A Raw Diamond

[vgovindan]

https://youtu.be/wNO7gSFpOmU

More than the voice, it is the expression - bhAva that fascinated me. Will the providence be benevolent enough to make it sparkle?

[Pratyaksham Bala]

'Singing Sensation' Jayalakshmi !
Check this site:
http://zeenews.india.com/entertainment/ ... 04504.html

[vgovindan]

pb,
Thanks for the link.

[varsha]

brilliant indeed. Thanks

[Nick H]

I just clicked on the link, and even without having my sound system up and running, she made me smile straight away

Then I listened.

[cienu]

Simply Awesome.
God bless this child

[thanjavooran]

Excellent voice! Wishing her good luck.
Thanx for sharing.
Thanjavooran
10 04 2015

[ramamantra]

Simply amazing ! What a beautiful, sonorous voice, and at this age ! Sings like a pro, all the rava brigas falling so beautifully well. She definitely has to be protected and nurtured.

[arasi]

Govindan and PB,
Yes, a gem of a voice and what bhAvam in it! Bless the girl
Great that she has been discovered and is brought to light. Hope she shines for a long time--by which I mean that the lime lights don't over-expose her (so that she does not end up not appreciating and getting joy out of her musical journey).

[Sundara Rajan]

Yes. She is good and by good fortune she got the exposure that will definitely help project her up. However, I am sure she is not alone. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of such talented youngsters all over India and the world at large, who do not get recognized for want of exposure:
" Full many a flower is born to blush unseen in the desert air " . This is true of many artists in many fields in remote parts of India. I had a few class mates in my high school days in the 1940's in a small village, who were excellent singers and hence would be asked to sing morning prayer songs
( preindependence, presecular days ! No "Thamizh thAi vaNakkam", those days !)) I have not heard anything about their advances in music field.

[VK RAMAN]

Yes Sundara Rajan. I hope this exposure brings help to her in expanding her skills. So many thousands of raw diamonds; given the cut, shape and polishing; it will be valuable.

[ganesh_mourthy]

Indeed I agree that there are hundreds or even thousands. These reality shows have proved that singing is not a talent that one in a million is gifted with , but it is a matter of exposure and readiness to learn , coupled with the right support and atmosphere.

But, I have witnessed two things which has made me to contemplate on what is singing and voice is.

I have really enjoyed watching and observing a recording of IR composition. The lady singer arrived half an hour later than scheduled, listened to the track a couple of time and was going through the note pattern and scale with IR. There was 3 takes, a couple of hours spent and that was all. The result was magic and very different from that of the track singers. This was at a time when the technology was even simpler. And it was even more magic when I watched the same song in the screen. Magic is more of a package in terms movie song, the visual , the voice selection, background. When you listen to a movie number that you have never seen you try to visualize some dramatic scene. But , you don't do that with carnatic. These are two different experiences.

I remember that P.Suseela saying that TMS and she had to take turns with the mic for a very difficult song and all of the orchestra had to restart when if they did a mistake, or even if one of the instrument did a mistake.

If Lata had sung a song and given a life and soul to a new song which has never been sung before the credit really goes to her. Nithyashree in one of her interview mentioned that light movie singing has its own difficulties where you have to be quick at the uptake and understand what the Music Dir wants and deliver it within a couple of hours.

However, while I listen the children singing , it means that they sing and practice with same modulation hundreds to thousands of times, before school and after school, mimic the singers voice , modulation, emotion , pitch, and again to be corrected and polished and openly admonished by judges , voice trainers and try to reproduce something the original singer might have achieved in a couple of hours freshly.

During family gatherings , I often listen to girls and boys singing popular songs quite well , thanks to these shows. By quite well , I mean , just as good as those in shows and I am never surprised. And when I asked them to notate it none could, but their pitch and notes were quite good.


These are some of the clips that took me by surprise at one point , but not at all anymore.

