Tuesday 9 October 2012

L.R.ESWARI BIOGRAPHY




Lourde-Mary Rajeswari Eswari (L. R. Eswari) (Tamilஎல். ஆர். ஈஸ்வரி) is a Veteran playback singer of the Tamil movie industry. She also sang in other languages like TeluguKannadaMalayalamTulu, and English.[1] She has won Kalaimamani, the Tamil Nadu's state award for her contributions to the film industry.

She was born in Chennai into a Roman Catholic family to Anthony Devraj and Regina Mary Nirmala. Her ancestors were from Paramagudi near Madurai. Her full name is Lourde-Mary Rajeshwari. Since there was already another established singer with the name of M.S.Rajeshwari her name was abbreivated into L.R.Eshwari. She did not have any formal training in singing. Her mother was a chorus singer in films. Eshwari used to accompany her mother to the studios and soon began singing in the chorus herself, but quickly got a break to lend her voice as lead-singer. Her first break came from Sri K.V.Mahadevan in 1958 in the movie 'Periya Idaththu Sammandham', her first solo song recorded in this movie was 'ivarey thaan avarey'. But major recognition came from the song 'vaarai en thozhi vaaraayo' from the movie 'paasa malar' (1961) sung under the baton of Viswanathan-Ramamurthy, which composers explored and exploited her vocal abilities to the maximum extent possible over the next 20 years.Early life

Career

She sang under the direction of famous composers like M.S.ViswanathanK. V. MahadevanIlayaraja and Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan. Her unique voice was considered to be suited for peppy numbers in the movies, be it a dance tune, folk song or a devotional track. Her song "Vaarayo Thozhi" from Paasa Malar was a popular choice for wedding music.
She has also recorded many devotional albums in praise of the Goddess Amman which were hugely popular among the Tamil community and were played in many temples. Her "Chellatha" and "Karpoora Nayagi" numbers has won her a lot of fame among devotees. She has won the Kalaimamani Award and other states awards. Her Hindi song uduthi hi chidiya from the film pistonwali, music by satyam shows her ability. She sang romantic songs filmed on heroines as well as cabarets filmed on dance-artistes and also folk songs.
Perhaps she and P.Susheela were the most popular female-duet-duo ever, they complimented each other perfectly in terms of voice and style, and sang very many popular duets in their times – unadhu malar, chiththira poovizhi, ninaithaal sirippu, thoodhu sella etc.. They seemed to share a perfect chemistry and out-did each other line after line, apparently providing each other inspiration all along the song.She sang a popular duet "Gudilona naa swamy koluvai unnadu " with S. Janaki in a Telugu movie Idalokam for music of Chakravarthy,which remains a top hit till date. She rendered several duets with S Janaki in Kannada movies as well.
She also sang duets with female singers with most notably with P. SuseelaS. Janaki and others like K. Jamuna Rani and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi.

Re-entry

After a long break, she made her re-entry through a rocky peppy Tamil Song "Kalasala Kalasala " from Movie Osthi 2011. Within few days of this song release, it has became a super hit and reached music box office top ratings,she sang the new Tamil song "Naa Poondamallida per puspavallida" from thadaiyara thakka 2012.

P. B. Sreenivas biography



Prativaada Bhayankara Srinivaas (born on sep 22) , shortly PBS, is a truly multifaceted talent to hit the Indian Music world. Though he hails from Andhra, he is very famous in Kannada and Tamil Film Music. He became very popular in Tamil after his beatiful renderings "Vanithaamaniye", "Kannale pesi pesi kollaathe" in the film "Adutha veettu penn". Thereafter he has given many many memorable songs(e.g. "Mayakkamaa kalakkamaa"(Sumai thaangi), "Nilave ennidam nerungaathe"(Raamu), "Chinna chinna kannanukku"(Vaazhkkai padagu), etc.) especially with the Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy and Kannadhaasan combination. He had the expressiveness and the ability to invest songs with delicate emotions that mesmerized anyone right in the first listening itself. In spite of this, he couldn't establish a strong base as he could in Kannada, with TMS taking over in Tamil and SPB in Telugu. (This is sometimes compared with Kishore kumar's "dethroning" of ) he is most well known for his melodious playback singing in the Kannada film industry for Dr.Rajkumar.


