VELLAI KAMALATHILE - GOWRI KALYANAM

Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi - Part one.

Saravanan Natarajan writes:

வெள்ளைக்  கமலத்திலே..அவள் வீற்றிருப்பாள்..

A full voice; a timber that breathes life into every note. A tone as distilled as the still of dawn. A song that sends you into the day with a calm that conquers all… Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi rendering Vallalar’s hymn of infinite piety…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1e7MhlhwYs

When I visited the Kadhir Velayudha Swami temple in Pettah in Sri Lanka, strains of கந்தர் சஷ்டி கவசம் were audible throughout the hallowed precincts of the ancient temple. A Sri Lankan friend told me ‘உங்களுக்கு தெரியுமா, எங்க வீட்லயெல்லாம் அவங்க சஷ்டி கவசத்தோடதான் பொழுதே விடியும்!'

And I wondered anew at the widespread popularity of that immortal devotional album, and at the genius of Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, both as a singer of singular merit and as a composer of some wonderful albums- both film and devotional.
L.R.Eswari, in an interview pointed out at Rajalakshmi as among the very few singers she knew who could jot down notations spontaneously as the composer sang the tune, and then sing the lines based on the notations.

முருக கானாம்ருத, குயிலிசைத்திலகம், இசையரசி, நாதக்கனல், கலைமாமணி Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi was the younger of the famed Soolamangalam Sisters, and was born to Karnam Ramaswami Iyer and Janaki Ammal on 6 November, 1940. Jayalakshmi was elder to her. Saraswathi and Sethuraman were her younger siblings. The sisters learned the rudiments of music from K.G. Murthy. The sudden death of their father forced the family to move from Soolamangalam to Madras to eke out a livelihood. The sisters commenced rigorous training under Pathamadai S. Krishnan, and soon captured attention with their classical and devotional concerts.

Rajalakshmi’s first film opportunity came when she was merely 8 years old- the song was ‘கனவில் கண்டேனே', a dance number filmed on Kusalakumari in the 1948 movie கிருஷ்ண பக்தி. And the film songs that she sang over the years are all pristine paradigms of perfection, standing testimonials to Rajalakshmi’s intuitive mastery.

The youthful sweetness in songs such as இனிதான தென்றல், அழகே ஆனந்தம் and சம்மதித்தால் என்றும் சந்தோஷமே; the soft mellifluousness that comes across so bewitchingly in மையைத் தொட்டு எழுதியவன், சித்திரம் பேசுதடி, உனக்கும் எனக்கும் இசைந்த பொருத்தம் and அரும்பு மலர்ந்து அசைந்தாடும்; the evocative feelings that find moving portrayal in songs like ஜாலம் செய்வது நியாயமா, நீ சிரித்தால் நான் சிரிப்பேன், சின்ன சின்ன ஊருணியாம், இல்லாத பிள்ளைக்கு நான், கண்ணன் எனக்கொரு பிள்ளை and காவேரி மாந்தோப்பு கனியோ; the exacting lessons in diction in classics such as பிரம்மன் தாளம் போட and தலையே நீ வணங்காய்; the breathtaking precision of time and tone in classicals like காணக்கண் கோடி வேண்டும், வருகிறாள் உம்மைத்தேடி and வெட்கமாய் இருக்குதடி wherein Rajalakshmi matched giants like MLV and P. Leela line to line, note to note; and of course, the impressive line-up of devotional songs such as திருப்பரங்குன்றத்தில் நீ சிரித்தால், வருவான்டி தருவான்டி, தோடுடய செவியன், திருத்தணி முருகா, வணங்கிடும் கைகளின் and எழுதி எழுதி பழகி வந்தேன் showcase Rajalakshmi’s prolific contribution to Tamil Film Music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff2Xtqty4p4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOhKG-HkG1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKyhVPAO0CY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbOAzSqBqwg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh3980VY49Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCcteUlweQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8IM5x4til4

Listen to the blessed chanteuse rendering Alangudi Somu’s lines.. குயில் கூவித் துயில் எழுப்ப… The song seeks to paint the serene beauty of dawn in a backdrop of a typical household. The mistress of the house bustles about her chores, gently singing this song. In a landmark departure from the prevailing trend, the imaginative V. Kumar completely eschewed instrumental accompaniment. With just the taanpura giving her muted support, Rajalakshmi gives an unforgettable rendition. Alangudi Somu takes the cue from a paasuram, and continues it to suit the situation. Sowcar Janaki heralds the sunrise by a soulful prayer, and then goes to the people in the house, waking them up gently with a cup of coffee, all the while continuing to sing. The old man who has lain awake most of the night and has dozed off towards the dawn, Vijaya who had burnt the midnight oil studying for her exams and has now exhaustedly fallen asleep over her open book, and finally the lazy Srikanth who rarely gets up at daybreak- all of them are thus lovingly attended to. Kumar begins the song with the clangor of the distant temple bells, and ends it with the chiming of the clock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkzIU3awksw

It is matter of regret that as the 60s progressed, Rajalakshmi was heard more often only in songs that needed more than one female voice such as குங்குமம் மங்கல மங்கையர் குங்குமம், துள்ளித்துள்ளி விளையாட, மணமகளே மருமகளே வா வா, ஆணிமுத்து வாங்கி வந்தேன், etc. I have often been wonderstruck at her sustained brilliance - even in an unknown film having an impossible name like ரகசிய பெண் 117 released in 1972 with music by C.N.Pandurangan, Rajalakshmi dazzles in an uncharacteristic seductive song ஆசை ரோஜா பாரு.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a-c6Mad77A

And finally, to mark the remembrance of the Mahakavi today, presenting here the classic வெள்ளை கமலத்திலே from கௌரி கல்யாணம்(1966). Sung by Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi. Bharathiyar’s verses set to music by M.S. Viswanathan.

These verses form part of the சரஸ்வதி வணக்கம் in the first part of பாஞ்சாலி சபதம். Bharathiyar invokes Saraswathi’s blessings before commencing the work.

Who knows what made MSV give Rajalakshmi this song?! Was it at producer Velumani’s insistence, for Rajalakshmi had given a spellbinding essay (குயில் கூவித் துயில் எழுப்ப) in his நாணல் just the previous year? Or did Rajalakshmi’s beguiling rendition of Bharathiyar’s காணி நிலம் வேண்டும் (நாலு வேலி நிலம்) fetch her this Bharathiyar song? (Two years later, KVM too would summon SR to sing Bharathiyar’s காக்கைச் சிறகினிலே for திருமால் பெருமை). Or was it just that since Rajalakshmi had come to sing திருப்புகழைப் பாடப்பாட for the same film, it struck MSV to make her sing this short song? Whatever may be the factors involved, serendipity did happen, and the Mahakavi’s stirring lines married with MSV’s haunting Hamir Kalyani, find themselves immortalized in the voice of the inimitable Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi. நிலம் பெயரனவும் பெயர் பெயராதாள்..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juEQgokTNiM


Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi's works as a composer in the next part..

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