SPB recorded his first ever song in Marathi recently in Mumbai. This article was printed in today's newspaper (April 03, 2008) "Maharashtra Times". I am posting transalated version of it for all SPB fans.
"SPB TOUCHES WITH HIS SONGS AND PLEASANT DOWN-TO-EARTH SIMPLICITY"
“Sir, if I make any mistake, do not hesitate whatsoever, and rectify me till I get all the nuances in the right way. I have no issues”…. Music director Salil Kulkarni was blessed to hear these sweet and kind words from a Legendary singer which is very difficult to expect these days even from a new and upcoming singer. He is known as the “Voice” of South India, and he has left a credible dent in Hindi too with his sweet as honey voice. Yes, we are talking about the legendary singer Dr. S.P. Balasubramaniam who has just sung his first ever song in Marathi. What left a lasting impression on all those present on this occasion in addition to superb rendition of the song by SPB was the singers egoless (?), simplicity and the quest for perfection.
SPB flew from Chennai to Mumbai to sing this song for the marathi movie “Bandya aani baby”. The song was recorded in Suresh Wadekars “Aajivasan Studio”. SPB said earlier that “My long desire of singing in Marathi has been fulfilled with this song, I am happy about this. Salil played this song over phone. I agreed instantly listening to the rhythm. Salil also asked me about my scale (range of voice), and I really felt very good. Nowadays, nobody asks this. Many music directors insist that a singer must sing according to his scale (music directors system of definite tones).“ When asked if he listens to marathi songs, he replied “I listened them when many singers from Maharashtra come for programmes in Chennai, and also my friend Suresh Wadekar helps”.
Chats over and back to rehearsals. SPB first heart the complete song from Salil, and asked him the meaning of every word. After getting the proper pronunciations of every word, he got them recorded on his recorder. He then said “Give me half an hour time to prepare”, and then he started practicing. Exactly after half-an-hour, he came out for recording and asked Salil, “If I make a mistake, make me do it again.” He co-operated every moment, and to the core! Sometimes, it so happened that even though Salil okayed the take, SPB would say…“Sir, please at this particular word my vocals aren’t proper, so please get one take extra. Just in case…” He would also enquire “Is it ok if I express the emotion in this way?”
After the complete song was heard he embraced Salil saying, “this song really doesn’t seem to be belonging to this era…especially…with the lyrics and the semi-classical ragas… with my voice!! I request Salil not to make songs that are made in this generation. I am glad I waited to sing a song in Marathi for this long…because now it has genuinely hit the right node…and I am glad it took it off in the right scale…!”
Eventually… the recording was over…but that was a spectacular day that people present there in the studio witnessed………!!!
Truly it was a marvelous day with the magnificent maestro…unforgettable..!!!
Quoting….SPB!!
SPB flew from Chennai to Mumbai to sing this song for the marathi movie “Bandya aani baby”. The song was recorded in Suresh Wadekars “Aajivasan Studio”. SPB said earlier that “My long desire of singing in Marathi has been fulfilled with this song, I am happy about this. Salil played this song over phone. I agreed instantly listening to the rhythm. Salil also asked me about my scale (range of voice), and I really felt very good. Nowadays, nobody asks this. Many music directors insist that a singer must sing according to his scale (music directors system of definite tones).“ When asked if he listens to marathi songs, he replied “I listened them when many singers from Maharashtra come for programmes in Chennai, and also my friend Suresh Wadekar helps”.
Chats over and back to rehearsals. SPB first heart the complete song from Salil, and asked him the meaning of every word. After getting the proper pronunciations of every word, he got them recorded on his recorder. He then said “Give me half an hour time to prepare”, and then he started practicing. Exactly after half-an-hour, he came out for recording and asked Salil, “If I make a mistake, make me do it again.” He co-operated every moment, and to the core! Sometimes, it so happened that even though Salil okayed the take, SPB would say…“Sir, please at this particular word my vocals aren’t proper, so please get one take extra. Just in case…” He would also enquire “Is it ok if I express the emotion in this way?”
After the complete song was heard he embraced Salil saying, “this song really doesn’t seem to be belonging to this era…especially…with the lyrics and the semi-classical ragas… with my voice!! I request Salil not to make songs that are made in this generation. I am glad I waited to sing a song in Marathi for this long…because now it has genuinely hit the right node…and I am glad it took it off in the right scale…!”
Eventually… the recording was over…but that was a spectacular day that people present there in the studio witnessed………!!!
Truly it was a marvelous day with the magnificent maestro…unforgettable..!!!
Quoting….SPB!!
10 comments:
Such a pleasure to read this. My many thanks for having it translated it so well.
Hai Vikas and Prabanjan,
An excellent writeup transulated from Hindi. Yes yesterday i ask to Mr.Ramesh about this news Mr.Ramesh sir told to me last 4 days i was with Baluji at Bangalore he also told to me directly i am went to Mumbai for record one Marathi song. Truly this is a happy news for our SPB Fans. I and Cbe fans eagerly waiting for listerning that song.
