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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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Neel's VJ Songs

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: balaji (@ 129.130.229.193) on: Thu Apr 11 21:24:34 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz - Please post the reviews.
  I still remember-once i had a big argument with one of my friend regarding vani's meera songs. She
  complained that vani's diction was terrible but I seemed to think otherwise. So I would love to read the reviews to know how other critics felt about her songs.
  Regarding the saval song-nanthane oru pudu kavithai - was the tamil version of rasputin-Boneym song
  Vani had also sung -Yen kanal vazhkayile yellam-it was supposedly the tamil version of Chiquittita (only the opening lines)- ABBA song.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Thu Apr 11 22:04:58 EDT 2002
  
  Nee(ngal) Ketaal Naan Maataen Yendra Sollvaen...
  
  Here were go again:
  
  ON Meera:
  
  "No bhajan by Meera can be insignificant, but when combined with the purity of Ravi Shankar's music and Vani Jairam's voice, her songs are transformed to intensely poignant moments of an individual soul's union with God"
  
  Asha Kasbekar, Sunday Standard, 27th May 1979 Bombay.
  
  "Helping the director (Gulzar) throughout is the distinctive music score by Ravi Shankar, beautifully composed and sung with sincerity for him by Vani Jairam."
  
  Khalid Mohammed, The Times of India, 27 May 1979
  
  (Interesting to note that both the reviews appeared on the same day, one in the film review (KM), and one a special feature on Meera's Bhajans (AK).)
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Thu Apr 11 22:13:39 EDT 2002
  
  On Shankarabharanam:
  
  "One felt choked with ecstasy listening to "Manasa Sancharare" (sama). The progression of "Brochevarevarura" (Khamas) from the comedy of a jazzified version to how it should be rendered in clean melody and rhythm and the joyous expression of the song's final movement (Seethapathe Naapai Neekabhimanamuledha) in fitting Kuchipudi abhinaya and two plaintive devotionals sung (Paluke Bhangara and Yedhirutho Daya) sung to the accompaniment of a single string country drone are other memorable artistic highlights of this film."
  
  The Hindu, 11 April 1980 Madras.
  
  "In fact no classical musician has offered anythinng even approximating to the ecstatic song experience provided by the playback singer who has sung the Sadasiva Brahmendra devotional in Sama, "Manasa Sancharare" in this film."
  
  NMN, Music Critic, The Hindu, 20 June 1980
  
  Should I post the Live Concert reviews? They are a few paras in length...
  
  Let me know - and I will do so in the next half hour...
  
  
• From: Neel D (@ 24.98.41.115) on: Thu Apr 11 22:25:17 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz, you don't have to keep asking.
  
  
• From: kik (@ 207.0.105.224) on: Thu Apr 11 22:50:04 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz: Pl post the live concert reviews and any other write-ups you have on VJ.
  
  BTW, I was trying to create CDs of VJs' songs from various tapes a couple days back and came across several that I never remembered/heard of but have. E.g. pallaandu vaazhga - I'd only heard sorgathin thirappuvizha before. But there are 3 others: maasi maasa kadaisiyilE machchaan vanthaaru, chellapaappa (solos) and a duet w/ TMS. Since this movie was a remake of the 50s Do aankhen barah haath once can actually compare Lata vs. VJ - the two solos are basically the puppet/toy song and tak tak dhoom dhoom if you've heard this score.
  
  The TMS duet is puthiyathOr ulagam seivOm previously rendered for another MGR movie by seerkaazhi - chandrOthayam.
  
  Meenava nanban and maduraiyai meetta sundarapaandian are both VJ scores - excepting one non-VJ female voice used in MMS. Meenava nanban is interesting - VJ has a duet each w/ TMS (kannazhagu singaarikku), SPB (nEram pournami nEram), and KJY (thangathil mugameduthu) apart from pongum kadalOsai.
  
  
• From: avr (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Thu Apr 11 23:34:44 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz:
  
  The review snippets u have posted are still about light classical and not pure classical concerts. I had asked about Vani Jairam's khayal concerts i.e. raaga expansions and not raaga-based songs. the review by Subbudu seems to be about raaga-based songs like bhajans. (Does he/she know Marathi :-) ??)
  
  About Meera, I wish to leave it there...thats that.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Thu Apr 11 23:41:47 EDT 2002
  
  Reviews of Live Concerts (in instalments :-))
  
  "Indian film singer Vani Jairam gave an excellent performance at Dubai's Strand Cinema on Thursday night. You don't really sit down to criticise the performance of an artiste of her stature. She doesn't have to prove herself.
  
  The joy of listening to a singer like Vani, versed in the intricacies of classical music, is that where you can't follow the language, the pleasure is hardly lessened - the voice of the singer, its inflexions and undulations in that case take on all the characteristics of a fine musical instrument.
  
  And it was a pleasure too watching her five-piece orchestra improvising the effects of a 40-piece one."
  
  Brij Bhushan Sharma, Khaleej Times, Dubai, 12 December 1987 ( this is an abridged version of a longer review.)
  
  This is a snippet from a feature on VJ:
  
  "Vani, who shows no complexes and no inhibitions, strikes a human chord, welcoming with warmth those who sought her out, conversing at ease like a friend, not a professional artiste addressing an ardent admirer."
  
  Emirates News, Abu Dhabi - 28 July 1988.
  
