P Jayachandran - Inimitable and ubiquitous

At 7.45 pm, Thursday evening. A voice that mesmerised millions went silent. It turned out to be the swan song of an age. Music legend P Jayachandran leaves behind an enduring legacy, few others can claim. He made a mark with his first released song ‘Manjalayil Mungithorthi’ for the movie Kalithozhan. However, he debuted in 1965 with the song Oru Mullappoo Malayumayi for the movie Kunjali Marakkar. He went on recording more than 16,000 songs in all across different languages. A career spanning over five decades saw him recording songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi alongside his mother tongue. Over the years he was honoured with accolades including the National Film Award, the Kerala government’s J C Daniel Award and Kerala State Film Awards for five times and Tamil Nadu State Film Awards twice.

Emerging alongside the towering Yesudas back in 1960s, Jayachandran broke a trail for himself. Looking back, one might as well ask how he pulled it off. Because, many singers who popped up here and there had vanished no sooner than they made a mark. Some managed to hold on for a few years, rendering only a few dozen songs. It wasn’t the question of lack of talent, or any favouritism in the industry. By the way, many out there try to define the age with simplistic criticisms. It is true many singers did not make it to the top. It had to do with their failure to capture the zeitgeist of age, the spirit of the time. Something that was set by the ubiquitous presence of Yesusdas. Elsewhere Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson explained how some artists dominate their age through their sheer talent and style. It has to do with their ability to capture the masses. P Jayachandran entered the scene with the gusto of a unique talent.

As one music critic pointed out, in the early days, his voice sounded similar to that of Yesudas but with a difference. That difference was largely about how he imbued feelings. It stood out and struck a chord with masses, and he cultivated a fandom. The most interesting aspect of his voice was that it was velvety soft like great singer Muhammad Rafi’s. By the way, Rafi topped Jayachandran’s list of favourite singers. This velvety voice and special inflections he placed on the lyrics worked wonders. That earned him the title ‘Bhava gayakan’. He was one of the huge talents ever to emerge in playback singing.

It is said that he wasn’t a trained singer. But the song Ragam Sreeragam for 1978 movie Bandhanam, composed by MB Sreenivasan, marked his prowess in rendering nuances of semi-classical songs. Later, he was widely praised for performing Carnatic classical song ‘ Parama Purusha Jagatheswara jaya, Jaya’ in Vasantha ragam. It appeared he believed in no boundaries in music—classical or movie songs. The simplicity in rendering is another factor that endeared him to masses and many felt like singing along. They thought they were getting closer to him. They weren’t. That was Jayachandran magic. A new generation singer told an interviewer that he couldn’t come anywhere close to feelings and vocal inflections in Jayachandran songs —true, it was all his own. Inimitable.