S. Janaki

Here is an interview, from S Janaki for a Malayalam film, with loads of Tamil and other industry tidbits. Most wonderful interview I have seen, showcasing her versatality. This is God-given talent, polished by lots of hardwork. She's seventy, and still mesmerizes.

Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oF36...eature=related
Part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1vHI...eature=related
Part3
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=YWU2pQ...eature=related
Part4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9DTX...eature=related
Part5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m3Bl...eature=related
Part6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfbo...eature=related
Part7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHVDt...eature=related

When I see gems like these, I wonder why the ongoing debates about who is great and who is not, for the current generation of Tamil film musicians.

Thanks aruvi for providing the links. Thanks also to the person who loaded these clips.

It was wonderful seeing Janaki speak. She was humble as usual and absolutely no airs. I was also impressed with M.Jayachandran as the interviewer, if you can call him that. He was very respectful and was able to get Janakiamma to sing more. Very well done interview. Wish there were more interviews with singers in this mode rather than asking the same old questions of how many medals they won, their childhood etc etc. Jayachandran covered a lot of ground, starting from Baburaj till Rahman. Very enjoyable

S.Suresh

Aruvi,

I agree with your comment. When you hear such songs you are wondering as to what all the fuss about the current music directors is !!!

S.Suresh

Typo in the opening...for a Malayalam tv show, it should say.

Suresh,

You are very right. Amazing woman. Amazing talent. Amazing gems. My knowledge of Hindi is zilch, but can muster through telugu and malayalam. Those songs that she sang, are still sung in lots of reality shows.

Just seeing her showcase her talent was amazing.

Do check the interview with Vani Jayaram as well. I knew nothing much about her before, but was amazed with her memory power and amazing talent. Politics, unfortunately, played down her career...but amazing store of talent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aruvi

Typo in the opening...for a Malayalam tv show, it should say.

Suresh,

You are very right. Amazing woman. Amazing talent. Amazing gems. My knowledge of Hindi is zilch, but can muster through telugu and malayalam. Those songs that she sang, are still sung in lots of reality shows.

Just seeing her showcase her talent was amazing.

Do check the interview with Vani Jayaram as well. I knew nothing much about her before, but was amazed with her memory power and amazing talent. Politics, unfortunately, played down her career...but amazing store of talent.

---

can u explain more about Vani Jayaram, what happened to her??

as for Janaki maa's interview, it was great... overall a sweet lady.... !!!! She should be given more credits since she is one of the finest singers in India itself.

Dinesh,

I think what is being referred with regards to Vani Jayaraman is her sojourn in Bombay. She became very famous through the Vasant Desai song 'Bole Re Papihara', from the movie Guddi. It was monstrously popular in those days. It was alleged that Lata Mangeshkar had played politics to ensure Vani Jayaram did not succeed in Hindi after that. One doesn't know what exactly transpired but this is what the media says.

Coming back to the Janaki interview, I wish they had time to cover some songs of Shyam and couple of songs of MSV which Janakiamma had sung. I did miss, 'Mareechike' (Shyam), 'Aa Nimishatinthe' (MSV). Well, when you get something good, you tend to get greedy :)

To those who haven't been there before, there is an excellent set of articles at dhool.com by Saravanan which gives a detailed account of S.Janaki's contribution to Malayalam film music. I got introduced to many songs of S.Janaki through these articles.

S.Suresh

Dinesh,
Please check the Vanijayaram songs thread. I have updated the links for the interview there.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0903151521.htm

It's quite surprising that SJ never won any state award in KA...

Our nightingale turns 71
IndiaGlitz [Thursday, April 23, 2009]

The queen of minstrelsy, whose voice could soar as much as her popularity could, and could bow as low as her humility often commanded her to, celebrates her birthday today.

S Janaki, despite the white starched cotton saree that she always sports, is still our most colourful singer, even five decades after she crooned her first song. Her voice is the stuff that legends are made of, with a malleability for moods that many young singers of today can only have envy for.

If she was the voice of adolescent admirations of Sridevi’s in Senthoora Poove, she was equally the voice of the rustic tale of gratefulness in Inji Iduppazhaga. Interestingly, both performances were found National Award worthy. If you were to ask music buffs, they would name hundreds of her 30,000 songs as award-worthy, and they wouldn’t be wrong in saying so. If she was the voice of Savithri, she was equally the voice of an exuberant Preity Zinta in Nenjiniley, one of her immortal renditions for AR Rahman in Uyire. Forming a formidable duo in the company of SPB, S Janaki has been the reigning queen for music in the years and with time, her voice has only slowly dimmed.

