Ennodu Paattu Paadungal - Episode dated 28.04.2007

Dear SPB Fans,

I am glad to bring to you all one of the previous pending episodes (Episode No.15)-EPP-28.04.07 (courtesy : Covai Ravee for the audio file links).

This episode started off with a fresh set of 6 contestants who will continue in the next episode also.

Details of this episode as follows :

Kural for the Episode :

(KuraL no.963)

பெருக்கத்து வேண்டும் பணிதல் சிறிய

சுருக்கத்து வேண்டும் உயர்வு.

Be humble in prosperity

In decline uphold dignity.

Our SPB explains this as follows : For some, receipt of wealth changes their personality. They will fly high. They behave in such a fashion that they start wearing cooling glasses in the night, they will take bath only in mineral water. Thiruvalluvar has written this KuraL only for people like these. He says "be humble in prosperity", even the intoxication due to fame is difficult to handle. To overcome it one should be humble. Only then when we face decline we will be able to stand with our head held high.

Introduction of the Chief Guest / Judge by SPB:
Our SPB said "Everyone would remember the Superstar Rajini when you hear my song "Baadsha paaru...". But the Baatcha that we are going to see now is different. He started playing the veena in his school days itself. Having started off with famed & yesteryear music directors namely Ranga Rao, Rajeswara Rao, Adi Narayana Rao, then continuing through the generations of K.V.Mahadevan, M.S.Viswanathan, ILayaRaja, he is still playing for A.R.Rehman & Yuvan Shankar Raja. He has played for nearly 400 films for ILayaRaja alone. Ever since the South Indian films moved away from Silent to Talkies, he must have been the man who has played the veena the most for film music. Recently he has composed music for a Malayalam film. His father is Mr.Raghavan, the veena vidwan for very old movies. He (Baatcha) has played the veena for all the Shankarabharanam songs and it is my fortune. His son is Sriram Parthasarathy an upcoming singer. His daughter is Sindhuja who is also an upcoming singer. So, i welcome the man who is the head of a family which has been serving the music field for three generations, as the chief judge of the show. He is none other than Parthasarathy, the veena exponent whom we lovingly call as "Baatcha".

Mr.Parthasarathy comes on to the dias and our SPB embraces him lovingly and kisses him affectionately on the forehead and expresses his thanks for having come over.

First Round of the Contest :
Before starting off the contest, our SPB expressed his thanks regarding the show. He said "Many such programs are being aired on many channels. The objective of this program is to give a good platform to prospective singers combined with the useful messages that the senior musicians who appear as chief judge provide to the contestants. Also making known the things that go behind the scenes during the recording of a song. Also sharing whatever we have learnt with these contestants. These have been our objective. There might have been small mistakes here and there but lessons have been learnt and improvements made and it is going on well. We are receiving the blessings of many. In fact a few renowned magazines and newspaers have written very positively about this program. I express my thanks to all on behalf of the entire team. We are very grateful to you. Your words in a very deep way will support us. The magazine Thuglak had come with an article on this program and also Sujatha Sir had written in the Anandha Vikatan. All these are blessings and it is due not only to me but also to the entire team and the contestants too. We are very grateful to the media which is giving an excellent coverage. Thank You very much"

The list of songs of this contest were,
1) kaatril varum geethamE...... from oru naal oru kanavu (many voices)
The contestant was Vijayalakshmi from Mumbai. Before the contestant started off on her song, she introduced herself by telling her parents' names first. This impressed our SPB a lot and he appreciated her for that. He also expressed happiness that she had come all the way from Mumbai to participate in the program. After the song, our SPB appreciated Kavignar Vaali for presenting many nuances of music in his lyrics of the song. He also mentioned about ILayaRaja's speciality in selecting the right lyricist and singers for a song. He also felt that when a trained singer presents a song it shows up. He said that this song could not be rendered just listening a few times but needed an indepth understanding of the song. He appreciated the contestant for having presented the song very well and also her expressions while singing . He then turned to the chief judge "Baatcha" and asked him why is that the raagam Kalyani sounds different in ILayaRaja's composition. Baatcha's reply was that any raaga volunteered an indepth self analysis. While most music directors just used the "copy & paste" method (of other creators) , ILayaRaja being a great genius researched and brought it out in his own way. That made the difference, he said.

2) puththam pudhu Olai varum.... from vedham pudhidhu (Chitra)
Vidyalakshmi rendered this song. This song also being in Kayani raagam as highlighted by our Great, he was happy to hear one more in the same raaga. He appreciated the contestant for her rendition and mentioned that all parameters were fine. However, he advised her to present the song better by doing away with the tension and singng it in a relaxed manner and smiling. In order to ease the tension for the contestant, he also said that eventhough he himself along with the judges were in the decision making seats, they still were students learning all the time from others and maybe from the contestants themselves. This really shows the humbleness of our Great. SPB asked the "Baatcha" for his comments and he also voiced the same thing advising the contestant to sing the song in a relaxed and jolly manner. He too appreciated the contestant for singing well.

