Telugu film music

Topic started by MS (@ 129.252.23.185) on Thu Jul 27 22:59:26 .


mm..Most of us have a derogatory opinion about telugu film music and that is quite reflective of the prevailing standards. With the exception of MDs like Keeravaani, the musicians are churning out crap after crap.

But in this thread, I would like to discuss the golden era when balu's romantic melodies like "mallelu poosE", "madhumaasaa vELalO" reigned supreme. This age saw the emergence and effulgence of SPB with him being inspired by some of the greatest tunes of MSV, Rajan- Nagendra and later IR.

I am a tamilian with ears open for good music. Though I don't understand telugu at all, the inherent romanticism and melodic content in the songs make me swoon.

Please help me make a list of good songs of these great singers.

I like to point KVM's contribs in composing many great melodies - classical as well as light songs. I'll take some of his famous movies and post my comments. Quickly first: 'Sruti Layalu'. Has one of my favorite song: 'inniraasulaunikki'. Beautiful tune in the raga Malaymarutham and sung nicely by SPB & VJ. In this movie, there's a climax song where KVM has composed with a sruti bedham. This is probably the first time this has attempted in film song. more later..

RR thanks for the invite.

Apart from KVMahadevan,Ramesh Naidu and Rajen-Nagendra has given quality songs in tefm.
Ramesh Naidus 'mega sandesam'(which fetched a national award for KJY) and 'anand bhairavi'are
my all time favorites(If you get a chance to watch anand bhairavi dont miss it).He had done a lot of classical based songs.
Rajen Nagendra has given lot of melodies(iNtikku iNtikku Ramayana,oh sita katha etc).
Then comes Chakravarthy who was more into fast beat songs. He did give one beautiful SPB,SJ duet(for Nageshwarrao and Jaipradha)-unfortunately i dont remember the lines.
Recently sandip chowda tuned a beautiful melody
'edo veLLi poinidhi manasu'for 'niNNe peLLadutha'
(which also had the fast song 'greka veerudu').
'edo veLLi poindhi manasu'was sung by Rajesh..his voice almost sounds like SPBs.

Going back to KVM , he has given his best to most of the KViswanath movies. Right from siri siri muvaa,seethamahalakshmi to swayam khushi..the music was at its best.
Though shankarabaranam became a all-south india hit, his music for 'saptapathi' went unnoticed.
IMO saptapathi songs were just amazing. Listen to
sjanakis 'marugeLara oh raghavaa'-no music interludes,no background music.Just her voice. Each time i listen to this song i will have tears in my eyes.Such is the intesity of this thyagaraja keerthana beautifully tuned by KVM.
Same movie had another excellent duet by SPB and PS'ithenna aah muraLi mohana muraLi' and also 'hygiri nandhini'by SPB.
There is also a SPB,SJ duet(Sj singing in childs voice)-which is also a very very good song.
This movie was remade into hindi as 'jaag utoh insaan'(sridevi and Mithun chakraborthy).
'Swathi kiranam'(*ing Mammooty,radhika and Manjunath)fetched third national award for Vani jairam. I tell you this is another great film under kvishwanath-KVMahadevan combination.

'sirivennella'(*ing Suhasini,Moon moon sen and a Bengali actor)had excellent songs by KVM but the film was a big bore(This was dubbed into tamil as 'raga devathai').

KBalachanders 'maro charithra'had good songs by MSV(ekeeka poovulu silakamma).
Ghantasala and Nagaiyah were popular MDs in 50s and 60s.

Ramki: that was a good brief survey of TeFM scene. I think I missed Sapthapadhi. It was screened on Central (ex-Prime 12) this sunday and I had to go out to meet someone :(
My detailed comments on these movies are coming soon.. :(to work now):

Sorry for the digression...

Mmm...I also don't understand telugu. But even where lots of crap is produced, some "muthu" can be found. Like in tamil nowadays:-)) This might also have to do with taste. Some of us like fast beat songs while others prefer slow songs. I prefer both depending on time. MS, I have a feeling that you like slow paced romantic songs. Personally though, I think that there are good numbers in recent telugu albums. And about Keeravani, I also like his music, but he only gives memorable numbers/albums once in a while. I liked his 'Pranayama' number from Bombay Priyudu which sounded like thenumber 'Paari jaatha poove' with old time music influence. Here's a list...

