When SPB passed away , i wrote a lot of posts from the time when he was hospitalized for Covid , now S Janaki amma, aged 88 years also passed away in July 11th,2026 . Personally i gave 3 titles to three of them , God Of Melody is SPB, Goddess of Musical Expressions is S Janaki . I also have given the title God of Steady Modulation to KJ Yesudas . Ofcourse every one calls Illayaraja as God Of Music . These 4 have been the greatest pillars for me to appreciate film music and what contributions they have done especially for many who have been born during 1960 to 2010 . There are series of posts that i sent in whatsapp not posted in rasikas Board as i was not sure if i could carry those here as we are all about carnatic.
Two Posts are exclusive to appreciate the capabilities of S janaki amma and i will just post those. This is for many to know about S Janaki
I am taking one of them as a tribute to S Janaki amma to illustrate the carnatic tune and the other is to illustrate the western tune of S Janaki amma sings the two most popular genres -carnatic and westerdn .
What expressions and what a power in her voice. The count is 48000 songs in 17 languages . Om Shanthi Goddess of Musical Expressions - S janaki amma.
Rajesh , dated July 17th,2026
S Janaki - Smallest Tribute in rasikas.org to this greatest female singer
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rajeshnat
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S Janaki - Smallest Tribute in rasikas.org to this greatest female singer
Last edited by rajeshnat on 19 Jul 2026, 18:50, edited 2 times in total.
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rajeshnat
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Re: S Janaki - Smallest Tribute in rasikas.org to this greatest female singer
S Janaki amma with Carnatic Tune:
Ending *n*ew *d*iscovery *t*ruly *v*enturous - ndtv series, edition 12 of 12 , 2023
——————————————————
4 mins read and 4 mins listen. Last of the ndtv series
There is a social conditioning angle , then there is a musical angle and finally recollection angle to appreciate extraordinary female singers
Social Conditioning Angle - part 1 of 3
—————————————
1. Usually movies have a subliminal bias to showcase male heroes and with that male singers are shown more limelight
2. Usually movies have a very popular male solo and also few duets and if they turn out as great hits the female solo is pushed out and marketed less despite merit . Unless there is a great lady dancing song never finds its way.
3. Female voices do not reach that level of audience ears and also some times gets fragmented in movies and also not reaching casettes. Another sub liminal bias
4. In general for some reason may be that is Lord brahmas fault there is usually more voice fidelity and harmonic richness for male singers, not trying to bring in sexism here, there is an element of truth.
5. The same brahma has also created the Womens voices where he easily encompasses more pitch variation than men’s. That indeed adds expression to their voices but it took years for me and re conditioning for me to realize (how about you)
Musical Angle - part 2 of 3
——————————————
6. There are 72 main ragas in carnatic called melakarthas . This year is 23 and the ragam that corresponds to no 23 is gowrimanohari. I wrote the last post in Dec 21 with Keeravani , in Dec 22 with kharaharapriya hence Dec 23 I am ending with Gowrimanohari
7. Goddess Of Musical expressions is the most respected and venerated by God of Music , far more than God Of Melody and God of Steady Modulation. Raaja Sir used to say what ever is my intent of composition that I want to bring , only Janaki Amma will give that output .
8. There are anecdotes where late God Of Melody used to say let me first hear the track of Goddess of Musical expression , get some cues from there and then let me sing my male track.
9. Janaki amma creates the pitch with such steady force through out the song and she evenly distributes without sag , it hardly matters if the phrase is small or big she gets that musical expression , language skills are the same.
10. She never learnt carnatic music but she learnt from a nadaswara Vidwan near Guntur and that nadaswari baani is there in every song especially in humming which is how this song begins.
