RMIM Archive Article "187".


From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian

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# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: SPB and National Award [Hindu Article]
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# Posted by: devm@netcom.com (Dev Mannemela)
# Source: The Hindu
#         Copyright 1995 THE HINDU & PARALOGIC CORPORATION.
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# This article belongs to online "The Hindu" newspaper.
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# Please check the "The Hindu" html pages, at:
#       http://www.webpage.com/hindu  

----------------------------------------------------------------- Rewarding foray into a different genre S.P.Balasubrahmaniam The Hindu Date: 07-06-1996 ----------------------------------------------------------------- In a career spanning over three decades, this is the fifth time that S. P. Balasubrahmanyam has bagged the National Award for the best playback singer. His haul started with the semi-classical movie, ``Sankarabharanam'' (Telugu) (1979), followed by ``Ek Duje Ke Liye'' (Hindi) (1981), ``Sagara Sangamam'' (Telugu) (1983), ``Rudraveena'' (Telugu) (1988) and now for the Kannada movie ``Saagara Ganayogi Panchakshara Gavai'' (1995), based on the life of the legendary Carnatic and Hindusthani music exponent. The film, produced and directed by Chandodi Bangaresh, has musical score by Hamsalekha, who incidentally won the best music director award this year for the same movie. For Balasubrahmanyam the award for the classical rendering of the Hindustani song, ``Umandu Ghumandu Ghana Gar Je Badara'' is a pleasant surprise as he is not proficient in that genre of music. ``I felt thrilled when I came to know about the award. Winning an award always gives a wonderful feeling to an artiste. I am in this field for the past 30 years and one more award rejuvenates me to put more efforts into my singing.'' Of the two songs he rendered in the movie, Balasubrahmanyam found the award winning piece a very difficult proposition. ``Its base was Hindusthani classical which I do not know. When the proposal came, I said I will not be able to sing the song. But music director Hamsalekha insisted that I should. They took the track, completed the movie and in the process waited for me for nearly six months to render the song. I relented only after practising the song, daily for an hour. Whenever I found time. Normally, I finish rendering a song in about half an hour. But this particular song took three and a half hours to record. I had to undergo a lot of strain. But it was a rewarding experience. I thank Hamsalekha and the director of the movie, Bangaresh, for so patiently waiting for me,'' says Balasubrahmanyam. The song was written and popularised by Ganayogi Panchakshara Gavai, wo was born blind on February 2, 1892 at Kadashettihalli in the Dharwad district of Karnataka. Gadigeyya was his original name and the title Panchakshara Gavai was conferred on him by his guru and mentor, Kumaraswamiji, of Hangal in 1908 after one of his scintillating recitals. Later, he started a music school and taught music to thousands of enthusiasts of which many were blind. He provided free boarding and lodging facilities for them. Many of his disciples, including his successor, Puttaraj Gavai, won accolades. Pachakshara Gavai, who died on June 11, 1944 left a rich legacy behind him Veereshwara Punyashramam, on the outskirts of Gadag, where hundreds are trained in Hindusthani and Carnatic music even today. ``Yes, the school is still serving many music enthusiasts. I feel particularly happy that I could do justice to the great master's work,'' says Balasubrahmanyam. Balasubrahmanyam's tryst with Kannada cinema came much earlier in his career. In fact, his second song for films was a duet for a Kannada movie. ``Nakare Ade Swarga'' under the baton of music director M. Ranga Rao. Since then from Raj Kumar to his son Shiv Raj Kumar, for two generation of heroes, he has sung thousands of lyrics in that language. Does he find any difference between rendering a song for a Kannada movie and one in other languages? ``The fundamentals are the same, only the rendering is slightly different. But, in general, the melody content in the Kannada songs is still intact. That is a great thing. Even in the fastpaced songs, one finds a certain rhythm and melody in that language. As for music director Hamsalekha, he has a unique style. He did not attain it overnight. I know him for a long time. He used to play mandolin for stage plays. He came up gradually and today he has evolved his own style. Like Shankar- Jaikishan's, one can easily identify his compositions by listening to the tune. No doubt he is the numero uno music director in Kannada. I am particularly happy that he too, has won the best music director award for this film,'' says the veteran singer. The singer-music director duo have rendered service off the screen too. In September last, Balasubrahmanyam and Hamsalekha conducted a musical evening in aid of `Parivarthana', a trust for promoting widow re-marriage at Bangalore and raised funds. Balasubrahmanyam has won the hearts of Kannada cinegoers not only as a singer but also as an actor. Starting his acting career in Kannada films with the super hit ``Muddina Maava'' (remake of ``Mama Gaaru'' which itself was a remake of ``Nan Pudicha Mappillai''), where he played the title role, he had acted in ``Mithileya Seetheyaru'' (which won the regional best film award), ``Bolonda Chaduranga'' and ``Kalyanothsava''. He has also signed for the lead role in Dwarakesh's ``Hryudaya Kallaru''. ``Acting is just to satisfy my inner urge as an artiste. Singing is my passion,'' he says. It is a rare achievement to be on top of South Indian film scene for 30 long years and also to prove his prowess in Hindi cinema too.His latest accomplishment in Hindi was his mellifluous renderings for the all-time hit, ``Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun''. A contended man, down to earth and simple, Balasubrahmanyam says he still has one disappointment.'' ``I have won national awards for my classical and semi-classical renderings and I am happy for that. But I still have an unfulfilled wish. Though I have won the awards for songs in Telugu, Hindi and Kannada movies, the award for Tamil in which language I have sung innumerable songs, still eludes me. With the impetus given by this award, I will work even more hard to achieve this end'', says the singer who turns 50 this month. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian