walking upstream…
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
photo: sundar · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam was a Telugu-born playback singer who recorded across Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and more than a dozen other Indian languages, amassing one of the largest catalogs of any vocalist in history over a five-decade career. He came up in the long shadow of Ghantasala's dominance in Telugu cinema before becoming the definitive voice of stars from Kamal Haasan to Salman Khan, prized for a warm, elastic tenor that moved just as easily through classical ragas as through pop hooks. He won six National Film Awards for playback singing before his death in 2020.
the sound in question
1981
Tere Mere Beech MeinS. P. Balasubrahmanyam
walk the tributaries ↓
Ghantasala1950s–60s · Playback singing / Film music / Carnatic classical / Devotional
Ghantasala had been the voice of Telugu heroism and devotion for roughly 25 years by the time SPB started recording, and SPB idolized him, by his own account working hard to be accepted as a different voice by an audience loyal to Ghantasala's. Accounts of their one shared studio date, in 1969, describe SPB as frankly terrified to sing alongside his idol.
listen: upstream & heresource: SPB ↗
1961
Siva Sankari (Sivanandalahari)Ghantasala
1979
Shankara Nada SareeraS. P. Balasubrahmanyam
listen forThe unhurried, full-throated classical control SPB brings to devotional and mythological numbers - long, steady vowel holds and clean raga movement rather than pop ornamentation - carries forward the padyam (sung-verse) singing style Ghantasala had perfected.
Mohammed Rafi1960s · Playback singing / Filmi / Ghazal / Bhajan / Qawwali
SPB said Mohammed Rafi was his inspiration for singing romantic songs 'with passion and involvement,' and reportedly wrote the word 'Rafi' in the margins of his own song scripts as a note to himself to execute a particular vocal glide the way Rafi would.
listen: upstream & here
1966
Baharon Phool BarsaoMohammed Rafi
1989
Dil DeewanaS. P. Balasubrahmanyam
listen forListen for the soft, held glide into a high note at the peak of a romantic phrase in SPB's Hindi ballads - a self-acknowledged echo of Rafi's own melodic sigh.
Kishore Kumar1970s · Filmi / Bollywood playback / Indian pop
A profile of SPB describes him blending the traits he admired in Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, T. M. Soundararajan and P. B. Sreenivas into his own voice; much as Kishore Kumar had become Rajesh Khanna's singular screen voice through the 1970s, SPB went on to become the defining Hindi playback voice of Salman Khan's early stardom.
listen: upstream & heresource: dbsjeyaraj.com — SPB's blend of Rafi, Kishore Kumar, T.M. Soundararajan and P.B. Sreenivas ↗
1969
Roop Tera MastanaKishore Kumar
1982
Ilamai Idho IdhoS. P. Balasubrahmanyam
listen forThe conversational ease and playful, almost unschooled looseness SPB brings to breezy duet numbers leans on Kishore's instinctive, self-taught charm rather than pure classical rigor.