ಎದೆ ತುಂಬಿ ಹಾಡಿದೆನು-- In Memory of a beautiful individual

Hey

Today will be remembered for two important happenings. 

The first one is for the farmers' protest against homogenizing, insensitive globalising endeavours. Well, democracy, irrespective of the end result of this protest, is seemingly alive and ticking. 

The second one is not a celebratory reason. It's the sad demise of the popular singer S P Balasubramanyam (4 June 1946- Sept 2020). This is my very simple tribute that comes from an extremely limited understanding of the 'humble giant' of popular music SPB. 

My earliest memory of listening to songs is on AIR and Radio Ceylon. The popular music time on both the radio channels was compered by Ameen Sayani. At that time, I was on a short stint of forced learning Carnatic music. Not that I had any semblance of understanding of music; but, for me, at that time, this introduction served its purpose of gaining an entry to the world of music. And listening to popular music was comparatively easy as I didn't have to identify 'the raga' (I was introduced to only three ragas at that time!) It was much later, in the late '90s perhaps, that I really began to enjoy film music. Songs by Ghantasala, K L Saigal, Rafi, Geeta Dutt, P B Srinivas and the more contemporary, western-influenced singers Asha Bhonsle, Kishore Kumar, and in Kannada, songs rendered by SPB, P Kalinga Rao and C. Ashwath's rendering of bhavageethe. But, the '80s and the '90s belonged to SPB. He was the predominant voice with the 'name it, you have it' genre singing-romantic, duets, patriotic, linguistic-patriotic, disco, epic, devotional . . . 

   

 And it was only in the '90s that I really re-discovered SPB-the multi-lingual singer. what was amazing for me was his mastery over the languages--Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi-it was impeccable. It was as if he was the native speaker of each one of the languages in which he was singing. That was fascinating. He was the true representative of multilingualism, often discussed and celebrated in literary discourses. The experience of listening to him and his contribution to popular culture, as I saw it, was expansive. He represented that India which celebrated learning as many languages as anyone could and wanted to. There is an interesting song from the film Geeta 'ಜೊತೆಯಲಿ, ಜೊತೆ, ಜೊತೆಯಲಿ, ಇರುವೆನು ಎಂದು ಹೀಗೆ' a wonderful coincidence of multiculturalism coming together to create magic--the song sung by SPB a native speaker of Telugu,  music director-Ilyaraja(Tamil), Kannada Hero and the heroine from the Konkani speaking community!! Music does bring people together! No wonder this is one of the most popular romantic songs in Kannada. Hope the readers will enjoy listening 👉   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru7vdSmXejo

 

As an audience, it was with the Kannada music reality show (which he was a part of for about ten years) ಎದೆ ತುಂಬಿ ಹಾಡಿದೆನು (Ede tumbi Haadidenu) that we got to see the person who was also a singer. Each episode revealed an unknown facet of the singer's individuality. He came across as an admirable singer with an immense knowledge of music, so humble in how he shared his knowledge, his understanding of music, and corrected the singers. I would like to share one instance that is etched in my memory. A young girl- maybe of 10 or 12 years of age- was one of the competitors. She greeted SPB and began to sing a song in which the 'heroine' expresses her longing for an erotic reunion with her 'hero'. Just as she began, SPB sprang to his feet, and asked the girl to stop singing. He came on the stage, very gently asked the girl to come prepared with another song. Very gently reprimanded her mother saying  "ತಾಯಿ, ಕಾರ್ಯಕತರು ಹಾಡಿ ಎಂದ ಹಾಡನ್ನೇ ಮಗುವಿಗೆ ಹಾಡಿಸಬೇಕೆಂದಿಲ್ಲ. ಈ ಹಾಡು ಮಗು ಹಾಡುವಂತಹುದಲ್ಲ. ನೀವು ತಾಯಿಯಾಗಿ ಅದನ್ನು ತಡೆಯಬಹುದು, ತಡೆಯಬೇಕು."  ('The program organises select songs according to their understanding and requirement for the program. But, as the mother of the child, you can and should not allow the child to sing this song. It is age-inappropriate") I had goosebumps as I watched this episode. What a man!! How rooted is he in his culture and its do's and don'ts!! Little wonder he is as widely respected as he is!! 

This quality of being rooted in one's ethics makes Balasubrahmanyam a highly respected and loved singer. One just needs to look at his achievements--6 Filmfare awards, an NTR National award, recipient of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan and a record holder for 40000 songs and all this is accepted with such humility!! What a wise man who never allowed his achievements to ruin his talent and his heart!! His presence in this world made honesty, simplicity and humility so real in a society that is taken up by shallow, hypocritical achievements and personalities. 

Wish he had a little more time here but it is a well-earned Rest and may the journey to the Heavenly Abode be a joyous one!! 

 RIP S P Balasubrhamanyam  🙏🙏

     

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