Anwesha was 12 when she sung this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DM0GGlv1Ds

Sujatha mohan was 12 too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEvcegtfn6k


Swarnalatha was 12 too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0_h42DiFM4

These last two are original scores supposed to have recorded in a few hours.

[vgovindan]

Indeed I agree that there are hundreds or even thousands. These reality shows have proved that singing is not a talent that one in a million is gifted with , but it is a matter of exposure and readiness to learn , coupled with the right support and atmosphere.".....

".......jIvan-muktuDaguTaku ....sangIta jnAnamu dhAta vrAyavalerA" (sItA vara - dEva gandhAri - tyAgarAja)

sangIta jnAna is of two types - that remains within the confines of sampradAya or nurture sampradAya and that which creates new boundaries or even sampradAya. The statement of SrI tyAgarAja comes in the second category. For example, SrI rAma is called 'maryAda purushOttama' - one who set (new) limits (maryAda) to human conduct. Such music is sung for the sake of music and not for sale (karmaNyEvAdhikArastE type).

There are some cakOra pakshis in this World who drink only the rain water and rather die of thirst in its absence. Such people boldly declare 'paluku bOTini sabhalOna patita mAnavulakosagu" or "hIna mAnavASrayam tyAjAmi'.

The terminology 'vAggEyakkAra' is routinely applied to whoever composes music. But true vAggEyakkAras do not 'compose' music. They breathe music - and not for money but for music - nAdOpAsana. The long journey of today's music has such milestones.

Yesterday there was a story about an Andhra farmer-weaver who wove a sari from rice stalk - it took him 30 months and he would not sell it. Such is sangIta jnAnamu.

PS : I am not suggesting that the child in question is such a person - may be or may not be or probably she has been snatched by money spinners and not by a true guru who lives for music. Everything is up for sale now.

[ganesh_mourthy]

PS : I am not suggesting that the child in question is such a person - may be or may not be or probably she has been snatched by money spinners and not by a true guru who lives for music. Everything is up for sale now.

Everything is up for sale now is the right word.

When I was talking about singing here , I am mentioning of the singing or copying a song millisecond to millisecond rehearsed several hundred times , and mimicking even the original voice .

The popular light music is such that when a original score is sung by another artiste it is not that well accepted.
The point is to mimic everything from modulations , emotions, to voice. It is a definitely a high talent of mimic.
There is no scope for originality , creativity, or any freedom which the original singer might have had. It is a conscious and careful reproduction of sound which is so well appreciated by the general mass. These popular crooning of original scores where the participants sob and whine and even worse when they broadcast the parents crying , and that is annoying. After a while you don't see these so called supertalents nowhere but you watch another set of melodrama and emotions displayed. It is a selling strategy.

[ganesh_mourthy]

Govindan Sir,

It will be helpful if you could translate those sanskrit versus .

[vgovindan]

Ganesh-mourthy,
From your original post (17 Apr), I took it that you refer to the whole genre of music. But now I understand that you were only referring to these reality shows. I am in agreement with you.

'paluki bOTini sabhalona' - tyAgarAja kRti 'durmArga cara' - ranjani -
http://thyagaraja-vaibhavam.blogspot.in ... -raga.html

'hIna mAnAvASrayam tyAjAmi' - MD kRti 'hiraNmayIm lakshmIm' - lalita -
http://guruguha.org/wiki/hiranmayim.html

[vasanthakokilam]

sangIta jnAna is of two types - that remains within the confines of sampradAya or nurture sampradAya and that which creates new boundaries or even sampradAya. The statement of SrI tyAgarAja comes in the second category. For example, SrI rAma is called 'maryAda purushOttama' - one who set (new) limits (maryAda) to human conduct.

Interesting. That is really quite a refreshing take on one aspect of sangIta JnAna. Leaving the money aspect aside for a second, all these so called purists and sampradaya protectors really do not know what they are talking about. Whom they invoke to take their stance actually says the opposite.