P.B. Sreenivos is fluent in eight languages (including English and Urdu) and has penned several ghazals in Tamil. His "home away from home" is the Woodlands Drive-In restaurant in Chennai where one can find him almost any day writing.

A true polyglot he is (writes and speaks more than 10 Indian languages) with flawless diction in most of the languages, has had success outside his native state Andhra. His popularity in Kannada films during late 50's to mid 70's was so much that he is claimed to be a kannadiga by many. The key to his success was the total identification that arose between his voice and Rajkumar, the dominant male star of the industry. (In Tamil PBS is identified with Gemini.) The range of songs PBS sang paralleled the range of roles done by Rajkumar (mythological, historical, social, fabulous, mystery, espionage, every genre one can come up with). It is said that the process of merging of the singer and the actor was far more complete than in the case of Raj kapoor and Mukesh. PBS is also popular in Hindi thru "Main Bhi Ladki Hun" (remake of "Naamum oru penn") songs like "Chanda Se Hoga Wo Pyara, Phulon Se Hoga Wo Nyaara", a duet with Lata. Chitragupta was the music director.


An often unknown facet of PBS is his literary skills. He comes from a poet's family and is wellknown in Telugu literary circles. He also composes songs in Tamil, Hindi, Sinhalese and Urdu. In fact, his Urdu ghazals have been acclaimed by the NorthIndian Ustads.
Some people claim PBS to be a muslim(probably because he sports the kind of a cap usually favoured Muslims), which is not true.

He was at ease singing in all the south indian languages - but left a great mark on Tamil and Kannada Film music.

In his 80s now - he was honoured at a local club in Bangalore recently - where he spoke very well and sang a few Kannada songs too.




In Pava Mannippu, Sreenivas sang "Kalangalil Aval Vasantham" written by Kannadasan and set to the tune by the music duo M. S. Viswanathan - T. K. Ramamoorthy. The film Adutha Veettuppen of Anjali Pictures carried some of his songs. Sreenivas has also sung with P.SusheelaS. JanakiP. BhanumathiK. Jamuna RaniL. R. Easwari and Lata Mangeshkar for the movieMain Bhi Ladki Hoon and some North Indian Singers.
His devotional songs include "Sharadha Bhujanga Stothram", "Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatham", "Mukunda Mala", "Shri Mallikarjuna Stotram" and Purandaradasa compositions.
His "home away from home" was the Woodlands Drive-In restaurant in Chennai frequently wrote.
He has headed many music related organizations such as being the president of Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram

swarnalatha biography




Swarnalatha (1973 – 12 September 2010) was a Indian playback singer. From 1987 onward, she rendered nearly 7,000 songs in many languages including TamilKannadaTeluguHindiMalayalamUrduBengaliOriyaPunjabi and Badaga.
She won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her rendition of the song "Porale Ponnuthayi" from the film Karuththamma. The song was composed by A. R. Rahman, under whose musical direction she recorded many memorable songs. Her distinctive voice, which could effortlessly reach high octaves, quickly made her a name to reckon with in the playback music industry.

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She was born in Athikkodu near
 Chittur, Palakkad, Kerala, to K. C. Cherukutty and Kalyani. Her father was a good harmonium player and singer. Her mother also had interest in music. Swarnalatha was trained on the harmonium and keyboard.Swarnalatha's family later moved to Bhadravathi (Paper Town) in Shimoga District, where she had her education. Born in a family of musicians (father K. C. Cherukutty was a singer and harmonium player, while sister Saroja was her music guru initially). Swarnalatha took to music when she was in her teens.Personal life and career

