Onam was about melody too

September 14, 2016 12:00 am | Updated November 01, 2016 06:23 pm IST - Kozhikode:

Many of the light songs continue to be popular decades later

Onam used to be incredibly melodious once. Some of the best songs ever in Malayalam were released to herald Onam.

We are talking of the 1980’s and the 90’s, when songs like Shraavana chandrikaa pushpam… , Valamipiri shankhil… , Ennum chirikkunna… and Maamaankam pala kuri… , were brought out by audio companies like Tharangini Records and became best-sellers.

5 lakh cassettes

“More than 5 lakh cassettes of Ulsava Ganangal were sold shortly after Tharangini released it in 1983,” recalls Sreekumaran Thampi, who wrote all the songs of the album.

Ennum chirikkunna … is from to that album. Three decades later, this masterly composition by Raveendran remains one of the greatest light songs of all time in Malayalam.

Composer Sreevalsan J. Menon used to sing it as a student. “It is an astonishing composition; it certainly is not easy to tune such a song in Raga Mohanam,” he says. “Now my son sings it in competitions.”

It was not much later that the Yesudas-owned Tharangini brought out two other winners , Ganolsavam and Vasantha Geethangal .

Solid team

Ganolsavam contained Shraavana chanrdikaa pushpam choodiya shyaamala gaathriyaam raathri…. Penned by ONV Kurup, tuned by Jerry Amaldev and rendered by Yesudas, it is the finest song in Malayalam on night and its irresistible beauty.

The highlight of Vasantha Geethangal , written by Bichu Thirumala and composed by Raveendran, was Valampiri shankhil thulasee theertham … And it had Yesudas at his best. “It is the golden standard of singing,” says Sreevalsan.

It is a perennial favourite with many music lovers of Sreevalsan’s generation. “I remember listening to the song over and over and getting mesmerised by it at my home in Koothuparamba,” says Chennai-based Mohiniyattam dancer Usha Suresh Balaje.

Many such songs used to come out with amazing regularity at that time. It had all begun with HMV’s Madhura Geethangal in 1970. Composer V. Dakshinamoorthy had joined hands with Thampi and Yesudas to create timeless melodies like Karineelakkannulla penne… and Thuyilunaroo…

Stereo recording

“That was also the first ever Malayalam album to be released in stereo recording,” recalls Thampi. “But Dakshinamoorthy and I were paid just Rs. 500 each for our work. So we refused to do all the songs fro the second edition of Madhura Geethangal .”

That album, too, contained some classics though. Pandu paadiya paattilorennam …, which Thampi wrote and Dakshinamoorthy tuned, and Maalelayamaniyum… , which was composed by M.S. Baburaj, are among the finest non-film songs in Malayalam.

A decade later, Yesudas founded Tharangini, paving way for the most melodious period for non-film music in Malayalam.

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