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Singing pattern of male singers and female singers over a period of time in TFM

Topic started by A.G.Kutty (@ cacheflow.isu.net.sa) on Thu Feb 17 08:04:11 EST 2000.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

From: A.G.Kutty
The present trend in TFM,irrespective whether it is a male voice or female voice, is to sing in a medium pitch and/or low pitch melody.I was trying to look at the radical changes in delivery of music for last few years of Tamil Film Music. I could see a consistent pattern as far as female singing is concerned. Most of the female singers
who sang in TFM from mid fiftees sang in medium/low pitch melody.Singers like P.Bhanumathy,
M.S.SubbaLakshmi, Jamuna Rani, Jikki, P.Leela, P.Suseela, S.Janaky, Vani Jayaram, Chithra, Sujatha etc belong to tis category.LR Eswary had a diffrent style, but she sang in medium pitch melody too. The only exception , as I could see, are D.K.Pattambal and Ramani Ammal who are high pitch singers and sang mostly devotional songs in mythological movies.
But the case is not the same when you look at history of male singing. In fifties and early sixtees, the liking was only for high pitch singers like Trichy Loganathan, Chidambaram Jayaraman, Shirkazhi Govindarajan and TMS.Sixtees, however, witnessed PBS and A.M Raja who were medium pitch singers, but I feel the high pitch singers like TMS &Shirkhazhi dominated the scene.(TMS , however,was very versatile-could adopt himself to any pitch). With the arrival of SPB and Yesudas in a big way, I feel TFM always resorted to medium/low pitch style. This trend is the most accepted one now and nowdays nobody wants to listen to a delivery like Shirkazhi did.

Can somebody share their thinking? Why TFM always had a consistent approach towards delivery of female singing where as it fluctuated and varied in case of male singing?
Sorry for a long narration. But I feel it is an interesting factor to,look at.

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Responses:

• From: Ramki (@ ws122.telsoft.net) on: Thu Feb 17 08:14:51 EST 2000
  
  Good topic Kutty
  
  
• From: e.t.kapasi (@ 202.9.148.139) on: Thu Feb 17 08:25:52 EST 2000
  
  nowadays,acotors like mohanlal,aamir khan,kamal
  seem to be doing their own singing.
  we may find playback singers out of work after some time.
  hahahaha
  
  
• From: e.t.kapasi (@ 202.9.148.139) on: Thu Feb 17 08:27:40 EST 2000
  
  sorry,wrong spelling
  not acotors
  actors
  
  
• From: Keemu (@ mercury.nationwide.com) on: Thu Feb 17 10:29:06 EST 2000
  
  I feel PS' 'Paal polave' is one of the high pitch songs!! That too the starting was awesome!!
  
  
• From: A.G.Kutty (@ cacheflow.isu.net.sa) on: Thu Feb 17 10:33:41 EST 2000
  
  Ramki, Thanks Very much.
  
  
• From: Ramki (@ ws122.telsoft.net) on: Thu Feb 17 11:00:44 EST 2000
  
  Kutty PSusheela and Sjanaki have sung their share of high pitch songs:
  
  'oraayiraam naadagam aadinaaL'(sumathi en sundhari),'ammamma kaatru vandhu', 'thaaliya salangaiya' are some of them by PS
  
  SJ did a fantastic job in 'chinnanjiriya vanna paravai'(she managed to sing in par with TMsounderrajens scale),'ninaithaal podhum aaduven'(nenjirukkum varai),'sangeethamae en deivamae'(kovil puraa), 'isai arasi ennaaLum naanae'(she will start the 'amma'portion in 8 kattai)etc.
  
  Chitra tried it in 'anjali anjali' and sujatha has
  done a greatjob in ARRahmans 'pukaar'.
  
  Vanijairam could be the best among female singers when it comes to such high pitch songs.She will sing them effortlessly with very less strain.
  One of her songs in 'swathi kiranam'for master Manjunath is a good example. The song required her to vary the pitch frequently and she did it so well that she got a national award for that.
  
  Well we shouldnt forget KBSundharaambaaL.She has sung very few low pitch songs:))(like vazhkkai enum odam:)
  
  
• From: rajaG (@ 208.24.179.211) on: Thu Feb 17 11:35:11 EST 2000
  
  Kutty:
  
  Just a simple question - How do you explain duets where both F and M singers have to maintain the same scale? Think about it.
  