In 1987, she shifted to Chennai, where she met M. S. Viswanathan. M.S.V. introduced her to the film industry through a duet with K. J. Yesudas, "Chinnanchirukiliye Kannamma" from the filmNeethikku Dhandanai.Subsequently, many other music directors approached her to perform their songs. She was recruited by legendary musicians like Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman. She also recorded a few Hindi songs, the most notable one being "Hai Rama Yeh Kya Hua" from Rangeela along with Hariharan.
She was one of the most versatile singers of her times, as she was able to sing melodies like "Maalayil Yaaro Manathodu Pesa" from Chatriyan[2] or "Porale Ponnuthayi" from Karuthamma as well as Rahman's experimental songs like "Mukkabla" from Kadhalan or "Mottu Vittadha" from Pavithra. Swarnalatha was the first female playback singer to fetch the National Award in A. R. Rahman's music for the song "Porale Ponnuthayi". Once in an interview, she said that she was moved to tears when she finished the recording of this song and received praise from A. R. Rahman. She recorded many other memorable songs with music directors DevaVidyasagarHarris JayarajAnu MalikShankar-Ehsaan-LoyRaj-KotiYuvan Shankar RajaMani Sharma,Hamsalekha and many others.She had sung all the songs of Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum in the movie Anarkali(Tamil dubbed version of the Hindi movie mughal-e-Azam) and she was praised by the acclaimed Bollywood music director late Naushad Ali.

[edit]Death

Swarnalatha died at a private hospital in Chennai at the age of 37 due to cardiac arrest followed by interstitial lung disease (lung infection) after being admitted because she had difficulty in breathing. The singer had been undergoing treatment for lung infection for over a year and had not recorded for films during the period.
Legendary music composer M S Viswanathan, who gave the then 14-year old Swarnalatha a break in films, described her as a very talented singer. She is believed to have approached him first, when she wanted to launch her career in film music. He gave her a chance in the film Needhikku Thandanai. "I was shocked on hearing the news. Swarnalatha was introduced to films by me, and was highly talented in music" he said.

[edit]Awards and recognitions

She got Kalai Maamani from Government of Tamil Nadu before she was 20 years old. She won a Filmfare Award in Tamil as well for ‘Mukkala Muqabala’. She won Cinema Express Awards four times.
National Award (Silver Lotus Award)-(Rajat Kamal)
Tamil Nadu State Awards
  • 1994- Kalaimamani Award by the Government of Tamil Nadu for her contributions towards Tamil music.
Other awards
  • 2002 - The song "Rakkama Kaiya Thattu" from the movie Thalapathi (1991) was among the songs listed in a BBC World Top Ten music poll. It was performed by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Swarnalatha

Monday 8 October 2012

S.P.BALASUBRAHMANYAM BIOGRAPHY



Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam ; born 4 June 1946) is an Indian playback singeractormusic director,voice actor and film producer. He is sometimes referred to as S. P. B. or Balu. He won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer six times. He won the Nandi Awards 25 times from Government of Andhra Pradesh.
He has sung over 40,000 songs in various Indian languages. He is the only playback singer in India to have won National Film Awards across four languages. He has also won a Filmfare Award, three Filmfare Awards South and numerous state awards from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. He is a recipient of civilian awards such as Padmashri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2011) from the government of India.

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Early life and background

Balasubrahmanyam developed an interest towards music at an early age, studied notations and learned to play instruments such as the harmonium and flute on his own while listening to his father. His father wanted him to become an engineer, which brought him to Anantapur, where he enrolled for the Engineering course at JNTU College of Engineering Anantapur. Later he discontinued the course due to typhoid, and then joined as an Associate Member of the Institution of Engineers, Chennai. Meanwhile, he also pursued his hobby and won awards at many singing competitions. In 1964, he won the first prize in a music competition for amateur singers organised by the Madras-based Telugu Cultural Organisation, and earned his first opportunity from music director S. P. Kodandapani.Balasubrahmanyam was born to S. P. Sambamurthy in Konetammapeta of Madras Presidency, present day Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. Balasubrahmanyam's father was a Harikathaartist who had also acted in plays. He has two brothers and five sisters. He is the elder brother of singer S.P. Sailaja.He is married to Savitri and has two children, Pallavi and S. P. B. Charan who is a playback singer and film producer as well.
After dropping out of engineering, Balasubrahmayam used to regularly visit music composers seeking for opportunities to sing. The first song that he sang for an audition was, "Nilave Ennidam Nerungadhe", a melody rendered by veteran playback singer P. B. Srinivas. It was P. B. Srinivas who used to write and give him some multi-lingual verses in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, English and Urdu.[8]

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Playback singing career

Balasubrahmanyam has sung more than 40,000 songs in different Indian languages.

