Striving for lyrical songs
N. J. NAIR
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G. Venugopal, who won the State award for the best playback singer, talks about his latest venture.
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POETIC ENDEAVOUR: G. Venugopal PHOTO: C. RATHEESHKUMAR
The State film award has come as a kind of recognition for the contributions of G. Venugopal who is completing two decades as a playback singer this year. Venu has endeared himself to Malayalis all over the world with his melodious voice and style. Like `Unarumee gaanam... ' (composed by Ilayaraja) and `Thane poovitta moham... ,' which won him two awards earlier, the song in `Ullam' too is a melodious song.
When the State awards were announced, Venu was in the United States. He is a singer who excels in rendering melodies. He has left an indelible imprint in the minds of music lovers through songs, such as `Chandana manivathil... ' and `Kananazhakulla manikka kuyile... '
Debut
Before making his debut as a playback singer with the lullaby, `Ponnin thingal... ' in the film `Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare,' Venu had established himself as a singer of repute by winning prizes in the university youth festivals. He has sung in under the baton of masters like G. Devarajan and K. Raghavan in professional dramas. The song in `Sabko Sanmathi De Bhagavan' won him the State drama award for the best singer.
At present, he is making an earnest endeavour to develop a distinct stream of music that is a blend of poetry and music. His popularity as a playback singer has given him the confidence to take up this novel venture to promote what he describes as "music with meaning." Along with music buffs, a number of eminent poets have also come forward in support of Venu.
While roping in luminaries of Malayalam poetry, Venu has also decided to introduce some promising talent in his venture.
This rare combination has been well received and the series, `music with meaning' has many takers. Venu is trying to evolve a stream of music with a distinct style and quality. The first experiment in this genre was an album called `Kavyaragam.' It comprised the poems of many popular Malayalam poets.
In `Kavyaragam,' Venu had sung some of the poems of O.N.V. Kurup, Sugathakumari, Sachidanandan, Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan, Vishnu Narayanan Namboothiri, and V. Madhusudanan Nair, which had been set to music by Suresh Krishna.
New album
His latest album, `Kavyageethika' has the poems of N. N. Kakkad, Balachandran Chullikad and D. Vinayachandran. Jaison J. Nair, who has worked with veteran music directors has scored the music.
This series aims at making poetry and music more relevant to listeners and is a sojourn to those days when songs scored high on lyrics and melody.
Apart from `Ullam,' Venu has also sung in films such as `Bungalawil Autha,' `Anuyathra' and `Kathakali' recently.
Next in the pipeline is an album of ghazals.
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