Breathless -- how did he do it?

[UVR]

Does anybody have any ideas on how Shankar Mahadevan really
accomplished Breathless and its reprise?

I will gladly admit that I have tried and failed repeatedly;
heck, I have even tried _reading_ the lyrics (not singing)
along as with the music system playing either song, and
I find that I need to stop and breathe "at least 4" <grin>
times.

There's got to be some trick to this whole thing. What?

-UVR.

[asi...@my-deja.com]

Recording trick. Sung different parts which were joined together at the
studio. :-)

He said so in his Rediff chat
http://www.rediff.com/chat/shanchat.htm

as well as in an interview
http://www.india-today.com/ttoday/121998/short.html

Cheers
Arun

[Balaji Murthy]

"UVR" <u...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1121987148.4...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

Though I have heard the piece myself, I recall reading about this when this
was in the news. Different pieces were recorded and studio edited to make
them appear continuous. BTW, there was a song by SPB sung during 88-90
timeframe for a Tamil/Telugu bilingual filmed on himself (on a beach IIRC).
I understand SPB really sang "breathless" several lines. Anybody know the
song (I can recall some of the tune but nothing else).

- Balaji

> -UVR.
>

[Loony Tunes]

"Balaji Murthy" <bmu...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:N9WdnSEXt50...@comcast.com...

Tamil Movie was Keladi Kanmani, iirc

The song in telugu goes as "maate raani chinna daanii kannu paluke
uusulu..." (wrote from memory..am bound to have commited some horrendous
mistakes)

SPB sang the whole verse "breathless" catches a lot of breaths afterwards
and continues on...

The song was picturized on SPB and Radhika.

lt

>
> - Balaji
>
>> -UVR.
>>
>
>

[UVR]

Loony Tunes wrote:
> "Balaji Murthy" <bmu...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:N9WdnSEXt50...@comcast.com...
> > "UVR" <u...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:1121987148.4...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> >> Does anybody have any ideas on how Shankar Mahadevan really
> >> accomplished Breathless and its reprise?

> >> [*snip*]

> >> There's got to be some trick to this whole thing. What?
> >
> > Though I have heard the piece myself, I recall reading about this when
> > this was in the news. Different pieces were recorded and studio edited to
> > make them appear continuous.

Ah, so *that* was the trick. Hrm. Pretty nifty piece of
editing, I'll say. Thanks for keeping me from pushing
myself beyond my limits. :)

> > BTW, there was a song by SPB sung during
> > 88-90 timeframe for a Tamil/Telugu bilingual filmed on himself (on a beach
> > IIRC). I understand SPB really sang "breathless" several lines. Anybody
> > know the song (I can recall some of the tune but nothing else).

I knew someone was going to mention this. I have heard (and
seen) this song in both Tamil and Telugu.

> Tamil Movie was Keladi Kanmani, iirc
>
> The song in telugu goes as "maate raani chinna daanii kannu paluke
> uusulu..." (wrote from memory..am bound to have commited some horrendous
> mistakes)
>
> SPB sang the whole verse "breathless" catches a lot of breaths afterwards
> and continues on...
>
> The song was picturized on SPB and Radhika.

I think this was, at least for the film, really breathlessly
executed. It's quite hard, but not impossible, to imitate.
I have also seen SPB sing this in a live concert, but there
he didn't bother to really make it breathless (he took one
*cleverly concealed* breath in the middle of the 'breathless'
antara). It was still a good effort, but it was kind-of
silly to see him try to pull a fast one on the audience by
taking those "lots of breaths afterwards". The saving grace
was (perhaps as was to be expected) he sang one antara in
Telugu and another in Tamil.

MM Kreem had Sunidhi do a *much* shorter, but nicely executed
'breathless' stretch in Sur -- "dil me.n jaagii dha.Dakan aise
pahalaa pahalaa paanii jaise, aisaa chhaayaa mujhape jaaduu,
haa haa hii hii he he ho ho, bhuulii mai.n sab aanaa jaanaa,
gaanaa vaanaa, khonaa paana, kisaki <gasp> nigaaho.n se"

-UVR.