A singer who has sung in as may as 13 languages, it would not be unfair to call her as popular in South India as Lata Mangeshkar is, up north. In fact, comparisons among the duo have been rife form the time they began singing, with Janaki getting her first chance to sing a song, after auditioning with a Lata Mangeshkar number.

With years gone by, S Janaki might have taken the bow from playback singing, but to many singers who are here today, she is a colossus who peak is almost impossible to attain. Here’s wishing Janaki-amma, as she is most often called,a happy birthday and lots of happiness!


http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/t...cle/46509.html

http://dailythanthi.com/article.asp?...date=7/19/2009

This news report says SJ is 67, must be incorrect.

Sadly, though she wasn't hurt in an accident involving her car (supposedly driven by her son), one person got killed :-(

"Mimicry by S Janaki"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7poWy...eature=related

Wow!

Janumma.. We Love You!

QUEEN OF SENSUOUS SINGING, JANAKI, MAESTRO ILAYARAJA'S FAVORITE GIRL!:musicsmile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K56GgzPz4k

kanden engum poo magal.......

Veene veene....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-VVMc4Pn_k

love
vinatha.

:bluejump:azhagu aayiram......Janu with DAZZLING Ilayaraja

jillendra Janu and the magnificent prelude & second interlude of IR:redjump:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Hu-5NDs0c&feature=related

PEERLESS 80s ILAYARAJA!

அப்படியே repeat லே கேட்டுகிட்டே இருக்கலாம் ... கேக்க கேக்க ஆசை தீராது! பேராசையா போகும்! அதுதான் இளையராஜாவின் இசை!http://www.mayyam.com/talk/images/smilies/boldred.gif

VINATHA.

:musicsmile:ஜானும்மா romances A .M ராஜா in raga Sohini .....காலையும் நீயே மாலையும் நீயே ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-purbWzX-s



vinatha

MIGHTY PAIR OF ILAYARAAJA & JANU!:clap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSTulKnpD6c


vinatha.

Janu's pathos for IR's azhagiya kanne.......

enchantment, kushi of scond interlude and pathos of third interlude, emotive flute and strings, wonderful Janu
makes this composition our ALL TIME FAVORITE EARLY IR!:musicsmile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDTwcogFH9Y

What a prelude!


VINATHA

I am posting here a song by S Janaki from the film Sur Sangam, which was the Hindi remake of the famous Shankarabharanam. The singers in Sur Sangam were Anuradha Paudwal, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Lata, Suresh Wadkar, Rajan (or Sajan?) Mishra and of course S Janaki.

The song can be found right in the beginning of the following clip (the clip is a part of the movie itself):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQ9gvUncwo

The song begins with a sequences of swaras sung by SJ and the classical singer Rajan (or Sajan?) Mishra. The swaras are followed by a beautiful piece in the Hindustani raaga Bhatiyar ("aayo prabhaat sab mil gaao"). S Janaki's taans are amazing - she sings the notes rapidly and seems to nail each note firmly as she flies fast.

SJ gets to sing another song in the same film - Prabhu more avagun chit na dharo. I think it's the equivalent of "ye thirugananu"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDYs-...eature=related

S Janaki does a very good job in both the songs. She is very expressive, and she seems absolutely comfortable with the language and the lyrics.

Listen to S Janaki rendering the celebrated Muthuswamy Dikshithar krithi in Hamsadhwani raga, "vaathaapi ganapathim":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTYooWcTkmo

Here is a collection of almost 20-30 classical compositions in her voice, including krithis by Thyagaraja, Dikshithar and Shyama Sastry:

http://www.sjanaki.net/private-albums/classical-gems

Very interesting. By the way does anyone know whether it was S.J. who sang the song "Thendral Isai Paadivara, Tenaruvi Aadivara, Andrunaan Kuttralathil Asaiyai Kulithirunthen..."; and also could someone please let me know the name of the film this song was featured and if possible provide me the lyrics? I should be most grateful for any help. Thank you.

"S. Janaki suffers head injury"

http://www.thehindu.com/news/article...?homepage=true

http://www.zeodo.com/Images/Get-Well...-well-soon.gif

[QUOTE=baroque;780999]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Hu-5NDs0c&feature=related

PEERLESS 80s ILAYARAJA!

