17.1 My liking to music and singing began in my childhood. For long years, we were allowed to seeing movies only once a year; particularly after our annual exams are over. Television came in mid-1980s. My mother told me that my first song was in the year 1956, as four years old, when my father was away and posted in Madras (Chennai). The song was "Amma Choodalani Vundi... from the Telugu Black & White movie MUDDU BIDDA" MUDDUBIDDA-AMMA CHOODALANI VUNDI-MUDDU BIDDA- OLD TELUGU SONGS - YouTube.
17.2 I used to hear my father sing old melodious Telugu classical filmy songs at home during his free time from Devadasu, Bava Maradallu, Malleeswari, Vipranarayana, Batasari, Mooga Manasulu, Doctor Chakravarthi, Bharya Bharthalu, etc. Those melodies were rendered by top singers like Ghantasala, Bhanumathi, Susheela and others. That definitely had an effect on my picking up singing. But I never went for any training or classes. In 1965, as a 12-year-old boy, I was asked to participate in a cultural program in our Saidabad Colony, Hyderabad. I sang a popular song from Telugu movie MOOGA MANASULU and surprisingly got the first prize. It was Mooga Manasulu Songs - Mudda Banthi Puvvulo - Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Jamuna, Savitri, Ghantasala - YouTube.
17.3 Subsequently, myself and my classmate in School, MV Ramakrishna used to sing latest movie songs in leisure time. We were caught red-handed one day by our Headmaster and got scolded. But we were never poor in our studies and passed all the exams with high scores. I continued my literary and cultural activities during my B.Sc. college days but got aborted then. I continued to pursue my hobby only in private for next 30 years due to my focus on studies, career, etc. My watching movies regularly was after I started working in bank in 1971, particularly on Saturday afternoons after the working hours. My father died in 1990 due to ill-health, at the age of 60 years. He last recorded a tragic Telugu song on audio tape..... Avuna Nijamena from the film Malleeswari (NTR and Bhanumathi). Ouna Nizamamena Song - Malleswari Movie Songs - NTR, Bhanumathi - YouTube.
17.4 Music has its own special features. It conveys feelings and soothes our mind. It has no language barriers. Way back in 1973-74, I heard a friend singing Re-Mix of an old song SUNU MERE BANDHU RE (SD Burman) style adopted for the hot and popular number DUMMARO DUMMU RE, MITH JAYE GHAMMU RE from the Dev Anand-Zeenat Film, HARE RAMA HARE KRISHNA (RD BURMAN). It's a very powerful tool or instrument in connecting people, incidents, and what not in a thematic way. In 1974, I was organising a farewell meeting to our Chief Manager of SBI Hyderabad Branch, Shri KST Pani. On that day, I ventured to sing a classical song from Telugu movie Uyyala Jampala of Shri Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna..... Yeti loni keratalu, yeru vidachi povu... Uyyala Jampala movie song, Etilona keratalu eruvidichi povu yeda lopala mamakaram..... - YouTube
17.5 Only after I joined TAPMI, Manipal (a leading MBA Institute) in 1999, I revived my hobby while being amidst young and bright Management students, during various cultural programs on campus. PGDM Inaugural 2012
17.6 My successful career in Academics in four MBA Institutes for about two decades came to an end by 2018. Being active in social media, I came across in Facebook, posting of videos of old Hindi songs by an ex-colleague of SBI, Mr Kerala Verma. I got prompted and motivated to revive my forgotten hobby. I used my Apple 6 iPhone as Camera-cum-mic and started recording Karaoke Songs, solos and duets, in Hindi and Telugu and uploaded in my own existing YouTube page. Hitherto, I was using this page for my recordings with a Sony Handi-cam since the year 2009 on all programs / events in TAPMI. Now, I uploaded 218 Videos in all covering a variety of Karaoke songs by me at home. Prof Dr Chowdari Prasad - YouTube. I used to post these also in my Facebook page and share with my friends in WhatsApp. Many of my friends were surprised at my hidden talent and appreciated / encouraged me. Please click here to know all about Karaoke, which is in vogue since 1960s. Karaoke - Wikipedia.
17.7 Encouraged by the pleasant success of my karaoke singing and YouTube postings appreciated by many at my revived hobby, post retirement, my wife Ganga Prasad gifted me a Keyboard on my 66th Birthday in 2018. I looked around for a Tutor / Institute to learn to play the Keyboard in Jayanagar, Bangalore and attended a few classes on Sundays. I used to be an odd man out amidst young children present in the class. After about three months, I shifted to another Tutor in BTM-1, nearer to my home and attended early morning classes on Mondays and Wednesdays when children are not around. But my work pressure was coming in my way to learn seriously, and I was irregular at classes or practicing at home. Then came the Covid19 virus, affecting our movements due to Lockdowns in 2020-2022. However, my Tutor came back offering classes online using WhatsApp Video sessions. I could pick up around 35 Hindi and Telugu songs / bhajans on Keyboard. Simultaneously, my karaoke singing in YouTube and StarMaker App continued to keep me engaged and spend my panic-driven times happily.
