Director Alphonse Puthren has come out in support of national-award winning playback singer Nanchiyamma, saying that those who criticise her do not understand her music. A day after the national film awards were announced, musician Linulal, in a Facebook post, said the award should have been given to a professional singer. According to him, Nanchiyamma can’t sing inpromptu, though he admitted that her song ‘Kalakkatha’ from ‘Ayyappanum Koshyum’ was good.
Now, Alphone Puthren has given a set of reasons why he thinks Nanchiyamma deserves the national award. “Those who are against that… I’m against them for not understanding her music. Carnatic music is just one genre in film music . Film music can include any genre of music in the world from ancient genres till the present genres. So those who criticise her should understand that they are not eligible for that.
"And I know the raagam which Nanjiyamma has sung . I’m sure that her criticisers don’t know the raagam of the song sung, tuned by her. She is actually the music director, singer and lyricist of that song. Jakes is the music programmer and music lover who has lifted the song into another level. Hence, a person who is knowledgeable only in Carnatic music cannot judge her. She has used Pann music which is older than Carnatic. I challenge the criticisers to tell which melakartha raagam the song is or tell me a western equivalent scale.
"I’m sure that only a few music directors like Ilayaraja sir, A R Rahman sir , Sharath sir, Lydian Nadaswaram and a few other music directors would know this. Jakes would know the raagam, since he had worked on the song. Some music lovers or teachers might tell the answer . So again … I’m proud of the national award jury and proud of Nanchiyamma and Sachy Ettan and ‘Ayyapanum Koshiyum’ team,” he wrote on Facebook.