Rati agnihorthri :lol2:

Hope Janu amma gets well soon :( , the most versatile female singer ever! :notworthy:

S. Janaki (Telugu: ఎస్. జానకి; born April 23, 1938) is an Indian female playback singer. Renowned for her voice modulation abilities, she has sung in many Indian languages, most frequently in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi.[1] Throughout a career spanning more than five decades, she has won four National Film Awards and 31 different State Film Awards.[2] Her association with singer S. P. Balasubramanyam and composer Ilaiyaraaja is among the most popular musical combinations in South India.[3] She is fondly better known as, "The Nightingale of the South".[4][5]

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Singing career
3 Telugu Discography
4 Personal life
5 Major awards
5.1 State Awards
5.2 National Film Awards
5.3 Other awards
6 References
7 External links
8 Further reading


[edit] Early lifeS. Janaki was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in Pallapatla, Repalle village, in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.[6] She was interested in music from early age and started performing at the age of three. She learned music from Sree Paidiswamy, a Nadaswaram Vidwan.

[edit] Singing careerJanaki started singing at the age of 19.[7] She later moved to Chennai on the advice of her uncle Chandrashekar and joined AVM Studios as a singer. She started her career in movies by singing songs composed by T. Chalapati Rao in the Tamil movie Vidhiyin Vilayattu in 1957. Subsequently, she performed in the Telugu movie MLA.Janaki became most preferred female singer of south India from 1970s. Janaki went on to become one of the most favourite singers of Ilayaraja, and a phase ensued when she sang at least 2 to 3 songs per movie in all the four South Indian languages. She sang in almost every major South Indian movie in the 1980s and 1990s.From late 1970s,for more than two decades, she is the top female singer in south Indian films. She is having a record of maximum singing compared to any other female singer in the Malayalam & Kannada film industry and she also holds the record of singing the most difficult song in South Films i.e. shiva shiva ennada from the Kannada film Hemavathi.[8] She also penned many songs for Tamil and Telugu movies as she was extremely good in both the languages.[9] She has also sung in Hindi, Sinhalese, Bengali, Oriya, English, Sanskrit, Konkani, Tulu, Saurashtra, Baduga, Japanese and German.[10]

A devotee of Lord Krishna and Shirdi Sai Baba, she has also recorded Hindu devotional music on Meera.[10]

Her contemporaries include S.P.Balasubramanyam, P B Srinivas, Rajkumar, Ghantasala, T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela, Vani Jayaram, K J Yesudas, L R Eeswari, P. Jayachandran, P. Leela, K. S. Chithra, Uma Ramanan, Swarnalatha, Sujatha, Hariharan, Unni Krishnan, Srinivas, Unni Menon and Jency

[edit] Telugu DiscographyYear Movie Songs
1978 Padaharella Vayasu Sirimallepoovaa Sirimallepoovaa, Vayasanta Mudupugatti Vastantale Adukundaam, Kattukathalu Nenu Cheppi Navviste, Pantachelo Paalakanki Navvindi
1981 Aakali Rajyam Kanne Pillavani, Tu Hai Raja Mai Hu Rani
1982 Nireekshana Aakasham Enatido, Yamuna Enduku Nuvvu
1983 Sitara Vennello Godari Andam, Jilibili Palukula, Ku Ku Ku, Nee Gaanam
1983 Abhilasha Vela Paala Ledu, Banthi Chamanthi, Eureka!, Urakalai Godavari, Sande Podulakaada
1983 Saagara Sangamam Om Nama Sivaya, Mounamelanoyi, Baalakanamaya
1984 Challenge Induvadana, Manase Maikam, Sayamkalam, Om Shanthi, Shaama Eethippalu
1985 Preminchu Pelladu Ee Chaitra Veena
1985 Swathi Muthyam Suvvi Suvvi, Raama Kanavemira, Manasu Palike, Chinnari Ponnari Kittaya, Pattuseera Testanani
1986 Khaidi No. 786 Guvva Gorinka Tho, Chali Gaali Kottindammo, Raito Ato Ito, Atu Amalapuram
1987 Abhinandana Ade Neevu Ade Nenu, Chukkalanti Ammayi Chakkanaina Abbayi, Manchu Kurise Velalo, Rangulalo Kalavo
1990 Bobbili Raja Kanyakumari, Oddante Vinade, Balpam Patti
1990 Kondaveeti Donga Kolo Kollamma, Sri Anjaneyam, Tip Top Look
1991 Nirnayam Eppudepudani, Mila Mila
1991 Killer Piliche Kuhu Kuhu, Oh Rabbi Yendabba
1992 Alapana Aakanulalo, Kalise Prathi, Priyathama
1992 Chinnarayudu Bujji Pitta, Bulli Pitta
1998 Anthapuram Sooredu Poova
1999 Jodi Kadile Kalame

[edit] Personal lifeS. Janaki was married to V. Ramprasad. She is now settled in Chennai with her son Murali Krishna, who acted in a few films and has an audio business of his own, and his wife Uma Murali Krishna, a classical dancer (Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi); they have two daughters named Amruthavarshini and Apsara. She is known for her simplicity and down to earth behaviour.

