Ghantasala
Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao was the reigning male playback voice of Telugu cinema from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, a Carnatic-trained singer whose resonant baritone and mastery of the padyam (sung verse) made him the default voice of gods, kings and matinee idols alike. He also composed music for dozens of films and cut private devotional recordings, including a celebrated Bhagavad Gita album still played daily at the Tirumala temple. His grip on the industry was so complete that a young S. P. Balasubrahmanyam had to work hard simply to be accepted as a different voice.
Ghantasala was, per his biographical record, 'deeply influenced by the saint composer Thyagaraja, paying attention to the mood and content of every lyric.' That attentiveness carried into his film padyams and private classical recordings - he is on record singing the Thyagaraja kriti 'Marugelara' on an LP cut during his only visit to the United States.
listen forThe careful raga discipline and text-first phrasing of Ghantasala's classical and devotional numbers, where melody serves the words' meaning rather than showing off vocal runs, mirrors the kriti tradition Thyagaraja established.
Ghantasala was an admirer of the Hindustani vocalist Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, who stayed as a guest at Ghantasala's Chennai home during a 1959 visit; some of the thumri style's ornamented, sliding note-bending found its way into Ghantasala's own semi-classical film songs.
listen forThe long, sliding glides between notes in Ghantasala's romantic numbers - looser and more vocal-sigh than the more angular gamakam ornamentation typical of strict Carnatic singing - carry a Hindustani thumri flavor.