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Remembering Uma Ramanan!
Posted on May 2, 2024
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Baradwaj Rangan 
brangan
May 2, 2024
Not very familiar with her non-Raja work, so if anyone knows (vijay?), do post links.
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Madan
May 2, 2024
RIP. Browsing through wiki, it looks like 90% of her songs were for Raja.
My first memory of her is her appearance on her husband’s then popular show Saptaswarangal, where she sang Nil Nil Nil.
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vijay
May 2, 2024
UR was one of the biggest beneficiary of Raja’s peak day prowess..Surprisingly he did persist with her till the 90s..most of her songs were either hits or acclaimed, maybe a higher strike rate than anybody else who sang for Raja even if the absolute number was less. From the days of light music singing with Ramanan in Musiano, they have been around forever since the 70s.
I remember Vidyasagar using her for melodies now and then in the late 90s/2000s..2 delectable songs of VS that I remember right away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyd1k2vEcwc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNNwhHrKflE
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vijay
May 2, 2024
In an uncharacteristically sensual mood for Raja -song didnt feature in the film
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Honest Raj
May 2, 2024
A lovely underrated one from Pudhayal:
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RK
May 3, 2024
For someone who sang so few songs, she has a lot of remarkable songs thanks to Ilayaraja. Her voice was clear & melodious with a very low-key aspect but still very recognisable. But her voiced seems to have lost its ringing quality in the 90s, or at least that’s what my ears tell me. Someone like Madan can explain this better.
How did BR forget Thanniyile Nenanja from Keladi Kanmani, a song which he raved about in an article. I found this great song, which has sensuality written all over it without ever being obscene, from his recommendation. How would a S Janaki sung this song!
It would have been interesting to see how Vasanth would have filmed this song because the romance between Ramesh Aravind & Anu had a lot of sexual tension at least in the songs.
PS: Krishnan had written in writer Jeyamohan’s blog about a TR Mahalingam song, Nanadri Yaar Varuvar from Malayitta Mangai, that I have not heard before. Senthamizh Thenmozhiyal from the same movie is popular but this song cannot be more different. Do check out
Article https://www.jeyamohan.in/200414/
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Prem Rogue
May 3, 2024
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Shankar
May 3, 2024
This is probably a Janaki song, which was given to Uma, especially considering the anu pallavi…UR does a commendable job too.
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Jayram
May 3, 2024
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Shankar
May 3, 2024
I’ve always loved this song, despite UR’s voice sounding tinny, maybe a Chitra might have been more appropriate. The string arrangement is superb in the charanam, especially the cascading levels…lovely song!
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Shankar
May 3, 2024
UR had many similarities to Jency…another voice that is slightly metallic (not sure how to describe), but man, what hits they sang for Raja…enviable discography! RIP…
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brangan
May 3, 2024
Shankar: To me, Uma Ramanan is more like Vani Jairam. Hits all the right notes, can do everything a good singer should be able to (like handling the gamakam-filled ‘Poonkathave’), but lacking the ability to infuse things like emotion and sensuousness and dynamic range (though the latter is more dependent on the wants of the composer).
Listen to how SJ sings the pallavi of ‘Thanga changili’… It’s like a childlike whisper ripening into a woman’s expression — a masterclass in delivering emotion. Or even in ‘Oorandangum saamthile’, listen to Swarnalatha vs UR…
Don’t know if UR did not have that ability or if the songs she sang (solo) were not meant to have that kind of dynamic range. But whatever the case, she never went into the “great singer” category, IMO — though she certainly sang quite a few great songs.
I am not a big fan of many of Raja’s ‘other’ female singers — i.e. the ones he used other than his mainstays SJ, Chitra… Singers like Vasantha, BS Sasirekha, Jency (despite ‘Adi penne’), Sunandha…
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brangan
May 3, 2024
Like… this is a sensuous/seductress song… UR does a solid-pitch-perfect job… and yet something’s missing!
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Prem Rogue
May 3, 2024
“I am not a big fan of many of Raja’s ‘other’ female singers — i.e. the ones he used other than his mainstays SJ, Chitra… Singers like Vasantha, BS Sasirekha, Jency (despite ‘Adi penne’), Sunandha…”
I think Swarnalatha was the best “other” female singer Raaja used. Not quite up to the level of Janaki or Chitra, but an enjoyable singer in her own right.
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Madan
May 3, 2024
Agree BR, my thoughts about UR too. Maybe Vani was better than UR in this regard. In a song like Athadi Allikodi, her delivery was kinda vacant.
Also agree with Prem Rogue. After SJ and Chitra, Swarnalatha was the one and at times she got to places Chitra couldn’t (tho this seemed to happen more so with Rahman – Muqabla and Akkada in particular).
