One song wonders

The credit to bring new voices in the tamizh playback singing industry should go to A R Rahman. Pre 1991 there were just a handful of male and female singers who ruled the industry for almost two decades. Earlier, most of the film credits had just two names in the Pinnani padagargal category - SPB, Janaki or TMS, P Susheela. I love SPB's voice but thinking about it now, imagine a whole lot of singers that were denied an opportunity to sing by the Jaambavan music directors of yesteryears only because they preferred to use the tried and tested 'hit' voices.

Most of you will not agree but you can't deny the fact that new voices added magic to the sound tracks of ARR, Harris, Yuvan etc.

But oflate, it has become overcrowded there. Music directors want to introduce a new voice in every new track of theirs. Result? A whole lot of people who sing a song or two and vanish immediately. And so, PR-giri, that is marketing themselves has become more important than improving their vocal chords.

Singers like Suchi and Shilpa Rao (Bollywood) are masters at this. Suchi's PR skills amaze me! Right from calling Aishwarya Rajnikant 'Aishooo' or pall-ilichifying at every party, she is a complete PR expert! And that's what is helping her get more singing chances. Shilpa Rao is a very boring singer. Lacks the lilt the voice requires for a 'Khuda Jaane' (Bachna aee haseeno) but man! her PR agent (yes she has one!) ensures she is part of every radio station's PR activity, award function, press coverage etc.

Last week as I watched the finals of Zee TV's 'Sangeetha Mahayuddham' I pitied all the me-too playback singers... same set of faces who appear in almost all music reality shows. Each of them who have been in the industry for almost 2-3 years, singing the same set of one or two songs in every medai.

Starting with Vinaya. I have seen her in almost all reality shows singing one song only which is 'Paalakkatu pakkathula'. Atleast this girl has a decent voice. Look at this character - Belly raj. Every time my dad sees him, he has only question "Paavam, ivanukku vera chance-e kedaikkaliyamma?" and dad has been asking this question for over a year now. And what's worse- This guy cannot catch the damn shruti! Vijay Anthony's favourite - Sangeetha. Again, sings like as if she's been starving for over a month and that too - only one song "Yean enakku mayakkam". Singer Rajalakshmi's one and only song is 'Kokku para para' but acts like she's one number seasoned singer.

How can one even think of giving peppy tracks like 'Pokkiri Pongal' to Naveen? The peppiness has to come from within. Pal tries to mukkufy his best to sing such tracks. The worst of them all - Srilekha Parthasarathy. Seven plus years as a playback singer and she ends up singing only one song. The moment she starts "Yelllo yelllo....(kalyanamdan kattikkittu)" you want to switch off. Another singer who thinks too much of himself - Krish. "Naa U.S return" kind of bandha! "Ayyo Krish, enda pitch-la paadamatengra?" Malaysia Vasudevan's daughter despo in PR thanking Harris Jeyaraj Saar in every interview of hers hoping he'd call her again after "Mundinam paartheeenee"

Singers like Harish Raghavendra, Krish, Unnikrishnan have such a pombala kural they should actually be singing for heroines than heroes.

Recently I had met this famous music director-actor-sinnnnnger in Bollywood (avaredaan!) . I had asked him on why singers come and disappear immediately. He mentioned that unless you become a music director yourself, you cannot survive in the industry for long as a singer. You may be a great voice but you cannot be assured of a hit every time. Because this would mean not only the music director remembering you and giving you an opportunity to sing but also the fact that the song needs to become a hit for you to make it big! He gave an example of Kunal Ganjawallah who made it big after 'Bheege hont tere...'. You hardly hear his songs these days. He is a fabulous singer but hasn't got the right songs in the last year or two.

That's probably why you see singers like Karthik and Shrinivas turn music directors. But imagine a whole lot of the singers above turning MDs... yabba, time for another post!