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Early career: 1960s

Before becoming a cinema singer, Balasubrahmanyam was the leader of a light music troupe composed of Anirutta (on the harmonium), Ilaiyaraaja (on guitar and later on harmonium), Baskar (on percussion), and Gangai Amaran (on guitar). Balasubrahmanyam made his debut as a playback singer on 15 December 1966 with Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna,a Telugu film scored by his mentor, S. P. Kodandapani.He was selected as the best singer in a singing competition which was judged by S. P. Kodandapani and the legendary singer Ghantasala.Balasubrahmanyam was selected as the best singer. He recorded his first non-Telugu song in the Kannada movie Nakkare Ade Swarga for the song "Kanasido Nanasido" with P. Susheela in 1967.
He recorded his first Tamil song in the 1969 film Shanthi Nilaiyam starring Gemini Ganesan and the song is " Eyarkai ennum illaya kanni". He sang "Aayiram Nilavae Vaa" for M.G.R in the Tamil film Aadimai Pennwhich released first before Shanthi nilayam could release. He was introduced to Malayalam film industry by R. K. Shekhar in the film Yogamullava. In 1969 he sang "Ee Kadalum Marukadalum" from the film Kadalppalam in Malayalam.

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Prominence in south: 1970s

He received his first National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 1980 for the Telugu film Shankarabharanam, a film directed by K. Vishwanath. In 1976, he recorded up to 23 songs, including 15 duets with P. Susheela in a single day. For Kannada composer Upendra Kumar, Balasubrahmanyam recorded 16 songs in just 6 hours. Again for Ram Laxman, he recorded six songs in 4 hours in Mumbai. Between three recording theatres in Mumbai, he sang 17 songs in a day for Anand-Milind.
He is the first recipient of the "Ghantasala National Award" named after the famous and legendary singer Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao, and whom Balasubrahmanyam admires a lot. He has often referred to himself as "Ekalavya Sishya" (untutored disciple) of Ghantasala

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Bollywood entry: 1980s

Balasubrahmanyam's first break in Hindi films was Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981), for which he received the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer.He was playback singer for Bollywoodactor Salman Khan in most of his movies from 1989 to 1995.For example, in movies like Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! and Andaz Apna Apna, all songs pictured on Salman Khan are sung by him. They were very well received and remembered even to this day due to his voice's apt setting with Salman Khan.

In the 1990s he worked with composers like VidyasagarM. M. KeeravaniS. A. Rajkumar, but his association with A.R.Rahman turned out be a major success.
The song "Umandu Ghumandu" from the Kannada film Ganayogi Panchakshari Gavayi (1995) was based on Hindustani classical music, for which he received his 4th National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer.


Actor

As an actor he played in films like Pakkinti AmmayiParvathaalu PaanakaluPelli VaramandiKalyanathasavaMalle PandiriRaja HamsaKeladi KanmaniMinsara KanavuManathil Uruthi VendumThiruda ThirudaKanmaniSigaramMayaAvvai ShanmugiRatchaganNandhiniKadhalanPrema Maha YedabidargiMaya Bazaar. He received the Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor for the Telugu movie Pavithra Bandham (1996) from the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

[edit]
Music composer

He has composed music for around 40 films and albums like Seethamma PelliBharyamaniSandarbhaBangaru ChilakaMayuriRamanna ShyamannaKsherasaagaraDevaralle Dane,Belliyappa Bangarappa beside few films like Muddina MaavaSigaramUnnai CharanadaithaenPadamati Sandhya Ragam in Telugu, Hindi Tamil and Kannada languages. He also owns a production company called Kodandapani Film Circuits (now Captain cine creations) and produces film under this banner. Films like Subha SankalpamBhamane Satya Bhamane were produced by him.

