From sreeni@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de Mon Jan 27 04:34:13 1997 Received: from lucy.cs.wisc.edu (lucy.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.11]) by sea.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id EAA12944 for ; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 04:34:05 -0600 Received: from pbinfo (uni-paderborn.de [131.234.22.30]) by lucy.cs.wisc.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id EAA27932 for ; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 04:33:57 -0600 (CST) Received: from ktp.uni-paderborn.de ([131.234.250.40]) by pbinfo.uni-paderborn.de with ESMTP id <52706-27730>; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 11:33:43 +0100 Received: (from sreeni@localhost) by ktp.uni-paderborn.de (8.6.9/8.6.9) id LAA13851 for ghantasa@cs.wisc.edu; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 11:33:18 GMT From: Sreenivas Paruchuri Message-Id: <199701271133.LAA13851@ktp.uni-paderborn.de> Subject: (fwd) Adi Narayanrao To: ghantasa@cs.wisc.edu (Mailing List Ghantasala) Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 12:33:17 +0100 (MET) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text The following writeup was originally posted on some news groups on Saturday, the 25th Jan, commemorating Adinarayanarao's death anniversary. Since G worked in almost all his films and gave us some immemorable gems, I find it appropriate posting it also on G-list. Regards, Sreenivas -----------------------------Begin-------------------------------------- (There are many Indian music directors who have worked only in a few films. Yet very few have managed to leave such an unique signature on Indian film music as P. Adinarayana Rao has. Consider the fact that in a long career spanning over three and a half decades he scored music for less than thirty films. And it is a no mean accomplishment to capture the hearts of Hindi film audience with just two films. 25th January marks his (6th) death anniversary of this great master who gave us such gems as "anaarkali", "suvarNa sundari" and "bhakta tukaaraam" Regards, --Sreenivas) =========================================================================== Adinarayana Rao was born in 1915 in Kakinada (some sources place his year of birth in 1918, in Vijayawada). He was introduced to the stage at a very young age of six, playing the role of "naarada" in the play: "Savitri" under Rajarajeswari Naatya Mandali's baton. He went on to study classical music under Patrayani Sitarama Sastry, a prominent personolity of those days, in Saluru, a major center for music in the early decades of this century. Later he completed his matriculation from Kakinada. At age 12, with an impressive talent to play many instruments, and literary interests, he started working as a music composer and a play writer. He was highly popular in Kakinada theatre circles and was affectionately called "abbaayi gaaru", a name which he retained even after entering films. "Veedhi Gaayakulu", "Black Market", "Vasanta sena" were some of his plays. Starting his career at Burmah Shell Amateurs Troupe, he blossomed in to a big artist at the well-known, now almost forgotten, Young Mens Happy Club, which had given famous artistes like Gandikota Jagannatham, S.V. Ranga Rao, Relangi Venkata Ramayya, Anjali Devi to Telugu Cinema/stage. It was here that he met his future wife, Anjali, who was under his tutelage and later went on to become a leading actress of the Indian silver screen. His first attempt to join the film field was in 1941. Chittur V. Nagayya, the legendary actor, director and music composer was ruling the Telugu film field supreme with his compositions in films like "vandEmaataram" (1939), "sumangaLi" (1940), "dEvata" (1941). Highly influenced and mesmerized by his music, Adinarayana Rao wanted to work under the maestro. He was introduced to Nagayya by film star A. S. Giri (of sumangaLi fame). He was asked to come after 1-2 months, but somehow he did n't go to Madras and remained away from film field till mid-40s. The following composition by him written for the play: "Veedhi Gaayakulu" in 1944, shows his admiration and respect for Nagayya: naagayya naTanalO naaNyamerungaka #Saigal# naTanakai sambhramEla ......... It is in veteran film maker B V Ramanandam's, "varudhini" (1946) he got his first break in films. The oppurtunity came through S.V. Ranga Rao, nephew of Ramanandam and a YMHC member (incidentally this was the debut film for Rangarao too). Although he was initially assigned to write lyrics and compose music, professional differences led to the abrupt ending of the project after recording just two songs, and he returned to Kakinada. Later he worked for a couple of films writing lyrics and/or