When music from the big screen climbed down for the audiences

The Hindu

5 hours ago

At a time when celluloid was still fashionable, light music offered the public an opportunity to listen to the songs once again, albeit live on the stage. That was a time when movies were evolving and most films were actually musicals. Even after the advent of tapes and CDs and music sharing apps, live light music continues to fascinate the citizens of Chennai.
'It was in the 1930s that our senior film music composer late C. R. Subbaraman went to Bombay and got to know how the Western musicians were working in Hindi film industry. He imported a band of 25 Western musicians to play for his recordings. After his demise, M.S. Viswanathan and T.K. Ramamurthy, who were his assistants took on the mantle and succeeded well in the Tamil film industry. They presented the first film light music orchestra in 1955. After the film Kathalikka Neramillai, they were awarded the title of Kings of Light music by veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan,' said Thayanban, music director and a legend in the light music industry. He started his light music troupe in the year 1966 when he was in class 10, studying in Santhome High School. 'That time I named it Sangeeth, only to change it later.'
Following the success of MSV and TKR, many light music orchestras started in Madras, Sarangapani - Renuka, Williams, Veeramani -Radha,Thulasidass, Anirudhra, Joshua Rajan, Kamesh- Rajamani, A. V. Ramanan - Uma Ramanan, Thayanban' s Pallavi, Abhaswaram Ramjhi, Sivaraj - Anand and Boses- Deva, Lakshman Shruthi among others. Apart from lead vocalists who sang the songs of the greats including Tiruchi Loganathan, T. M. Soundararajan, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, Raja, Jikki, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki, P. Susheela, the groups had folks conversant in western guitar, violins, violas, cellos, flute or brass trumpet, trombone.
Abaswaram Ramjhi, who started his group in 1976, recalls that he was a late entrant into the scene. 'Those used to be the days of bell bottoms, long hair, loud shirts and music to match it all. Musicians had an amazing fan following. I wanted to stand out so named my troupe as Abaswaram, meaning out of tune. I gave cotton balls to the audience at my first concert since we were very loud. Many of us learnt under Dhanraj Master, who had a room above Murudi's cafe in Luz. Initially, only Hindi songs used to be sung. Then slowly Tamil songs too garnered support. Later when Ilayaraja stormed the industry only Tamil songs were performed. Light music began to be played everywhere... marriages, temple festivals, retirement parties. Some popular groups used to have upto 40 performances a month. Artists used to rush from one venue to another after singing a few songs,' he explained.
Popular playback singer, music director and son of Tiruchi Loganathan, Deepan Chakkaravarthy, who started his group in 1974, explained that people would learn songs by listening to audio cassettes. 'Though I sing my own songs, I also sing those by T. R. Mahalingam mama and my father. I love to sing my father's songs - particularly Aasaiye Alaipole and Vaarai Nee Vaarai. '
He added that singing for a film was a 'super good feel. But when you sing that song in front of an audience, or any song, that is a completely different emotion. At a concert at Malayasia in which my father performed, I remember shedding tears at the love that we got,' he said.
From Madras, the culture of Light music groups spread to other cities and towns too. Even now light music as a genre continues to exist. Sridevi, music lover and a resident of Perambur, said that nowadays such live shows by the film music composed themselves are a big attraction. 'It is a thrill to see the big stars in flesh and blood and listen to them sing. Imagine listening to Khwaja ji by A. R. Rahman on the stage. It's worth going early and finding your seat in the crowd,' she said.