[SPB Classical Ragas Thread] Good Evening folks. This is @Raaga_Suresh and I will be doing a thread on songs sung by SPB which were based on classical ragas

SPB, beyond doubt, was one of the greatest singers in Indian Film Music. Film singing demands a lot from the singer. SPB shined in all aspects of film music singing. Classical ragas being just one aspect of it.

SPB was not formally trained in Classical music. Many felt that it would be a disadvantage for him but he showed that when it came to film music singing, that was not necessarily a disadvantage.

He understood the idiom of film music completely and clearly knew how classical ragas fitted into it. He knew when to be very classical and when to provide the light touch. With this preamble, let us get going.

Let us start with a morning raga, the raga associated with sunrise, Bouli. Many mistakenly call this Bhooplam. From the movie, 'Seetaramulu' here is 'tholisandhya velalo' which is based on Bouli.

IIRC the lyrics are by Dasari Narayana Rao, the director of this movie. Music by Sathyam, who was a friend and mentor for SPB.

Just to be clear, I will be playing songs where the raga is quite explicit. Also the thread will contain Tamil, Telugu and Kannada songs

One of the ragas which is used to open concerts is Nattai. Here in the early part of our thread we play Nattai. From the movie Swati Kiranam 'pranathi pranathi'

According the comments, the amazing lyrics are by Sirivenella Sitarama Sastry, for whom SPB had great regard. Music, nominally by KV Mahadevan. SPB and Chitra

I say nominally by KVM because according to SPB in many shows, KVM was very ill during this time. The songs were composed by his long time assistant Pugazhendhi, who refused to have his name as the MD and insisted it must be KVM's name.

Next we take up a song from the movie, which made people note of the fact that he can sing classical raga based songs quite well, 'Sankarabaranam'. The title song, 'omkara nadanu'

A K Vishwanath film. Lyrics by Veturi, whom SPB considered as one of the greatest lyricist. Music by K V Mahadevan

It was Pugazhendi who insisted that SPB must sing all songs. K Vishwanath wanted Balamurali for the songs. BTW, Vishwanath was SPB's cousin.

If a song in raga Sankarabaranam started the movie, its prati madhyama counterpart, Kalyani was the ending song of the movie. 'dorakuna ituvanti seva'

These song achieved two things: it showed SPB could sing a song in a classical setting and it highlighted the voice acting abilities of SPB. This 'coughing in a song' was later used in other songs as well. Vani Jayaram joins after the coughing :)

The same Kalyani for a different purpose. 'vandhal mahaakshmiye' from 'Uyarndha Ullam' Music by Raja

Of course there are huge number of Kalyanis sung by SPB for various composers. Since I want to cover many ragas, I will typically be playing one song per raga with one or two exceptions, where I may play two songs

Vasantha is a ragam not too often used in film music. Here are SPB and Susheela with a Vasantha ragam based song, 'natanam aadene'

This is another K Vishwanath film with music by K V Mahadevan. Lyrics could be Veturi but I am not sure. Not sure whose idea it was to make Chandramohan dance here.

Let us now take up some ragas which are sung at the end of the concert. Starting with Sindhu Bhairavi. 'unakkenna mele ninrai' from 'Simla Special'

Lyrics of Vaali and music of MSV. SPB had great regard and love for MSV since he was the one who encouraged him when he entered the Tamil film music world. This song is such a nice modern Sindhu Bhairavi

Sindhu Bhairavi is one ragam which has been used effectively by lot of music directors. Raja himself has a lot of songs in this ragam. This is just a sample.