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From: bb on: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:06 pm
Song of the Day: MSV and Jolly Abraham- Part I.
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/952.html
- Saravanan writes:
MSV and Jolly Abraham- Part 1
These days, he is a revered name in South Indian Christian music circles. His performance earlier this month at the Festival of Worship organized by the Asian Indian Christian Church at Silver Spring, Maryland had the audience spellbound. He was the star attraction at the ‘Aradhana 2007’, a grand praise and worship program at the North Valley Christian Fellowship in Milpitas. The devoted flock to his stirring concerts- be it at the El-Bethel Assembly of God Church in Staten Island, The Forum Hall at Denver, The Chicago Indian Church, The New England Tamil Church at Wakefield, St. George Syriac Orthodox Church at Toronto, The National Evangelical Church in Bahrain or at devotional congregations all over India. Brother Jolly Abraham (or Jollee Abraham as he spells his name) has found his true calling in service of the Lord.
However, there was a time in the not too distant past when Jolly Abraham had made a memorable tryst with film music. While the Malayalam film songs he rendered are numerous, with many of them being hugely popular, there are a handful of Tamil film songs that came his way that have remained in my frequent playlists unmindful of the years passing by.
A website devoted to Brother Jollee Abraham and his gospel songs has a brief biographical sketch:
http://www.jolleeabraham.com/aboutus.htm
Jolly Abraham learned music from masters such as Kumbalam Baburaj, Natesa Bagavathar and R.M. Sundaram. He came to Chennai from Cochin in 1974 to record two devotional songs for HMV. He remained in Chennai, finding employment in the recording studio of HMV. It was then that he made his debut in film music, and that prized opportunity came from lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi who was producing the Malayalam movie ‘chattambi kalyaaNi’ (1975/Bhavani Rajeswari Films) starring Prem Nazeer, Soman and Lakshmi. Singing the song ‘jayikanai janichavan nyaan’ for Prem Nazeer under the baton of veteran M.K. Arjunan, the newcomer stole the show in the album that had songs by stalwarts such as Yesudas, Jayachandran, Brahmanandan, P.Leela and Madhuri. M.K. Arjunan was so impressed by the young singer that he continued to give him some worthy songs in the subsequent years. Sample these- ‘manam pOtti veenu’ (paarijaatham/1976), ‘pidichal pulinkOmbil’ and ‘enikkippOl padanam’ (madhuraswapnam/1977), ‘kaLLakkaneru koNdu’ (priyadarshini/1978), ‘allaavin thirusabaiyil’ and ‘thankam kondoru’ (jayikanai janichavan/1978), ‘shantha raathri thiruraathri’ (thuramukham/1979) and ‘nellu vilanjE’ (nithya vasantham/1979).
Other composers were not far behind in employing the vocals of Jolly Abraham. G. Devarajan gave him songs such as ‘sahyachalathilE’ (peNpuli/1977), ‘dhoom thanakka’ (guruvayoor kEsavan/1977), ‘yEzhu swarangaL’ (samudram/1977), ‘villadichaan paattupaadi’ and ‘aalam udayOne’ (vellayani paramu/1979), ‘kanva kanyakE’ (amirtha chumbanam/1979) and ‘punyapithaavE’ (ee thalamura inganE/1985). Under the baton of Salil Chowdhury, Jolly sang a mellifluous duet with Vani- ‘maamaliyilE poomaram’ (aparaadhi/1977). Dakshinamoorthi Swami called the youngster to team up with veteran P. Leela to render ‘gOvindanaama sankeerthanam’ (thuruppu gulan/1977). Another composer who summoned Jolly repeatedly was A.T. Ummer- remember songs such as ‘kuttappa nyaan achanallada’ (snEhikkan samayamillaa/1978), ‘athiraponnoonjal’ (puthariyamkam/1978), ‘varika nee vasanthamE’ (pambaram/1979), ‘inathE pulari’ (agnivyooham/1979), ‘nimishangaL pOlum’ (manasavachcha karmana/1979), ‘maanishada’ (arangum aniyarayum/1980) and ‘yahaabi’ (maNithali/1984). Shyam (enikki nyaan swantham, aadipapam, kaumaraprayam (all 1979), ammayum makkaLum, nayattu (both 1980), veLichcham vidharunna peNkutti, john jaffer janardhanan (both 1982), himam, aadhipathyam (both 1983)) and K.J. Joy (pattaaLam janaki/1977, muthuchippakaL/1980, OrmakaLE vida tharoo/1980) reserved some delectable numbers for Jolly. Even as late as in 1993, Jolly got to sing along with M.G.Sreekumar the popular ‘anthikadapurathu’ composed by Johnson for the movie chamayam.
