Singer Yesudas blessed with Divine Voice- He turns 84
Singer Yesudas blessed with Divine Voice- He turns 84
Singer Yesudas turned 84 on 10 January. Credit goes to Music Composer Ravindra Jain to have brought Yesudas to Mumbai to sing the songs of Basu Chatterjee’s Chitchor. The Music Composer was on the look out for a new voice for Amol Palekar.
Yesudas had once in the midst of his interaction with the media revealed that he had never sought singing opportunities. They came to him.
Right from the song Aliyambal Kadavil in the film Rosi, he has believed what is his will come to him.
Interestingly,Yesudas got the opportunity to render the song
Aliyambal Kadavil because
K P Udayabhanu who was supposed to sing took ill.
Yesudas agreed to sing the song only after Udayabhanu gave his consent.
Though the singer’s entry is banned in some of the temples in Kerala like Shree Krishna Temple in Guruvayoor and other big temples. Notedly, the most popular temple in Trivandrum, the Padmanabhaswamy Temple allowed him entry and to pray. It was the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa which permitted the singer to offer prayers at the temple. He is a regular visitor to the temple every year during Mandalam and ‘Jyoti’ the sacred light which appears from a temple opposite to the Ayyappa Temple facing the Lord when the ‘Aarti’ is conducted.
In Hindi cinema, most of Yesudas’ hit songs were for Ravindra Jain.
However, it was Salil Chowdhary who gave Yesudas his first big break with the breezy blockbuster duet Jaan-e-Man Jaan-e-Man Tere Do Nayan with Asha Bhosle in Basu Chatterjee’s Chhoti Si Baat.
Strangely, he hardly sang for big-budgeted Hindi films, except Yash Chopra’s Trishul.
According to a leading composer of the 1980s, :Yesudas was not considered the voice of the leading man in Hindi cinema. Voices with a strong classical base were never favoured in Hindi cinema, be it Suresh Wadkar or Yesudas.
In Hindi, Yesudas sang largely for small-budgeted Rajshri Productions where his partnership with Ravindra Jain was hugely fruitful.
Although the duo’s most successful songs were for Chitchor (Tu Jo Mere Sur Mein, Aaj Se Pehle, Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara, Jab Deep Jale Aana are hummed to this day), it was the song Shadjane Paaya Yeh Vardaan from the unreleased film Tansen of which Jain and Yesudas were the proudest.
In the nine-minute classical masterpiece, Yesudas holds court in true Tansen tradition. Jain composed this masterpiece for a bio-pic on the legendary singer Tansen, which never got made. But the song survived.
When Ravindra Jain composed the music for Tansen, there was one particular song that he offered Mohammed Rafi, who was at his peak then. But Rafi apparently declined saying, it was beyond his range. It was finally sung by Yesudas.
Both Jain and Yesudas worked on that song for two days without taking any break.
At the end of the recording, both fell ill.
Lata Mangeshkarji, had said that It is in character with the artiste that he is. Yesudas is one of the rare breed that won’t breathe easily until attaining perfection. He has the voice of a prophet, a saint.
She had sung a handful of songs with him in Trishul, Jeena Yahan and Mera Rakshak.”And also a beautiful duet for an unreleased film for Khayyam (Yeh Haseen Raat for Kamal Amrohi’s shelved film Majnoon).
It was a pleasure to share the mike with someone so knowledgeable and accomplished, she added.
News Edit K.V.Raman
