மெல்லிசை / ലളിതഗാനം / Light music (non-classical, non-film, private albums)

During late 70's & 80's, Sunday noon time was Trichy AIR for me.

That was because from 1 PM to 2 PM they used to broadcast brand-new TFM and it was like special feast to me! On days when we lost power or something like that during that particular time (or appA was home and radio wasn't accessible / or some guest came home and we cannot switch on radio / or we were not home, in a place with no access to radio), I used to get restless - downhearted.

It was great songs mostly (e.g. idhu oru pon mAlaippozhudhu) with absolutely no advertisement!

Well, progressively that joy got killed - First Trichy AIR reduced it to 1-1.30 (a 50% cut) and then even those 30 minutes got eaten away by ads (some days they had just 3 songs!).

Well, when the going was good, I put all efforts not to miss even a minute of this program!

That means, most of the days, I was listening to Trichy AIR well ahead of 1 PM. Often, right from the "AkAsh vANi" news that was from 12:40 to 12:50. (I still don't know why they used to tell "AkAsh vANi" in Delhi Thamizh news while the same Delhi English News told "All India Radio" and Madras mAnilachcheydhigaL also told "All India Radio" - well, that's a different topic).

Coming to the reason for this thread - from the time that AkAshvANi news ended and new TFM started, there was this 10 minute gap!

That got filled with various things - vAdhdhiya isai (instrumental music), sErndhisai (vocal harmony, M B Srinivasan programs such as 'veLLippani malaiyin meedhulAvuvOm' having chorus singing arrangements as "Ayudham-kAgidham-seyvOm-seyvOm" ) and at times, "mellisai"!

There were also days when "mellisai" got played from 12:30 to 12:40 prior to AkAshvANi news and I had radio on.

Those weren't great pieces and I don't even remember any of them now.

"பின்ன என்னத்துக்குடா இப்படி ஒரு இழை?" - I hear you

Let me explain in the next postu

While there was hardly any market beyond AIR for such albums in TN, it was a different story in Kerala.

For the last few days, I have one of those albums repeating on car and can't help but share some memories related to them in the forum
(That is the reason for this new thread).

I have posted on and off at the mayyam about this 'ente vAnambAdi' (എന്റെ വാനമ്പാടി) Tharangini cassette featuring ലളിതഗാനങ്ങൾ sung by KJY-KSC. Those songs have strong wiring in my brains and are quite addictive each time I start listening to them again. They bring back a lot of 1986-1987 memories, when I originally got addicted to the cassette, after getting introduced to them in Palakkad town buses. I then kept buying many of them, gifting to friends and relatives in TN / Bangalore those days

Apart from the lovely KJY-KSC in their prime, the songs also had some catchy tunes and simple but enjoyable orch. Nothing complex like what rAsA was releasing those days but some alternate music that wasn't irritating like those given by other TFM MD's those days (with the exception of T Rajendar). This album can be compared with ARR's first-ever private album with Malaysia Vasudevan in mid-80's (which I had, of course) but with delightful KJY-KSC voices and some lovely verses that depicted the simple countryside of Kerala those days.

I would like to talk about one song each week from that album, starting with this "poonkuruvi nee"...(പൂങ്കുരുവീ  നീ)...

Let me post the lines of 'poongurvi nee' along with the links where one can listen to the KSC version (awesome) and the KJY version (superb) first :

The lines in Malayalam unicode:

പൂങ്കുരുവീ നീ പുല്ലാങ്കുഴലൂതി
പുന്നെല്ലിന് വയല് കൊയ്യണ നേരം
ഒന്നേ നീ വരുമോ നീ വരുമോ

ഓലക്കുടിലുകളില് ഇന്നോണം വന്നല്ലോ
കന്നിപ്പെണ്ണിന്റെ കയ്യില് മിന്നണ
കൊയ്ത്തരിവാളല്ലോ  
കൊയ്ത്തിനു വന്നല്ലോ

ഇന്നെന്റെ മാടത്തിലെ - ചെറു  
മാടത്ത ചൊല്ലിയല്ലോ
പൊന്നിന് പൂത്താലി തീര്‍ത്തു കൊണ്ടിന്നെത്തും  
നിന്റെ മണിമാരന്

അത്തപ്പൂ വിരിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ – ഞങ്ങള്‍
ആലാത്തിട്ടാടുമ്പോള്‍
കൈകൊട്ടിക്കളിപ്പാട്ടും കൊണ്ടെന്റെ
കൂടെ നീ വരുമോ

And the English transliteration (for those obstinate folks who don't want to learn to read MY from this picturesque thread ), for convenience, I've also given meaning of a few words that are not quickly recognized by Thamizh people:

pookguruvi nee pullAnguzhaloodhi
punnellin vayal koyyanna nEram
onnE nee varumO? nee varumO?
(punnell = new paddy, koyyal = reaping)

OlakkudilukaLil innONam vannallO!
kannippeNNinde kayyil minnaNa
koyththarivALallO? koyththinu vannallO!
(innu - today, koyththarivAL - sickle for harvest, koyththu - harvest)

innende mAdaththile cheru
mAdaththa cholliyallO
ponnin pooththAli theerththu koNdinneththum
ninde maNimARan
(mAdaththa = good omen, pooththAli - thAli, eththum = will reach)

aththappoo virikkumpOL njangngaL
AlAththeettAdum pOL
kaikottik kaLippAttum koNdende
koode nee varumO?
(aththappoo - the pookkOlam during ONam, resembling the star "aththam")

Let us listen to this in the two great voices from Kerala (the audio quality is not that great in any of the versions on the net - none close to the Tharangini cassette I used to get :oops:alas, I bought so many of them but none with me anymore, giving youtube links for ease of connection) :

KSC & Dasettan versions are available on this tharangini official:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDLqXvPTtXY



I got to mention the composer / lyricist of this album, Alleppey Ranganath. (It was still Alleppey in 1986, later they officially changed the name to Alappuzha )

He must have had all those beautiful kAyal areas embedded in his personality to carve out such beautiful images in the songs! All that one needs to visit Kerala in September ONam season in all beauty is to simply listen to this album! Such is the lovely effect the lines, music and the magical voices have on one!

Personally, I got hooked to this in 1986 itself, my first year at Palakkad. These songs were fresh and regular in buses (that town had a "TN influence" because of close proximity to Coimbatore and private buses had to have music to attract crowd)! That way, the songs reflect my initial thrills in that beautiful place - the greenary, the rains, the trees, the flowers, the beautiful people, the new culture / food / sounds / music - everything!

I'm refraining from too much geography stuff (had a lot in that IR-SPB thread), but can't help but recall that Palakkad is not all that far off from TN. Look at the following picture to apprecite what I've posted often - it's one of the three towns that form an equilateral triangle :


I'll be posting most songs from this album in this thread to savour some nice memories...