  Plus, I am confused by your inclusion of Chitra and Sujatha with MSS.
  MSS, KBS, Sudha Raghunathan (and almost all the classical singers) are all Altos. Usha Uthup and Malgadi Subha are probably Contraltos (lower than Alto). Almost all the female playback singers are 2nd Sopranos (Lata, Asha, PS, SJ, KSC, Sujatha, SwarNa...). We almost do not have 1st Sopranos (slightly higher pitched than 2nd) but Chitra tries to be sometimes.
  
  TMS and Seergazhi were pure tenors, whereas SPB, KJY, PBS are baritone-tenors. Mahalingam of course was almost a soprano (just kidding! he was a high tenor too). We do not have a pure bass voice (except that bit-voice in aNNEy aNNEy, sippaay aNNEy)
  
  Ramki: Almost all the film songs are set in atleast C (8 katta in Panchamam scale) and in fact many in D, D#. So your mention of 8 kattai is really 'NO BIG DEAL'
  
  
  
• From: RR (@ proxy.krdl.org.sg) on: Thu Feb 17 22:15:02 EST 2000
  
  rajaG: In 'isai arasi ennaalum', I think SJ starts at upper Ma and goes on to touch upper Dha too. That song really spans a big range (comparatively, for modern filmy songs).
  
  
• From: rajaG (@ ip82.kansas-city7.mo.pub-ip.psi.net) on: Thu Feb 17 22:44:48 EST 2000
  
  RR: naan andha paattu kEttadhilla. Can you tell me what scale it is set to please? Most of the times, the singers (prefer) to set the highest note of the song (dha in the example you have provided) equal to or less than the highest note of their range. However, most of the lady singers kaLLa thondai la paadaradhinaala, their voices are almost elastic.
  
  
• From: A.G.Kutty (@ cacheflow.isu.net.sa) on: Sun Feb 20 11:18:25 EST 2000
  
  From: Kutty
  Raja and Ramki
  By stating that one is a low pitch singer and one is a high pitch singer, I am not trying to say that one's capability is superior or inferior.I do agree that both singing in low pitch melody and high pitch melody call for distinct and specific skill and calibre. Some singers have these dual
  calibres. What I am trying to analyse was the trend in TFM over a period of time wherein I could see most of the female singers , by and large, singing in balanced low/ medium pitch melodies.In case of male singers, it appears to be a gradual transition wherein the previous generation totally resorted to high pitch singing
  (with the exceptions I stated)whereas the present generation is in for low or medium pich melodies.
  Don't you feel that the audience of diffrent generation reacted with a a difrrence in so far as the male singing and female singing are concerned?
  
  I full agree that consistency has to be maintained between male and female singer in duets.And female singers have lived with it also many times. Remeber the song "Kalyana Vala Osai Ketu" where TMS and PS go hand in hand with high pitch melody.
  
  Generally, I do not find nowadays, type of songs
  composed and sung in a a manner like "Odam Nadiyinile" sung by Sheerkazhi and which were liked very much by masses at one point of time.
  
  By listing Sujatha and Chithra with MSS , I did not, I repeat, compare these singers.You may also remember, MSS sang good melodious songs in Films in olden days, which did not bear a framework of classical touch. The purpose of listing was to look at the singing style of singers( both females and males) of over a period of approximately 45 yearsor more.And I felt audience acceped a generally consistent pattern from females althrought whereas it was not the case with male singers.
  
  I did not, of course, list Sudha Raghunathan who,I am not sure ,has sung in Films. However, I used to feel that she is a great classical singer whose musical delivery gives you the perfumic touch of
  melodious singing.(She proves hat she is the best desciple of MLV) When Sudha sings in "Madhyamavathy", you really land yourself into a peaceful mental state. Yes, I did not include Nithyasree who also sang in films. But please be reasonable, I cannot categorize and list ALL at one go!
  
  
  
• From: A.G.Kutty (@ cacheflow.isu.net.sa) on: Sun Feb 20 11:20:36 EST 2000
  
  Ramki,
  I totally agree with you about K.B.Sundarambal
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.22.112) on: Sun Feb 20 14:01:02 EST 2000
  
  rajaG:
  
  It is available at Ramaswamy gireesan's site.
  
  http://www.m59.big.ac.at/~grama/songs5.html
  
  look for "isai" using ctrl+f.
  
  
• From: pennathur (@ ) on: Fri Jun 22 15:58:59 EDT 2001
  
  What about MLV? "Kadhavai sattha di" ratha kanneer and Vani Jairam in "Dorakuna Etuvanti seva in Sankarabharanam where she takes off from SPB - every time I hear that soong it sends a shiver up my spine it's a very high soprano.
  
  

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