17.8 My nephew Mr Rabi Patnaik initiated me to the StarMaker App for Karaoke singers in 2019. This is a high-tech platform developed by Star TV Channel group being used by 60 million members worldwide. StarMaker⭐ | Sing along with 60M+ music enthusiasts worldwide🌎 - YouTube. This App has a variety of features and is so user-friendly that we have choice of picking any song and sing along. It contains the lyrics, track music, details of movie / singer / actors, time and scrolling facility, etc. We can also select partners for duets already posted for public use. The songs could be short versions, remixes, medleys, or specific to festivals or national events. While singing / recording itself, the App indicates the level of performance with running score points and gives running feedback. At the end, we have choice of saving as a draft, re-start or save in your page. You can also share to friends also.
17.9 Every participant has his or her own page with profile information, photographs and album, showing the songs in chronological order. When a song is completed, based on the performance / scores obtained, it will also indicate the letter grading like A++ (highest and above 99% of the members), A+ (above 85% of members), A (above 60% of members), B, C or D (lowest) so that you can make up your mind to re-perform and improve the quality / performance. We do also have Followers and those whom we follow. Each song we save / post, can be viewed / heard by any Member, with a facility to Like, Comment, Re-post and Share. There is a provision for listeners to offer Gifts in appreciation (in points, of course). At the end, every song is allotted a DAILY RANKING and later a REGIONAL / TOTAL RANKING. Overall, it's very interactive and members-friendly.
17.10 I downloaded the App in my Apple6 mobile phone and started using for continuing my karaoke singing. My phone works as a mike cum camera to record both audio and video songs. I enjoy using it which supports me with lyrics and track music, to sing solos and duets, in Telugu, Hindi and English. In the last over three years since 2019, I collaborated virtually with over 100 Female Members and a few Male Members too to sing Hindi and Telugu duets. I recorded all my favourite melodies of great singers. These include Telugu film singers: 1. Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao 2. PB Srinivas 3. SP Balasubramaniam 4. Madhava Peddi & Pithapuram Nageswara Rao 5. M. Balamuralikrishna 6. KBK Mohan Raj 7. KJ Yesudas 8. Ramakrishna 9. Udit Narayan 10. Mohd Rafi 11. Raghunath Panigrahi 12. AM Raja 13. Sriram Prabhu and 14. Chittaranjan (AIR).
17.11 Similarly, my Hindi melodies include that of 1.Mohd Rafi 2.Kishore Kumar 3.Manna Dey 4.Mahendra Kapur 5.Hemanth Kumar 6.Talat Mahamood 7.KL Saigal 8.SD Barman 9.Shailendra Singh 10.SP Balasubramaniam 11.Bhupender Singh 12.Jagjit Singh 13.Udit Narayan 14.Sonu Nigam 15.Sudesh Bhonsle 16.Mukhesh 17.Kumar Sanu 18.KJ Yesudas 19.Amitabh Bachchan 20. Nitin Mukhesh 21. AR Rehman 22. Amit Kumar and 23.Ghulam Ali. These songs go back to the mid 1930s till the recent times.
17.12 I have two pages in StarMaker App in my name. I record on an average 4-5 songs every day. I have recorded a highest number of 28 songs on a single day. As on date, I posted in all 4,389 karaoke songs (2,628 + 1,761), solos and duets, in Telugu and Hindi, Audio and Videos, besides 218 videos in YouTube page, thus aggregating 4,607 songs. More than 35% of them are graded as A++. There are Bhajans, Devotionals, Ghazals, Patriotic, Romantic, Comic, Group, Remix, Regional, Radio and Tragic Songs as also some English numbers from my choice of BoneyM and ABBA popular pop-groups.
17.12.1 The seven favourite English popular numbers are: One way Ticket (2 times), Rivers of Bobylon (2 times), Money Money Money, Fernando, S.O.S., Mamma Mia, Brown Girl in the Ring (2 times).
