Continued from part 4

Part 5

idi toli paaTa
oka cheli paaTa
vinipinchanaa ee pooTaa
naa paaTaa

The early era of Telugu films witnessed the players on screen doubling their duties behind the microphones. Playback singing merely meant that the sound was looped back by the same artists enacting the characters on the screens. It was only a matter time before a great actor with a tone deaf voice came along, which eventually led to the separation of the singers and the lip-syncers. The earlier movies, mostly ythological in nature, concentrated on the classical structure and as time gave away for social ones to enter the arena, light music slowly gained ground and consequently, the emphasis was laid more on the content of the song than on the delivery. With classically trained singers helming the affairs, light music was considered to be a transit point, while they waited for their next challenge in the classical arena. Ghantasala had the unique distinction of being the torch-bearer of the early revolution in playback singing, continuing with a great aplomb as the Telugu song broke the shackles of traditional/classical artistry while finally embracing and settling with the lighter lilting brethren. He had the marked advantage of having proved himself of his classical chops very early on in his career, that the detour he took with light music wasn't much of an aberration in his distinguished career. Interspersing a "madi Saaradaa daevi mandaramae" with many "malliyalaaraa maalikalaaraa mounamugaa unnaaraa"s, mixing "haayi haayi gaa aamani saagae" with plenty of "khushee khushee gaa navvutoo"s, blending "Siva Sankaree Sivaanandalaharee" with a plethora of "Siva Siva moorthivi gaNanaadhaa"s, Ghantasala sailed on both the boats without ever being questioned or looked down upon for his dual loyalties.

By the time Balu entered the fray, the age of purists was slowly ebbing away heralding the dawn of popular and light music. The late sixties, when he started to make ground, began to see a marked change in the types of stories that were being told, the kind of actors portraying the characters and the nature of the tunes that were being composed. One can clearly observe the bubbling enthusiasm that effuses in his songs during the late sixties and early seventies, maturing into a confident tone during much of the eighties, before finally settling down into a much respected form of delivery during these twilight years of his career. "origindi chandravanka vayyaari taara vanka, virijaaji teega sumta jarigindi maavi chenta" (||pratee raatree vasanta raatri||) - the words of recent recruit into love in the voice of the recent entrant into the club. In "ohOhO bangaaru picchikaa, palakavaeme panchadaara chilakaa", comes across a naughty voice at its teasing best. The eternal optimism that boils over in "manchini penchina manishini, ae vanchana emi cheyadani, neethiki nilabadu vaniki, enatiki otami ledani" (||ennaaLLo vaechina udayam||) and the dove-eyed innocence that plays in "naenaitae aaku komma, taanaitae vennela vella, padilamgaa naesina poosina podarilloo maadi" (||maeDanTae maeDaa kaadu||). The youth wave, that swept over the filmdom in the late sixties in the form of actors, technicians, lyricists, music directors symbolised in that one unique voice of Balu, played on the sidelines while the masters of the earlier generation took to stage. Following the masterly performance, the second act showcased the talents of these youngsters, who had learnt the tricks of the trade while waiting in the wings.

Seventies was to Balu what the golden era of fifties had been to Ghantasala. If in the halls of the fifties and the sixties echoed the tunes of traditionalism, seventies brought in the age of freedom and unrestricted structure. Once the era of Ghantasala and Ramakrishna was over and Balu moved away from catering is voice exclusively for comic actors and started to take center stage lending his talent to all the lead players, opportunities started knocking on his doors and the situation remained thus ever since. The name light music (lalitha sangeetamu) isn't as easy or as simple as the name suggests. Case in point, "kadilae andam kavitaa, adi kougilikostae yuvataa, naa paaTalO nee pallavae navataa navya mamataa" (||veeNa vaeNuvaina sarigama vinnavaa||). Right at the end where it ends in "navya mamataa" and joins again with "veena vaeNuvaina", the note does a bizarre and a 'violent' transition, before merging back into the pallavi and regaining the typical characteristics of a "lalita geetamu". Right at the end of "nava rasa pOshaNa chaNa vani, naTanaankita jeevani vani, ninnu kolichi unna vaaDa, minnulandu kunna vaaDaa" in the song "abhinava taaravO, naa abhmimaana taaravO", the tempo builds up into a engaging crescendo coronating (abhishiktistoo) the 'charaNam' with a "nee aasvaadakuDanu, aaraadhakuDanu, anuraktuDanu, nee priya bhaktuDanu" - all in the life of a simple "lalita geetamu". When passion pours out in the emotion, words follow suit - "rasee kruta nava rasamaya jeevana raaga chandrikaa, lalita laavaNya bhayata soundarya kalita chanDikaa, raavae naa Sivaranjanee" (||Sivaranjanee navaraaginee||). The "Sabda gumbhanamu" belies the pleasantness; the "pada bhooyiSTamu" counterpoints the simplicity. For all its little nuances and underlying subtleties, "lalita geetamu" is not so "lalitamu" after all!

The inherent disadvantage with light music, from the singer's perspective, lies in its natural partiality to the words that make up the song than towards the notes. The difference in the greatness of the rendition of a "lalita geetamu" between a trained classical musician and a novice singer with a fair enough understanding of the mechanics of the song, is not as wide and not as huge as one expects. If there aren't too many twists and turns, too many blind-alleys that could trouble the singer and not too much complexity in the word/note structure, the onus of raising the levels of the enjoyment falls primarily on the words and the voice delivering the words only enhances the enjoyment levels. "paala buggalanu laeta siggulu pallavinchagaa raavae, neeli mungurulu pilla gaalitO aaTalaaDagaa raavae, kaali andiyalu ghallu ghallu mana raaja hamsala raavae" (||ae divilO virisina paarijaatamO||). "A rose would smell as sweet as with any other name" noted the Bard once. If the words possess enough magic to convey the point across, the singer's task is reduced to merely rendering it - in other words, if words, emotions, rendition and passion make up necessary and sufficient clauses for the more complex variety, words make up the majority of sufficient clause in case of "bhaava geetalu". "kusalamaa, neeku kusalamaenaa, manasu nilupukOlaeka maree maree aDigaanu antae antae antae...", "kanulalO nee roopam, manasulO nee deepam, kadalaaDae naeDae he he he he", "navami naaTi vennela neevu, daSami naaTi jaabili neevu, kalusukunna prati raeyi kaarteeka punnami raeyi" - the list reaches tens of thousands. As history has it, even with all the "bhaava geetaalu", "lalita geetalu", "jaanapada geetalu" and many such variations of light music, the unmistakable voice of Balu accompanied them all, sometimes remaining in the sufficient clause, sometimes switching sides into the necessary clause.

neeli neeli nee kannullalo
neeDalaina naa kavitalalO
nee challanni charanaalae niluputunna valapae ee paaTa
parimalinchu aa bandaalae paravasinchi paaDana paaDana
paaDana

(Continued in part 6)

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