With a song in his heart

By Chitra Ramaswamy---Khaleej Times, Tuesday, October 5, 1999

Meticulous, diplomatic, friendly, pleasantly polite and candid – sum up, S. P. Balasubramaniam, Balu, or simply SPB, who is all set to enter the Guinness Book of Records with a mind boggling 34,000 songs to his credit. A few minutes of conversation with this multi-faceted singer-actor-director-producer-distributor cum television anchor, and his verve for work and love of life is bound to infect you! “There can never be another life like that of a human being’s; you can seek so much and give so much – sharing, exchanging and spreading happiness in the hearts of each other”. Balu sounds philosophical. And that is what he has sought to do – he’s been a roving ambassador for India, carrying the message and music and melody, culture and heritage of India, transcending all geographical borders.

While getting into the Guinness Book is great, one of Balu’s most cherished moments was his being granted a special audience with the US President, Bill Clinton in 1995 when Lata Mangeshkar and he visited the country.

You have sung in a number of languages. Which is the language in which you are most comfortable?

The language of music, of course (he jokes)! I’m most comfortable in Telugu, my mother tongue. But to render songs soulfully and to get the expression portrayed by the artistes on screen, it is imperative to know the language and its diction. I can read, write and speak well, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu. Though I’ve sung many numbers in Malayalam, four songs in Bengali and 40 in Oriya, I’ve not been able to gain enough proficiency in these languages.

How about singing in English?

To croon something after listening to songs on TV or radio is one thing. To know its intricacies and nuances require careful learning. My stint with English songs was all touch-and-go. Even if I did get the chance, I’m not confident that I’d do justice to the language.

What or who inspired you to playback singing?

Though my father was a classical musician and harikatha exponent, my getting into music was pure accident. Being good at academics, I aspired to become an engineer and also qualified for it. I’ve had no formal training in music; nevertheless I used to participate in competitions and it was in one such talent-spotting contests in Madras that I was sported by the late film music composer S.P. Kodandapani, who gave me my first break in films.

What about your acting-directing-composing ventures?

These are all offshoots of my singing and have happened just as accidentally. Directors who watched my miming acts offered me roles and I opted for those, which lent depth and character.

How do you compare music of yesteryear with the present?

The best thing that could have happened to music today is the technological advantages, recording enjoys. It has reduced the strain and burden on the vocal cords of singers and brought about substantial saving in terms of time and energy.

Earlier, recording a song implied everyone involved had to sing and play, live. Even a single, small mistake meant repeating the whole thing.

However, today’s method has its disadvantages in that you miss out on human interaction. You don’t even know who your co-singer will be. There is no scope for exchange of ideas and improvising, which in those days gave rise to a spirit of healthy competition. Face-to-face coordination between producers and composers of lyrics and music is hardly there. Often, while you’re recording the first part of a song, the lyrics or tune of the latter part is brought to you by fax or other electronic mode.

Lyrics are no longer situational. They are mere fillers having no bearing on the story. Earlier, they were composed to suit specific artistes, keeping their voice range, scale and pitch in mind. Now often there is nothing serious about the lyrics, they are a mere hotchpotch with plenty of alien language words thrown in. In a shortcut to attract today’s youth, music directors are pressurized to create “sound” rather than music.

How do you nurture your voice?

Honestly, I’ve done nothing to keep my voice in shape. In fact, I used to smoke during my college days, just for the fun of it, nut gave up the habit after turning professional singer. I love to live life to the hilt but within certain rules and structure. I enjoy good food including sweets and ice-cream. I cannot stay without drinking cold water, but all these things have not affected my voice. However, I underwent two surgeries for my throat since I developed a polyp. But this had been purely through overuse, recording 18-19 songs per day and ghost-voicing for many artistes, which meant speaking in very high pitch or screaming my throat out, oftentimes.

Something about your personal life?

I married at 21, to a girl in the house where I was staying as paying guest. My success has largely been due to my wife who has single-handedly shouldered the responsibility of bringing up our two children. My son and daughter are both married and aspire to be musicians in their own right though my son pursued MBA abroad. My daughter-in-law is a Punjabi whom my son met in America during one of his shows.

What plans do you have for the future? Are you into any social work?

I live life as it comes. At 52, I’m highly contented man and have no regrets. I have won more number of awards than many others in my field and I know I will be remembered as a singer. But I want to be remembered as a good human being as well.

I would not like to publicise the social work I do. But I firmly believe I should return something to society that has made me what I am today, appreciating my music and boosting my morale. I’ve begun a Trust in my father’s name to provide health and educational assistance for the needy. It is my cherished desire to churn out something big by using my musical potential and voice for a good cause. I perform a number of fund-raising shows for genuine organizations involved in social work. I plan to hold two big shows, one each for Canstop, a cancer institute, and the Blue Cross Society of India, since I’m a lover of animals.

As if in testimony to that, a couple of dogs and a kitten came bounding up the stairs as I rose to leave SPB with his dreams.