CHENNAI: Namah Shivaya Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya, Om Shakti Om Shakti and Hey Srinivasa Srivenkatesa are some of the popular devotional songs played in south Indian households. Pallavi H Prakash, erstwhile composer, and trend-setter in the non-film music industry has over 3,000 devotional, folk, rap, gaana, and rhymes to his credit. The city-based director takes us through his musical journey, the current scenario of devotional songs and artists, and his prized vinyl collection.
Work is worship
After graduation in 1978, Prakash got an opportunity to work at HMV — the gramophone recording company of India — in Chennai. While working he picked up skills like recording programming and techniques from the recording engineer there. He was “blessed” to meet stalwarts like MS Subbulakshmi, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Zakir Hussain and others who often visited the studio for recordings.
“Interacting with them sowed seeds of passion in my mind. I was yearning to compose at least four songs on Sri Raghavendra Swamy and release it on a record. It did not happen and I moved to (then) Bombay. I got a golden opportunity to work as a trainee of RD Burman in 1979 when he was composing and recording Love Story, Rocky, and Bond 303,” says Prakash.
On a musical path
Meanwhile, back home in Chennai, cassettes entered the music market. Prakash’s first album was Deiva Maalai with P Susheela. His second assignment Om Sakthi Om Sakthi by LR Eswari won him a gold disc — a way of acknowledging the success of the song. He became a trend-setter with his light music for devotional songs. He has composed songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu non-film music industry.
“The proudest moment in my musical career is composing songs for two legends — TM Sounderarajan and P Susheela. I composed many Murugan albums for TMS. P Susheela sang soft Amman songs. SPB used to sing Shiva songs. LR Eswari sang folk Amman songs. Each singer had a distinct voice that suited a particular God. It’s unfortunate that people don’t recognise the composers behind non-film music as much as film songs,” he says.
Prakash was the first to attempt gaana and rap songs in Tamil. “In an attempt to bring many music directors in one album, Gaana 2000 was composed. Ten music directors sang my compositions. Guinness Books of Record hailed my rare feat, but said that they cannot give me a certificate as they did not have a category,” says Prakash who has composed Christian and Muslim devotional songs, too.Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) where most of the Indian composers and authors are members has a data of 2,650 of his works. He is the president of Association of Non-Film Music Directors & Lyric Writers which was inaugurated in 2013.
Composing to collecting
“The cassette industry came to a standstill due to the advent of MP3 CDs. With 150 songs in one CD for `30, piracy collapsed the market. Today there are few music shops, and physical sale of CDs is a rarity. Many cassette producers have vanished,” he rues.
When Prakash was young his father used to listen to music from gramophone in 78 RPM Shellac records. “My father had a good collection. I grew up listening to many old classics. This inspired me to collect records when I started earning. From then on I began hunting for old records from Moore Market,” he says, adding that he has several vinyl records in six languages.
Renowned collection
Indian Performing Right Society has a data of 2,650 of Prakash’s works. He is the president of Association of Non-Film Music Directors & Lyric Writers which was inaugurated in 2013.