" telugu guy who knows hindi (and even speaks hyderabadi hindi) would be happy to let SPB pass in both languages. And a guy who is "basically" brought up in hindi atm, say for example a conventioanlly telugu guy brought up in UP or Bihar or MP, would be happy to let HH pass in both. For these two guys, I think SPB and HH represent the two extremes which they are "comfortable" with. The first guy would not let HH pass and the latter would not let SPB.
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.25.241) on: Wed Jul 9 01:00:02 EDT 2003
  
  AV:
  
  I am sorry I hardly keep track of the discography of any artist. I think Saravanan of DF may be able to provide an answer. Please ask him.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.87.30.219) on: Wed Jul 9 01:24:34 EDT 2003
  
  MS -
  
  I respect your taste and have no doubt that Chitra's songs/singing has brought you great joy.
  And it's only appropriate that I should exit without acrimony and leave all her fans here and elsewhere to revel in the gems of her discography.
  If you don't mind, I'd rather not get into (further) examples of mispronunciations and misplaced syllabic stresses of this celebrated singer.
  Please continue your spirited discussion.
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 68.51.215.28) on: Wed Jul 9 01:36:19 EDT 2003
  
  "If one starts making conscessions for these glitches, then where does it stop...what is the difference between little and colossal? And what becomes the yardstick for perfection in the delivery of language?"
  
  Naaz there are no such firm yardsticks in a pukka commercial media like cinema. Tamil cinema has not vowed to keep high standards of Tamil nor is it to be evaluated using such yardsticks. When you can have lyrics in which English words are mixed in, flawless pronunciation of the tamil words in such a song becomes a moot point. Evaluation is subjective and relative. The songs/lyrics are all a reflection of the changing trends in lifestyle/culture. You cannot accuse ARR of introducing English/Hindi words in "Maaro Maaro" song in Boys just like how you didnt accuse MGR/KVM of introducing English words in "Hello miss yenge poreenga" especially when both the songs have been well received. We might have our own preferences/dislikes. Dont mistake me, dont think I am supporting the present trend. I just think that the standards you expect the singers to adhere to are a little too high as far as playback singing is concerned. You and myself are free to hold such standards but we cannot expect others to hold the same :-)
  
  Such harsh yardsticks are applicable when you are evaluating participants in an oration contest on Tamil literature, not in cinema :-) If there is such a contest on Sun TV with the prize being awarded to the guy who had obvious flaws in pronunciation then we have a reason to complain.
  
  To me the difference between "little" and "colossal" is the difference between pronunciation not being perfect but still not bad enough to distract me enough from appreciating the song or make me sit up and take notice(former) and pronunciation being godawful to the point where I have to rewind it several times to make out the words.(In the latter case - Udit). Few others lie somewhere in between. In the former case I am ready to make concessions as long as the singing is exemplary like Chithra
  
  And one more thing:
  
  "Her songs in the 90s for tamizh films became run-of-the-mill. She (in my opinion) brought nothing original in voice or delivery to those songs. They were sung with adequate commitment no doubt, but they did not register as marvels of voice or artistry"
  
  you should blame the pathetic breed of composers in the 90s for that, not Chithra. When the opportunity was there she scored heavily. "Yenge enadhu Kavidhai"(Kandukonden Kandukonden) is a song that I cannot even begin to imagine Uma Ramanan render with the fluidity of Chithra even if UR's pronunciation is good. But in general, great artistry couldnt be expected of Chithra when she had to sing mostly mediocre compositions in TFM in the 90s. Actually, I thought she wasnt even used as much in the 90s with the trend being to introduce 2 singers with bad pronunciation in every new album :-)
  
  
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.25.241) on: Wed Jul 9 02:51:37 EDT 2003
  
  Naaz:
  
  I do not really find any seeds of acrimony in any of the posts that have come here.
  
  (1) Do I revel in the pleasure of the songs of Chitra ?
  
  Undoubtedly yes.
  
  (2) Have I come across any pronunciation errors ?
  
