Interview : P. Jayachandran
Over 10,000 songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi, and national and state awards for playback singing, P. Jayachandran is a name anyone familiar with South Indian music will recognize. And, those unfamiliar with Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telgu music may recognize him for singing Milo Wahaan Wahaan for AR Rahman in Ada. Today, yours truly brings you a PFC interview with THE legend himself, P. Jayachandran! And, surprise, surprise, he will be blogging on PFC in the weeks to come. Tell us about the experience singing your first Hindi song, Milo Wahaan Wahaan (Ada)…did you have to record the song sentence by sentence? Did you make notations of pronunciations? How was it like interacting with Alka Yagnik? Or, did she record her part of the song separately? I was thrilled and was keen to take the challenge. I grew up listening to Hindi songs also. I always listened to Binaca Geeta Mala and never missed one in my student days and probably that helped my Hindi pronunciation and expressions too. Rahman has his own style of recording and all just follows the protocol. But this song was recorded and then the tracks were added. But, Alka Yagnik did her own recording and I never met her. You’ve known A R Rahman for many, many years. Rahman’s father and you were good friends…Tell us about our interaction with him and how you’ve seen him evolve with the years. Rahman’s father Rajagopala Kulasekhar (R.K. Sekhar) was known to me almost from the time I entered the industry. I knew Rahman as a toddler. Sekhar was assistant to G. Devarajan, Dakshinamoorthy and even Salil Choudhary. I still believe that Sekhar was as talented as Rahman. His untimely departure was a loss to the industry. Rahman went and worked with M. K Arjunan after that. Today I feel so happy on his achievements. God has done justice. Could you also tell us about the experience for singing for Raaja sir and MS Viswanathan sir? I was introduced in Tamil by MSV. I am amazed by the confidence MSV has on me and it was a big responsibility too. MSV uniquely calls me ‘Jayam.’ My first song in Tamil was in Manippayal (1972) by MSV. And in 1975 Illayaraja came and we both had the best of late 70’s and 80’s. MSV was always melody oriented whereas Raaja is folk oriented. Another striking difference is that MSV composes music without notations but Raaja uses them. But, no doubt Raaja is the king of re-recording. My most liked MSV songs are Alaimagal and Thendralathu, and Raaja songs are Rasathi, Kathirunthu, Raja Magal. Mancholai Kili Thaano was a tough song from Raaja. You held special place in the portfolio of music directors like Raveendran, Ilayaraja and A R Rahman…what do you consider to be your best songs with each one of them? Raveendran is known to me before he became a music director. He used to be called Kulathupuzha Ravi. Ravi was even my roommate. Aalilaa Thaaliyum was the best song I sung for him. My best song for Rahman is Oru Daivam Thanna Poove. Tell us about your friendship with Yesudas and about your other peers. I knew him from my school days and he was my brother’s friend before coming to industry. We still share the same warmth. Same is the case with SPB. I consider PBS, Susheela, Janaki, Gokulapalan, Udayabhanu, etc as my role models. There’s been this notion of the North-South divide—is this a misconception or do you really think it exists? Music is one universally. So I don’t think it’s really there. I can only say that I worked with greats like Salil Da, Manna da and ARR, Kreem, etc. doing well in Hindi. I think a good singer and music director can create a universal appeal. Full Interview : http://passionforcinema.com/interview_jayachandran/ Rahman fever His Music ~ My Mother Tongue Yahoo! recommends that you upgrade to the new and safer Internet Explorer 8. http://downloads.yahoo.com/in/internetexplorer/