She is also a close relative of Carnatic classical vocalist Garimella Balakrishna Prasad.[11]

[edit] Major awards[edit] State AwardsNandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer - 10 times
Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback - 7 times
Oriya State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer - 1 time
Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer - 13 times
[edit] National Film Awards1977 - Best Female Playback Singer - (Song: "Senthoora Poove") 16 Vayathinile, Tamil Film
1981 - Best Female Playback Singer - (Song: "Ettumanoorambalathil") Oppol, Malayalam Film
1984 - Best Female Playback Singer - (Song: "Vennello godari andham") Sithara, Telugu Film
1992 - Best Female Playback Singer - (Song: "Inji Iduppazhagha") Devar

Get well soon Smt. Janaki!

The so-called National Media has NEVER acknowledged the nightingales Janaki and Susheela and probably never will! There's hardly any awareness of their greatness beyond the 4 southern states, although their achievements are on par with the famous Mangeshkar sisters.

With so much influence of Tamil and Telugu film personalities, journalists and other influential South Indians up North, why is that no one cares to get the due recognition for their contribution to Indian cinema? Alka Yagnik's dental appointments and Aditya Narayan's loss of his pet dog get more footage on the media! This is a real shame.

Janumma, please get well soon.:(

yeah... she deserves to be celebrated and recognized for her contribution in music.

We love you !
கணக்கே இல்லாத பல இரவுகள், உங்கள் ஜில்லென்ற குரலில் ஒலிக்கின்ற பாடல்களை நாளும் கேட்டு சந்தோஷமா, relax செய்கிறோம்.

magnificent ilayaraja's yaari gaagi......KANNADA.

http://www.raaga.com/play/?id=110273

Janu matches Ilayaraja's virtuosity with ease!
எங்கள் இளையராஜாவின் ஆஸ்தான பாடகி!:smokesmirk:

ஜானும்மா , சீக்கிரம் recover ஆகுங்க!


vinatha.

Here is another link

http://www.sakshi.com/main/Weeklydet...=2&subcatid=26

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Meerakrishna

Here is another link

http://www.sakshi.com/main/Weeklydet...=2&subcatid=26

---

Translation, please...

Hope SJ gets well soon!

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chann...ead-injury-909
see this pic

Per this news report, SJ got discharged

:-)

I don't know what this song/video means, I care less about it too. But I'd like to hear this beauty by closing my eyes...I ran into this song few days back. Since then, the audio is on in my system many times in a row...amazing rendition. I wonder who the composer is, he did a beautiful job on this song!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqcCs_54Kko&feature=related

Today our beloved janumma's bday.

Many more happy returns of the day amma.

http://www.dinamani.com/edition/stor...41&SEO=&Title=

yeah.. health recover aayi, nalla padiyaa erunga!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAMASKARANGAL TO YOU!

From P.B.Sreenivos, S.P.B to Mano, every guy's favorite female co singer, You are simply PEERLESS!:clap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeIgLxPHNL8

:ty:

Happy birthday to S. Janaki! :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by priya32

I don't know what this song/video means, I care less about it too. But I'd like to hear this beauty by closing my eyes...I ran into this song few days back. Since then, the audio is on in my system many times in a row...amazing rendition. I wonder who the composer is, he did a beautiful job on this song!!!

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"njaan rajani than kusumam..." is from the 1983 movie "aattakkalaasham", one of music director Raveendran's early movies.

Belated Birthday wishes to Melody Queen :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiFGJ2UZPno

adikkudhu kuliru....... MANNAN!

yeah... Janumma showed Super Star yaaru Super Starunnu!:smokesmirk:

erotism blood ley erukkaiyaa enga Rajakku!:-D

S. Janaki is to be awarded Padma Bhushan on this year's Republic Day! This is a long overdue recognition! :)

Wonderful news! Congratulations Janakiamma!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by raagadevan

S. Janaki is to be awarded Padma Bhushan on this year's Republic Day! This is a long overdue recognition! :)

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Today's DC mentions that Janaki has refused to accept it. Not sure how accurate the information is.