11. God of Music brings magic - you cannot say if this composition is a love failure(gowri) or joyful love pang (Manohari), he keeps you at the crossroad. String sections dominate with sitar also thrown in with varying rhythmic gait, all along
Finally Recollection Angle - part 3 of 3
—————————————————————
12. As you hear this 1980 song especially in the first interlude with humming and violin and the change of speed in second stanza you will think of a song of 1987 which is more famous and it is close to another ragam by name patadeep which I am not having scanty knowledge to distinguish with gowrimanohari . So from 1987 the song known to you as - Will the flute master come, you are actually going back to unknown shadow or nizhalgal of 1980 with this song . Also some where this thamizh song of 1980 , got out as 1984 remake Telugu song where Janaki Amma got her national award for Telugu rendition
Hooray I completed 12 part ndtv series . This is despite 6 months of absence of writing due to my college reunion.Happy new gowrimanohari year 2023 wishing 358 days late, good luck for appreciating more female singers for their merit -no pseudo feminism please.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlKUTtMN-Es
Dhoorathi Naan Kanda | Panju Arunachalam | Goddess of Musical Expressions | God Of Music | Nizhalgal | 1980
Rajesh , Dated Dec 23,2023 , *n*ew *d*iscovery *t*ruly *v*enturous - ndtv series, edition 12 of 12 , 2023 - The End
Ending *n*ew *d*iscovery *t*ruly *v*enturous - ndtv series, edition 12 of 12 , 2023
——————————————————
4 mins read and 4 mins listen. Last of the ndtv series
There is a social conditioning angle , then there is a musical angle and finally recollection angle to appreciate extraordinary female singers
Social Conditioning Angle - part 1 of 3
—————————————
1. Usually movies have a subliminal bias to showcase male heroes and with that male singers are shown more limelight
2. Usually movies have a very popular male solo and also few duets and if they turn out as great hits the female solo is pushed out and marketed less despite merit . Unless there is a great lady dancing song never finds its way.
3. Female voices do not reach that level of audience ears and also some times gets fragmented in movies and also not reaching casettes. Another sub liminal bias
4. In general for some reason may be that is Lord brahmas fault there is usually more voice fidelity and harmonic richness for male singers, not trying to bring in sexism here, there is an element of truth.
5. The same brahma has also created the Womens voices where he easily encompasses more pitch variation than men’s. That indeed adds expression to their voices but it took years for me and re conditioning for me to realize (how about you)
Musical Angle - part 2 of 3
——————————————
6. There are 72 main ragas in carnatic called melakarthas . This year is 23 and the ragam that corresponds to no 23 is gowrimanohari. I wrote the last post in Dec 21 with Keeravani , in Dec 22 with kharaharapriya hence Dec 23 I am ending with Gowrimanohari
7. Goddess Of Musical expressions is the most respected and venerated by God of Music , far more than God Of Melody and God of Steady Modulation. Raaja Sir used to say what ever is my intent of composition that I want to bring , only Janaki Amma will give that output .
8. There are anecdotes where late God Of Melody used to say let me first hear the track of Goddess of Musical expression , get some cues from there and then let me sing my male track.
9. Janaki amma creates the pitch with such steady force through out the song and she evenly distributes without sag , it hardly matters if the phrase is small or big she gets that musical expression , language skills are the same.
10. She never learnt carnatic music but she learnt from a nadaswara Vidwan near Guntur and that nadaswari baani is there in every song especially in humming which is how this song begins.
11. God of Music brings magic - you cannot say if this composition is a love failure(gowri) or joyful love pang (Manohari), he keeps you at the crossroad. String sections dominate with sitar also thrown in with varying rhythmic gait, all along
Finally Recollection Angle - part 3 of 3
—————————————————————
12. As you hear this 1980 song especially in the first interlude with humming and violin and the change of speed in second stanza you will think of a song of 1987 which is more famous and it is close to another ragam by name patadeep which I am not having scanty knowledge to distinguish with gowrimanohari . So from 1987 the song known to you as - Will the flute master come, you are actually going back to unknown shadow or nizhalgal of 1980 with this song . Also some where this thamizh song of 1980 , got out as 1984 remake Telugu song where Janaki Amma got her national award for Telugu rendition
Hooray I completed 12 part ndtv series . This is despite 6 months of absence of writing due to my college reunion.Happy new gowrimanohari year 2023 wishing 358 days late, good luck for appreciating more female singers for their merit -no pseudo feminism please.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlKUTtMN-Es
Dhoorathi Naan Kanda | Panju Arunachalam | Goddess of Musical Expressions | God Of Music | Nizhalgal | 1980
Rajesh , Dated Dec 23,2023 , *n*ew *d*iscovery *t*ruly *v*enturous - ndtv series, edition 12 of 12 , 2023 - The End
Last edited by rajeshnat on 19 Jul 2026, 19:05, edited 5 times in total.
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rajeshnat
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- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: S Janaki - Smallest Tribute in rasikas.org to this greatest female singer
S Janaki amma with Western Tune:
Chinna Poo - Voice emote with Orchestration with atleast 150 percent more magic
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just 3 mins read !!
When you hear God Of Music (Illayaraja) especially the interludes and orchestration , one wonders what kind of sound canvas he lays out . That too when you compare the output with any of the music directors of the past and future music directors of illayaraja, they hardly have the concept of rich and distinct interludes. God of Music overlays layers and layers of instruments , that creates a huge experience to every listener.
