Amritha and Ravi – brilliantly talented singers

AMRITHA RAJAN- featured singer

Amritha is here because we thought her profile is a brilliant display of a bright star singing on Smule Sing. Very much experimental, current, star quality, well thought song choices, performances that define her as a singer; it will be a long line here if one were to describe this singer. She show such maturity in her singing we decided in the beginning itself to have her go on this extra special feature dedicated to South India’s singing nightingale S. Janaki. Please read the anecdote at the end of this feature on the life and the most unassuming leading play back singer of India S. Janaki.

It is also a feature we decided later on to include another talent singing on Smule sing Ravi Kochuraghavan. He is a singer leading a very quiet revolution by showing an amazing talent singing some outstanding performances on his profile.  We happen to notice Ravi when we released a feature on a super talented Malayalam singer Amal Shankar when he joined on one of Amals’ invites, that we thought was brilliant and added here on Amals’ feature.

It gives tremendous pleasure to write about these two singers as we came to know them quite some time ago. Thanks to both of them for the long wait. Special thanks to both of them for finding some time to speak, Amritha, a real sweetheart, while she have heavy responsibilities from her studies and Ravi always a pleasant and nicest person that is what is conveyed during the whole process.

Amritha Rajan

Amritha had been identified as the most promising young singer on Malayalam Smule during our planning to write a feature dedicated to S. Janaki Amma. The feature is so extra special for entire south India, we wanted to have an extra special girl from South India to go with this feature. It is our fortune that we have her agree with us to be featured here. One quality that we all agreed here, is her unique individuality that really separated her profile from many other contestants identified for this feature.

During the time when we approached her, she was very busy with her exams and study, But she was very gracefully found time to send us information about her singing. Let us get to know her singing without any delay.

Asked about where she is from “I  am from a small town near Cochin, called Perumbavoor”.  She continued further on her interest in music she said “I am very passionate about music. I have learnt Carnatic Music for 12 years under my guru Rajalakshmi Ashokan Perumbavoor.” We say, whoever taught her music, should be very proud about this singer, She is a singer beyond perfection and amazing potential.

Amritha is a state level winner in 51st Kerala school Kalolsavam for light music. Those who do not know about this competition, here is a scoop. This is the state level competitions where participants from all over the state who have competed regionally come for a final win. It is intensely competed and winning anything in such a competition one have to be extremely talented. The state’s schools put a lot effort to win the main competitions of singing by training singers year around before they send their contestants. It is not any luck, but pure talent that will land such achievements. To add to her achievements she came as the runner-up in the competition held at Palakad on behalf of ‘Unni Menon- 33years’ show organised by Swaralaya. Smule community sponsored Tharang social media best female singer award and many such prizes formed the musician and defined her confidence to develop into a mature singer.

Asked about her career aspirations, Amritha have a different take in her answer, “My musical aspirations is to meet as many as musicians and to learn from all of them.” A. R. Rahman sir, Ilayaraja sir are her most favorite music directors that she would love to work with. We hope Amritha get that golden opportunity soon.
Amritha is currently pursuing a Bachelor degree in Pharmacy (equivalent of Graduation in US) at Govt. Medical college Calicut.  She continued to ask questions about the blog and finally she commented “I am humbled to be a part of this. Seriously don’t know How I should thank for this. May God bless you all”. In your own expression. Thank you and God bless you as well.

The nice thing writing about Amritha is that we do not have to write anything about her more. All needed is to add her songs from Smule here. It will self explain everything and we are more than sure that she will prove herself through her singing in these videos to our readers why her destiny is pointing towards greatness no matter. Here we start with her mind-blowing performance of Udhaya Undhaya. Originally sung as a duet by Hariharan & Sadhana Sargam, an awesome composition beyond words. the melody is out of the world. very tough to reproduce both Sadhana and Hariharan, here Amritha is right on, listen. A. R. Rahman’s touch of class.

