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 Spare a thought for the gifted singer A M Rajah whose death anniversary falls April 7.
Born in 1929 in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, Rajah regaled audiences all over the world with his unique voice - a soft approach to music in sharp contrast to today's cacophony in the name of music. He sang innumerable hits and was also a talented music director till his death in a tragic train accident in 1989 denied music lovers the pleasure of listening to more memorable music.
In his teens, he tuned some songs with the support of renowned music director K V Mahadevan. HMV recorded those songs and they were broadcast by AIR. Later, the owner of Gemini Studios, S S Vasan, liked hs silken voice and booked him for his next film, 'Samsaaram'. He went on to sing in various languages, including Hindi.
Among his Tamil hits were 'Mapillai Doi' in 'Manampol Maangalyam' (1953), 'Sringara Paingiliye Pesu' in 'Manohara' (1954), 'Vaaraayo Vennilave' in 'Missiammaa' (1955), 'Mayakkum Maalaipozhuthey' in 'Gulebakaavali' (1955), 'Maasaillaa Unmai kaadhaley' in 'Alibaabaavum 40 Thirudargalum' (1956), 'Kaayile Inippadhenna' in 'Manamulla Marutharam '(1958), 'Aaadaatha Manamum' in 'Kalathoor Kannammaa' (1960), 'Oho Enthan Baby', 'Paattu Paadavaa' and 'Nilavum Malarum' in 'Thein Nilavu' (1961), 'Aaasaiyile Manam' in 'Kalyaaana Parisu' (1971).
He performed with ease and felicity under the music direction of stalwarts like V Dakshinamurthy, Sankara Sastry, Shankjar Jaikishen, T R Pappa, C Jayaraman, S V Rajeswara Rao, Pendyala, V Ramamurthy, Sudarsanam, Veda, Viswanathan-Ramamurthy and so on.
He composed music with a rare blend of melody and rhythm - 'Kalyaana Parisu', 'Aadi Perukku', 'Then Nilavu' and 'Vidivelli' in Tamil, 'Shobha' in Telugu and 'Amma Enna Sree' in Malayalam.
Rajah bagged the Madras Film Fans Association award of Best Music Director in 1959.
He married Jikki (Krishnaveni), noted playback singer. It is said he met her on the sets of 'Jenova', a film starring MGR. They had four daughters and two sons.
He had travelled extensively abroad and was extremely popular among Tamils all over the world who still cherish his style of singing and compositions.
Re-live the memory of this extremely talented singer and composer by downloading his songs and making our own collector's CD - an AM Rajah special. A truly memorable way of paying one's homage to a musician who provided so much joy to millions of music lovers all over the world.
Click here to download A M Rajah Songs
R Rangaraj
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