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GULF MADHYAMAM l No1 IN THE GULF

2012 MAY 23 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 49

FIRST TAKE>

Jyothi Varma

At the age of two she could dif-ferentiate Carnatic ragas. At

five, she was learning complexcompositions of Muthuswami

Dikshithar. By the time she was eight,she auditioned for a programme onAll India Radio. Years later,after

she moved to Mumbai, her hauntingvoice would propel her debut song in

Hindi to the top of the charts.Playback singer Vani Jairam

Kalaivani is her real nameis aversatil e artist whose vast fan base

is spread across the Hindi,Tamil, Malayalam andseveral other Indian lan-guages. Breaking into thefilm industry in the southat a period dominated bylegends like S Janaki andP Suseela, Vani Jairam,for her ardent admirers,symbolised the best ofboth these singersthemelodious sweetness ofJanaki and the hauntingquality of Suseela.

Hailing from Velloretown in Tamil Nadu,Vani Jairam grew upin an atmospheresteeped in music.Her mother was arenowned classicalmusician. If KadalurSreenivasa Iyengarwas her Carnaticguru in childhood,later on Vani em-braced the tute-lage of Hindustanidoyen Ustad AbdulRahman Khan,who was also guruto outstandingsingers like MannaDey.

The few occa-sions one had tointeract with VaniJairam at herNungambakkamhome in Chen-nai were alwaysa pleasure.Her dignified

charm and impeccable dress sensealways made one wonder why she did

not have a shot at acting. A couple ofsenior film directors had approachedher with a role offer. But music washer first love and she was apprehen-sive that her focus on singing wouldbe compromised.

I come from a very orthodox fam-ily. My mother would not even allowme to sing for films...in fact, I startedsinging after I got married to Jairamji,an avid music buff himself,she said.

We also learn that VaniJairam is an all rounder withher interests ranging fromcooking to needle work. Inher school days, she wasquite a talent and evenbagged the shield for thebest outgoing student.

Vani Jairam had a dreamdebut in 1971 when veteranHindi composer Vasant Desaicast her for Guddi. Thesong Bol re Pappi Hara...shot to anthemic status and made hera household name across India.

That song also fetched the singerthe Tansen Samman for the bestclassical-based (in Miyan Malhar raga)song in mainstream cinema and is stillone of the most remembered melodiesin Vanis versatile oeuvre.

Years later, Vani Jairam wouldreprise her gift for the semi-classicalwith the amazingly structured song

Kavithai Kelungal for Ilayaraja inthe Kamal Hassan starrer PunnagaiMannan.

Over her illustrious career, Vani hasworked with virtually all the leadingcomposers and playback singers inIndia.

Her southward journey in the mid-1970s would add another layer of goldto a bejewelled playback realm. Onshifting base to Chennai, Vani worked

her magic in Tamil, Malayalam, Teluguand Kannada under the baton of com-

posers ranging from M S Viswanathanand K V Mahadevan to Salil Choud-hary, Ilayaraja and A R Rahman.

Vani Jairam says she never felt anypressure from any of the music direc-tors from the different languages sheworked with since all of them treatedher with respect and never as a new-comer.

It was Salil Choudhary who intro-duced Vani Jairam to Ma-layalam through Swap-nam, a film produced bySivan. Nandita was thefirst heroine in Malayalamfor whom she sang.

Such was the impactVani Jairam left in Malay-alam cinema that someof the best songs sym-bolising Vishu and Onamare Vani Jairam songs. Aquick pick of some of herbest songs in Malayalamwould include her first

song, Sourayudahathil (Swapnam)by Salil Choudhary, Thiruvonapulari-than (Thiruvonam) by M K Arjunan,

Ente kayyil poothiri... (Sammanam)by V Dakshinamurthy and Aashad-hamaasam (Yudhabhumi) by R KSekhar.

Vani Jairams crowning achieve-ments were the National Awards forthe Best Female Playback Singer in1975 for MSVs Apoorva Ragangal, in1980 and 1991 for K V Mahadevans

Shankarabharanam and SwathiKiranam respectively. And, long aftershe ceased to be an active singer, thehonours and felicitations continue una-bated. Even last week in Chennai, VaniJairam was honoured by Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik during UtkalDivas celebrations to mark the 76thanniversary of the founding of Odisha.

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I come from a very orthodox family. My motherwould not even allow me to sing for films...in fact, Istarted singing after I got married to Jairamji, an avidmusic buff himself, she said.

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