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Shankar
May 4, 2024
Baddy: Oh, I wasn’t trying to compare UR and Jency’s singing abilities, just saying that the tone of their voices were sorta similar, with a metallic tone (for lack of ways to describe it). They could sound shrill to some ears! I completely agree that her dynamic range was nothing like Janaki…SJ was incomparable. I might have written about my view on Janaki prior (or at least have been thinking of writing 🙂 )…just take “Ponmeni Urugudhe” and “Oh Babua” to compare, they are both in different universes! Asha is no patch on SJ in this song…
Like you said, UR was more limited, get the job done types, but she did get great songs. I hear what you are saying about Raja’s “other” singers, but I do have a soft corner for Jency, simply for the superb songs she sang/got (I know I’m conflating the quality of the song with her singing ability)..to me “Kadhal Oviyam” is one of the greatest love songs ever, not only for the fantastic bass line (especially second interlude), but for the freshness of young love, the feeling it conveyed….
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brangan
May 4, 2024
“Swarnalatha was one of the rare singers – and offhand, the only other I can think of is Asha Bhonsle – whose timbre in the lower registers carried the warmth of whiskey. ”
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viji79
May 4, 2024
kaadhal mayakkam from pudumai Penn and aagaya vennilaave tharai meedhu vandhadeno from arangetra velai
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Madan
May 4, 2024
Jency sang really well on some songs – Poo Malarnthida, Kadhal Oviyam, decently on others like Adi Penne, Iru Paravaigal and nails to a chalkboard level on En Vaanile. That one was just murder.
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Anand Raghavan
May 6, 2024
I somehow felt , Swarnalatha’s potential was best brought out by Rahman more than Raja. In many songs he had used her humming to a great effect.
Coming to Uma Ramanan, one strong point of hers was the ease with which she sang high pitched songs, with minimum movement, similar to Janaki .
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vijay
May 6, 2024
I had posted a comment on non-IR work but it got swallowed up I think..Vidyasagar had used her in late 90s/early 2000s..’VAA SAKI” Iin arasiyal and Pooothirukkum vaname, a duet with Hariharan comes to mind..reposting link here. Both of them are pretty good songs
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vijay
May 6, 2024
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vijay
May 6, 2024
UR was (yet another) beneficiary of IR’s early 80s prowess..I guess they had known each other since AV Ramanan’s musiano days and out of goodwill or so he may have given her those songs.She had the highest strike rate amongst IR’s female singers. She sang less, but most of them are either hits or acclaimed. Was lucky that way. Never added much to the song , just sailed along with it. She was a perfect light music troupe singer though
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vijay
May 6, 2024
Anand, Swarnalatha sang a variety of songs for IR,..apart from the melody classics,she could sing teasing songs where the natural tease in her voice helped like “maargazhi maasam” or ” kaadhal enna kathirikaaya” or ” onappu thattu bullakku” and so on..I was very glad that a few songs came her way in the early 90s that would have otherwise gone to an ageing past-her-prime SJ.. Unfortunately no such luck with the male singers intro’ed by him. They were all uniformly mediocre.
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brangan
May 7, 2024
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Shankar
May 8, 2024
Baddy, that Rum Bum Bum video was epic! For all the cavorting that AVR is doing, UR is completely robotic, devoid of any emotion, feeling or movement! Was she nailed to the floor? Was she hiding eggs in her hair? Were there laser beams around her that might have scorched her if she moved? Alas, we will never know….RIP UR!
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Prem Rogue
May 16, 2024
LOL, Shankar! In that era female singers practically comatose stage presence. In Amanda Weidman’s book Brought to Life by the Voice: Playback Singing and Cultural Politics in South India, the chapter Ambiguities of Animation has a section called Bodily Stillness that describes this phenomenon. Excerpts:
Female playback singers of this generation…did not hold with the idea of “losing oneself” in expressive performance. The danger in this would be a body that performed out of control. Rather, female playback singers cultivated the ability to separate their voices from their bodies…The idea was to channel all of one’s expressive power into one’s voice, leaving the face and body to remain still and expressionless.
The ability to dissociate one’s voice from one’s body was essential to the live performances of female playback singers of this generation. They were known for standing absolutely still while singing. An acquaintance of Janaki’s, for instance, remarked with wonder and admiration that “you could be standing right next to her and not know that she is the one singing.” A woman standing immobile before the microphone, eyes fixed on the music stand or her book of lyrics, using one hand to keep the end of her sari carefully draped over right shoulder: this is the iconic image of the respectable female playback singer.
—
“She won’t even move an eighth of an inch,” the singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, who sang with Janaki throughout the 1970s and 1980s, told me. “But if you close your eyes, you will see someone dancing, crying, or laughing.”
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Rahini David
May 16, 2024
Prem, you should TOTALLY write a RWI on this book.
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Madan
May 16, 2024
Seconding Rahini. That’s terrific insight on how the great playback singers worked.
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Jayram
May 16, 2024
Thanks for sharing this, Prem Rogue. I know Amanda Weidman very well. She’s a professor at Anthropology at Bryn Mawr and has learnt Carnatic violin from the late Dwaram Mangatarayu of the legendary Dwaram Venkatasamy Naidu family. I was fortunate to see her Carnatic violin recital in April alongside Umayalpuram Mali on mridangam. And since the majority of the audience members there were non-Indian, I was the one putting the thalam. 😉
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Prem Rogue
May 16, 2024
It’s been a little while since I read the book but perhaps I’ll go through it again and write a RWI piece on it.
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