Marala telupana from Suyamvaram by Chithra -- people who say she doesn't sing soulfully should listen to this number( MS, check for this song at telugufm.com under Suyamvaram film...great song.

Malle poova majjala guvva - Ravoi Chandammaama by SPB and Chithra

Swapna venu vedho - Ravoi Chandammaama by SPB and Chithra
Jajji malli tella chera - Chinnabayyi by SPB and Chithra(great rendition by both)

O...chilakka - Dongata by Chithra

Jaamu raathiri - Bobbili raja by SPB and Chithra

Guys, let me mention about Ramana gokula. He's the newest telugu MD who's hot. He does mostly songs that are really fast but he also has melodious gems...prove are these 2 numbers

Naalo vunna prema from Premante Idera
Manase edura thiruga from Premante Idera both by SPB and Chithra...

For a fast number try Vayyaari bhaama from Tammudu. This song is sung by him and I don't like his voice but the musical arrangement is really cool. I found it to be different.

Of course, the songs from Pelli Sandhadi which I am sure you all have heard are good. My favourite is Nava manmathuda by Chithra. These songs were blatantly copied by Deva. But nava manmathuda is slightly different in the original version. The tamil song equivalent to this is 'Malligayae malligayae'.

Sirilolikinche chinni navvule from Yamaleela by SPB and Chithra....
while on Yamaleela songs, if you listen to the all the songs, you can see a variety of arrangement. The difference between this song and "Erra ..' song can show you how much variety some MD's can put.

There are quite a lot more. Admittedly, I have not heard any of the old songs that you have mentioned above. Primarily because I don't find that I can relate to the music of that time for telugus. Maybe that's the problem. But I find that I can enjoy songs from films like 'Sankarabaranam' and Swaati Mutyam'. But I feel that to totally enjoy songs, one should know the language. I can't speak about the songs in the technical manner like you do...but even if a song sounds simple, it may end up being great for the lyrics and the simple music. Such an example of that could be Edho oru paatu in tamil and chinni chinni gundelo in telugu. Even in malayalam, if I am listening to oru raathiri koodi (don't you think Chithra sounds great?:-)), I can appreciate the musical beauty and the apparent beauty in the rendition but I can go no further because I don't know malayalam. So while it really touched you, I can only speak from a distance as a neutral music lover...


BTW, isn't Sruthilayalu dubbed in tamil. I believe that is the dance movie. The boy who played the son was great...

ending digression

MS, I have a feeling that you like slow paced romantic songs

Quite true :-) But,that cannot be a conclusive statement as I like a lot of beatsy numbers. you will be surprised to know that one of the most hated songs - "oh baby baby" of kaadhalukku mariyaadhai is an all time favorite of mine. When I listen to a song, I look for either a catchy melody or an innovative arrangement. The bass work in "oh baby baby" is one of the finest I have heard in that genre. It is totally unconventional. Now this is digression :-)

I shall soon come up with reviews of some albums and a colleciton of telugu songs I like. We may discuss further about the technicalities.

Hi Guys,
I'm a music lover & recently started to listen to telugu numbers just b'cos i'm getting married to a telugu girl.'marala telupana'by chithra in suyamvaram is great.I'm not sure whether anyone of you got a chance to listen to'nuve nuve ante'by hariharan-quite a good number.I would love to get a list from you guys (romantic!) to surprise my fiancee!

Hi guys

If you guys want to listen good music, just listen to combination of directors and MD's like KViswanath-IR, KViswanath-KVMahadevan, Vamsi-IR, Bapu-KMV

MD"s like Rajen-Nagendra, Ramesh Naidu, Ghantasala, SRajeshwara Rao, Some songs of satyam, Many old songs between 1970 to 1980

For a selection of Telugu movie hits of K.J. Yesudas, please visit the following links:

http://www.tharangini.com/telugu.htm

http://www.megacinema.com/app/handler?link=1.10.111

In the second link, you will have to click on "Telugu", "By Singer" and "K.J. Yesudas" to get the KJY songs. This page has a huge collection of Telugu and Tamil songs. Enjoy them!!!!