All the best for yours effort.
hi vikanjan,
My way of saluting you both. doing a great job of collecting all the hindi songs of spb. Carry on keep it up. Hope we are reaching our target soon.
Now we should target on Oriya and other north languages..
Gr8 writeup
Regards
Kishor
hi vikanjan,
My way of saluting you twin shadows.
gr8 writeup. keep it up
I think we are reaching our preliminary target of 350
Now we should target on his oriya songs
kishor
Wow!!! Great News buddy....
Good narration Vikas,
Thanks for making aware of this.
And you are blessed to witness this recording.......Great !!
Seeing his tired face, all that we wanted to ask just got frozen in the crisp cold morning air. But, SP Balasubramaniam is never known to disappoint. And he didn’t.
In spite of the tight schedule - he had to finish breakfast and catch a flight to be at the photo shoot of his son’s (SPB Charan’s) film - he gave us all the time he had, on Monday morning. What brought him to the city was the music event held as part of the Sai Baba’s birth anniversary celebrations at Sai Gramam, Thonnakkal, on Sunday.
He is knocking at the door of record books, for the most number of songs by a singer. But does he know the correct figure? Is it 36,000 or more? The reply was ready. ``I am sure about 35,000. In six months, I will get the correct details.’’
So, what has kept him going all these 42 years? Shedding off the tiresome look, he said with a smile, ``First, necessity. Second, I don’t know anything else...’’ He went on, ``I never thought that I would become a singer. I have very little knowledge about music... experience has made me what I am...’’ SPB was his humble self.
He is heard less in films these days. Why? ``See... it is a natural process. Lot of new blood is infused into the industry. Composers are trying new voices. I was a young fellow once, singing left and right. Now it is the turn of others. But still I record 30 songs a month, which makes one song per day.’’
Which naturally led us to his view on the present-day music. ``The standard has come down. I think technology has seeped in so much that music has been pushed back. Technology should enhance the quality of music. In general, Western Music is being used too much that it is spoiling the texture of music. The fabric has become too synthetic.’’
Occasionally good songs come out, he added. ``But don’t laugh at me when I say that I don’t recognise most of the voices. May be because, I don’t listen much to the songs. However, I know the voices of Karthik and Tipu.’’
And he has no aversion to reality shows. He is anchoring three - one each in Telugu (for 15 years now), Kannada and Tamil. ``But what I do is different. The goal is not making them playback singers. Mostly, the winners of reality shows fade away in one to two years. What I wish is to select three or four best voices, give them opportunities to nurture their talent by mingling with seniors, learn the process, thereby improvising and improving.’’ He remembered how composer Kodandapani spotted him, gave him break after break.
``There are hardly such composers now. Now, many young talents just sing in one movie and rarely get opportunities to repeat their success. They eventually fade out in some two years.’’
He considers himself ``lucky to have found the offshoots’’ of his profession in dubbing, acting, composing and production. ``They just happened. And I don’t nurture any ambitions as such. I don’t do anything which I don’t enjoy.’’
These days, he dubs only for Kamal Hassan, ie when his films are dubbed into Telugu. He has been Kamal’s voice in some 200 films, the latest being ‘Dasavatharam’. ``Now if Kamal gives his own voice in Telugu, people won’t recognise him.’’ SPB also dubbed for Rajnikanth in the Telugu version of ‘Kuchelan’. Interesting thing, SPB was Ben Kingsley’s voice in the Telugu version of Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’.
He has cut down acting assignments also. ``They always want me to play the lovable, roly poly guy. But, now I’ve decided to do films in which I fit in - physically and age-wise.’’
The regret over not learning classical music is always there. And he is bent upon learning classical music. ``I have to find time for that. It is not an excuse. Right now I am into so many things. I need to take a break to learn that. There is no age limit for learning, right? I want to give at least one concert.’’
He added, ``I don’t like to stress upon too much of ‘sambradaya’. It tends to make the rendition rigid.’’ The best part is, in spite of not having learnt classical music, he has composed classical pieces for many films. ``I don’t have a favourite raga, but most of my compositions have been based on Kalyani raga. I don’t know why. May be, I heard that a lot when I was in my mother’s womb.’’
Live shows excite him a lot. ``And, there are some 15-20 trump cards in each language, which I am always asked to sing. Of course, I have to sing ‘Sankara...’ (‘Sankarabharanam’) everywhere.’’
But he seemed more excited about his favourite singer, Mohammed Rafi. And sounded more sweeter when he paid tribute to Rafi with ‘Mere mehboob tujhe...’. ``There won’t be any voice like that. I don’t know how I fell in love with his voice. My daughter has twins. Though the boy is named Anirudh, I call him Rafi...’’
