Anda Naal Nyabagam, Memorable Tamil Classics Options

[unni]

This new thread will feature memorable Tamil classics.

Here's the doyen Madurai Mani Iyer singing "Kandan Karunai Puriyum Vadivel" in Raag Bhimpalasi. The same tune was heard in Hindi, "Veena Madhur Madhur Kachhu Bol" from "Ram Rajya" (1943) sung by Saraswati Rane.

[visuja]

P. Susheela amma's birthday article at MIO.

Melody Queen turns 71
By MIO Team
Nov 17, 2005, 08:05



It is said of this legendary singer that at any given point of time, someone, somewhere in the world, listens to her song and gets transported into a heavenly state. She is the undisputed Melody Queen for more than three decades. She is believed to have sung more than 40000 film songs, in various languages. She won the very First National Award for playback singing, when the award was constituted in 1969 and has subsequently won the National Award four more times. She has thousands of fans all around the globe, who continue to be mesmerized and enthralled by her golden voice. AR Rahman has said that he likes her voice very much.

You can be forgiven, if you have jumped to the conclusion, that this is another eulogy for Lata Mangeshkar. No guys, we are talking about the other Nightingale, P Susheela, who is regarded as the Lata of the South (though all fans of PS, including yours truly would actually like Lata to be referred to as Susheela of the North).

Susheela turns 71 on November 13th. It is a pity that Susheela has not got the recognition befitting her stature and achievements. She is a living legend. In fact, if MS symbolized the soul of Carnatic Music, PS symbolized the soul of South Indian Film Music.

PS started her career way back in 1952 and recorded her first Tamil song for the film "Pettra Thaai." Her first major hits were for the film "KaNavaNe Kann KanDA Dheivam" in 1955. After this, there was no looking back and she strode the Tamil and Telugu film music world, like a colossus for the next 25 years or so. She has also sung many songs in Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films.

She has turned out thousands of melodies - solos as well as duets with various singers such as Ghantasala, A M Raja, P B Sreenivas, T M Soundarrajan, S P Balasubramanian and K J Yesudas. Listing out her best songs will be akin to counting the number of sand dunes on a beach - there are so many of them.

To the enchanting music of Viswanathan - Ramamurthy, Susheela has rendered hundreds of haunting melodies, which mark the golden era of Tamil Film Music. Some of the outstanding features of her songs were the clarity in pronunciation, the ability to bring out all kinds of emotions into the songs, the effortless ease with which she scaled the high frequencies and the sheer magical quality of her voice.

Noted Tamil lyricist, Vairamuthu, who is an ardent fan of PS, has stated that his last dying wish will be to lock himself in a room and listen to the haunting melody "Kaadhal SiRagai Kaattrinil Viriththu" from the film "Paalum Pazhamum." He also says that if he were a King, he would have gifted one sovereign of gold, for every song that PS has sung. Another great play-back singer and a contemporary of PS, S Janaki, says that every time she listens to a song of PS, she feels like kissing PS!

It is a shame that this music legend has not been conferred with even a Padma award so far. Even though the powers-that-be may not have bestowed the recognition she deserves, her fans have paid rich tributes to her, by starting a website in her honour (psusheela.org).

On behalf of her numerous fans, I wish the Melody Queen many many more happy returns of her birthday!


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