Ennodu Paattu Paadungal - Episode dated 31.03.2007

Dear SPB Fans,

I am glad to bring to you all the recent episode -EPP-31.03.07 (courtesy : Covai Ravee for the audio file links).

This episode was a continuation of the previous one with the same set of 6 contestants. The chief judge for the previous episode was Mr.Subramaniam Raju and he also continued his presence for this concluding episode of the contest.

Details of the program as follows :

Kural for the Episode :
"Innaar seidharai oruthal avar naana nannaiyam seidhu vidal"

He said it reminded him of Kannadasam, who had written "paanchali unnidathil selai kaettaaL, andha paarthanavan unnidam geethai kaettaan, naan irukkum nilayil unnai enna ketpaen, innum nanmai seidhu thunbam vaangum uLLam ketpaen" .

He said that Kannadasan had done what Valluvar had written.

The essence of the Kural is that "even if someone does bad to you, you make him feel guilty by doing something good in return"

SPB said that if we all live like this then Man can become God.

First Round of this Episode (second round of the contest):

As detailed in the previous posts, this round features fast paced or peppy or rhythm-oriented numbers chosen by the contestants themselves.

The list of songs of this round were,
1) Uppu Karuvaadu Ooravacha Soru...... from "Mudhalvan" (Shankar Mahadevan & Kavita Subramaniam)
The contestant was Ms.Asha Rajan from New Delhi. Our SPB queried her if she was a non-vegetarian as he was aware that konkanis eat lot of fish (karuvadu is nothing but dried & salted fish). She answered in the affirmative. Her singing was very tentative. Her glances were alternating between the orchestra and her lyrics paper as she was doubtful on where to take off & land and hence her focus was not on the audience. This was pointed out by our SPB. He advised her not to get distracted towards the background score while singing and asked her to concentrate only on her singing. She would have anyhow practised with the orchestra a couple of times and it would not have been an issue at all, he said. He also observed that Shankar Mahadevan had rendered the humming in the pallavi at a higher pitch whereas she had settled down for a lower pitch suitable to her which he opined was OK. He concluded by saying that he was treated to the karuvadu smell.

2) Raa Raa Sarasaku Raa Raa.... from Chandramukhi (Binni Krishnakumar & Tippu)
Gayatri sang this song. Our SPB jokingly mentioned about being addressed as "raa raa" but said it was OK for him as he was quite young !!!!. He had a comment or two on the rendition. Gayatri rendered the word "Abhisarikkaina" by splitting it as "Abhisarik" "kaina". This, he said was not right as it is a single word and should be rendered as such. The problem, he said, was due to improper breath management. He recommended pumping in enough oxygen into the lungs before starting off on the phrases. He also pointed out a song that he had sung which was considered by many as breathless when in fact it was not so. It was made possible only due to some gimmicks using gadgets, he said. Also, he mentioned that while recording in a studio it was always easy whereas on stage one needed to have adequate breath management to present the song seamlessly. He noted an improvement in the confidence of the singer and wished her well.

3) Madai thiranthu thaavum ...... from Nizhalgal (SPB)
Bharath rendered this song. Before the start our SPB said this song had a significance for everyone. Our SPB pointed out a mistake in the landing notes of certain words and advised to take care of such points. He also said that this song seemed to have been written by Vaali especially keeping ILayaraja in mind as the verses matched with IR's life. Next, ManoBala, the permanent judge cum scorer for the contest, narrated an interesting incident about this song. It seems that Mano Bala and his other colleages (all Asst. Directors) were all waiting at Atlantic Hotel along with a tentative Vairamuthu (he made his debut in this movie by penning the lyrics for Idhu oru ponmalai pozhudhu) for Kavignar Vaali to come and write the lyrics for this song in discussion. The lyricist came in majestically and completed writing the lyrics in ten minutes and handed over the sheet to Manobala for copying the same. When he presented the lyrics to IR that afternoon, he was astounded to find that it reflected his own life. ManoBala said that this was an unforgettable incident in his career.

4) Ae Azhagiya theeye enai .... from Minnale (Harish Raghavendra, Timmy)
Sathish rendered this. Our SPB pointed out a small mistake in the original song itself stating that the lyricist had not provided the correct word for the tune composed by the MD at one place and that in older times, the MD would not have settled for the compromise and would have demanded the right word. Regarding the contestant, he mentioned that his singing was a bit tentative but somehow he had managed to tide over and present the song.

5) Dole Dole .... from Pokkiri (Ranjith & Suchitra)
Raagini Shree sang this peppy number well. She ended it with an English phrase. Our SPB was curious to know what exactly it was and it's meaning. Raagini was not sure. SPB felt maybe it was just a space-filler. He praised the contestant for her versatility as she had rendered an old classical based song in the previous round and followed it up with a diversifed peppy number in this round. He mentioned that, in earlier times, there was the "one & only" LR Eswari to render such numbers whereas nowadays singers had to be versatile with different range of voice with the changing scenario for which the contestant had adapted herself well.

