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Remember that golden voice?

Singer Vani Jairam, who has won several awards for her mellifluous voice and singing over the past several decades, was honoured with a rare one on April 10. She was named a ‘Vibrant Indian’ by Developers India, an organisation devoted to “India’s development, progress and amity”.

The citation revealed the growth of this artiste who has sung in some languages that we have only heard of - Marwari and Bhojpuri – apart from Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya and Bengali.

Time was when there was not a single movie without a song by Vani Jairam. Her classical training stood her in good stead in rendering any kind of film music – remember ‘Ezhu Swarangalukkul Ethanai Padal’ in the movie ‘Apoorva Ragangal’ which was a raga malika (based on Carnatic music) and which won her the national award, and 'Nitham, nitham nellusoru, ney manakkum kathirikka...' in 'Mullum Malarum'?

Born among four sisters in an orthodox family in Vellore, Vani proved to be a child prodigy. She was singing for the AIR when she was just 11 years old!

It was only after marriage and moving to Bombay that she learnt Hindustani music under Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan and then there was no stopping her. It was a short step to Hindi film music and Vani said she was eternally grateful to music director Vasant Desai who introduced her in ‘Guddi’ with ‘Bholo re pappi hara’ and ‘Humko manke shakti de’, that made musical history.

Accepting the citation, memento, shawl, saropa and kirpan (Sikh sword), the singer said in her sweet voice that in these difficult times of war, terrorism and corruption, it was “most important to be human”, to be able to smile, to speak a few kind words.

She remembered her Carnatic musician mother Padmavathy and father Duraiswamy for having inculcated the wonderful values of life that have taken her to the very top.

She now concentrates more on singing devotional songs. But she is also propagating the greatness of Indian culture among schoolchildren, proving that she richly deserves the Vibrant Indian award as a cultural activist.

Anna University Vice-Chancellor, Dr E Balagurusamy, Maj Gen Anup Singh Jamwal (General Officer Commanding ATNKK & G Area), ‘The Hindu’ editor N Ravi (who was at one time her neighbour) and violin maestro Kunnakudi R Vaidyanathan, who spoke at the function, were all agreed that she richly deserved the award for her unlimited talent.

The award was presented at the inter-faith meet of Developers India to celebrate Baisakhi (the Punjabi New Year) and Tamil New Year. “We hope to promote understanding and cultural unity through these inter-faith meets,” said the organisation’s founder-secretary and convenor, Harbhajan Singh.

Vani sang a few ghazals, Punjabi numbers and a Guru Nanak Bhajan after the award presentation which proved that age had only made her voice sweeter and her singing more soulful.

S Chitra

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Published on 11th April 2003


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