G Devarajan, fondly known as Devarajan Master, is commonly thought-about probably the most prolific music composer within the Malayalam playback singing area. A educated Carnatic vocalist, his foray into music started with the famed track ‘Ponnarival ambiliyil kanneriyunnole’ penned by ONV Kurup for the play ‘Ningal enne Communistakki’ (You made me a Communist) in 1952. His affiliation with the poet-lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma and singer KJ Yesudas within the 60s and 70s spawned a deluge of hit numbers in numerous genres together with classical, semi-classical, western and folks. In a profession spanning three-and-a-half a long time and over 350 movies largely in Malayalam, Devarajan left behind a wealthy, various array of music preserved by a technology of Malayalis.
Devarajan Master handed away in 2006, however it speaks to his genius, his versatility and the timelessness of his music {that a} Malayali teenager, born and introduced up within the US, can choose up his compositions, admire their magnificence and describe in excellent element why they stand out.
G Devarajan, fondly known as Devarajan Master (Fotokannan/Wikimedia)
Navaneeth Unnikrishnan is all of 16, however his information of yesteryear Malayalam movie songs, particularly these of Devarajan, and the minute classical ‘swaras’ and the ‘gamakas’ in these songs is unbelievable. In a set of 5 movies posted by his dad on Facebook, which have collected a whole bunch of likes and shares, Navaneeth speaks in a heavy American accent. But as quickly as he delves into one in all Devarajan’s most interesting compositions, the transformation is seamless. The movies should not heavily-edited; they’re largely casual conversations with a 16-year-old sitting in his residence in Phoenix, Arizona, speaking in entrance of a microphone about his favorite music director and in between launching himself into a few of his compositions.
Over a telephone name from Phoenix, Navaneeth defined his fascination for Devarajan’s songs. “He is one of the greatest musicians to ever grace India. He is a colossus of Malayalam music in general. He has used 130-140 ragas in his songs and that’s the most by any musician in Malayalam. I find that fascinating. Even from his first composition, he bridged the gap between Carnatic and Hindustani music and gave it mass appeal. One can consider him a textbook of Malayalam music in many ways,” he instructed indianexpress.com.
In one of many movies, Navaneeth sings the opening traces of the 1973-song ‘Prananathan enikku nalkiya’, composed by Devarajan and sung by P Madhuri, after which painstakingly dissects the classical essence in it. “The reason this song is composed in Kambhoji raga is because the ascending and descending notes of the raga go this way,” he says, occurring to sing the swaras. “Harikambhoji has the nishadam in the ascending notes while Kambhoji doesn’t have the nishadam.”
In one other video, he laments how Devarajan didn’t get a single nationwide award for greatest music composer though his songs like ‘Padmatheerthame’ bagged the nationwide award for singer Yesudas in 1973. “A year before that, the song ‘Manushyan mathangale srishtichu’ got national awards for both lyricist Vayalar and singer Yesudas. But Devarajan Master unfortunately did not get the award. I think that’s a travesty in itself, because he should have won multiple awards. Especially because he helped so many other singers get their own National awards like Yesudas, P Jayachandran and P Susheela… even the great P Madhuri for the song ‘Inneniku pottu kuthan’, which almost got the award for him as it’s a beautiful and challenging composition. But unfortunately, he didn’t,” he says in beautiful element.
The motive Navaneeth is ready to join so properly with these songs, which have been written and composed largely within the 60s and 70s, is his coaching in Hindustani music for the previous 12 years, first beneath Dr Vijayshree Sharma and at present beneath Pt Ramesh Narayan. He has additionally began studying Carnatic music beneath Dr Okay Krishnakumar lately.
“It’s sad that a lot of people don’t know that Devarajan master was the brains behind some of the most important compositions from South India like ‘Harivarasanam’ which is sung every night at Sabarimala temple, or ‘Kani kaanum neram’ and ‘Chethimandharam thulasi’. Even a song like ‘Kuttanadan punjayile’ which has been remixed so many times, but people haven’t given him due credit. I always find it intriguing.”
Navaneeth credited his potential to understand the finer nuances of classical music in movie songs to his coaching in Hindustani music, which shares each similarities in addition to deep variations with the Carnatic department. “Like Mohanam in Carnatic and Bhupali in Hindustani. Or Mayamalavagowla in Carnatic and Bhairav in Hindustani… those are the first ragas that come to mind. Carnatic has a lot of ‘gamakas’ (a kind of embellishment on a note or between two notes) and Hindustani is all about achieving the needs of ‘bandishes’ and ragas. Malkauns in Hindustani is similar to Hindolam in Carnatic, but they are also different in many ways. It’s incredibly fun to learn about a new form of music,” he mentioned.
Getting constructive suggestions for his movies is ‘great’, however he famous that he had a ‘lot to learn’ in music.
His father Unni Vadakkan, who works with Amazon in Phoenix and hails from Kannur district of Kerala, mentioned he turned acquainted together with his son’s musical expertise proper from the time when he was two years outdated and began singing. “When a three-year-old sings, we can’t catch notes in the song, but he knows where the note is. He had developed a throat and it was very clear to us,” he mentioned, including that he has a photographic reminiscence.
“I have videos when he was nine years of age where he talks about musicians from Kerala. I don’t think any kid at that age, be it in Kerala or even in the US, knows such minute details of songs, for example, names of its lyricist, composer, singer and name of film… a lot of people like to know about music, but they don’t always get the right information. All these things that he was talking to me, it was new information for me. So I thought music lovers would like that kind of information and his singing as well.”
Since the time the movies started attracting large consideration, Unni has been bombarded lately with compliments and messages of assist for his son from his buddies and musicians from Kerala. One, nonetheless specifically, has stood out: a hand-written observe from Leelamani, the spouse of late Devarajan grasp, wishing Navaneeth the perfect.
