Melodies from Kerala

It is heart breaking to see the current state of cinema in Kerala, not too different from the state of West Indian cricket today. I think of the likes of Viv Richards and Clice Lloyd and Micheal Holding and Malcolm Marshall and all thouse giants who dwarfed the rest of the world not very long ago, and then I look at their team today. Its sad.

Tme same is equally true of Malayalam films. Not very long ago – perhaps about 10-15 years ago, I was hooked on Malayalam films. Despite being a Tamilian having very limited knowledge of the Malayalam language, I enjoyed the tremendous variety and quality of films that came in. Mohanlal was my favorite and I savoured his films be it the comic fare (the films with Srinivasan, Priyadarshan) or his more dramatic fare- Bharatham, Pavithram, Dasaratham and the like. Apart from the quality of the films themselves, the music of the films was also most memorable and the picturizations of songs just superb. You usually had very few songs in a film – maybe 3 or 4- and they were usually back-ground songs.

I was just enjoying such a song today – and it really fills me with longing for an age that has rushed by..

Yesudas was obviously the Voice Premiere of Malayalam cinema – and has been so for a long long time now. Many of his songs are now landmarks of Indian cinema.

souparnikaamrutha from Kizhakunarum pakshi cast a spell over me. I had to keep listening to it again and again.  Very tastefully picturized too..

I think Kerala also benefitted from the compositions of many of the legendary music composers of Indian cinema. Salil Chowdhury was of course a household name there but Naushad also tried his hand there and I thought the result was great – much superior to his later output in Hindi films. Consider this melody..

But I think it is fair to say that Raveendran was the heart of the great Malayalam music of the time. He has created some of the finest songs but this song from His Highness Abdullah will perhaps be his definitive creation.. a milestone of Malayalam cine music

To round off, two of my most favorite songs from the same film Pavithram which also highlight the point I made earlier about the picturization of songs in Malayalam films in that period.. background with the story developing through the song. Both are brilliant compositions and I consider them to be amongst the most beautifully picturized songs ever

Reliving Salil magic

Two posts in one evening - a record of sortatcs for me. Just catching up on old favorites on Youtube..

One of this is one of my great favorites of Bengali music- jodi kichuu amaar shudaai rendered by Shyamal Mitra for Salil Chowdhury.. this is one of those songs that make you feel helpless. You feel lost.. its very unsettling. There is something deep within you tat resonates to the composition.. the rendition. This is the magic of great music. The ultimate experience. A great composition meets a great voice and magic is created.

The fact that it is not just about the composition is underscored when you hear the same composition transposed to Poonam ki raat - dil taDape taDapaaye. After listening to the Bengali version, it is almost insulting to having hear the Hindi version. Rafi is a great singer but Salil compositions have never been his strong points and I always get the feeling that Salilda seemed to make Rafi sing to mock his singing abilities. Hearing Rafi sing this song is a real pain..

But there is a remedy. Just dont listen to this song. Give a repeat hear to Shyamal Mitra's magical rendition and cleanse your ears

Kishore's masterpiece - panthii huuN main

I believe I have talked about Kishore Kumar's skills as a composer earlier and if I have, then I would unfailingly have expressed my deep, deep admiration of a masterpiece from Door kaa raahi, pa.nthii huu.N mai.n us path kaa. This post is only about that song because it is playing on my upgraded Mac OS X (Lion) system right now and I feel tears welling up again as I hear the melody play out.

Songs such as this capture the deep sensitivity of Kishore Kumar, a factor that he appeared to conceal by performing diametrically opposite characters in films. This glorious song is perhaps the brightest gem of the literal treasure of melodies that Kishore created in this off-beat film that ffew cared to watch. Its the store of a man in search of himself.. it stays away from adding any glitter-glamour of the typical Bombay film world. Its a throwback to the simplistic mode of films perfected by Bimal Roy and leter Hrishikesh Mukherjee albeit without any major leading heroes and heroines of the time barring Tanuja to an extent.

panthii huuN mai.n is beautiful poetry written in pure Hindi by A.Irshad. Kishore has brought to life the words through a brilliant composition that relies almost entirely on a simple, minimal Indian orchestra -mostly sitar, violin and the tabla. The prominence is on the emotional depth of the rendition,Kishore does what you would typically expect only a Lata or Talat or Mukesh to do - just pull the tears to your eyes. It is a depth of rendition that Kishore rarely got the oppurtunity to render during his prime. It is a sad loss.. because you listen even to his lighter romantic songs like vo dekhen to unakii inaayat (Fantoosh) and tum jahaaN jahaaN (Apna haath jagannaath), you realize the potential of the man. You wonder how things would have been if he had gotten to sing more for the likes of Anil Biswas, Khemchand Prakash.. those masters. But even as a composer of this one song alone, he deserves posterity..

Sheer magic  !!