[Prasanna]

I think there is a "breathless" piece by Yesudas in a Malayalam movie
called "Bharatam". If my memory serves me right, the song is
"Ramakadha" where Yesudas sings all this

Saarisa sasarisa sasarisa saarisa
Ririnini ririnini madhanisa
Rigari ririgari ririgari rigari
Gagariri gagariri sarigama
Paadhapa papadhapa papdhapa paadhapa
Saasadhaadha Saasadhaadha madhanisa
Saarisa sasarisa sasarisa sasarisa
Gaagariri gaagariri madhaniri

Indra dhanussukal neettee dhevakal
Aadhi naama gangayaadi raghupathi
Raama jayam raghu raama jayam
Sree bharatha vaakya bindu choodi
Sodhara paadhuka poojayil aathma padham
Pranavam vidarnnulanjulanja sarayuvil
Manthra mathanga tharanga sukham
Sara vega theevra thaalmeeki
Maaruthiyaay ....aa...aa....

in one breath (I think).. (Lyrics courtesy musicindiaonline).
Cheers,
Prasanna

[Prasanna]

recording trick maybe, but I have seen (on TV) Shankar Mahadevan
perform the same song live (I think it was a Zee tv saregama program
with TajMahal as the backdrop, I may be wrong) The live version sounded
no different to the recorded one..

[Archisman]

Also, Kishore Kumar singing 'tu ne abhi dekha nahin...dekha hai to jana
nahin....'

However, he takes a quick breath just before the long sentence ends

Regards-Archisman.

[Sanjeev Ramabhadran]

It's not *all* in one breath...there is (IMO) a reasonably audible edit
around the end of the first paragraph ("Madhaniri"), and unfortunately,
the swaras right around that point (Ma Dha Ni Ri) veer out of tune. The
first "Sa Sa Dha Dha" is actually sung as "Ni Ni Dha Dha", but promptly
corrected in the very next pass.

In general, Yesudas' pitch accuracy is not as good as what it used to
be in years past in this song...I would have loved to hear how
effortlessly he would have handled this had it been recorded 10-15
years earlier.

Sanjeev

[Sanjeev Ramabhadran]

Loony Tunes wrote:

>
> Tamil Movie was Keladi Kanmani, iirc

Yup.

>
> The song in telugu goes as "maate raani chinna daanii kannu paluke
> uusulu..." (wrote from memory..am bound to have commited some horrendous
> mistakes)

The Tamil version is "maNNil inda kaadal aNDri yaarum vaazhdal
koodumo". If you listen carefully, you can hear the edits in there too,
though I have no doubt that SPB could sing at least the majority of
this in one breath live.

Sanjeev

[yeskay]

Prasanna wrote:

I had this song recorded, I am pretty darn sure that KJY took a cleverly
concealed breath
after the 'swara' part. It looks like he has gone breathless in the
whole anthara. He seems
effortless in this song. A very very good song, I don't know which raga tho?

[Sanjeev Ramabhadran]

The Carnatic ragam would be Shubha Pantuvarali (corresponds for the
most part to Hindustani Todi), but interestingly, the note "Pa" does
not appear at all until the last stanza, sees very sparing use overall.
I can't offhand remember the name of the Carnatic ragam that drops Pa
altogether (corresponding to Hindustani Gurjari Todi).

Sanjeev

[Abhay]

Loony Tunes wrote:
(snip)

> Tamil Movie was Keladi Kanmani, iirc
>
> The song in telugu goes as "maate raani chinna daanii kannu paluke
> uusulu..." (wrote from memory..am bound to have commited some horrendous
> mistakes)
>
> SPB sang the whole verse "breathless" catches a lot of breaths afterwards
> and continues on...

In a BBC interview a few years ago, SPB rubbished the whole
"breathless" thing, saying (in essence) that Shankar Mahadevan's song
was the result of recording trickery and that his own "breathless" song
owed a lot to trickery too!

Warm regards,
Abhay

[UVR]

Shekharachandrika. GNB apparently used to revel in it.

-UVR.

[Kizzy]

Evening,

I accidently seemed to have used "Reply to Author" option on
21/07/2005. Albeit late...