How about the main vocal voice who gets not just the usual 2 stanzas but 3 stanza songs(that is 150 percent) . They say songs did reduce to 2 stanzas to suit broadcast of AIR as early as 1940s , but hey this song is an exception with 3 stanzas. When the voice is sung by Goddess Of Musical expressions (S janaki), that really becomes a really heartfelt Happy Womens(S janaki) day.
Jack up the volume sufficiently and hear the song with preferably a great speaker
#1# The prelude is one of a kind . The song is targeted towards Japan and that is all that God of Music was told . But you can hear a certain eastern ethnic bits significantly ,the composer imagines japan and gives that in an indian song. The song takes a early expressive character distinctly with thick strokes the string section is heavy with a brilliant guitar,flute and piano touches hear and there . What a lovely opening of orchestration of violin , viola and cello right there
#2# S janaki amma comes with her incredible expressions . She gets every curve of the poetic thamizh language as though it is a simple Google search result for her. Hear how she emotes chinna poo and then appAdi feel when she sings ammamA ammamA and then a sudden crest feel ilavEnil kaalam and then a gentle troughto stress less anthapuram idhuvO. Every word she gets the edugai mOnai which one can speak but when you sing it is difficult to get that musical expressions . S Janaki is one in a 1000 million women singer.
#3# The interludes 1 is a string section coup keeping up the creative tension of the song . The interlude 3 is also string section but there is a certain segment of band beats taking over to give a contrast to circle it around far east japan . The percussion is majorly drums with gentleness, a little emphasis may be with alternate triple bongos or conga beats . So many special effect instruments that layers canvas and canvas of sounds which no musical composer will dare even try. God Of Music understands at exact place when extra percussion has to come in and also an exact place when it has to be taken it out. No overload ever.
#4# How does the composer know to incorporate humming and when to take it out is a mystery and that is the creativity that God of Music brings in so distinctly without losing the overall sound plot. In the course of a song in stanza, there is a brilliant humming with juat aa aa aa aa to give a kind of counter point to the main voice of S Janaki.
#5# Have you ever heard a sound lu lu lu lu in a song . Never . God of Music invents that and incorporates that for a indian song just in second stanza interlude . Hear the silence of instruments to accentuate to a bunch of chorus who sing lu lu lu and then a flurry of string section to get into sound layering with assertion. Second stanza interlude is for the Gods in heaven.
#6# S Janaki and Illayaraja indeed pair well, the credit of words for this song that was polished at each step indeed brings vaali as the most hidden genius of the whole God of Music 1000 plus plots.
Vaali appreciates Japan and Japanese
இன்பம் கொண்டாடும் மக்கள் இங்கே
மண்ணில் உண்டான ஸ்வர்கம் இங்கே
நூறு நாடுகள் வாழும் மாந்தர்கள்
கூடும் நாளிலே நேசம் பாசம் யாவும் விளைந்திடுமோ
With S Janaki singing with emote and Illayaraja sir holding the orchestration with a wide canvas of sound, Happy
celebration of a Happy Woman (S Janaki) day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpy53_h1u4
Chinna Poo Chinna Poo | Vaali | Goddess Of Musical Expressions | God Of Music | Japanil kalyanaraman | 1985
- Rajesh N, Edition 6 of xy , dated Mar 16th,2021
Chinna Poo - Voice emote with Orchestration with atleast 150 percent more magic
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just 3 mins read !!
When you hear God Of Music (Illayaraja) especially the interludes and orchestration , one wonders what kind of sound canvas he lays out . That too when you compare the output with any of the music directors of the past and future music directors of illayaraja, they hardly have the concept of rich and distinct interludes. God of Music overlays layers and layers of instruments , that creates a huge experience to every listener.
How about the main vocal voice who gets not just the usual 2 stanzas but 3 stanza songs(that is 150 percent) . They say songs did reduce to 2 stanzas to suit broadcast of AIR as early as 1940s , but hey this song is an exception with 3 stanzas. When the voice is sung by Goddess Of Musical expressions (S janaki), that really becomes a really heartfelt Happy Womens(S janaki) day.