  No.
  
  (3) Have you (Naaz) ?
  
  Yes. ( U have claimed)
  
  Now I am just asking out of curiosity in which songs she messed up. Simple!
  
  (4) Will your pointers create any "dent" in the "taste" I possess ?
  
  No.
  
  (5) Will they let me change my opinion on her pronunciation ability ?
  
  Yes, if I find the claim substantiated.
  
  (6) If you do not want to list out a very few examples, why even make a stmt in a thread which was supposedly for the Gems of chitra ? And now that it has been made, why atleast not substantiate ? I have known u as a regular contributor in DF. So why not ?
  
  See. It is simple man !
  
  
• From: AV (@ 132.206.72.96) on: Wed Jul 9 08:51:27 EDT 2003
  
  Yes Naaz - I would agree with what MS has written above. While I cannot say anything for the Tamil pronounciation part, it would be interesting to see why you dont find anything original or evocative in Chitra's voice/ delivery. And the voice quality is after all independent of language. It would be interesting to see why you don't find her songs to be miraculous in terms of vocal ability. After all she has handled so many songs in Malayalam with such ease and elan. And then, her songs for Raveendran, Sharath are like little Everests to scale, and it is her unparalleled achievement that she has done superlative justice to those songs. But even in Tamil, the sargam bit of "Paadariyaen" and the part ending in "Mari Mari Ninne" should convince a music lover that Chitra was all set to become one of India's greatest singers ever. Ilayaraaja chose her for the Telugu version of "Kavithai Kelungal". Chitra has rendered the entire part in Telugu except the opening alaap which is not the most difficult part of the song. I find her singing in this song (not pron. because I dunno Telugu either!)to be frankly, genuinelely as good as (if not better) than VJs Tamil version. In Swathikiranam, when I hear "Aanathi Neeyaraa" I feel I don't want to listen to any other singer in the world. But then when I listen to the SPB-KSC duet "Pranathi Pranathi Pranathi", I change my mind. IMHO and strictly IMHO, in the whole album it is "Shivani Bhavani" that sticks out as a real real sore thumb.
  
  Both the singers (KSC and VJ) have had extensive classical training, and Chitra seems to be giving the pure classical circuit a serious thought. She has terrific breath control (I can site "Shree Sarswathy Namostute", "Chaliye Kunjanamo", "Gopaangane Aathmavin" as excellent examples). Ravi has earlier spoken of "Alaipaayudhey Kanna" and "Krishna Nee Begane Baaro". I haven't been able to get over these two songs despite repeated listenings. The former has formidable ups and downs in terms of pitch changes, and the latter one is a gentle, soft melody, beckoning the little Krishna. Chitra does bring out the expressions so delicately and beautifully that one needn't even have to understand the language completely to enjoy her songs.
  
  In Hindi, I am not particularly fond of her songs in general. I haven't heard MKDPH except for the trailers (As an aside, I heard that the movie is a terrific bore, and the only reason it is popular is that the female fan following of Hrithik is proud that he has done some Salman-Khan-type stunts!). In any case, while "issk" for "ishq" is hideous, the extra emphasis on the "b" in "ab" or the "m" in "prem" or the "q" in "ishq" might have been for the purpose of fitting the metre. In fact, while reciting poetry, it is customary to pronounce certain words in a slightly different manner so as to fit the rhythm. It is done in English as well as Hindi or any other language. I remember even poets during Kavi Sammelans stretching out those endings for poetic rhythm. I am just saying that that MIGHT be one reason why "Ab" became "Abb". I usually run 20 miles away from Annu Mallick's songs these days (refugee and a couple more were strict exceptions), but maybe I could give these songs a listen.
  
  
• From: AV (@ 132.206.72.96) on: Wed Jul 9 08:54:24 EDT 2003
  
  Correction:
  
  "....should convince a music lover that Chitra was all set to become one of India's greatest singers ever - AND THAT SHE REALLY ACHIEVED THAT POSITION".
  
  
  

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