  There are two more reviews that I have in my file. One is a full page article on VJ and her music by Sushila Mishra for Hindustan Times. And another in Hindi (which I will translate and transliterate in a day or two.) I will try and post a few snippets from the Mishra piece as well. Stay tuned!! :-))
  
  
  
  
  
• From: AVR (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Thu Apr 11 23:46:07 EDT 2002
  
  Ummm thats still not what I had asked for, naaz :)
  Okay okay I msu be more patient :-)
  
  
• From: balaji (@ 129.130.229.224) on: Thu Apr 11 23:52:27 EDT 2002
  
  Thanks a bunch Naaz.
  VJ sang the song Ore naal with spb in the movie ilamai oonjaladhugirathu (song featured on kamal and sripriya-it plays in the background). The same movie in Hindi was Dil-E-NAADAN same song -Chandni raat mein ek bhar-lata kishore duet featured on rajeshkanna and jayapradha. But still i felt VJ rendition was better-more expressive-ofcourse the tunes were different.
  Another coincidence-VJ sang her first song Bolure pappihare-in Guddi in Hindi. couple of years later when the movie is remade in tamil as cinema payithiyam she also sang the Tamil version-en unnil azhagha vellithirai.
  
  
• From: Neel D (@ 24.98.41.115) on: Thu Apr 11 23:58:28 EDT 2002
  
  balaji,
  
  Also in "orE jeevan ondrE uLLam" from "neeya", VJ beats the Hindi version as soon as she begins the "Oh Oh ...". What a pitch and that sharpness!
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Fri Apr 12 00:02:27 EDT 2002
  
  Hi Balaji -
  I hope you find the snippets to be rewarding. My own personal take on the Meera "accent/pronunciation" bit is that is seems a bit disingenuous and fabricated: Here's why I think so:
  
  First: The name of Pt. Ravi Shankar attached to the project. Anybody who knows anything about RS, knows that he is obssessive about perfection. He doesn't settle for less. Meera was his return to film music after a long hiatus - and there was a lot at stake as far as his reputation was concerned. Secondly, RS is a Bengali, a rennaissance man, who is also well-versed in Sanskrit and Hindi. His professionalism/calibre needs no introduction.
  
  Second: Meera is perhaps India's most renowned and revered Saint Poetess. Her songs were composed in Bhraj (a hindi dialect from the regions of Mathura/Chittorgarh) The songs of Meera had already been immortalised by greats like MSS and LM. Any artiste who stepped up to do the same, was quite literally, putting both her voice and her career at a huge risk. She had to deliver. There was no other option. The very idea that Meera's songs could be and were "mispronounced/sung imperfectly" would have enraged not just scholars but also the speakers of Bhraj and the devotees of Lord Krishna. They would not have allowed it to pass without serious criticism of both RS and VJ. There was no such controversy - in fact, to the contrary, since the release of Meera, VJ has been annually invited to the Meera Samaroh in Chittorgarh to perform live - the same bhajans - for the people of that region and other pilgrims.
  
  Third: Asha Kasbekar and Khalid Mohammed are not just qualified critics - they are hard critics to please. They could have unreservedly axed VJ and RS before you could say "Meera's Bhajan's."
  
  You don't have to take my word for it ( although I am reasonably qualified to comment on Hindi/Urdu pronunciation,) but you should perhaps ask your local university Hindi prof/pandit to comment on the music from Meera. Even if he may not be an "authority" on Meera's Bhajan's, he'd tell you if the songs were sung with the right accent/emphasis or not. And, more importantly, he would have nothing at stake in giving you his opinion.
  Please don't take my word for it - get a scholarly, neutral opinion. Thanks.
  
  
• From: avr (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Fri Apr 12 00:12:46 EDT 2002
  
  Ah Naaz,I did consult my local Uni profs (doctorates in Hindi literature)...coz I have a few of them in my close relations..but I got a reply that will surprise/trouble you. Anyway...I am not playing the devil...just telling you about it. Moreover I wonder why a doctorate in Hindi alone should know what right inflexions/accents are? Can't localites who have studied the language for 10+ years and speak it everyday, not judge for themselves? Dont they have the right to decide what is native and what is not? (Eg: the word "odh" is pronounced as "vOdh" (a south indian touch to that) by her. even her pron. of "gopal","po_ii" seems oh-so-south-indian. )
  
  again coming back to it...if people cant leave the issue of nativity of tamil pron. to IR and trust him for that, why not give those rights to northies too!
  
  
• From: balaji (@ 129.130.229.224) on: Fri Apr 12 00:19:45 EDT 2002
  
  Hi Naaz-Thanks for the lucid explanation.
  Yeah. I think VJ got her first filmfare award for her songs in Meera and also won the Kavi Sammelan award (from MP govt.) for the bhajan (also my favourite) mere tho giridhar gopal. Iam sure had her pronunciation was faulty why would the govt. honour her!
  Since my Hindi knowledge was limited (Hindi was my third language in school) I really respect your opinion.
  Couple of years later when I heard vani's Dheere dheere subh hoyee-from the film haisiyat-I was totally mesmerised by her rendition.
  
  
• From: avr (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Fri Apr 12 00:36:01 EDT 2002
  
  As a digression, even MSSs very very terrible Hindi pron. in her Meera songs were tolerated by people and still she won honours. Shows that Northies dont care all that less even for poor attempts by others to learn/speak/sing in their language. So quoting awards doesnt prove any point necessarily.
  
  nothing against MSS at all...I being festival mornings with her carnatic renditions...but when she sings in northern languages, I wish she took more efforts to enunicate correctly.
  
  

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