composing music, which include C. Pullayya's (another native of Kakinada), the highly successful, "Gollabhama" (1947, co-MD: Dinakara Rao), in which Anjali made her debut. The songs/verses from Gollabhama are a real delight to hear; chandamaama andamaina, priyatamaa!, bhoopati jampitin, valapu teniyalu, etc. They are in my opinion ahead of their time in terms of pace (can be compared to the ones from 60s! It would be of great interest to me to know, who composed which song). Its through "palleToori pilla" (1950), a film based on Sheridon's play: "Pijjaro", he became a full-fledged music director, thanks to his friend B A Subba Rao, who was making his directorial debut and went on to make a highly successful career. His adaptation of Spanish tunes - "dheera kampanaa" - with superb orchestration, and usage of Telugu folk melodies set new trends. Songs like: chiTapaTa chinukula duppaTi taDisenu, Saanta vanTi pilla lEdOyi (young Pithapuram Nageswara Rao singing this beautifully) were treats to music lovers. His next venture; "tilOttama" (1951) was a disappointment. Its music reached very few people since it was neither a commercial success at box-office nor were the songs released on records. In 1949 he founded "Aswini Pictures" with Akkineni Nageswara Rao and makeup artist K. Gopala Rao, producing "maayalamaari" (1951, Tamil: Mayakkaari). Though it ran for 100 days, the music was only a moderate success. So was "annadaata" (1954), made on the same banner. He wrote some lyrics for "palletoori pilla" and "annadaata" too. "annadaata" also heralded the beginning of the successful team with himself, ANR & Anjali (in lead cast) and Director Vedantam Raghavayya, which continued unbroken for more than a decade. In 1951 he separated from Aswini banner and founded his own production house; "Anjali Pictures" making "paradESi" (1953, Tamil: Poongottai, with songs like: pilichindi kaluva puvvu - jikki, nEnenduku raavaali - Jikki, Pithapuram, etc.) under the direction of L. V. Prasad. The superb compositions in big budget "anaarkali" (1955) and "suvarNna sundari (1957) that followed under this banner brought him tremendous recognition. Volumes can be written on these two great musicals. Though a couple of tunes were partly based on Ramachandra Chitalkar's tunes from Hindi version of "Anarkaali" (1953) rest showed his enormous creative talents. the rest showed his enormous creative talents. The song "raajasekharaa nee pai moju teera leduraa" still lingers on every one's tongue. So are: kalise nelaraaju kaluva chelini - Ghantasala, Jikki, sOjaa raajakumari - A. M. Rajah. Suvarna Sundari was the high point in his career. It was a blockbuster hit running to full houses at all the places it was released for over 6 months. Described as the "Bible to box-office laws" by film critics, it showed the way to later day "formula" filmmakers. It had all the elements, in proper dosage, to attract all sections of film goers. "piluvakuraa alugakuraa, haayihaayigaa aamani saage, bommalammaa bommalu, Eraa manapaaTi dheerulevvaruraa" remain ever-green hits. The raagamaalika set to four Hindusthani Ragas made him very popular and won him many awards and recognition all over India! Some critics unfairly accused him of plagiarising "piluvakuraa" and "haayi haayigaa" tunes from Vasant Desai's _milan hon kaise_ ("Dhuaan" 1953) and Anil Biswas's _ritu aaya, ritu jaaya_ ("Hamdard" 1953) respectively. But there is very little truth in that. No one can deny the creative prowess in his works. Riding high on the success, he embarked on his second Hindi production: "Phoolon Ki Sej" (1964), based on Gulshan Nanda's novel: "andheri biran", with big starring. It turned out to be his last hindi film. This film virtually lead the couple to ruins, losing whatever they earned over 17 years. It was a major setback especially at a time when Anjali was considering her retirement from the films after acting in 100 films. Even melodious songs like: aa tu jaraa dil mein (Lata, Mukhesh), abhin jaa rasiya (Lata, Manna), pyar ko madhur madhur (Asha, Rafi), taronki aankhon ka (Lata) could not stop the disaster. It took nearly a decade for the next 'big' hit from Adinarayanarao's house; "bhakta tukaram" (1973), portraiting the life-story of saint-composer Tukaram. This is yet another gem from the master with memorable songs like: ghanaa ghana sundaraa - Ghantasala, poojaku vELaayeraa - P. Susila, unnaavaa asalunnaavaa - Ghantasala, sari sari vagalu telisera - P.Susila etc. "alluuri seetaraama raaju" (1974), the life-story of revolutionary freedom-fighter, followed soon, making his name well-known to the next generation of Telugus, gaining fame to both the producer/actor Krishna and Adinarayana rao himself. The whole audience waited along with the heroine