A Tribute to Johnson

When I heard about the death of music composer Johnson, I was reminded of Beatle George Harrison song `while my guitar gently weeps’. In the last few years before his death Johnson never appeared in TV channels without a guitar strung around his neck. Now that guitar must be mourning and strumming a dirge in memory of its master

Johnson Master as he was known, had an air of haughtiness in his speech and mannerisms, perhaps something he inherited from his guru Devarajan. He never bowed to anyone’s wishes and hated the film industry though he was a part of it. Devarajan was a stickler for perfection and never compromised on his music. Moulded by him Johnson turned out to be an ideal pupil supremely confident of his ability.

Taking a leaf out of Devarajan school of music, Johnson kept his tunes simple; enriching and embellishing the lyrics making it more beautiful. Many of his songs have a folksy, rustic and nostalgic touch evoking romance, pain, happiness or devotion jelling well with films having stories with rural backdrop. Establishing an identity was not difficult for such a talented musician. One could easily identify a Johnson song by listening to it. Late music composer Ravindran had once said that establishing an identity was a hallmark of a good composer.

His music highlighted the words often making average lyrics look brilliant. Remarkably, he did this after composing the tune first and then getting the lyrics written for it for most of the songs. Amazingly, Johnson did not have formal training in classical music. Yet, his proficiency in tuning semi-classical numbers was no less than his illustrious predecessors like Dakshinamurthy, Devarajan, M K Arjunan or his contemporary Ravindran. His fondness for raga Kalyani is well known. He has composed some excellent tracks in his favourite raga. Mohanam raga was close to the heart of his mentor Devarajan.

His ability went beyond setting tunes for songs to composing background music for films making him a total musician. That he has won national awards for scoring the background music shows the prodigious talent of this man. Before the advent of Johnson, film background music was cacophonous to the extent of spoiling the enjoyment of the whole movie. Johnson changed that ushering in a new trend where silence was given its due in films

I think no other music director has encouraged upcoming singers like Johnson did. M G Sreekumar, Venugopal , Sujatha, K G Markose, Minmini all had their bright moments in their career with Johnson. Just listen to the little gem `Eee thennalum’ from not very popular film Nee Varuvolam. It is sung by Daleema. Johnson had this knack of getting the best out of young talented singers even while churning out classics with established singers like Yesudas, Janaki or Chithra

One singer missing from his best songs list is surprisingly Jayachandran, who incidentally sang Johnson’s first song in films. At the start of his career, he made Jayachandran, arguably the best singer after Yesudas in Malayalam, sing some good numbers like `Kuru Nirayo’, `Moham Kondu Njan’ but they cannot be classified as great. Jayachandran again sang for Johnason, but the songs largely went unnoticed. Late in his career Jaychandran sang `Onnu Thodan Ullil’ in Yathrakkarude Sraddakku, which despite being a good attempt did not outlive the movie

He composed `Devi Atmaraagam’ in the film Njan Gandharvan in Miyan Ki Malhar raag, perhaps as a tribute to Devarajan under whose baton was born the classic song `Innenikku Pottukutham’ in the same raag. Just have a look at his semi-classsical repertoire:

`Nanda Suthavara’ in Sree raag from the film Parvathy

`Shivashaila Sringamam’ in Shanmugapriya from Kilukilukkam,

Arunakiranamani in Panthuvarali from Naseema,

`Mayamayooram’ in Pahadi from Vadakku Nokki Yanthram,

Devanganangal in Kalyani and Puriya Dhanasri from Njan Gandharvan,

`Neela Ravil’ in Sree and
`Parthasarathim’ in Chakravaakam from Kudumbasametham,

`Brahmakamalam’ in Malayamaarutham from Savidham,

`Sree Rama Namam’ in Naatta from Naarayam,

`Gopala Hridayam’ in Abheri and `Kalyanasaukandhikam’ in Madhyamavathi from
Kalyanasaukandhikam

`Paada Smarana Sukham’ in Lathangi from Sallapam,

`Aadyamay Kanda Naal’ in Vrindavana Saranga ,
Parvathy Manohari in Kamboji
`Sindooram Peythirangi’ in Rasikaranjani from Thooval Kottaram,

`Kaarvarnane Kando Sakhi’ in Desh from Oral Mathram

Johnson was lucky to have worked with many leading directors in their best films. He composed music for Bharathan, Padmarajan, Sathyan Anthikad, Siby Malayil and Kamal, Mohan- all directors known for making good entertainers imbibing the qualities of commercial and parallel films. He leaves behind a rich legacy of songs which are likely to enthrall generations to come.

I now proceed to the difficult task of selecting his best songs as it occurs to me. They are not in any particular order.