Jack up the volume sufficiently and hear the song with preferably a great speaker
#1# The prelude is one of a kind . The song is targeted towards Japan and that is all that God of Music was told . But you can hear a certain eastern ethnic bits significantly ,the composer imagines japan and gives that in an indian song. The song takes a early expressive character distinctly with thick strokes the string section is heavy with a brilliant guitar,flute and piano touches hear and there . What a lovely opening of orchestration of violin , viola and cello right there
#2# S janaki amma comes with her incredible expressions . She gets every curve of the poetic thamizh language as though it is a simple Google search result for her. Hear how she emotes chinna poo and then appAdi feel when she sings ammamA ammamA and then a sudden crest feel ilavEnil kaalam and then a gentle troughto stress less anthapuram idhuvO. Every word she gets the edugai mOnai which one can speak but when you sing it is difficult to get that musical expressions . S Janaki is one in a 1000 million women singer.
#3# The interludes 1 is a string section coup keeping up the creative tension of the song . The interlude 3 is also string section but there is a certain segment of band beats taking over to give a contrast to circle it around far east japan . The percussion is majorly drums with gentleness, a little emphasis may be with alternate triple bongos or conga beats . So many special effect instruments that layers canvas and canvas of sounds which no musical composer will dare even try. God Of Music understands at exact place when extra percussion has to come in and also an exact place when it has to be taken it out. No overload ever.
#4# How does the composer know to incorporate humming and when to take it out is a mystery and that is the creativity that God of Music brings in so distinctly without losing the overall sound plot. In the course of a song in stanza, there is a brilliant humming with juat aa aa aa aa to give a kind of counter point to the main voice of S Janaki.
#5# Have you ever heard a sound lu lu lu lu in a song . Never . God of Music invents that and incorporates that for a indian song just in second stanza interlude . Hear the silence of instruments to accentuate to a bunch of chorus who sing lu lu lu and then a flurry of string section to get into sound layering with assertion. Second stanza interlude is for the Gods in heaven.
#6# S Janaki and Illayaraja indeed pair well, the credit of words for this song that was polished at each step indeed brings vaali as the most hidden genius of the whole God of Music 1000 plus plots.
Vaali appreciates Japan and Japanese
இன்பம் கொண்டாடும் மக்கள் இங்கே
மண்ணில் உண்டான ஸ்வர்கம் இங்கே
நூறு நாடுகள் வாழும் மாந்தர்கள்
கூடும் நாளிலே நேசம் பாசம் யாவும் விளைந்திடுமோ
With S Janaki singing with emote and Illayaraja sir holding the orchestration with a wide canvas of sound, Happy
celebration of a Happy Woman (S Janaki) day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpy53_h1u4
Chinna Poo Chinna Poo | Vaali | Goddess Of Musical Expressions | God Of Music | Japanil kalyanaraman | 1985
- Rajesh N, Edition 6 of xy , dated Mar 16th,2021
Last edited by rajeshnat on 19 Jul 2026, 19:05, edited 1 time in total.
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rajeshnat
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- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: S Janaki - Smallest Tribute in rasikas.org to this greatest female singer
========For Whatsapp or FaceBook Forward ===================
S Janaki - Smallest Tribute in rasikas.org to this greatest female singer
---------------------------------------------------------
The greatest female film singer S Janaki, aged 88 years - S Janaki the Goddess Of Musical expressions sang 48000 songs in 17 languages. Do forward, just 2 illustrations with carnatic and western tunes .
www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=386018#p386018
S Janaki - Smallest Tribute in rasikas.org to this greatest female singer
---------------------------------------------------------
The greatest female film singer S Janaki, aged 88 years - S Janaki the Goddess Of Musical expressions sang 48000 songs in 17 languages. Do forward, just 2 illustrations with carnatic and western tunes .
www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=386018#p386018
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ganesh_mourthy
- Posts: 1381
- Joined: 02 Sep 2007, 23:08
Re: S Janaki - Smallest Tribute in rasikas.org to this greatest female singer
I have not known a musician with this spread of Genres in Indian music.
When Lata was exceptionally melodic the more expressive singer term went to Asha. However, there is no singer with such control over voice and expressions. It is vocal dynamics. Cinema singing is more subtle , softer , and nuanced in voice production. It is not about grammar but about expressions. This is where she was able to sing a singaravelane and sindhoorapoove and inji iduppalagaa with equal ease.
When Lata was exceptionally melodic the more expressive singer term went to Asha. However, there is no singer with such control over voice and expressions. It is vocal dynamics. Cinema singing is more subtle , softer , and nuanced in voice production. It is not about grammar but about expressions. This is where she was able to sing a singaravelane and sindhoorapoove and inji iduppalagaa with equal ease.