The evergreen hit ‘Mamalakalkkappurathu Marathakappattuduthhu, Malayalamennoru nadunde...’ in Ninamanija Kalpadukal which every Keralite cherishes and many other songs have immortalised P B Sreenivas who bid goodbye to the world of music on Sunday.
A few musicians of the city go down nostalgia lane and reminisce the salient features of the music of PBS.
His deep knowledge of music is reflected in his rendering. The songs rendered by PBS have a classical touch. “It’s apt to say ‘old is gold’. The blend of lyrics and music in his rendering is unique taking it to divine and sublime heights. He had an uncanny way of bringing out the essence, beauty and soul of classicism. The good old musical qualities were intact in his works which tread the path of old tradition of stalwarts including M S Vishwanathan and M L Vasanthakumari. His style and presentation are outstanding be it classical, folk or melodies. He could change to the demands of the situation,” said M Balasubramoniam, Principal R L V College, Tripunithura.
Another significant feature is the minimum use of instrumental effect. He used them in such a way that the quality of music was never lost in the sound of instruments.
He has sung many other Malayalam hits including that in Harischandra in 1955. One can never forget his Tamil hit ‘Kalangalil Aval Vasantham’, penned by Kannadasan and composed by M S Viswanathan and T K Ramamoorthy in ‘Pava Mannippu’.
According to T S Radhakrishnan the PBS is known for his Bhava. “The expressions in his rendering come out from his heart which also reveals the depth of knowledge in the field.”
His words are attested to by another musician R Muraleedharan. “PBS has created hits in various languages including Hindi, which he could render with ease. His song ‘Ninaippathellam... ‘ in Tamil movie ‘Nenjil Oru Alayam’ still reverberates in my mind,” he said.