S. Janaki: What was the first song sung in Tamil? How did he sing to a 2-year-old child and a 60-year-old man?

In the blue sky, when I hear his voice singing in the air floating on the waves, my worries are forgotten and my heart becomes Panchai.

Whenever I hear the song ‘Megama Thegama’ sung in his voice, melancholy spreads in the body and the mind is heavy.

Singing ‘Singhara Velane Deva’, his voice competes with Nathaswara’s music.

It is a difficult task to select some of the best songs from the thousands of songs he has sung.

There is no other singer who has taken the music world by storm.. S. Janakithan, known as the Nightingale of South India, who has sung 48,000 songs in 17 languages ​​including Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi.

Is he the only reason why so many songs are successful? Aren’t there many composers and lyricists behind it? There are But it is S. Janaki who has poured honey into our ears with his voice by capturing the music and lyrics given by them.

That is why great music composers like Ilayaraja have sung his songs many times. Janaki has been used. Janaki himself has said this in many interviews.

Singers usually have the ability to imitate the actors on screen. In this, singer Balasubramaniam sings as if mirroring the actors. Similarly, Janaki also sings well to suit the actors appearing on screen. That’s why he can sing well whether it’s solo, duet, group or lullaby.

This enables him to sing like a 2-year-old child, a 20-year-old girl, and a 60-year-old man.

So many examples can be given of the songs he sang.

An example of a song sung by a two-year-old child is ‘Kanna where are you, wa wa ne inge’.

Like a young girl, she sang the song ‘Kathalin Deepam Uttu’.

At a young age, S. had sung the song ‘Boda Boda Pokkai’ in the film Uthripookkal released in 1979 in an old man’s voice. Janaki.

It is estimated that he has sung more than 48000 songs with his charming voice.

Apart from that, she has won the National Award for Best Female Singer four times so far.

• 1977 – Senthurap Poove Tamil song
• 1981 – Malayalam song Ettumanurambalathil
• 1984 – Telugu song Vennello Kothari Antam
• 1992 – Tamil song Inji Iduppazhaka

The Government of Tamil Nadu has honored him with the title of Kalaimamani. He has received 32 awards so far from the governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

He has also been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore. And in 2013, the central government announced the Padma Bhushan award to him. But, Janaki rejected it saying that the recognition given by her fans is enough.

If we know how the music career of S. Janaki, who has entered the hearts of millions of people through his music, we will understand what his work is.

Janaki’s full name is Chishtala Sriramamurthy Janaki. His father was Chishtala Sri Ramamurthy and mother Satyavati. Janaki was born in the year 1938 in Ballapatla, a village in Guntur district.

He has been capable of singing any kind of song since his childhood. He is naturally capable of ‘pretending’ anything.

Janaki spent her childhood in Sirisilla near Karimnagar due to her father’s work as a teacher. Since he sang movie songs very well then, many people asked him to sing. Especially his sisters are also good singers.

While their family was in Rajahmundry, Janaki studied music for a year at the insistence of Nathaswara Vidwan Kadavalli Baidiswamy.

He directly taught him Thyagaraja Kirtana.

After a year of music training, Janaki did not attend the class. Janaki, who says she has no interest in Carnatic music, excels in singing Hindi and Telugu songs.

Janaki has said that Lata Mangeshkar is her guru in Hindi music. She said that she was impressed by Lata’s singing style and will continue to sing her song Rasik Balma. Also, he likes to sing the songs of Kandasala, Leela, Sushila.

After his father’s death, Janaki moved to Hyderabad with his brothers.

His brother-in-law Karimella Narasimha Rao is an accomplished musician. His son Karimella Balakrishna Prasad is also a noted musician.

Janaki’s talent caught the attention of Dr. Chandrasekhar as she participated in musical concerts with her brother-in-law. He is a mimicry artist. He was the one who gave Janaki a letter of recommendation asking him to go to AVM.

Once there, Janaki showed his vocal prowess and was hired as a singer.

So Janaki first sang in 1957 for the Tamil film “Vidiyindu Urudu”. Directed by D Chalapati Rao, this song did not come out due to the non-release of the film.

After that, in the same year, Janaki got an opportunity to sing in the Telugu film “MLA” directed by Tilak. In this, he sang a song with Kandasala under the direction of Pendiala.

The song that made him famous after that was the song ‘Singhara Velane Deva’ in the film Singhara Velane Deva directed by SM Subbiah Naidu.

Karaikururichchi Arunachalam, who sang the nathswaram, challenged him to see if there was anyone who could compete with him. Due to this, Lata Mangeshkar has also been approached for this song.

But in the end it was Janaki who sang this song. It is said that when he sings in this song, his voice and the music of Nathaswaram are similar. After that he himself sang the same song “Neelila Padeda Deva” in Telugu as well.

Since then his journey in the world of music has gone to the top. S Janaki, who has sung thousands of songs in various languages ​​from 1957 to 2016, has announced his retirement from singing since 2016.

Singer Janaki married V. Ramaprasad, son of Dr. Chandrasekhar. He died in 1990. They have one son named Muralikrishna.

All his interviews are very natural and candid. He himself said, “Words just fall out of my mouth and I don’t know where they come from”.

In reality what he speaks is as honest and clean as he says.