PB SRINIVAS

From Sampath’s Desk:

  

 

PRATIVADI BHAYANKARA SRINIVAS

 (22 Sep.1928 - 14 April 2013)

 

A sweet, golden, melodious, and mellifluous voice that enthralled and mystified music lovers across the country in general and those in South India, in particular, became silent on 14.4.2013. Yes, P.B.Srinivas, who was a heart-throb of millions of music lovers for well over five decades, is no more. PBS, as he was fondly known, was synonymous with honeyed voice and tone that could have hardly missed notice by anyone, during his hey-days of playback singing. His ‘Nectar-flowing-into-ears’ songs transported cine song listeners to a crescendo of joy.  He was a lyricist and a music composer too.

 

He had sharp artistic acumen, a capacity for presentation in a velvet voice, and a natural flair to sustain aural and acoustic interest in music lovers. His songs transcended times and generations, and are even now liked by youngsters.  For millions of yesteryears, he was a favourite singer.

True to the saying that musicians are special emissaries of fine arts capable of entertaining, and even assuaging sagging moods, many of his numbers had this special characteristic and effect to mollify the dejected people. His philosophical songs, in particular, struck a right chord to palliate the pains of disturbed minds.

He treated his listeners and audience differently and they also experienced his numbers differently. He was indeed elegant, of course not flamboyant, and invariably had some subtle niceties and/or messages in all his songs for the listeners. The texture of his voice was peerless. He was a uniquely gifted singer.

Though his departure has inevitably caused a vacuum hard to fill, the solace is that his songs already available in soft forms will continue to permeate and waft through the air spreading the flagrance of his memorable numbers and carry music lovers into delightful and enrapturing bouts, especially sending old-timers into nostalgia.

 

 

 

(R.SAMPATH)

14/4/2013