Engineering musical ecstasy

The Hindu, July 1 2003, By Dinesh Varma M.

'Each singer's voice has its distinct fingerprint, its own speciality and timbre. There should be no propensity to mimic.'

AN ENGINEER by qualification, a world record-holding playback genius, an actor in over 60 films, and a music composer all bundled into one. There are not many men with such versatile talents and are yet so humble at heart, like the multi-faceted S.P. Balasubramaniam. 

Guinness Book of Records entrant for having rendered the highest number (over 36,000) songs in languages ranging from Telugu and Tamil to Hindi, Malayalam and Oriya, six-time national award winner, and Padmashri awardee in 2001, the man's easy-going and down-to-earth manners are as incredible as his phenomenal feats. 

S. P. Balasubramaniam, or Bala as he is fondly known in the circuit, was in the city last weekend for hectic recording sessions for the Asianet channel's musical, `Sangeetha Saagaram', which is featuring the playback legend on its forthcoming Friday episodes. 

No other duo had so completely dominated the playback scenario in the Tamil film industry through the Seventies and Eighties as Ilayaraja and SPB had done. Banking on a talent pool of gifted lyricists such as Kannadasan and Vairamuthu and singing sensations like Janaki, Suseela and Vani Jayaram, the Ilayaraja- SPB combine had blazed ahead to produce a string of seemingly endless hits. 

"There will never be another Ilayaraja. He was par excellence as a self-taught, versatile and complete composer," Bala declares. Given SPB's known penchant for improvising, how did he fare under the daunting baton of a tough task-master like Ilayaraja? 

"Improvising on the original compositions of someone like Ilayaraja is always a dicey proposition. 

"Some of my touches would go well with him, but whenever I went overboard, he would step in with a figurative spank in the ear," says Bala. 

Does he feel happy about having inspired a generation of singers who revel in imitating his style? "I am happy, but only to the extent of having provided inspiration to new talents. But, this inspiration should not be overwhelmed by a propensity to mimic. Each singer's voice has its distinct fingerprint, its own speciality and timbre. The last thing I wish is for SPB clones burgeoning in the music world." 

The veteran crooner says he has sometimes even personally raised these points with some singers who were known to take after his style of rendition. 

"One can understand if Jesudas's scion's singing closely resembles that of his father because it could be in the genes. But, look at what happened to the scores of talented Malayalam singers who started aping the incomparable Jesudas. They all slid into oblivion. By comparison, Tamil singers like Mano are fortunate to have succeeded thus far in spite of his style being said to closely resemble mine," says Bala. 

What about technology-driven music that seems to be the craze these days? "Technology has its advantages and dangers. A singer is benefited by having the option of going back to make corrections at places where he has gone off-key. 

"But, having said that, one must say that technology is also being misused to mask the defects of new singers. But, the worst part of it all is that the importance of good lyrics has been virtually displaced in this dizzying mix of fast-paced rhythm and heavy sounds," says Bala.