Friday, February 27, 2009

E Shwasalo

"M.S.Shankar's Supremes" was a popular light music troupe in Chennai in the 70's and 80's, started by their lead drummer Shankar, and my uncle Devanathan who was the lead singer and accordion player. In 2007 the troupe revived its music and did a couple of shows- after twenty five years or so. One of them was in September 2007 at the Madras Music Academy, for an event put together by the Indian Telugu Association to felicitate veteran Telugu actor Chandra Mohan. I performed with them at the event, and one of the songs given to me was E Shwasalo. I heard the song and decided it was impossible to do it- given Chitra's pitch and the complexity of the swaras at the end. I somehow managed to pull it off there and got some good feedback too. (I imagine though, that people were probably just being nice to me :P)

I find a lot of similarities between this song and ThaththiththOm from Azhagan (what I recorded some three years ago). To start off, its the same team - Keeravani (aka Maragathamani aka M.M.Kreem) and Chitra. Also, both are classical/ raga based and both have very complex swaras at the end and both conclude with slow, soft lines. I have no words for Chitra's singing and this is yet another song that reinforces the belief in me that she is not human! I don't understand how a human voice can have this much breath control and flexibility and ease at such high notes. Like Murali was saying, music directors seem to have used Asha's, Lata's and Chitra's voices like a violin!

I stumbled upon a very good karaoke track for the song recently. Although am not exactly a huge fan of this song, I decided to try recording it just for kicks. So here it is. Obvious disclaimers apply :P
Also, this is my first song in Telugu, a language I don't know, so I apologize for any goof-ups in diction.

Song: E Shwasalo
Movie: Nenunnanu
Music: Keeravani
Lyrics: Sirivennela
Singer: Chitra



25 comments:

Murali Venkatraman said...

Proud of you Sindhu on this stellar effort.

I think many singers are pushing their limits (Meera just did KaNNOdu kaaNbadhellaam) and this is yours. Your voice rocks in the high notes in this song. And what a melody u have brought in with you sweet voice ! Some of the phrases made my eyes brim.

Goes into my personal collection of blogger's best renditions in my mp3 player.

Ramya said...

Sindhu, Loved the softness in your voice in such a song. Your mohanam alaap was so beautiful. How do u manage so much of melody in swaras? Amazing. Loved it.

Ramya

.:: ROSH ::. said...

wow what an amazing rendition sindhu, way to go!

Tara said...

Beautiful rendition Sindhu. Loved ur voice and the way u have handled the swarams.. excellent!!

-Tara

Sindhuja Bhakthavatsalam said...

Thanks so much, Murali, Ramya, Rosh and Tara.
Ramya: Thaththithom was not a karaoke :) It was recorded in the most primitive way, over the original song (you can even hear Chitra's voice if you listen keenly). So to answer your question- sorry, I don't have the karaoke track.

Srividya Kasturi said...

Very good rendition, Sindhu..U could have reduced the scale of the track in order to reach the high notes with much more ease..Chitra's semi-classical songs are very tough to reproduce, this seems to be one of them! Cant imagine, how she manages expressive singing even in a very high pitch:)
U put in a great effort to recreate the magic! Kudos to u for trying out such a difficult song:)

Narayanan Raju said...

That was an amazing effort. The telugu diction had very little flaws as far as I know.

meena said...

Hey sindhu,

Awesome rendition.I just loved it :).Pls keep giving more like this.

Subha said...

Sindhu

I am stunned. Selection is beautiful. I also heard ur Thathithom. You are an excellent singer. Keep them coming more.

Subha

Ramyaa Narayanan said...

sindhuja,beautifully sung ... Really loved it. The swarams came out amazing...

Vidyu said...

Very good singing Sindhu! But for some breath issues, sounded beautiful.

Keep singing! :-)

Dhiraj said...

Very well sung Sindhuja, loved every bit of it. Agreed its a very difficult song to sing, but you were pretty good. It doesn't show that you are singing a Telugu song for the first time. Way to go...

Bassix said...

Nicely sung, Sindhuja. Your telugu diction was flawless and like someone already mentioned, it didn't sound like your first Telugu song. I liked the way you rendered the higher octave notes with such ease and seamless effort.

Good job!
- Krishna

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable. You have adapted your voice wonderfully. Excellent!!

Mad Max said...

fantabulous...idukku mele enna sollarthu nu theriyalai :-)...awesome performanceee..

Rajesh Raman said...

Mind blogging rendition. Thanks for this wonderful treat! Pls do record more semiclassical songs...

Meera Manohar said...

I was stumped when I heard this. Hats off to you for choosing this song in the first place, and rendering it with all confidence you got :) Amazing job Sindhuja..

Sindhuja Bhakthavatsalam said...

Thank you so much for the kind words, Srividya, Narayanan, Meena, Subha, Ramya, Vidyu, Dhiraj, Krishna, Karthik, Anup, Rajesh and Meera.
Srividya- u're right about the pitch :) I usually reduce it for Chitra's songs, but I was just tempted to try, for once, to sing in Chitra's range...

Unknown said...

Hello
listened to ur song..its wonderful...I too like singing..so i song many times with the karaoke versions of the songs..this song-'e shwasalo' is my favourite but i am not getting its karaoke..if u could please send me the karaoke version of the song..it will be greatful of you..please..please..do not ignore..thank u in advance...

Sindhuja Bhakthavatsalam said...

Ambili: thanks! Pass on your email and I'll be happy to share the karaoke track with you.

Unknown said...

Thank u..
my mail id is ambili.koodathil@gmail.com

RAVOORU NAGESWARARAO said...

sindhuja Bhaktavatsalam Avarghal,
wonderful effort.
Your telugu diction is quite good. I could not find any Tamil vasanai.. in the song. It is unbelievable that you don't know telugu. You must have rendered lots of Thyagaraja krithis.
excellent voice/ very good command on swaras.
Iam sooooooooooooo delighted.
My heartoest congrats.
I shall look for your songs on the net.
Thanks for this lovely feeling.
Blessings,
Ravooru Nageswara Rao, Thane, Maharashtra

G3 said...

Hey, stumbled on this blog googling for the karaoke of e shwasalo. You've got an amazing voice, wish you good luck!

Is it possible for you to share this karaoke track with me for my sis if I could request so, ta!

Unknown said...

Hi Sinduja,

It was awesome listening to you rendering the song. My daughter sang this song without any track in a competition and won an award. Now they are asking her to sing it with track in an upcoming program. I would appreciate if you can share the karaoke track with me.

My email is apkotamreddy@gmail.com.

Unknown said...

Hi Sindhuja! Loved your version-you sound amazing! Could you share your karaoke track with me please? I've been looking for it for a while now!

My email is sneha7.email@gmail.com

Thanks!