S P Balasubrahmanyam performing during the Dasara celebrations at the Mysuru Palace on October 15, 2018.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
For over five decades, film music fans in South India shared a deep affection for a voice that permeatedtheir homes and hearts like no other. SPB, as he is affectionately known, would have turned 80 this week. It is no surprise that celebrations are being held everywhere, even if we lost his physical presence a few years ago. In fact, it still feels surreal to speak of the legend in the past tense.An engineering student with no formal training in music, SPB used to perform at film music shows, hoping for a breakthrough as a playback singer. A chance encounter with two legends — K.V. Mahadevan and M.S. Viswanathan — changed his destiny. He recorded ‘Ayiram nilave vaa’ (Adimai Penn) for K.V. Mahadevan and ‘Iyarkkai ennum ilaya kanni’ (Shanthi Nilayam) for non-pareil M.S. Viswanathan in late 60s. The two hit songs — sung for two top stars, MGR and Gemini Ganesan — ensured that he never had to look back. It was a refreshingly unique voice — breezy, youthful, melodious, hummable and yet not high-voltage — as was the norm then. ‘Ayiram nilave vaa’ became the go-to song for aspiring singers at competitions then. So, SPB’s arrival was as effortless as his singing style. Between then and the 2020s, the juggernaut recorded over 50,000 songs (SPB himself contested it as an unverified exaggeration) and left most male voices of his era in the South, at a distant second or third place. At one time, he is also said to have recorded 10-12 songs a day. SPB lent voice to over 50 on-screen actors, including MGR, NTR, Sivaji, Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, Ajith Kumar, Vijay and many more recent lead actors. He sang for almost all the composers of his time, but his work with Ilaiyaraaja stood out. The duo fed off each other’s creative energy and contributed to mutual success unequivocally.Though SPB had declared many times that Mohammed Rafi was his role model, he carved out his own style without imitating his idol. It would need a thesis to break-down the atomic elements that led to SPB’s exploits. Here is a teaser attempt — a silky, resonant bass voice; a vast multi-octave range capable of expressing diverse emotions, emulating classical nuances and sustaining infinite energy. He was the delight of all his composers. Legend MSV once referred to him as a ‘blotting paper’ who could absorb the creator’s ideas and even unspoken embellishments almost naturally. While SPB, perhaps, sang more songs in Tamil films, he was a polyglot who sang in over 15 languages.
