Continued from part 7

Part 8

The transformation is inevitable. After loaning the voice for so long a time to so many a tune, the urge and desire to voice one's own tunes is natural and understandable. Ghantasala had the unique advantage of entering the filmdom as both a reputed singer and an established music director, having churned a number of private records - devotional, patriotic, classical and light vocal during the early era of the industry. "aemanenae chinnaari aemanenae", "nee kOsame nae jeevinchunadi", "mounamugaa nee manasu paaDina", "oohalu gusa gusa laaDae", "kanupaapa karavaina kanulendukO" and many such sweet melodies made it into Ghantasala's short but very illustrious repertoire. Of all the 80 or so movies that Ghantasala scripted the tunes for, many of them went on to become chartbusters and most of them remained memorable etching their place permanently in history. Howevermuch restricted context-based and parametric music composition remains, composers, particularly the ones doubling duties, find a way to stamp the tunes with their signatures that is unique by being an amalgamation of the influences of all the composers that they worked under. Moreover there remains atleast one album in the singer-composer's career that essentially defines his taste, branding his music along the way. "Lava Kusa" remains one such quintessential work as a composer in Ghantasala's career. When the journey becomes an intensely personal one involving stirring of the soul, the music rises above the plane of regular and a normal composition and becomes a full blown score, in that, the movie becomes identified with the music, the music becomes the very signature of the movie. Ballads such as "Sree ramnuni charitamunu telipedamammaa", "jagadabhi raamuDu Sree ramuDae", "sandaehinchaku mamma raghu raamu praemanu seetammaa" poems such as "idi mana aaSramamu mudamuna neeviTa vasinchu lOka paavani", "navaratnOjwala kAntivantamidi", "stree bAla vRuddhula tega vaeya boonuTa" nicely sum up Ghantasala's richly rewarding career.

As personal as each song becomes while rendering to the singer, moving the notes along the path of his own volition and his own choice proves an experience of much more endearment and much more satisfying irrespective of the popularity or the populace's agreement. When Kishore Kumar embarked upon "door gagan ke chaaOn mein", penning the lyrics, writing the music, play a major part behind and in front of the camera, the commercial viability (or in this case, the lack of it) of such a personal journey didn't deter him from coming up with such great melodies as "kOyi lauTaade mujhe beetae huyae din" or "aa chal ke tujhe mai laeke chaloon" that seem to have come straight from his heart. Soul stirrers such as the above reflect the taste of the composer leasing a lot of life to those personal renditions extending their longevity. Balu's foray into music direction started in a similar fashion with a personal note "ohO cheli, O naa cheli, idi toli paaTa, oka cheli paaTa, vinipinchanaa ee pooTa naa paaTa" (kanyAkumAri), a radically different composition, treading a whole new path, from what was prevalent during the late 70s. The few albums - "toorpu veLLae railu", "mayUri", "jAki", "vivAha bhOjanambu", "paDamaTi sandhyArAgam", "jaitra yaatra", "lawyer suhAsini" and such - that Balu had to his credit as a composer shows his proclivity towards experimentation and variation than get bogged down by the commercial viability of the songs. It only helped Balu, when directors who purposefully wanted to tread unchartered grounds wanted him to write the scores of their nouveau creations.

Influences play a very big role in the shaping of the music director, more importantly on ones switching sides. It is in this arena that Balu's association with Illayaraja moulded his muscial temparment and orchestrational mentality. During the late 70s when Illayaraja was making steady inroads into the commercial music with his varied orchestration, Balu stood by him at each step carefully and consciously imbibing the essence of his music that made Illayaraja stand out from the rest. "toorpu veLLae railu" is an interesting experiment both in Balu's and Bapu's careers. When Bapu forked away from his regular path and hired Balu and MVL to replace Mahadevan and Ramana for scripting the notes and the words respectively in the remake of the Bharatiraja's "kizhakke pOgum rayil", Balu stayed away from the original fantastic tunes of Illayaraja in the tamil original, and came up with his own fabulous tunes that are more reminiscent of Mahadevan's style than have even a slightest remblance to Illayaraja's either tunes or orchestration - "chuTToo chengaavi cheera kaTTaalae chilakammaa", "kO anTae kOyilamma kO kO". Mahadevan's over-possessiveness in regard to the lyrics and his great economy with respect to instrumentation are clearly evident Balu's interpretation of Raja's original, and coming off "SankarAbharaNam", Mahadevan's influence can be clearly felt in Balu's style and signature as far as "toorpu veLLae railu" is concerned. "mayUri" would always take the top position in Balu's tryst with music direction. The "ee pAdam ila lOnae naaTya vaedam, ee pAdam naTa raajukae pramOdam" sounds every bit a Ramesh Naidu's composition, bearing striking similarity with the ones in "aanada bhairavi", in his excessive usage of the percussions in mRdangam and ghaTam. Honored by the state government for his work in "mayUri", Balu's limited foray into music direction is characterized and influenced by whomever he worked under till that period of time.

"manaku dOsti okaTae aasti raa, jabardasti chaestae Sasti raa" screams Balu in Illayaraja's "mantri gaari viyyankuDu", in a very unique fusion of big-band and traditional composition. At the end of the charaNam where "ee janana maraNa valayamula nika chaedinchi mamatanu matamanukuni, jeevinchae mOksha maargamuna Sreerastanukuni deevenega dorikina dOsti okaTe aasti raa" joins with the pallavi, when the stream of traditional notes rise up and join a big-band like upbeat tempo, one can find an almost match in Balu's composition of "takadhimi tOm tOm tOm takiriTa takiTa tam ta ta, sogasuku seemantam vayasuku vaeDi swaagatam" for the movie "jAki". The pitch perfect marriage of these completely different music styles captured so beautifully in this "semi-classical fast-beat" tune begs to consider the influence of the man that started it all - Illayaraja. Similarly, Balu's "alaa manDipaDakae jaabili" and "karivarada moranu vinalaevaa" from the same movie find hovering presence of the maestro, right from the lead up to the interludes and back all over again. Balu's variation of Raja's "paruvaramaa chilipi parugu teeyaku" in the form of "parugu teeyani paDuchu oohani" in "Jaitra yaatra" reposes great faith in the fact that any singer turned music director is only as best as the great musicians he worked in great appreciation of and in good proximity with. Of all the movies that Balu scribbled the music notes for, "paDamaTi sandhyAragam" remains distinctly Balu's, devoid of any influences, homages, borrows and brought overs - the piano prologue for "pibarase raama rasam" and the nice book-ending with the same, the violin intro to "ee toorupu aa paschimam sangaminchina ee Subha vaeLa", the re-working of the "muddu gaarae yaSOdaa" and the funky saxophone and the drum beats of "life is shabby". In the current game where quantity outscores quality, Balu made his little voice be noticed, heard and appreciated standing shoulder to shoulder with the stalwarts, maestros and geniuses, through sheer observation and adaptation.

(to be continued in part 9).

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