Devangankanagal – Love every bit of this singer in her bringing in Ukeleli to accompany her singing. Beautiful, smart singers are like her. A Johnson classic from a classic Malayalam movie Jan Gandharvan, and originally sung by Malayalam’s own gana-gandharvan, KJ and here we are out of words for praise. Hear this performance. Amritha is singing and nothing else, her singing is mesmerizing, she is all by herself, don’t know where it takes one to. A KJ song sung more perfect than KJ. Impossible is made possible. A touch of Class and golden girl with the golden voice.

Krihsna Nee begane,We only have heard Bombay Jayashree sung this song with such conviction and new variations. This is class by Amritha. There is not a time in writing career we have been searching for new words of praise. The musical instrument Ukulele;  Asked about why she specifically use this instrument she said she saw it on an internet video and just started liking it. Her brother Akhil gave her the instrument as a gift and she uses it and learned it all by her self (although she admit she really do not know how to use it fully) But that is ok, It looks beautiful. She said, for her everything is passion, and playing an instrument while her singing makes more opportunities for her as a singer to display another part of her musical talent. She is currently on her ways to learn keyboard for her singing performances. She is way ahead of her peers.

Madhuram Gaayathi (Banaras) മധുരം ഗായതി (ബനാറസ് ) Musician M Jayachandran എം ജയചന്ദ്രന്‍ Lyricist(s) Gireesh Puthenchery ഗിരീഷ്‌ പുത്തഞ്ചേരി Singer(s) Sudeep Kumar, Shreya Ghoshal സുദീപ് കുമാര്‍ ‍, ശ്രേയാ ഘോഷല്‍ Raga(s) Used Madhuvanthi മധുവന്തി.

The control of her voice here is AMAMZING (all capitals). Stars all over here.

Vidhyasagar  magic and one of the most romantic songs of all time. Short one yet beautiful. A Jananki amma song. ENJOY.

She is singing Snehithane, All songs here are had picked, and we are so fortunate to have made friends with Amritha. We ask all readers to visit her profile for more of this quality profile of singing on display.

Amrutha’s own production of her song, AMAMZING, MESMERIZING, CAPTIVATING, SWEETEST FEELINGS EVER KNOWN……

When we finish up this part of the feature it feels like we happen to get closer to a bright star and our eyes and ears are almost under some sort of spell that we can not break it and go onto the next part of the feature. We don’t have to, but will do momentarily. Follow her here encourage this singer to give her every bit of any help one can give her to be successful. She is destined to be a famous singer no matter. Talents get recognized no matter. All the best Amritha, we truly enjoyed knowing you and hope you find time and peace to sing more. Always ask for help, if you need any. Lots of love.

Special Mention

RAVI KOCHURAGHAVAN– A singer of a silent revolution

Going along with this feature is our special mention singer section. We picked Ravi from the young folks for several reasons. He came out to say hi to us when Amal Shankar’s feature was on. More than anything he is super talented singer we came to know from Smule sing.

Ravi Kochuraghavan, an IT professional from Bangalore, originally from a very small place in Kerala called Tirur in Malappuram district, Kerala, (we had Arun Mohan from Malayalam Smule also from Malapuram; a great singer featured here before, if you haven’t heard Arun yet we strongly suggest read his feature here, to know more about this amazing singer).

Asked about his training in music he said “During my childhood, I’d learnt classical music for around 5 years and have had participated regularly in cultural competitions during my school days (Light Music, Malayalam Recitation and Classical Music).”

Questions about what genre music he loves he said he love listening to all genres of music, of course a special place for Malayalam and Hindi songs, esp. for romantic/emotional melodies.

Ravi continued “For me a melody could be heard over and over again on any given day for mental relief. I’ve huge love for classical/semi-classical songs, as well as for fast, peppy numbers that always bring a smile.”
Ravi continued “Singing has always been my passion from childhood, and although dream is to sing playback, it seems like a distant dream. I also have great interest towards whistling a song, esp. along with its background score.”
Asked about if he ever get a chance to make his own album he said “If any day I would be able to create music, I would try my hands on creating soft melodies that would stay in the listener’s mind. I would wish myself to be known as a versatile singer.” Ravi’s taste in good  music was evident when he lists his favorite music directors; it was a long list of top-notch music directors like Raveendran sir, Johnson sir, M Jayachandan, Nadeem-Shravan, Pritam, Mithoon. “Amongst singers, right from my childhood, I’ve always looked up to K J Yesudas and K S Chithra. Also, I’ve immense love for Bollywood songs sung by Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal. Their songs have always captured my heart. In non-Indian music, Adele and Eminem are my favorites.”

