Bangalore: South Indian Vanambadi S. Janaki (88), who won the hearts of listeners with his blessed melody and singing talent, has passed away. He died during treatment at a Mysore hospital. Tens of thousands of songs were performed in more than twenty local and foreign languages.
S was born on April 23, 1938 in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Birth of Janaka. His father Shistila Ramamurthy was an Ayurvedic doctor. Parents died at a young age. Uncle Dr. Janaki later grew up under the protection of Chandrasekhar. Although he had a taste for music from an early age, he did not have the opportunity to study classical music in depth except for a few brief lessons. In 1956, Janaki entered the world of music by participating in the All India Music Competition organized by Aakashvani and finishing second.
S. Janaki (Photo: Manorama Archive)
On that day, President Dr. Rajendra Prasad presented the award to Janaki. In 1957, he took a job at AVM Studios in Madras. Janaki entered the world of film music by singing in the Tamil film Vidhiin Valayat directed by famous music director Chalapathi Rao. Even though the film was not released, he got an opportunity to sing in six languages, including Malayalam, that year. The first song sung in Malayalam was “Irul Mooodoo En Vaghe” from the 1957 film Minnunna Thottu Ponnalla. The song Shinkara Velane Deva, sung by Janaki in the 1962 Tamil film Konjum Chilankai, rocked the South Indian music world. Janaki has also reaffirmed her position in the field of film music.
Although Janaki has sung for many music directors in Malayalam, it was the tunes of M.S. Baburaja Malayalees felt Janaki’s Swaramadhuri the most. For example, songs like Thaliritta Kinakkalthan..(Moodupatam), Anjana Kannakhudee…(Tacholi Othenan), Suryakanthee..(Wild Flower), Oko Kochu Swapnathin (Tharavattamma), Tamara Kumpililallo Mamahridayam (Seek and Find), etc.
Manjinipunilaav (Nagarame Nandi, music by K. Raghavan), Nidratan Neeraji (Pakalkinaav, music by Chidambaranath), Yesterday You Are Beautiful Ragamayen (Stree, music by Dakshinamurthy), Sandhye Kanniri Tete (Madanotsavam, Salil Chaudhary), Wake Up Soon Not (Mudalmanju, Usha Khanna), In The Moment (Chandrakantham, M.S. Viswanathan), With the Warmth of Light Snow (Ennishtham Ninishtham, Kannur Rajan), In Manathin Muthat (Karutta Pournami, M.K. Arjunan), Laughing with You When You Laugh (Kadal, M.B. Srinivasan), In Manjnikompil (Flowers in the Snow, Jerry Amaldev), Gopikai on the Toe (Katamte Kilikud, Johnson), Hani and The magical voice of Vayampa S. Janaki shook the hearts of Malays with various emotions through hundreds of immortal songs like (Thenum Vayampum, Raveendran), Mainakam (Trishna, Shyam), Natha Nivarum Kalocha (Chamaram, M.G. Radhakrishnan).
Apart from South Indian languages, Janaki has also sung in Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia, English, Sanskrit, Kongini, Tulu, Saurashtra, Badaga, Sinhala and German. S. Janaki has received the Desiya Award for Best Singer four times. Janaki was awarded the National Award in 1981 for the song beginning with Ettumanoorambalamthal from the film Opal. She has been awarded the Desi Award twice for Tamil songs and once for Telugu songs. Kerala State Award for Best Singer 11 times, Government of Andhra Award 10 times, Tamil Nadu State Award seven times and Government of Odisha Award for Best Singer once. Janaki received.
In October 2017, S was in an open-air auditorium at Manasagangothri in Mysore. Janaki’s last musical evening. There they announced that they should no longer appear in public. Janaki’s last song from the film was also in Malayalam. In the 2016 film The Ten Commandments.
Late V. Ramaprasad S. Husband of Janaki. Married 1958. Died in 1990. Only son Muralikrishna (deceased). Daughter-in-law of Uma, grandchildren Amritavarshini and Apsara.