for seetaramaraju while she was singing "vastaaDu naa rOju" (P. Susila). SriSri's "telugu veera levaraa deeksha booni saagaraa" was immortalised by his tune and has become a classic patriotic song. He never worked for any other production houses in the later period, except for film actor Krishna's productions. His creation "mahaakavi kshEtrayy" (1978) is a testimony to his quest for perfection and authenticity. He travelled through the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, along with well known Telugu poet, historian and film-writer Arudra, interviewing several dEvadaasis, who have been singing kshEtrayya padam-s for centuries. Unfortunately such thorough fieldwork, and compositions like: ashTa vidha naayika varNana, Sreepati sutu baariki (Ramakrishna), chedero naa saamiki (swapna sundari, famous danseuse) could not guarantee the film's commercial success. Certainly we can not forget his other films like; "adutta vittu penn" (1959, Tamil, with P B Sreenivas's solo "Vaadaada malar"), "Runaanubandham" (1960, "andamain baava aavu paala kova", "nindu punnami nela"), "swarNa manjari" (1962, madhuramaina guru deevana - Nagayya, P. Susila, raavE naa praNaya roopiNi - Ghantasala), "satee sakkubayi" (1966, ranga rangaa rangayanandi - Ghantasala). The last one was also dubbed in to Marathi as "sakhu ali pandarpura" (1969), winning critical acclaims in Maharashtra too. "ammakOsam" (1971), "agni pareeksha" (1970, (konDapai ninDugaa koluvunna maa talli kanakadurga - Ghantasala), "kalyaaNa manDapam" (1971), "pedda koDuku" (1973), "kannavaari yillu" (1978) are his other films. Apart from his own compositions he left his imprint on the music field indirectly too. Later highly successful music directors; Totakura Venkata Raju (a.k.a T V Raju), Satyam and Lakshmikant-Pyarelal duo (Phoolonki Sej) worked as his assistants. An "unusual influence of Hindusthani classical music and Marathi Natya Sangeet" on Telugu film music is attributed to him. Early Marathi (and Parsi) touring drama troupes left their indelible mark on Telugu stage by the end of 19th century. It is a no surprise since Adinarayanarao who followed the music styles keenly and heard the music of legendary artists of Telugu stage like Tungala Chalapati Rao, K. Raghuramayya, Jonnavittula Seshagiri Rao, C.S.R. Anjaneyulu, et al grasped these styles as well. His exposure to classical music and stage music from early years at Saluru and Vijayanagaram certainly helped him in better understanding of Hindustani music. Well known music critic V.A.K. Rangarao credits Adinrayana Rao for introducing Hindustani music in contemporary flavour and simplified orchsetration, and thereby impressing both laymen audience as well cognoscenti. It is this music that survives him enthralling all the music lovers. -- Emmastr. 3, 33098 Paderborn, Germany Tel: + 49 5251 76420 E-Mail: sreeni@ktp.uni-paderborn.de From mdevaraju@gi-link.dcrb.dla.mil Mon Jan 27 12:24:16 1997 Received: from lucy.cs.wisc.edu (lucy.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.11]) by sea.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id MAA19424 for ; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 12:24:00 -0600 Received: from indiap.dcrb.dla.mil (indiap.dcrb.dla.mil [33.25.110.99]) by lucy.cs.wisc.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3) with SMTP id MAA04002 for ; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 12:23:52 -0600 (CST) Received: from gi-link.dcrb.dla.mil by indiap.dcrb.dla.mil (5.59/1.34+) id AA01417; Mon, 27 Jan 97 13:11:20 CST Received: from cc:Mail by gi-link.dcrb.dla.mil id AA854400051 Mon, 27 Jan 97 13:20:51 EST Date: Mon, 27 Jan 97 13:20:51 EST From: mdevaraju@gi-link.dcrb.dla.mil (Devaraju, Mohan) Message-Id: <9700278544.AA854400051@gi-link.dcrb.dla.mil> To: ghantasa@cs.wisc.edu Subject: Sri Ghantasala gAru malhE puttAru !! Few weeks ago I received a letter from my folks from Vizag. They wrote: " I am so excited, that I should share this news with you, immediately, since you are a Ghantasala devotee. Just now I watched a TV program, where they introduced a 24 years old boy, who is singing 100% like Ghantasala. He is called here as Apara Ghantasala. I am sure that within no time he will be Number 1 singer in all our Telugu Movies.... The Industry is thinking that Ghantasla Venkateswara Rao is truly reborn again in this Boy's shape. Before he becomes too busy,can you take him to USA via TANA and ATA ?" Did any one of you get this similar news ? Any further details on this boy ? From ghantasa@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Mon Jan 27 17:33:12 1997 Received: from lucy.cs.wisc.edu (lucy.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.11]) by sea.