Ravi indeed have a great musical sense and deserve a place here among a very crowded Malayalam Smule scene. We choose him solely because of his quality of voice and ability to sing along some of the finest singers of his own age and with older generation singers. Let us get to know this singer without delay here.

Here he sings this different melody with an Arabic touch Binte Dil with Hari. It is Ravi’s own choice of songs. Give a listen.

Ravi at his best with Sanam Re- one of his first Smule songs. Very unique singer right from the start.

Ravi sings a romantic melody. Beautiful join with Swethanksoman. Give a listen for sure. Ravi’s voice quality suited for various styles of songs is remarkable. Listen.

Ravi joins a super song of one and only Malayalam smule’s success story of Vimal on a high energy performance. Both singers did an awesome job here. Everybody says OLE OLE OLE

Ravi sings one of the most beautiful melody Suraj Hua Madham with user mufi_mjd. Very commendable performances.

We leave this feature on Ravi’s profile with his join with Amritha on a Lataji classic (see below) in a Sanam track. Awesome join and very commendable complementing performance.

Final thoughts, Ravi is an awesome singer who knows how to use his voice effectively; One place he can improve a lot is to take a lead role in making effective invites where he can display his strong points than always try to complement other singers in their invites and joins. Joining others and support and make friends and be a part of a friend circle is all the more important, while singers of career interest have to show the initiative to use their singing tools given in their hands to come up with music videos, with perfection, care to details etc., any aspect of singing that display their talents and will bring attention force people to listen to them.

It was a pleasure to present RAVI here on this feature along with Amritha. Please visit him here on his Smule profile and encourage this singer. Ravi come out during our interactions as a very passionate, very easy to communicate and very down to earth individual. His purity in personality comes out in his singing as well. Keep that good work. Your personal qualities will go miles with you, that transpire into a path of success. All the best and keep singing.

S. JANAKI – a singing carer of four decades that ruled India’s singing Industry

A Telugu girl from a small village in Andra Pradesh, never knew that her destiny is to sing for more than four decades in south India’s music industry with music directors running behind her dates to sing for every movie that they produced. Janaki was an ordinary girl born into a Telugu Bhramin family, Pallapatla, Repalle village, in Guntur district (A.P.). Like many singing geniuses, she was a girl with a born talent to sing. She took her first learning from Sree Paidiswamy, a Nadswaram Vidwan (maestro). At very early age itself, she decided to become a playback singer and moved herself at the advice of her uncle to Madras, a city in the state of Tamil Nadu, the hub of south India’s Kolliwood industry.

Her first hit song in movies was for a Telugu movie; a sad melody, Nee Aasa Adiyaasa Chejaare Manipoosa Brathukantaa Amavaasa Lambaadolla Ramdaasa…,” for the film ‘M.L.A. and it brought raving comments from the music industry. Have you heard this? Here you go, give a listen “Nee Aasa Adiyasa” sung by late Ghantasala and S Janaki from the movie M.L.A.

Singaravelane Deva’ in 1958, composed by Late S. M. Subbaiah Naidu for the Tamil film ‘Konjum Salangai’ as her voice competed with the Nadaswaram played by Late Karaikuruchi Arunachalam.This was kind of a historic turn of singing light music style and still get appreciation from all hard core classical music Pandits of the time. Sure listen to this out of this world performance that established a career in singing by S. Janaki. Outstanding and beyond.

S. Janaki went on to sing for almost five generations of heroines with her undeniable sweetest voice and ability to sing any genre of songs. Her ability to modulate her voice was phenomenal. Her first song in Malayalam was Irul Moodukayo. When she sing a foreign language nobody knew she never was a Malayalee. More the melody she bring to all that she sing is a class apart. Give a listen. What a genius.