Balaji Murthy wrote:
> "UVR" <u...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1121987148.4...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> > Does anybody have any ideas on how Shankar Mahadevan really
> > accomplished Breathless and its reprise?
> >
> > I will gladly admit that I have tried and failed repeatedly;
> > heck, I have even tried _reading_ the lyrics (not singing)
> > along as with the music system playing either song, and
> > I find that I need to stop and breathe "at least 4" <grin>
> > times.
> >
> > There's got to be some trick to this whole thing. What?

In the year 1999, Javed Akhtar and Shankar Mahadevan were promoting
"Breathless" at "Shopper's Stop - Andheri, Bombay" and Shankar
Mahadevan sung the song for the audience there. Sung pretty well albeit
with heavy breaths. He "seemed" to have incorported all the lines in
what appeared to be "a single breath". FYI.

>
> Though I have heard the piece myself, I recall reading about this when this
> was in the news. Different pieces were recorded and studio edited to make
> them appear continuous. BTW, there was a song by SPB sung during 88-90
> timeframe for a Tamil/Telugu bilingual filmed on himself (on a beach IIRC).
> I understand SPB really sang "breathless" several lines. Anybody know the
> song (I can recall some of the tune but nothing else).

Song: Mannil Indha Kadhalandri
Film: Keladi Kanmani [1990]
Singer: Balasubramanyam S. P.
Music Director: Ilayaraja
Lyricist: Unknown [Anyone aware of the lyricist?]
Audio Link: http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/26/m/actors.1876/

>
> - Balaji
>
> > -UVR.
> >

Pleasant musical times!

Kizzy

[harjinder...@gmail.com]

super yr Shanker Mahadeven Suprev

[hg6...@gmail.com]

I believe when he performs, there are some quick breaths there, three or four i guess. One should come before 'jab koi aayaa thaa...' and one before final 'ab jo mere din aur ab jo merii...' which I can easily recall. Remember most of the song by heart and of course have tried and failed miserably at singing like most. :)

[iammagn...@gmail.com]

Shankar Mahadevan Really Sung The Breatless Without Any Editing. He Even Sang It In IIFA 2011 In Toronto. Its Practice That Makes Him Perfect And He Even Breath In Between But We Are Unable To Catch Him Because He Is So Good At It.
For each song, there are going to be ideal times to take a breath. And there are going to be moments when you need to breathe in deeper. And He Nailed It!!! :D :D :D

[sneha...@gmail.com]

On Friday, 22 July 2005 04:35:48 UTC+5:30, UVR wrote:
> Does anybody have any ideas on how Shankar Mahadevan really
> accomplished Breathless and its reprise?
>
> I will g

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO MARATHI BREATHLESS BY BELA SHENDE?

[bhagvat...@gmail.com]

Hey guys I am just 16 but I can sing whole bretheless its quite easy look the other videos of bretheless by shankarji and u will he also takes breathe in between u also should try to sing and whenever requires brethe in between at line end or were u find a small gap.I practised this almost 58 times to become perfect and I achived it .
hope you try.......

[manis...@gmail.com]

Hi, most of the live performances by most of the artists are just lip-sync to the songs they are performing. Mahadevan might have pulled lip-sync there.

[manis...@gmail.com]

[manis...@gmail.com]

[manis...@gmail.com]

[manis...@gmail.com]

[manis...@gmail.com]

[lk12...@gmail.com]

But he performed it live on many shows. What do you want to say about that

[trichyt...@gmail.com]

Mannil intha kathal indri yaarum song .. sung by SPB

[abm0...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, July 21, 2005 at 4:05:48 PM UTC-7, UVR wrote:
> Does anybody have any ideas on how Shankar Mahadevan really
> accomplished Breathless and its reprise?
>
> I will gladly admit that I have tried and failed repeatedly;
> heck, I have even tried _reading_ the lyrics (not singing)
> along as with the music system playing either song, and
> I find that I need to stop and breathe "at least 4" <grin>
> times.
>
> There's got to be some trick to this whole thing. What?
>
> -UVR.

Does same audio recording Technic apply to Arjit Singh's 'Raabta' song?