17.12.2 I also posted some Private Telugu Songs of Ghantasala garu like Pushpa Vilapam, Tala Ninda Poodanda Dalichina Rani, Padake Naa Rani,Bahudurapu Batasari, etc. I also rendered some popular cine / private songs of late Shri Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna. These are Yetilone Keratalu, Ye theeruga nanu daya choosedavo, Padamule Chaalu Rama, Pibare Ramarasam and Yemi chethura linga. I also rendered Official Song of Andhra Pradesh ....... Maa Telugu Talliki, Malle Poodanda. The App also has a provision of not only sharing with other friendly members and in other social media like Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram.
17.13 My level of achievement in the two pages is at 45 and 41. My songs are all typical melodies of duration of 1.20 to over 10.0 minutes duration. There are some popular songs repeated more than once. Similarly, the duets were performed many times with different partners. So, there is some double counting. In the first page, I have 6,900 followers while I follow 1,100. About 2,600 songs were ranked. I received 50,387 gift points worth 1,07,063 in as many as 27 types of gifts. Of the 2,600 songs, I received highest daily ranking of No.1 for 346, No. 1 to 5 for 900 and No. 1 to 10 for 1,251 songs.
17.14 In the second page, I have 5,100 followers while I follow 350. About 1,478 songs were ranked. I received 32,253 gift points worth 64,584 in as many as 7 types of gifts. Of the 1,500 songs, I received highest daily ranking of No.1 for 514, No. 1 to 5 for 882 and No. 1 to 10 for 1,032 songs. I give below, some posts in my Facebook page recently:
17.15 Overall, this hobby of my karaoake singing, keeps me cheerful and engaged instead of idling my time in my times post retirement. Incidentally, I am grateful to God that Karaoke singing has become a testing mechanism for my vision for reading lyrics in English / Hindi / Telugu, throat to render the songs with modulation and lung power (breathing too) at a time we were passing through the Covid19 times.
17.16 In December 2022 while staying in Melbourne on a long holiday with family, I ventured to sing and post in my StarMaker Karaoke page, ten favourite / popular songs of the maestro late Sri Kundan Lal Saigal. These are 1. Jab Dil hi toot gaya (Shahjehan, 1946) 2. Soja Raaj Kumari (Zindagi, 1940) 3. Jo Beet Chuki (Pujarin, 1936) 4. Karoon Kya aas niras (Dushman, 1939) 5. Do naina matware (My Sister / Meri Didi, 1944) 6. Gam diye mustakil (Shahjehan, 1946) 7. Ek Bangla bane nyara (President, 1937) 8. Babul Mora (Street Singer, 1937) 9. Diya Jalao, Jag mag (Tansen, 1943) and 10. Main kya janu (Zindagi, 1940). His profile in Wikipedia says he is an actor / singer and first Super Star of Hindi Cinema (both in Kolkata and Mumbai):
17.17 In November 2022, while in Melbourne, I posted ten of my Karaoke songs of late Shri Jagjit Singh ji in my StarMaker page. I attended his live performances in Mumbai in 1985 and 1998 and was influenced. His profile from Wikipedia is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagjit_Singh
The songs / ghazals are 1. Chitthi na koi sandesh, 2. Kal Chaudhvi ki raat 3. Ye Daulat bhi lelo 4. Hothon se chulo thum 5. Tum Itna Kyun Muskurarahi ho 6. Hosh Walon ko kya 7. Jane woh kaise, log the jinke 8. Tum ko dekha tho 9. Jhuki jhuki thee nazar and 10. Yeh thera ghar, ye mera ghar. Each one is a master piece.
17.18 In the last week of December 2022, I made another valiant effort to karaoke sing 10 popular numbers, both solo and duets of late Shri Talat Mahmood (1924-1998), Padmabhushan Awardee. Late Talat Mahmood (1924-1998) These songs were from various films released between 1951 and 1964. These are 1. Jalte hain Jiske Liye (Sujata, 1959) 2. Tasweer Banata hun (Baradari, 1955) 3. Itnana muzhse thu pyar badha (Chaya, 1961) 4. Zindagi Dene wale (Dil E Nadan, 1953) 5. Jayen tho jayen kaha (Taxi Driver, 1954) 6. Meri Yaad mein thum na (Madhhosh, 1951) 7. Phir wohi sham, wohi gham (Jahan ara, 1964) 8. Seene mein Sulagta (Tarana, 1951) 9. Rahi Math wale (Waris) and 10. Thu phulonki rani (Chitrapat, 1961).
17.19 Finally, let me submit that Karaoke Singing is an art and for entertainment. It's not copying, mimicry or plagiarism but a sort of imitation. LEKHA NEWSLETTER Jan, 2023 (Page 19) A write up on my Karaoke hobby was covered on page 19 of Sistakaranam Ikya Vedika Monthly Newsletter.
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