* * * *
However, there was one composer who took Jolly Abraham possessively under his fold and ensured that the youngster got to sing many of his delightful compositions, both in Malayalam and Tamil, and he was none other than our Mellisai Mannar M.S. Viswanathan. At the dawn of the 70s, MSV went all out to bring variety in the vocals. Even while retaining his loyal team of stalwarts TMS, Suseela and Eswari, the master set about encouraging new talent with enthusiasm. Thus the new sensation SPB became a pet protégé, the hitherto sidelined Janaki found some challenging compositions of the master coming her way, Yesudas, who could make much headway in tfm in the 60s truly arrived in the 70s, Jayachandran found exciting avenues opening up both in Malayalam and Tamil, and the gifted Vani Jairam soon found a permanent place in MSV’s ensemble. And in the late 70s and early 80s, singers such as B.S. Sasirekha, T.L. Maharajan, Rajkumar Bharathi, Seergazhi Sivachidambaram, Kalyani Menon and Bombay Jayasri secured enviable opportunities to sing under the master’s baton.
And foremost among MSV’s discoveries in this period was Jolly Abraham. Impressed by the newcomer, the master took it upon himself to ensure that Jolly got to sing songs of varied delight under his baton. Thus in the late 70s and early 80s Jolly basked in the privileged attention of MSV. At a time when tfm was in the trance of the early magic of IR, these delightful MSV-Jolly Abraham collaborations managed to find fleeting popularity , but soon disappeared from the airwaves. Let us revisit some defining instances of this collaboration and rediscover the joys of a bygone era. True, many of these songs are all but forgotten today, but I am sure they are bound to evoke a sigh of nostalgic bliss in all those in whose memories tfm of the 70s holds a special place. Admittedly, Jolly Abraham was not in the league of Yesudas or Jayachandran, but MSV did find a spark in Jolly that he harnessed to create songs of lilting appeal.
The first song that Jolly Abraham sang for MSV was for the Malayalam movie ‘panchami’ (1976/Supriya) starring Prem Nazeer, Jayan, Soman and Jayabharathi. The song ‘rajanigandhi vidaRnnu’ found instant appeal, and is rated among the best ever works of MSV in Malayalam. The following year saw MSV’s Malayalam compositions such as ‘kapalikare’ (rathimanmathan) and ‘ambalapuzha payasam’ (parivarthanam) striking gold in Jolly’s vocals. The annals of Mfm of 1978 surely have a special place for those joyous MSV-Jolly collaborations such as ‘visvamOhini’ (madhurikkunna raathri) and ‘karaNam thettiyal’ (raNdiloNNu).
And it was also in 1978 that MSV escorted Jolly Abraham to Tamil cinema. MSV got Jolly to render 4 songs in different movies in 1978, and the newcomer made an unforgettable debut singing the song ‘adiyEnai paaramma pidivaatham yEnamma’ for the movie vaNakkathukkuriya kaathaliyE.
vaNakkathukkuriya kaathaliyE was produced and directed by A.C. Thirulokachander. Aroordas wrote the dialogues for the movie that was based on a story by novelist Rajendrakumar. Sridevi played the dual role of twins separated at birth, with one of them gifted with clairvoyant powers. The cast included Vijayakumar, Rajinikant, Jaiganesh, Jayachitra, S.V. Subbiah and Ashokan.
The song sequence of the SOTD is this. Vijayakumar dons the garb of a mendicant who woos Sridevi on the steps of a hillside temple. He is optimistic of his success; after all a similarly disguised Lord Murugan had won over Valli, hence the odds seem tilted in his favor. Though she is disgusted initially at this wizened vagabond daring to make lecherous advances, the disgust turns to delight when she realizes his true identity. More merriment is in store when thereafter she mistakes a genuine mendicant for Vijayakumar, and dances around the bewildered beggar with romantic abandon, even as Vijayakumar watches the fun amusedly.
MSV crafts a caressing melody that seems perfect for a lover wooing his inamorata, with the thundhana finding imaginative employment all through the song. Jolly makes a great entry in tfm.
Listen to ‘adiyEnai paaramma’ from vaNakkathukkuriya kaathaliyE (1978/Cine Bharath)
Sung by Jolly Abraham & B.S. Sasirekha
Lyrics by Vaali
Music by M.S. Viswanathan
The song is 30 years old now (the movie was released in July 1978), yet the master has bestowed upon it an effortless enticement that enables it to defy with contempt the ravages of time…
* * * *
‘swing swing unadhu oonjal naan’ from the movie was featured as SOTD earlier here:
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/395.html
Tags: M.S.Viswanathan
http://www.dhool.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7582