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id RAA27300 for ; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 17:32:57 -0600 Received: from research.circ.gwu.edu (research.circ.gwu.edu [128.164.127.250]) by lucy.cs.wisc.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id RAA10868 for ; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 17:32:55 -0600 (CST) Received: from gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (ghantasa@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu [128.164.127.252]) by research.circ.gwu.edu (8.8.4/8.6.12) with ESMTP id SAA28073 for ; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 18:32:21 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost (ghantasa@localhost) by gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (8.8.4/8.6.12) with SMTP id SAA05424 for ; Mon, 27 Jan 1997 18:32:52 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 18:32:52 -0500 (EST) From: Sridhar Basavaraju To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Sri Ghantasala gAru malhE puttAru !! In-Reply-To: <9700278544.AA854400051@gi-link.dcrb.dla.mil> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I found the news of Apara Ghantasala to be very interesting, but I did want to point out that similarities in voice and style were pointed out in the past with Ramakrishna, although, to my knowledge, he was never titled in such a way. In addition, someone on this group itself, I don't remember who however, a long time ago, pointed out that G's very son, Vijay Kumar, in some pitches, sounds a lot like his father. Some how though, neither of them ever turned into stars. I think the industry and fans all over are pretty starved for Ghantasala's music and voice, and I sincerely hope that this new singer can do something for us. But, I did also want to say, that G was one of a kind, and so was his era. . . Sridhar ============================================================================== Cry without weeping talk without speaking scream without raising your voice (U2) From kandadai@wnm.net Wed Jan 29 21:03:34 1997 Received: from lucy.cs.wisc.edu (lucy.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.11]) by sea.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id VAA17666 for ; Wed, 29 Jan 1997 21:03:19 -0600 Received: from server.wnm.net (server.wnm.net [206.137.184.17]) by lucy.cs.wisc.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id VAA25715 for ; Wed, 29 Jan 1997 21:03:17 -0600 (CST) Received: from kandadai ([206.137.188.65]) by server.wnm.net (8.7.4/8.7.3) with SMTP id WAA12844 for ; Wed, 29 Jan 1997 22:08:04 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <32F00EB3.5E8A@wnm.net> Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 21:00:03 -0600 From: kandadai X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0Gold (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ghantasa@cs.wisc.edu Subject: Re: Sri Ghantasala gAru malhE puttAru !! References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Talking of "another" Ghantasalas, I have seen/heard so many people back in Andhra orchestra groups singing similar to or almost like G. Though they might be good at a song or two, in general, they were not able to imitate all the songs of G identical to G's voice. Somewhere, somehow they would falter and show their true colors. As Sreedhar rightly said, G is one of his kind and no one else could/will replace him for ever. Even if the new boy, we are talking about, sings like G, is he going to survive like another Ghantasala singing meaningless, musicless (sic), vulgar, dirty telugu songs of today? Even if he does, are we going to accept him as G's heir? I really doubt. Regards Krishna From sreeni@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de Fri Jan 31 12:37:21 1997 Received: from lucy.cs.wisc.edu (lucy.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.11]) by sea.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id MAA22081 for ; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 12:37:13 -0600 Received: from ktp_serv.uni-paderborn.de (ktp_serv.uni-paderborn.de [131.234.180.5]) by lucy.cs.wisc.