`Aadiva Kaatte’ from Koodevide ( I prefer this song over two other great songs `Swarnamukile’ and `Gopike’ by Janaki simply for its brilliant orchestration. No wonder it proved to be a turning point in his career)

Nanda Suthavara from Parvathy ( Somehow. I prefer this little gem sung by Vani Jayaram over the equally good `Etho Janma Kalpanayil’by the same singer)

`Devi Atmaragamo’, Devaganangal’ and `Palapoove’ all from Njan Gandharvan ( Probably, Johnson’s best effort)

Mayamayooram from Vadakku Nokki Yanthram ( This is my personal selection of M G Sreekumar’s song for Johnson. The popular choice will be `Kaneerpoovinte’ which conveys pathos so touchingly)

Melle Melle from Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam ( Tune, lyrics and Yesudas’s rendering combine to make it unforgettable)

Mynakaponmudiyil from Mazhavilkavadi ( Venugopal has sung several beautiful numbers like `Thaane Poovitta’ and `Poothalam’ for Johnson)

Shyamambaram from Artham (Another remarkable effort of orchestration lifting the song to great heights by giving it a melodious touch)

Rajahamse from Chamayam ( A classic from Chithra for Johnson in raag Hindolam)

Padasmaranasukham from Sallapam (Marvellous number in a rare raag Latangi. `Brahmakamalam’ is another contender for the spot)

These are just a few gems from hundreds of songs he has left for posterity. Truly an inspirational musician.

Nasal Voice

Plethora of male nasal singers makes one wonder whether the era of perfect voice in playback singing is over. Earlier we had a Mukesh and later Kumar Sanu who lent variety to the music. But look at the music scene now. You have Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Kailash Kher, Atif Aslam, Kumar Ganjawala, Himesh Reshamiya, Javed Ali who all have nasal voices. Others like Sukhwinder Singh, KK and Shankar Mahadevan too have a nasal tinge in their voices.

No doubt all of them are musically talented and have several hits to their credit. People don’t seem to care as long as they get a good song to listen even though the satisfaction may be short lived. I find that too many nasal voices sort of grate on the ears. One yearns for good clean voices of Sonu Nigam or Hariharan and they don’t sing often. Udit Narayanan has a refreshingly different voice, but is now past his best. South India’s best voices K J Yesudas and S P Balasubramaniam are also past their best. But surprisingly, there aren’t many nasal singers in this part of the country perhaps indicating that South Indians are less tolerant towards nasal voices.

It wasn’t like this before nineties. Apart from Mukesh no other nasal singer managed to hit the limelight. The fact that they never had good music director or lyricist to back them probably worked against their favour. Among the male singers, legendary K L Saigal had a nasal voice. I haven’t listened to all his songs. But music directors gave him songs that matched his voice. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Over sixty years after his death people still listen to his soft and soothing sad songs.

Mukesh started as a Saigal clone as there was voice similarity. But later found a niche of his own in sad songs aided by legendary music directors Roshan, Shankar Jaikishan, Salil Chaudhary and Kalyanji Anandji. The fact that Raj Kapoor chose him as his voice helped him immensely in his career. He was at his best in songs conveying pathos. He was the different voice along with Manna Dey , Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar when Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar were the main singers. The music directors knew his voice range and gave him songs which he could render well.

After Mukesh died, his son Nitin Mukesh with a nasal voice couldn’t make the grade as an established singer. Perhaps, he couldn’t match the nasal baritone of his father. Narendra Chanchal with his high pitched nasal voice did shine briefly but did not last as his type of songs didn’t come often. Then there was a long gap till Kumar Sanu phenomenon happened. Kumar Sanu tried to imitate Kishore Kumar with a voice of Mukesh. His sad romantic songs went straight to the heart of listeners. His reign ended as Udit Narayanan took over.

I feel it is the advent of Rahman that unleashed the present nasal voice culture in the film playback music. The defining film was Dil Se in which Rahman sang with his nasal voice apart from giving Sukwinder Singh the break in his career with Chayya Chayya song. Rahman experimented with different singers and several of them crooned with a nasal flavour. It has to be mentioned that southern singers Benny Dayal and Naresh Iyer don’t belong to this category thankfully. In a way, Rahman has opened the floodgates for nasal singers that it is no longer a rarity but has become a common thing.

Today, people don’t have the patience to listen to a good melody. They want fast tracks. And music directors are only happy to give them what they want. The result is that the nasal singers are made to sing fast and high pitched songs. The listeners like it now. But the moot point is that will these songs have the staying power of the classics of Saigal and Mukesh, which are listenable even now after so many years.