S.P. Balasubrahmanyam will have turned 75 yesterday. Your afternoon though proven to be his first arrival anniversary once he passed off last September.
The institution of play back singers in Malayalam theatre, SAMAM, arrived on the scene with a live series on face book to cover a melodious tribute to some singer that was a beloved friend with a of them, also a colleague to a much-admired pub to every one of those.
Anoop Sankar,” one among the primary fans of SPB you’d come across, coordinated the series. “We wanted to do something on his birth anniversary and we thought presenting his songs in our voices would be a fitting tribute to the legend,” says that the Thrissur-based singer. “Some of us recorded the songs from our homes and we also used clippings from previously recorded television and live shows.”
The series got off to the right touch with K.S. Chithra singing her soothingly sweet duet with Thoda thoda malarndhadhenna poove…, by the 1995 film Indira, that indicated celebrity Suhasini’s introduction as a director. Fittingly, she began with the part of the song sung by SPB — Antha ila vayathil…
Chithra, as ever, was at prime shape when bettering the magic of their A.R. Rahman essay. She had been followed closely by M.G. Sreekumar’s rendition of this main hit from Rahman’s cooperation with SPB — Kadhal rojave… (Roja).
The series, comprising 3-4 listeners, lasted one hour 5 dozen. The highlights comprised Mridula Warrier’s Anjali Anjali… (Duet)… Saritha Ram’s Malare mounamaa… (Karna), Ravi Shankar’s Paadu nilave… (Udaya Geetham) and
Rashmi Madhu’s Muthumani malai… (Chinna Gounder).
Rashmi said she listed the tune on her cellular phone, throughout the small free time she got throughout her duties as a physician. “These days I have to work for 21 hours on some days, because there are COVID-19 patients at the hospital where I work,” she states. “I wanted to be part of the SPB tribute; I grew up in Chennai listening to him.”
You can watch the series here.