Topic started by Shanmugam Murugappan (@ ifmxmenlo.informix.com) on Thu Dec 3 16:32:36 EST 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
|
Hi all,
|
PS and SJ are certainly talented singers. They have proved their worth, no doubt. But saying that they are on a pedestal and that they cannot be matched by Chithra or others is biased. This may sound banal but in reality, people will always say old is gold. Not necessarily factual but the heart rules over the mind for most. In my understanding, gems can be found in all periods. Admittedly, in the earlier years the there were opulent songs to be categorized as such. Primarily, I believe that was do to the fact that lyrics were given more importence than music. The complexity of music in the earlier days, be it composition-wise or technical-wise, was ordinary. Even in the times of MS Viswanathan, who is the only member of the period that I am vastly familiar with, there was not much to say about the instrumental complexity of the songs. The lyrics and situation was what mattered. Sure, Mr. MSV has given unforgettable gems, but they shine out mostly due to there wonderful melody and impressionable lyrics. Can anyone imagine a song of the nature of Satti suddathada in todays films. Such lyrical structure can't be tried in this day simply because it won't sell. PS and SJ had the advantage in that they were simply there when these gems were created. Moreover, what other form of entertainment did they have in those days except to listen to songs on the radio. The constant exposure that people had to these songs highlighted the careers of older day singers. Even if their singing was not exceptional, they would have been remembered.
Illayaraja brought into the field compositions of par excellence. Not just in the entire songs but he impressed in small instrumental pieces too, like the guitar bit in 'Raja raja chozhan naan'. And he brought diversity. He strayed from the prevailing form of film music and brought folk, western, jazz etc. But with this, we saw the decline of PS in TFM. It is questionable if that was only due to IR's constant reliance and promotion of Janaki. Surely, PS was great, and still is, but can she have equaled Janaki in delivering the rather freaky numbers of IR's. I am not referring to wonderful melodies such as 'kaatril enthan geetham' but to numbers like the ever-popular aariraaro from Munthanai mudichu. Or would the listeners have excepted such a number from Susheela. Factwise, Susheela may have sung seductive numbers but definitely the boldness that prevailed in songs in the 80's and now was not present then. Even 'Nakkal' songs were done with dignity in those days. I for one don't think that Susheela could have worked for such songs. Even the popular number she sang for Rahman kannukku mai azhagu is a typical PS song. Only the technical perfection was added. Janaki's strength is her ability to do those freaky numbers. The melodious songs that Janaki has done could be done by anyone, be it PS or Chithra. Denial will certainly come from SJ fans, but that is only because they associate SJ's voice with those numbers.
There's always the question of who is the ultimate. Who masters in all the areas? There is no one. SJ has her misgivings as does PS and I have always admitted that Chithra was not as versatile as SJ. At least, she didn't get the chance to do such freaky numbers and so I will never know. But unquestionably, I believe that she is very good. Even eclipsing both in some issues. As far as the matter of sweet voice is concerned, we are all going to have our individual opinion depending on taste. Mine is definitely not biased. I do believe that Chithra has the best voice. And as far as carnatic numbers are concerned, she does perform better than her predecessors. Some may claim that she is trained in the field but the truth is that even PS has studied carnatic music far more than Chithra. I have read an article where she mentioned that she had studied carnatic music and had done concerts. Chithra, as she herself admits, still has not studied it to the level of giving a concert, but still I find that her renditions are far more impressive. This may not seem validable to those that solely listen to tamil music but if you have listened to her malayala numbers you will know.
Futhermore, there seems to be constant picking on her tamil diction. I can't understand if this is due to the lack of issues to fault her at or if people can't come past the issue. We have all agreed(at least, past participants in the thread) that all three singers had dictation errors in some songs at the beginning of their career. But for a few songs in the initial and upcoming years, I have not heard any faults in her diction. Even in her first few songs, there are no errors. I don't hear anything wrong in songs from poove poochudava and sinthu bhairavi. To go on, I can't name another non-tamil singer in the past decade who has as clear diction as she. As even Kanchana pointed out, while someone said that 'Kanaalane' song had diction errors, there was clearly none. I don't want to use the excuse of in this day of purposely mispronouncing and even tamils such as Devan, Suresh Peters, ARR, Harini, Hariharan etc, can't dictate acurately; simply because I think that the question of Chithra's diction being imperfect is unwarranted in the thread at this point. Do we constantly slander SJ by the fact that not only in her initial days but in a lot of her songs she stresses the sh sound? We don't. So why then bring Chithra into the question. An artist flourishes as time passes. As did PS, SJ, ARR, IR, SPB, KJY etc. Even KJY was blasted for his diction in some songs, but he pointed out that the MD did not correct him. We are judging the ability of an artist from present day view of that artist.
I am not here to question the positions of PS or SJ. My frank statement is, people have to learn to give acceptance. To gain acceptance is pretty hard in any field but an artist has the worst time. People claim that PS sang innumerable songs and her songs come out with great feeling. But as I stated before, there are many numbers by other artist in that line, including SJ. I had stated Swarnalatha's name and people thought I was ridiculing PS/SJ. Well, the fact remains that Swarna does sing like so. Just listen to numbers like malaiyil yaaro, poorale ponnuthaiye, yeavano oruvan and several other solo songs by the girl. She is one person with great singing talent who has been ignored by the music field.
Someone, I can't recall who, had stated that Chithra didn't have the record to be compared with SJ and PS. When given the track record, someone else rebutted that saying track record was not enough for her credit. Then there was the question of recognition. When told that she had a more impressive record there as well, there was the question of quick fame. I do realize that she came into the field with the superhit Poove poochudava which overshadowed her debut film. But it took Sindhu Bhairavi to get her noticed. I don't know about the malayalam industry, although I hear that it was only Nokketha doorathu kannum nattu that did wonders for her career. But even that was achieved through time. You people make it sound as though she were a female Unnikrishnan. I reckon someone will say that she didn't have competition. There's always competition in every field. The question is if the competitors will surpass you. She had more competitors than anyone else if you are talking about the tamil field. Sunantha, Jency, Devi, SP Sailaja, and not to mention Janaki along with the countless(nameless) others. It was just her luck or fate that she made it. Of course, no one without the talent can survive with just luck. So there is no question of getting the easy way in. Frankly, to me, it seems as though SJ or PS would have had a easier time considering the period in which they came to the field. Who was willing to come into cinema in the those days? People thought it disrespectful. It was only in the latter days that all the glitter and glamour fell on cinema.
What more can I say? It is quite evident that this is a subjective issue as has been pointed out many times. Whatever debates we use, the bottom line is that opinion more than fact will always be the heart of this thread. And therefore, I end saying Chithra's the BEST.