Thiruvananthapuram, First Published Nov 13, 2021, 4:42 PM IST
Not a day goes by without the vocal presence of Yesudas. Even if you have not decided to listen, you can find us at any time of the day on a chilblain of a Yesudas song. But that is the case of singer Yesudas. How many people know the ‘presence’ of music director Yesudas in this daily hearing? Compared to the songs he has sung, the number of songs he has composed is very small, but there are many hit songs in the collection.
Yesudas is set to compose music for a film after completing a Jupiter round of film playback singing. His first film was ‘Azhakulla Selina’ released in 1973, directed by KS Sethumadhavan and starring Prem Nazir and Jayabharathi in the lead roles. According to the custom of the time, Devarajan had to compose the lyrics written by Vayalar. But Sethumadhavan was not on good terms with Devarajan at that time. Instead, the name Yesudas came to Sethumadhavan’s mind when asked who he was. Yesudas accepted the assignment without any hesitation. His debut as a music director not only tarnished the reputation of the singer Yesudas, but also won him over. Apart from Yesudas, P Susheela, Vasantha, Lata Raju, P Leela and S Janaki sang different songs in the film. The hit song was sung by Susheela and starts with ‘Rajashilpi made by Taj Mahal’.
Yesudas’ second music film was’ Jesus’, directed by PA Thomas and released in the same year. But the other four music directors in the film also composed the songs. MS Viswanathan, Alleppey Ranganath, Joseph and Krishna. Yesudas composed the song which starts with ‘Gogultha Malakale’. For the next ten years, Yesudas composed music for about a dozen films. Udayam East itself, Duck, Traveler and Kolilakkam are some of the notable films in the collection.
During this time he also composed devotional songs that were more popular than film songs. Yesudas composed music for six of the Ayyappa devotional songs released by HMV in 1975. The Ganges is born, the only goal is to break the good morning, and all the songs that are still heard during the months of Scorpio are sung to the tune of Yesudas. Yesudas later composed music only for the songs of his own music label, Tharangini. Yesudas’ later answer to the question of why the music system did not continue was about the extra burden of that job. Thousands of songs that he has sung while pouring music come to mind and the doubts it creates are thought-provoking.
Last Updated Nov 13, 2021, 4:42 PM IST
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