SPB
1980 was a turning point in my life in many ways. We moved from living in a joint family on my father's side to living as a joint family on my mother's side. My atthai (father’s sister) was a popular Carnatic music teacher and every day students would come to Saraswati Sangeetalayam (our house) to sit in front of the majestic photo of Thyagaraja and start their practice with my aunt.
In 1980 we moved in with an equally pious mother’s side aunt(mother's sister) where every day I woke up to the sound of MS Subbalakshmi’s divine voice.
So here I was, surrounded by soulful sounds since the day I was born and yet an ignorant illiterate as a music listener of any kind. Music just washed over me like a gentle breeze while I roamed around with a bat and ball.
And then Billa and Sankarabaranam happened.
They called him SPB and Balu. For me, the soothing voice wafting through the single speaker on a small transistor opened a portal to music, a world that until that day never existed.
Close your eyes and listen to "brōcēvārevarurā ninnu vinā raghuvara " and you may start seeing the almighty.
I could not believe it was the same voice that majestically proclaimed “My name is Billa!”.
Between Pongal and Republic day of 1980, SPB had bridged the seemingly impossible divide between film music and the Carnatic world. For me, this was a whole new world.
And what a lovely world it was to be. For many musically challenged millions like me, SPB’s gentle voice was the guide to appreciating the complexities of Carnatic music while savoring the pop music of the times. More importantly, SPB’s canorous voice was an escape from tedious homework, a time to just do nothing but soak in soulful melodies.
After a long day of cricket, my cousins and I would sit on the parapet wall, late into the sultry summer evenings, debating the voice of K J Yesudas and SPB. Of course, there is no winner for we were all blessed to live in the times of such priceless talent.
The bond with SPB grew stronger as he sang "tere mere beech me kaisa hai ye bandan" astounding us with the diversity of his talent in a language he hadn’t sung before.
We watched agape as Kamal danced to the impossible rendering of Thakita Thadhimi in Salangai Oli, leaving us in wonder whether SPB can reach any more peaks. And yet he did it with "Thulli Thulli nee paadamma ..Nee kanneer vittal chinna manam thaangadamma.” in Sippikul Muthu. The culmination of the 1980s saw SPB do it yet again with the decade-defining movie "Unnal mudiyum thambi" and its eponymous song. I am sure it inspired generations as the song reached the nook and corners of the nation. We cannot imagine another singer giving voice to the powerful words of Pulamaipittan.
“உன் தோளை உயர்த்து தூங்கி விழும் நாட்டை எழுப்பு எதையும் முடிக்கும் இதயம் உன்னில் கண்டேன்”
Lift up your shoulders waking up the sleeping nation, I can see in you the determined heart to finish anything.
The eighties were also all about Rajinikanth (for me at least and if you were not in that category in TN then you need to examine yourself :-) ). And of course, it was SPB who gave voice to the golden moments of Thalaivar. The melodies of "raagangal padinaru" in Thillu Mullu echoed often in our house sometimes over the radio and often from the living room where my cousins and I would do our pretend concerts!
Sometimes, as we launched into throatful renderings of SPB songs, the lyrics would cause the adults in the house to squirm such as the mellifluous “vidiya vidiya solli tharuven from Pokkiri Raja.
For us, we were so engrossed in the magic of SPBs talent that it didn't matter what the words were. Even now when I close my eyes and listen to it I am often amazed as to how close it sounds to Rajini’s voice.
SPB sang over 40000 songs in his 50 years plus singing career and yet some just stand in our hearts trapped and wrapped as gifts forever. “Kaadalin deepam onru yerrinale en nejil” is one of those timeless gems.
As much as the Ilayaraja and SPB combination created a wave of film music aficionados in the 1980s the best was yet to come. SPB and AR Rahman produced some of the most memorable soundtracks starting with the iconic Roja. Music was more accessible with CDs and Mp3s and many households had SPB in their life as their beatific uncle, bursting into their favorite song on demand through their favorite headphones. I had him singing “Oruvan Oruvan mudalali” almost every day at some point. Even a few years back, on his visits to the US, it was the most requested song and the crowd would break into raptures with a cry for “once more”.
It appears that the lord above is active in snatching his favorite sons and daughters in 2020, Maybe He is bored, maybe He doesn’t want them to see what else He has in store for us, mere mortals.
It is said that SPB recovered and then unrecovered and succumbed to Covid 19. To me, it is more probable that he was at the gates of Jaya and Vijaya and his soulful songs finally reached the lotus feet of the supreme lord and He would not let go.
"nI caraNAmbujamunu nE viDajAla karuNAlavAla" - I wonder who was holding whose feet?
All good things come to an end. We are blessed that SPB gave us a collection that can last centuries and is forever embedded in our lives. Yet Goodbyes are hard.
Pa Vijay sums it up in his masterpiece lyrics in the movie Thuppaki. A dear friend departs on a long journey.
“Mella vidai kodu maname…
Inda ninaivugal ninaivugal ganame “
Goodbye, Balu sir.
Thank you for this.. it's like someone wrote all that I felt in the last two days.. down to the letter. And yes .. it all started with Omkara nathanu and My name is Billa..
Excellent..... Touched my soul... Balusr u will live forever... We grew up listening to u... Our emotions were ruled by ur songs... They were our stressbusters... U made us laugh u made us romantic u made us thought ful u made us humble u made us cry... And still listening to ur voice to get thru this trying time... Guide us sir... U are equivalent to the Divine