Continued from part 8

Part 9

Ten of thousands of songs, thousands of memorable ones within those, duets, solos, group songs, varied styles, experiments, music direction, private renditions and the many different facets even within the private records - devotional, folk, classical - quite a difficult process to frame one's legacy around such a vast list of contributions. After the era of the singer fades away, legacy remains the sole standard for sizing up the current prospects. Ghantasala left such an indebile impression on the art of playback singing that he is still considered a benchmark even in the current context, for any aspirant willing to take on the traditional and lighter side of film music. So what is it that Ghantasala has handed down to the future generations besides the sea of songs each bearing his unmistakable brand? When the record starts "paardhaaya pratibhOdhitaam bhagavataam naaraayaNeenaswayam" and Ghantasala's voice somberly starts to the unravel the mysteries of "bhagavadgeeta", the listener is magically transported to the time and place, into the mood and situation, into the serenity and tranquility of the moment when the Lord sermonizes the warrior in the battleground. His voice has the ability to move the listener physically and mentally into a different plane, where the enjoyment of the song moves beyond the association with the voice, beyond the association with the context and beyond the words and music. It reaches the point of bliss which requires no explanation or exposition. Ghantasala's voice fades into oblivion when the voice cries out "prabhO kRshNa" unable to look at the "viswaroopam" anymore. It is Arjuana's anguish and Arjuna's cry for help. The ability of the singer to completely disappear into the moment, proving it extremely difficult for the listener to differentiate between the moment, the singer, and the actor accounts for good playback singing and the moments such as those add up to the legacy.

"naruDi bratuku naTana, eeSwaruDi talapu ghaTana, aa renTi naTTa naDuma, neekendukinta tapana" - As a celebrated dancer dispensing his pearls of wisdom mixed with just the right philosophy in a drunken stupor, Balu's voice completely dissolves in the ecstasy of the moment, drowning completely in the dramatics of the moment played on the song. When the song ends and the humming loop takes over, when Kamal places his hand to protect Madhavi's vermillion, Balu's voice remains no where to be found - all the signs of a job extremely well done. There are two points when the singer can make his mark by remaining completely hidden from the action in the foreground - once, when the song is playing on the screen and the audience's attention is completely consumed by the proceedings, with the song only aiding to enhance the emotion and not to distriact; second, when the song is listened to independently, without the aid of the visuals, and the listener is able to recreate the context of the song quite easily, without getting deviated by the singer's performance. It is a proven fact that the human mind perceives every emotion in images. And if the singer can contribute to the cause by helping the listener to create the emotion that is played on in imagery, not only does it greatly enhance the listening pleasure of the song, but also abets in increasing the longevity of its stay. "kRshNaa taranga saaranga raagaalu, kRshNa leela tarigiNee bhakti geetalu, sasya kaedaaraala swarasa gaandharaalu, sarasa hRdaya kshaetra vimala gaandharvaalu" - the piousness of the lyric, the disciplinary nature of the character (Sankara Sastry), the unobtrusiveness of the music, and Balu's rendition of completely involving himself into each word (taadaatmyata) making him completely invisible (or inaudible) in the final version, so much so that, one can only picture Somayajulu singing in a trance explaining baby Tulasi the prominence of "raagam taanam pallavi".

When Balu took over from Ghantasala, the singer was still an essential member of the team, lyrics were still considered paramount to the life of the song, diction, pronunciation and stresses were all integral to the process of rendition. However much little the contribution of the singer was in delivering the final product, taking into the account the orchestration, the individual elements that stand out in the orchestra, the interludes, the into and the like, he still was considered the most important peg of the wheel without whom the process would not just move on. Flash forward to a few decades when Balu remains at a place and time, when he is ready to hand over the baton to his successor, things have changed a lot, the direction of which is always subjective and always debatable. Now the singer is reduced to an accessorial position, along side a flute, a veena or a percussion set. Lyrics help in aiding the listener decide the language of the song he is listening to and anything over that information is a certain bonus. Diction, pronunciation and stresses have taken a backseat and moreover the situation is such that the telugu song has to sound foreign and alien to be distinguished as a telugu song. It became fashionable to sound as awkward and as annoying as possible to grab the attention of the listener. Attention spans being assumed to be low, shock value sprung up as the easy alternative instead of trying through the more difficult process of getting the listener appreciate the quality of the song through the lyric and the delivery. Even in such medley of cacophony, the legacy of Balu lives on in the songs that where knowledge of the language is inherent to the delivery of it, clarity makes the life of the listener much easier, the song is given its due respect by adhering to the simple principles of understanding, imbibing and delivering.

Singer, actor, dubbing artist, music director, anchor, studio owner - Balu donned on many garbs and his achievements spawned over several fields. Versatility, in his case, extended way beyond the realm of the recording studios. It speaks so highly of a singer, if what all has been written and said about him for one language, equally applies to a variety of languages - Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Oriya. Stepping into Ghantasala's shoes, with not as much formal training in the field of classical music as him, Balu leaves behind equal, if not bigger, shoes to fill in having ventured into almost all the forms that Ghantasala tried out, earning accolades and respect along the way. From the charming innocence of the late 60s to the slow development in the early 70s, to the new found maturity in the late 70s, earning enough respect during the 80s, reaching into every minute detail of playback singing in the 90s and beyond, Balu's legacy can be characterized in the few songs mentioned below, one for each decade.

aemi ee vinta mOhamu (late 60s)
aemani piluvanu raa, ninnae vidhi koluvanu raa (70s)
Om kaara naadanu sandhaanmau gaanamae SankaraabharaNamu (late 70s)
vidhaata talapuna prabhavinchinadi anaadi jeevaNa vaedam (80s)
samgeetam saahitya samalamkRtae swara raaga pada yOga sambhooshitae (90s)

Commercial music that found great patronage in the era that Balu was in full swing received its fair of recognition and respect in his voice

ae divi lO virisina paarijaatamO
veeNa vaeNuvaina sarigama vinnaavaa
maanasa veeNa madhugeetam mana samsaaram samgeetam
tolivalapu tondaralu vusigolipae temmeralu
Subhalaekha raasukunna kalayO nijamO
ae raagamundi maelukuni unDi laevananTunna manasuna
piluvaga

Great songs, great many awards, very many titles, very many records - telugu film industry is forever indebted to the contributions of this great singer who goes by the short name of "Balu", to the younger and elder alike.

swaraala meeTala sphoortigaa
hrudaya tantrulanu meeTenu chaalu
padaala paaTala geeTugaa
tarataraalu nilabaDu baalu

End.

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