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3) with SMTP id MAA00971 for ; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 12:37:10 -0600 (CST) Received: from ktpsp6.ktpsp (ktpsp6.uni-paderborn.de [131.234.180.2]) by ktp_serv.uni-paderborn.de (8.6.12/8.6.10) with ESMTP id TAA02980 for ; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 19:36:16 +0100 Received: by ktpsp6.ktpsp (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id TAA05371; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 19:37:04 +0100 From: sreeni@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de (Sreenivas Paruchuri) Message-Id: <199701311837.TAA05371@ktpsp6.ktpsp> Subject: Re: Sri Ghantasala gAru malhE puttAru !! To: ghantasa@cs.wisc.edu (Mailing List Ghantasala) Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 19:37:04 +0100 (MET) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25 PGP2] Content-Type: text I submitted the following message yesterday but it has n't appeared anywhere so far. Hence this reposting. Regards, Sreenivas ================= >From sreeni Thu Jan 30 01:20:06 1997 Subject: Re: Sri Ghantasala gAru malhE puttAru !! To: ghantasa@cs.wisc.edu Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 01:20:06 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <32F00EB3.5E8A@wnm.net> from "kandadai" at Jan 29, 97 09:00:03 pm > Talking of "another" Ghantasalas, I have seen/heard so many people back > in Andhra orchestra groups singing similar to or almost like G. Though > they might be good at a song or two, in general, they were not able to > imitate all the songs of G identical to G's voice. Somewhere, somehow > they would falter and show their true colors. I agree with Krishna and am very sceptical about such comparisons (and the singers). Its certainly not the first time I am hearing about some "apara G". Madan Mohan Parigi wrote here a while ago about "good imitators" (my paraphrasing!) of G in Hyderabad music circles. During the years 1986, 1987 I have seen/heard four young people singing "rasika raaja taguvaarala ..." (from jayabhEri) and "SivaSankari" (jagadEkaveeruni katha) in mega musical nights in Madras (I think I wrote about these programmes once. A relatively new Telugu assn. in Madras succeeded those days in bringing almost all play-back singers of Telugu cinema on one stage, along with a lot of new talent). You felt G were alive! But you have n't heard anything about them after that. My question is: if there is good (and enough) talent, why don't we see it making it to the top? Could someone pl. enlighten me! I don't know how true is the saying that SPB is responsible for todays plight. Even during the heydays of G, others (AMR, MSatyam, PNR, PBS) could survive and got decent no. of songs. But can we name a singer in post-1974 period who survived for more than 3-4 years? Regards, Sreenivas From ghantasa@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Fri Jan 31 16:06:35 1997 Received: from lucy.cs.wisc.edu (lucy.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.11]) by sea.cs.wisc.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id QAA26253 for ; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 16:06:25 -0600 Received: from research.circ.gwu.edu (research.circ.gwu.edu [128.164.127.250]) by lucy.cs.wisc.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id QAA05788 for ; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 16:06:22 -0600 (CST) Received: from gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (ghantasa@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu [128.164.127.252]) by research.circ.gwu.edu (8.8.4/8.6.12) with ESMTP id RAA02325; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 17:05:48 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost (ghantasa@localhost) by gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (8.8.4/8.6.12) with SMTP id RAA24635; Fri, 31 Jan 1997 17:06:17 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 17:06:17 -0500 (EST) From: Sridhar Basavaraju To: Sreenivas Paruchuri cc: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Sri Ghantasala gAru malhE puttAru !! In-Reply-To: <199701311837.TAA05371@ktpsp6.ktpsp> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I wanted to respond to Sreenivas's question of why such talented people often don't succeed for too long in today's cinema world. I was having a similar conversation with my uncle some time ago and we were talking about the current wave of popular music that is sweeping Andhra and the whole of India in general. Well, we can notice that the instruments, style of singing, lyrics, etc are completely different from G's golden years of the 1960's. I think that his brand of voice, singing and style, are, to put it a little sadly, out of date. Currently, most songs are based on western instruments and vulgar lyrics which are really not what playback singers who imitate G by singing rasikaa raju thaga vaaramu, are expert in. And there is always the question of SPB who claims to have recorded 25000 songs in various languages. You just can't compete with someone like that. In all of his years, G sang a few thousand songs, and I think allowed the talent of others, whereas SPB has not. At least, this is what I think. Sridhar ============================================================================== Cry without weeping talk without speaking scream without raising your voice (U2)