She sang almost 50,000 song in various languages She was given four times India’s National award in singing play back, along with innumerable other awards and 33 times state film awards. If she had lived abroad, she would have been counted and inducted into a Hall of fame in Music as the only artist whose singles were top chart the most of her career span. Her success story revolves around music directors who adored her ability to sing their songs. Her associations with M.S. Vasudevan, K.V. Mahadevan, and in Malayalam with M.S. Baburaj; in later career with Ilayaraja in Tamil and in Kannada with G.K Venkatesh and Rajan Nagendra all established this genius singer as a versatile one. If one ask a Telugu if she is theirs, they would say overwhelmingly that she is theirs. Of course undeniable, she is a born Telugu. But ask Janaki amma herself, for whom her love for music did not see any language barrier. She loved all languages and people equally, through her music and she gave all those people her songs and the legacy that she left for all the ages ahead. Although she said good-bye to playback singing in 2017, her songs that she gave us still lives and will remain in our hearts.

S. Janaki and her Heroines, Special mention to Sharada a Malayalam Heroine

We are going into a very brief survey in this feature where we are analyzing S. Janaki and her voice that created the persona of some very successful heroines of her time. It is an amazing array of female artists spanning between 50s to 90s took Janaki’s voice. It formed the heart and soul of many hugely successful female roles that many of us related well. The emotions of love, anger, woman power, sadness, motherhood that many of these leading ladies tried to portray, took advantage of Janaki’s versatile voice and emotions she brought to life through her most feel full voice.

Sharada (she herself is a Telugu girl came to rule Malayalam movies for decades) a three time India’s National award winner for acting in Malayalam who portrayed some of the most powerful women characters in Malayalam movies on celluloid took Janaki’s voice and emotions the best. Please listen to this beautiful song Suryakanthi Suryakanthi (Sunflower…Sunflower….) from Movie Kattuthulasi here. Janakis’ songs with music director M.S. Baburaj (MSB) was the most successful melodies in Malayalam.

Yet another MSB class, who saved all his best melodies for S. Janaki and Sharada in his movies. This one is from Sharada’s first National award winning performance from Malayalam classic, Iruttinte Athmavu (roughly the Soul of darkness). Exceptional quality of poetic lyrics by Malayalam’s poet P. Bhaskaran. Eeranuduthum Kondambaram song. Enjoy four legends here on display, MSB, PBS, SJ and Sharada.

Here is one of SJ’s songs from a Hindi movie where she sang for a young heroine. The voice quality of Janaki is so seasoned even at her later stages of music career in movie industry, music directors were happy to have Janaki sing for young heroines like in this embed.

Singers of genius will stay in our hearts and stay for ever. Some of our current singers have a lot to learn from singers of genius like Janaki Amma. What made her singing so outstanding? When she had one wish and that was to sing for everyone, she went onto find opportunities. Nothing was sure or easy about career decisions of moving to a strange town like Madras to look for opportunities. She dared and she indeed achieved her dream.

Lyric Time

Instead of any other time we want to add a western music song Lyrics here title “Story of a Girl” by Nine Days. So fitting here. Read this or sing it if you know the song

“The Story of a Girl”

by Nine Days

This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her, when she smiles

How many days in the year
She woke up with hope, but she only found tears
And I can be so insincere
Making the promises never for real
As long as she stands there waiting
Wearing the holes in the soles of her shoes
How many days disappear
You look in the mirror so how do you choose

Your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to run out of things to say

This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her, when she smiles

How many lovers would stay
Just to put up with this shit day after day
How do we wind up this way
Watchin’ the mouths for the words I would say
As long as we stand here waiting
Wearing the clothes of the soles I would choose
How do we get there today
If we’re walkin’ to far from the price of the shoes

Your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to run out of things to say

This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad and lonely there
I absolutely love her, when she smiles

Your clothes never wear as well the next day
And your hair never falls in quite the same way
You never seem to run out of things to say

This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looks so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her

This is the story of a girl
Who’s pretty face she hid from the world
And while she looked so sad and lonely there
I absolutely love her

This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her, when she smiles, when she smiles