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Television career

He began a Tamil serial with actress Lakshmi called En Jannal Vandha directed by K. Balachander. He hosts many music shows in Telugu television including Paadutha Theeyaga on E-TV,Paadalani Undi on MAA TV, a very popular Kannada show called Ede Thumbi Haaduvenu on E-TV Kannada, and the Tamil shows Ennodu Paattu Paadungal on Jaya TV and Vaanampaadi onKalaignar TV. He also anchors a music show called Sunada Vinodini on TTD Channel. He is a judge on ETV Telugu's Paduta Teeyaga. This is a semi-classical music competition airing on Monday evenings.

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Voice actor

Balasubrahmanyam accidentally became a dubbing artist with Kamal Hassan's film Manmadha Leela, the dubbed version of Manmadha Leelai.[28] He has also provided voice-overs for various artists, including Kamal HaasanRajinikanthSalman KhanK. BhagyarajMohanAnil KapoorGirish KarnadGemini GanesanArjun SarjaNageshKarthik and Raghuvaran in various languages. He was assigned as the default dubbing artist for Kamal Hassan in Telugu dubbed versions of Tamil films and vice versa. For the Telugu version of Dasavathaaram he gave voice to 7 characters (including the female character) out of 10 characters played by Kamal Hassan.He was awarded Best Dubbing Artist for the films Annamayya and Sri Sai Mahima.

VANI JAYARAM BIOGRAPHY




Vani Jayaram is a prominent Indian female playback singers. She has sung songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Hindi and Kannada. She has thrice won the National Film Awards in play back singing.


Vani Jayaram, one of the greatest singers of our times. She has rendered classical songs in Carnatic and Hindustani styles, ghazals, light and pop songs and some popular folk songs.

Vani was born in Vellore in Tamil Nadu, in a family of musicians. Her mother is the disciple of Ranga Ramunaja Iyengar, a great veena exponent. Kadaloor Sreenivasa Iyengar, who taught vani�s sister music, was fascinated by her observation and grasping power. He taught her a few Deekshidar kritis when she was hardly five.The fifth daughter in a family of six daughters and three sons, Vani always secretly yearned for a career in film playback singing. Considered to be a child prodigy, Vani Jairam claims to have recognized the different ragas of Indian classical music before the age of five. Her voice was first heard on All India Radio, Madras, at the age of eight.

Vani Jairam studied Carnatic music under the tutelage of Kadalur Srinivasa Iyengar, T.R. Balasubramanian and R.S. Mani. Her Hindustani light-classical music guru was Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.

After her marriage to Jairam she settled in Bombay, a city where she realized her dream.

In 1970, she realized her childhood ambition of becoming a film playback singer when the veteran hindi film music director, Vasant Desai chose her voice for the hindi feature film Guddi. She recorded three songs for that film. Bol Re Papi Hara, her song from the film, based on the hindustani raga Miyan Malhar, instantly made her an household name in the different corners of India. The song was awarded Tansen Samman (for best classical-based song in a hindi film,) The Lions International Best Promising Singer, The All India Cinegoers Association, and the All India Film-goers Association awards for the Best Playback Singer in 1971. Vani recorded her first tamil song for the tamil film Thaiyum Seiyum, for S.M.Subbaiah Naidu, in the year 1973.

Besides Hindi and Tamil, Vani Jairam has numerous recordings in other languages of India. These include, Gujarati, Marathi, Marwari, Hariyanvi, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Oriya, Bengali and Tulu. For her work in these languages she has been awarded many prestigious awards, among which are: Best Female Playback Singer for states of Gujarat (1975), Tamil Nadu (1980) and Orissa (1984).

Vani Jairam was chosen for the Indian President's National Award for Best Female Playback Singer of 1975, for her work in M.S. Viswanathan's Aboorva Ragangal (Tamil). Her songs in the Pandit Ravi Shankar scored film Meera brought her the Film World (1979) Cine Herald (1979) and Filmfare (1980) awards for Best Playback Singer in Hindi.

Shankarabharanam (Telugu), the film scored by K.V. Mahadevan, gave Vani Jairam her second National Award as Best Playback Singer of 1980. Once again, she was awarded her third National Award for Best Playback Singer of 1991 for K.V. Mahadevan's Swathi Kiranam. She is also the youngest artiste to be awarded the Sangeet Peet Samman.