6) ThuLLuvadho Ilamai........ from Kudiyiruntha Koil (TMS & LR Eswari)
Malathi sang this song. He said that this composition was a mix of Spanish, Persian music and he admired the beauty of the same. He pointed out certain faults in the sangadhis rendered by the contestant which she had modified to her own covenience. He said that if they (SPB or other singers) sang similarly in recording, MSV used to say "Indha sangadhi neenga ippadi paadina en kadhi enna" (if you sing the sangadhis like this, what will be my fate). He tried to visualise how MSV would have been during the recording, charged up like a tiger trying to teach the singers the song and getting the best output. He then sang out the TMS humming in the song and said that he felt like dancing when thinking of it but had constrained himself given that the stage was weak !!!.

Final Round of the contest :

This round featured songs which the contestants had to identify from the tune rendered by our SPB which was from a collection of songs submitted by the contestant during audition. The songs under this category were

1) Suthi Suthi Vandheega.... from Padaiyappa : Our SPB was all praise for Vairamuthu's lyrics for this song. He called him as a romantic rascal (contestant : Asha Rajan)

2) Andhi Mazhai Pozhugiradhu..... from Raja Paarvai : our SPB stressed on the importance of diction of the words. Again he praised a lot regarding Vairamuthu's lyrics, the way he has put in words to capture the visualisation of a deaf & dumb person about his sweetheart. (contestant : Gayatri)

3) Then Sindhudhe vaanam....from Ponnukku Thanga Manasu : SPB advised the singer that he could have sung the song more beautifully and with better involvement. He had a word or two about the composer of this song GK Venkatesh who was a contemporary of Raju (the chief guest for the show). Mr. Raju infact had played the santhoor for this song. He also mentioned about ILayaraja was a part of the GKV troup and played the guitar, then later the organ and finally was an assistant to GKV before embarking on his own. IR had played the guitar for this song. He also wondered at the speed with which Kavignar Kannadasan had written the lyrics for this song. It seems that the Kavignar kept on hearing the tune phrases and instantly came out with the words without even a pause and the entire lyrics was completed in 6 minutes. When the same song was taken up in Kannada, he said that that lyricist consumed two days. What a speedster - the great Kannadasan !!! (contestant : Bharath)

4) Kalyana Maalai .... from Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal : he was all praise for the lovely composition which dwelled on how a married couple should live their life. He mentioned that IR had composed beautifully with Vaali coming out with great lyrics and himself presenting the song quite well. (contestant : Satish)

5) Maadathile Kanni Maadathile.... from Veera : the contestant sang this very well reproducing whatever emotions our SPB had endowed it with, in the original. He was literally in bouts of laughter on hearing the contestant singing the sangadhis like him and he appreciated her abundantly for her versatility. He was also full of praise for the ILayaraja composition and said that it was IR who had insisted that he sing with sangadhis in the song which had come out very well. He called IR as a "raatchasan" (devil) and said that India was fortunate to have a composer like him. (contestant : Raagini Shree)

6) Oru naalum unai maravadha......from Ejamaan : again SPB showered ILayaraja with praises for his great composition and felt honoured to have rendered such great songs. He was also thankful to the contestants for taking up such great compostions and rendering them in the contestant. It gave him the experience of tracing back his steps of his 40 year career and gave him a pleasant feeling to be associated with this program. He was also thankful to Jaya TV for this great oppurtunity (contestant : Malathi)

With this, all the three rounds of the contestant were completed - first round in the previous episode and 2nd & 3rd rounds in this episode.

All the three - our SPB, the chief judge Raju and ManoBala came on to the stage. Our SPB asked the contestants not to get demotivated with the result as it was possible only for one of them to proceed to the next stage. However, he said that all their efforts would never go waste and blessed them. The chief guest also blessed the contestants. Then our SPB delivered his message for the episode

Message from our SPB :
The message for this episode was "the scientists have reported that the ozone layer which is protecting our earth from harmful effects of radiations from the other parts of the Universe is depleting slowly and that in 10 years it would have a great effect by increasing the average temperature by a few nothces. The snow mountains of the Arctic and Antartica are slowly melting down increasing the water level of the oceans. This was due to the harmful emissions from the factories & automobiles which inspite of laws and regulations gave out limitless emissions into the atmosphere. One could recollect the collosal damage created by the Bhopal tragedy which had rendered many people blind, deaf and with other health problems. This had to be curtailed to a great extent and we all together with the government should frame out a strategy. The educated should explain to others about such bad influences and none should treat it as something normal. Else, we will not be in a position to leave behind a healthy planet for our descendants"

Announcement of the Contest Winner :

ManoBala announced Raagini Shree as the Winner based on the highest score of 285 that she had scored.

SPB song :
Raagini Shree joined our SPB to sing the song "Valaiyosai Galagalagalavena.." from "Sathya" thus accomplishing her dream of singing with the Legend and also moving into the next round.