A query about his good health seemed to tickle him no end. ``You mean my health or my obesity?’’ he gave out a big laugh. ``Well, I’m healthy... I enjoy life... I still eat ice cream, drink cold water, I’m a social drinker and I used to smoke... I want to live long and want people around me to live long. Above all, there is music, which is the best ‘pranayama...
From news
Seeing his tired face, all that we wanted to ask just got frozen in the crisp cold morning air. But, SP Balasubramaniam is never known to disappoint. And he didn’t.
In spite of the tight schedule - he had to finish breakfast and catch a flight to be at the photo shoot of his son’s (SPB Charan’s) film - he gave us all the time he had, on Monday morning. What brought him to the city was the music event held as part of the Sai Baba’s birth anniversary celebrations at Sai Gramam, Thonnakkal, on Sunday.
He is knocking at the door of record books, for the most number of songs by a singer. But does he know the correct figure? Is it 36,000 or more? The reply was ready. ``I am sure about 35,000. In six months, I will get the correct details.’’
So, what has kept him going all these 42 years? Shedding off the tiresome look, he said with a smile, ``First, necessity. Second, I don’t know anything else...’’ He went on, ``I never thought that I would become a singer. I have very little knowledge about music... experience has made me what I am...’’ SPB was his humble self.
He is heard less in films these days. Why? ``See... it is a natural process. Lot of new blood is infused into the industry. Composers are trying new voices. I was a young fellow once, singing left and right. Now it is the turn of others. But still I record 30 songs a month, which makes one song per day.’’
Which naturally led us to his view on the present-day music. ``The standard has come down. I think technology has seeped in so much that music has been pushed back. Technology should enhance the quality of music. In general, Western Music is being used too much that it is spoiling the texture of music. The fabric has become too synthetic.’’
Occasionally good songs come out, he added. ``But don’t laugh at me when I say that I don’t recognise most of the voices. May be because, I don’t listen much to the songs. However, I know the voices of Karthik and Tipu.’’
And he has no aversion to reality shows. He is anchoring three - one each in Telugu (for 15 years now), Kannada and Tamil. ``But what I do is different. The goal is not making them playback singers. Mostly, the winners of reality shows fade away in one to two years. What I wish is to select three or four best voices, give them opportunities to nurture their talent by mingling with seniors, learn the process, thereby improvising and improving.’’ He remembered how composer Kodandapani spotted him, gave him break after break.
``There are hardly such composers now. Now, many young talents just sing in one movie and rarely get opportunities to repeat their success. They eventually fade out in some two years.’’
He considers himself ``lucky to have found the offshoots’’ of his profession in dubbing, acting, composing and production. ``They just happened. And I don’t nurture any ambitions as such. I don’t do anything which I don’t enjoy.’’
These days, he dubs only for Kamal Hassan, ie when his films are dubbed into Telugu. He has been Kamal’s voice in some 200 films, the latest being ‘Dasavatharam’. ``Now if Kamal gives his own voice in Telugu, people won’t recognise him.’’ SPB also dubbed for Rajnikanth in the Telugu version of ‘Kuchelan’. Interesting thing, SPB was Ben Kingsley’s voice in the Telugu version of Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’.
He has cut down acting assignments also. ``They always want me to play the lovable, roly poly guy. But, now I’ve decided to do films in which I fit in - physically and age-wise.’’
The regret over not learning classical music is always there. And he is bent upon learning classical music. ``I have to find time for that. It is not an excuse. Right now I am into so many things. I need to take a break to learn that. There is no age limit for learning, right? I want to give at least one concert.’’
He added, ``I don’t like to stress upon too much of ‘sambradaya’. It tends to make the rendition rigid.’’ The best part is, in spite of not having learnt classical music, he has composed classical pieces for many films. ``I don’t have a favourite raga, but most of my compositions have been based on Kalyani raga. I don’t know why. May be, I heard that a lot when I was in my mother’s womb.’’
Live shows excite him a lot. ``And, there are some 15-20 trump cards in each language, which I am always asked to sing. Of course, I have to sing ‘Sankara...’ (‘Sankarabharanam’) everywhere.’’
But he seemed more excited about his favourite singer, Mohammed Rafi. And sounded more sweeter when he paid tribute to Rafi with ‘Mere mehboob tujhe...’. ``There won’t be any voice like that. I don’t know how I fell in love with his voice. My daughter has twins. Though the boy is named Anirudh, I call him Rafi...’’
A query about his good health seemed to tickle him no end. ``You mean my health or my obesity?’’ he gave out a big laugh. ``Well, I’m healthy... I enjoy life... I still eat ice cream, drink cold water, I’m a social drinker and I used to smoke... I want to live long and want people around me to live long. Above all, there is music, which is the best ‘pranayama...
From news
Great attempt by such a legendary singer. There is one more marathi album Nishigandha wherein SPB has sung 3 solo songs
Great Work Thanks.
A melidus songs by spb
Post a Comment