Each of us has an inner playlist that we keep humming or singing, those memorable songs that never seem to fall silent in our hearts and memory. Lyrics can be troublesome but even then many of us are often on song. The advent of the Internet came in handy for music buffs to get the right lyrics. But how about carrying a mobile songbook or a songbook in a mobile?
That is what Babu Edakochi, a music and cinema buff, has compiled and made available for all song lovers. He has launched a mobile version of the good old songbook ( pattupusthakam ). Titled ‘Pattupusthakam’, he has compiled over 1,200 Malayalam film/album songs in PDF format that anyone can download on their smartphone.
“You can call it a mobile songbook! Books with film songs have become a thing of the past. The new generation doesn’t even know about it. I think the older generation can easily relate to it. This is meant for singers and all those who love to break into a song,” says Babu.
The book didn’t happen one fine day. It was born out of his hobby, says Babu. He had this habit of writing down lyrics of songs in his diary when they were played on the radio. “Especially the light music numbers. For film songs, I relied on songbooks. I still have a few of those diaries and songbooks with me,” he proudly says.
But not all the lyrics in the books were correct. Also, when he took down the lyrics he missed out on certain words.
“So I made it a point to get the correct lyrics and that eventually got me interested in compiling the lyrics,” he says.
As technology progressed and smart phones came into the market, Babu worked on the possibilities of making it available on the device. Only that he had to wait till he bought a smart phone himself. An employee with General Administration Department, Government Secretariat, 44-year-old Babu worked on the project for over six months before he finalised it. Early this year a friend helped him to upload the songs in PDF format.
‘Pattupusthakam’ Photo: S. Gopakumar
“This is no comprehensive list. These are songs that I like, I don’t sing though. So you may miss out on your favourite songs! However when the word got around about my collection many people contacted me. I never thought that it would reach out to so many people. Some of them called up to express their happiness and gratitude. A few callers want to know whether I have plans to make it into a book. They even offered financial help for that! I told them that I have just compiled the songs and I don’t want take any other credit,” says an ecstatic Babu.
Babu adds that he has surfed a few websites to cross-check the lyrics and makes special mention of malayalasangeetham.info and malayalamsongslyrics.com.
In the ‘book’, first you have devotional songs from films and music albums. “That’s for an auspicious start,” Babu says. The first song is ‘Sree vinayakam’ from Bharatham and in the next 138 pages there are popular devotional numbers. Then comes light songs and film songs arranged in alphabetical order. Each song comes with details about the composer, lyricist and singer.
So any favourites in the list? “A lot of them. But the songs such as ‘Kanakamunthirikal’ from Punaradhivasam and ‘Thoomanjin’ from Samooham are close to my heart . ” He admits that the book is not without flaws. “I may have gone wrong with some credits. Also, I wish I could add an index so that it was easy for the readers to go to the page they wanted,” he says.
A self-taught sculptor as well, Babu has a Malayalam blog ‘Thonyaksharangal.blogspot.in’. A native of Edakochi in Ernakulam, he has a script ready with him and is on the look out for a director.
Contact Babu at babualappillil@gmail.com.
