M.G SREEKUMAR THE SINGER

Although i popped in at the ISS forum and stopped over briefly at aalthara, i did not post anything except greetings to coffeehouse friends!i read some of the posts on the "Who's Dr Nair" thread. i wanted to add something on the M.G topic. How good is he or how bad is he. As an afterthought, it struck me that such a discussion or such an exchange, as Hari puts it so succintly in his response to NN, would be futile in changing anyone's personal opinion on a renowned personality.

still, i feel i must confess, as i have done more than once on ISS that i am no fan of M.G.S. Yesterday, a relative brought me a cassette and almost armtwisted me into listening to it. It is a M.G.S cassette. i think it is called "Raagalayam". Keertanams in it include "Krishnaa Nee BeganE", "Jagadoodhdhaarakaa", "GOpaalaka Paahimaam", etc. Curious to hear how he rendered the songs already popularised by many eminent singers, i hoped MGS to surprise me with soulful music.

Unfortunately, he disappointed me. Even the major flaw that the late Kalaamandalam Hyderali pointed out "Swarasudhdhi illaaimma" has not really left MGS. In the "JagadOdhdhaaraka" piece, he pronounces "JagadO" "Vudhdhaarakaa". That kind of splitting the word "jagadOdhdhaarakaa" is the result of a serious lack of attention to details. Anyone who has listened to those keerththanams can vouch what i am saying.

Leaving that aside, let me humbly ask true music lovers, what is wrong in saying a certain singer is not performing up to one's expectations? The natural (and angry, if you are a diehard fan of any particular singer) response will be reeling out the number of songs a particular singer has sung, the number of "awards" that singer has received, the number of years' experience that singer has in "music field", etc.
In honest assessments, such things matter nothing.There was a singer by the name Madhuri Jayaraman. she was patronised by none other than the one- time monarch (or emperor?) of Malayalam film songs: G. Devarajan. Anyone with a little sense of music can vouch for this: Her voice can best be described as "boisterous" and at worst, "cacophony". She had a serious "sruti" problem. She might have made a good singer for the run-of-the-mill "ballet" troupes. Those related to "ballet" troupes kindly forgive me. No disrespect meant here! But look at the number of years that steel-rod-like voice piercing our ears all over Kerala! And the times she won the "State" film awards! Famous singers have expressed their dislike(in private) of Devarajan Master's out-of-the-way patronage of such a mediocre singer. Was it not an open secret that he was trying to get at S. Janaki by promoting a "rival" in Madhuri? When he sensed that even Dasettan was feeling uneasy about this weird obsession of the Master with Madhuri's voice, devarajan tried to bring new male voices on scene: sme who came and went include Ayiroor Sadasivan, Sasi (Brahmanandan's cousin. Sasi sang under the name Sreekanth), Brahmaanandan, and he even tried out M.G Radhakrishnan. Many insiders would not say a word against Devarajan openly those days.

If we still remember Madhuri, it is only because of the living tunes of the songs she sang; not because of her singing, unlike in the case of Janaki. despite her (sometimes) atrocious pronunciation, we still adore P.susheela. Madhuri never touched a chord in our heart. She made us pine for more of Janaki and Susheela!

What i am saying is that MGS is a good singer. Nothing more than that. His voice has serious flaws. His attitude, it seems has more serious flaws. One thing might still make him a better singer one day: a little bit of "gurutwam", perhaps.