3) en kaadhale ...... from Duet (SPB)
Kedharanath rendered this song. Our SPB asked "Baatcha" to talk about the sax player of this song. Baatcha said that this was played by "Sax" Raju who is one of the rare players who could play the sax without aberrations in the sruthi. He also said that when he discussed about this sax player with A.R.Rehman, Rahman used to compare Raju with the world renowned sax player Kenny G. Such an impact Raju had created. Our SPB also chipped in saying that the music industry had two great sax players both with name Raju. He also mentioned that many had mistaken that sax was played by Kadri Gopalnath for this song. But he had played sax only for one song in the movie which was also sung by our SPB (maybe Anjali song ....). Only Raju had played for this song, he said and that too with great expressions using his sax. He also talked in awe of the actor Prabhu who is featured in this song. SPB felt that his acting was such that he exceeded even his father Sivaji in expression (having tears in the eyes without letting them fall). He also spoke about the great picturisation of director K.Balachandar for this song and also the use of the "Anjali" song bit in this song when the herione appears in the scene. SPB finally praised the contestant for taking a risky song and presenting it well 99.9%. He, however sang out certain portions of the song himself which he felt the contestant should take care in future which he himself found difficult when singing on stage. He also brought in Baatcha's habit of pointing out mistakes in his singing when they used to record live in earlier days.

4) puththampudhu kaalai.... from alaigal Oiyvadhillai (S Janaki)
Bhargavi rendered this. Before the song, our SPB said that everyday had a new morning listening to the contestants (puththam pudhu kaalai means a new morning). After the song, he said that the ILayaRaja orchestration for this song was such that one could get the early morning feeling on just listening to it. He appreciated the contestant for singing the song well. However as with other contestants, he called for more involvement and josh while singing.

5) vaa vaa vasanthamE.... from pudhu kavidhai (Malaysia Vasudevan)

Pranesh sang this song. Our SPB said to the contestant that he had a very mellifluous voice just like his soft nature and that the voice was also very soft like velvet. He advised the contestant on proper selection of a song depending on his voice. Eventhough the song selected was a soft melody, it required some boisterousness in voice while singing whereas the singer had sung it very soft, he said. He sang out a few lines of the song showing how it should have been rendered in a an open voice. He felt that the contestant had sung the song as if on a phone to a lover or alone hidden away from others. So soft was the rendering. He advised open throated singng. He also said that it was always easy to advise others but he had to do it as it was his duty. He advised the contestant to choose songs suiting his soft voice. However he felt that a singer should be able to sing all types of songs.

6) mannavaa mannavaa........ from Walter Vettrivel (Sunandha)
Subashree from Meerut sang this song. He first appreciated the contestant for her voice saying that God has given her a good open voice which would be very sutiable for recording. The words, he said, were very clear and crisp in her rendition, that too having come from Meerut and he lauded her for keeping her Tamil clean inspite of having gone to Meerut. He said that this was a song which one would not hear often. It had a very good composition by ILayaraja in Kaanada(?) raaga. SPB said finally it was excellent performance except for a few small mistakes at high pitch. He also expressed that she reminded him of yesteryear actress M.N.Rajam. ManoBala the permanent judge of the program also chipped in saying that she looked like Rajakumari (another old actress)

The contestants part being completed, our SPB came on to the dias and said that with this, the episode came to an end and would continue next week also with the same set of contestants and then the winner would be declared. He then went on to deliver his usual weekly message

Message from our SPB :
Many of us buy mineral water in bottles, drink them and then keep the empty bottles at home and fill it up with water and store in refrigerator. This was fine, he said. But, when outside the house, he advised that the empty bottles be crushed and then disposed off into the dustbin so that they cannot be used further. There were many instances wherein these uncrushed disposed bottles are used again for refill and selling as fresh mineral water. This is taking place on a larger scale, he said. Maybe we can give it to it for some home use if required by others consciously. But never throw the bottle as it is or leave it as it is during travel for there are some who even fill it up with normal water and then pack it in attractive manner, sometimes better than the original and then market it. He also said this was also the case with paper cups used for coffee. He advised that they be disposed off, crushed into dustbins to prevent reuse.

SPB song :
Our SPB mentioned that the presence of old timers like Baatcha and ManoBala reminded him of their days together and to commemorate that he choose to sing one of his old beauties "unakkenna maele nindrai O nandhalaala.." from the Tamil film "Simla Special"