Ramesh Vinayakam (born 7 July 1963) is an Indian composer, arranger, singer, songwriter, music producer, and a music researcher.
Early life
Ramesh Vinayakam was born Ramasubramaniam (AKA Ramsubbu) to Tamil parents Vinayakam and Valli.
He went to
A. M. Jain College and later graduated in commerce from the
University of Madras
The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...
. He learned
Carnatic music
Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha.
It is o ...
from Rukmini Ramani and
Western classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
from Jacob John, completed his studies at the
Trinity College, London
Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity College ...
with a diploma.
Ramesh is very popular for his musical, oratorical talents and has won many competitions in the school and college. He held Secretary-Fine Arts in his alma mater – A M Jain College, Meenambakkam, Chennai (erstwhile Madras). Though initially he was a singer in his younger days, he has taken to composing like fish to water as both his parents are singers/composers, it is in his genes. By the time he completed his college he had already composed many songs for various situations along with his poet-friend Narayanan. He had a brief stint as a manager in his father's friend's firm, and he understood that his real ambition is to become a music composer instead of working in an office, as he used to compose/write pieces of music.
He decided to pursue his dream when he got a chance to meet
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, through a friend who introduced him to the legend.
Career
Composing
In 1986, Ramesh Vinayakam's first album ''Prathidhvani'' was released.
The album was a compilation of devotional songs on 10 deities, all sung by
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam.
Three years later, director
Moulee offered him a Telugu film, ''Paila Pacheesu'' and made him a music director.
He worked with Moulee on two more films, ''Manchi Roju'' (1991) and ''Aunty'' (1995) starring
Shobana and
Jayasudha, respectively.
Subsequently, he would again look for work and approach various producers and directors. Vinayakam recalls that "nothing happened" thereafter and calling it a "long and frustrating period".
In 2002, director
Vasanth
Vasanth is an Indian director well known in Tamil cinema, Tamil language films for directing films such as ''Keladi Kanmani'' (1990), ''Aasai'' (1995), ''Nerrukku Ner'' (1997), ''Rhythm (2000 film), Rhythm'' (2000) and ''Satham Podathey'' (200 ...
eventually signed him as one of the five composers for his next romantic musical ''
Hey! Nee Romba Azhaga Irukke''. Ramesh Vinayakam's contribution to the ensemble soundtrack was the song "Thottu Thottu" that was also sung by him.
The same year he composed for the film ''University'' that was his first full-fledged project in Tamil.
''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' in its review wrote that the soundtrack album was "very strong on melody" and "definitely worth a listen". Although the film was a
box office bomb
A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...
, Vinayakam has said he was glad that ''
University
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
'' had happened, since it fetched him his next project ''
Nala Damayanthi'' (2003),
his most notable film till date. Written and produced by
Kamal Haasan
Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...
, it featured
Madhavan in the lead. For the film, he further made Haasan sing an English song in the
country genre. Vinayakam then composed the score and songs for
Radha Mohan
Radha Mohan is an Indian film director and screenwriter of the South Indian film industry. He is known for his work in the films ''Mozhi (film), Mozhi'' (2007) with Jyothika, ''Abhiyum Naanum (film), Abhiyum Naanum'' (2008) with Prakash Raj, ...
's maiden feature film ''
Azhagiya Theeye'' and ''
Jerry'' written by
Crazy Mohan. He received positive critical response for his work in ''Azhagiya Theeye'' in particular.
Aside from film, Vinayakam has primarily worked on devotional music. He composed his first devotional song at age 12.
Since, he has worked on a number of devotional albums, including ''Shambo Mahadeva'', ''Krishna Janardhana'' and ''Sri Rama Dootam'' apart from ''Prathidhvani''.
In 2011, he composed the theme song for "Nadha Vaibhavam", a grand musical event of
Sri Sri Ravishankar's Art of Living. Vinayakam has also composed many
jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...
s and numerous title songs for television,
including all of Crazy Mohan's television series.
His upcoming projects include the English remake of ''
A Wednesday
''A Wednesday!'' is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film written and directed by Neeraj Pandey and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Anjum Rizvi and Shital Bhatia under UTV Motion Pictures and Friday Filmworks. The film stars Naseeru ...
'', titled ''
A Common Man'' directed by Sri Lankan filmmaker Chandran Rutnam and starring
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ben Kingsley, various accolades throughout Ben Kingsley on screen and stage, his career spanning fi ...
, as well as
S. P. Charan's next production.
Playback singing
Ramesh Vinayakam is a notable singer, too. While he has sung songs in all his Tamil films, he has also sung playback for other composers. Under
Harris Jayaraj
J. Harris Jayaraj (born 8 January 1975) is an Indian composer from Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil cinema, Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Cinema of Andhra Pradesh, Telugu and two films i ...
's direction, he had performed the song "Yaaridamum" from the film ''
Thotti Jaya'' (2005). He has lent his voice for songs from the films ''Bhaiyaa'', the dubbed Telugu version of the film ''
Malaikottai'', and the low budget flick ''Kadhal Valarthen'', which had music by singer
Srinivas. In 2010, he sang the number "Sada Siva" from the Telugu film ''
Khaleja
''Khaleja'' () is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language fantasy action comedy film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. It stars Mahesh Babu and Anushka, alongside Prakash Raj, Rao Ramesh, Shafi, Sunil, Ali, and Subbaraju in supportin ...
'' for composer
Mani Sharma. Although the film did not fare well, the song became popular and Vinayakam along with
N. C. Karunya, who co-sang the song, went on to win several accolades, including the
Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer – Telugu. In 2012, he sang the song "Stop The Pattu" from ''
Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal'' for composer
Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979), is an Indian composer and playback singer. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use o ...
.
Gamaka box
Ramesh Vinayakam has been working for several years on a so-called "Gamaka box" or Gamaka Box Notation System (GBNS), a way to visually represent and
notate the
gamaka, which is a type of ornamentation in
Indian classical music
Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...
. Notation of gamakams is generally not found in the Indian music system and Vinayakam's attempt was seen as a possible breakthrough and revolution in carnatic music.
He has obtained patent for the Gamaka box notation.
New ragas
Over the course of his career, he has composed ten distinct
raga
A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...
s, each with its unique melodic structure and emotional expression. Among these ragas are Prathidwani, Madya Mohanam, and Dwi Niroshtra. He is working on creating a raga incorporates microtonal swarasthana, named "Sruti Ranjani". He created a raaga named by him as ''Beethovanapriya''. The raga is based on
Für Elise
Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO59, Biamonti Catalogue, Bia515) for solo piano, commonly known as "Für Elise" (, ), is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most significant popular compositions. It was not published during his lifetime, only being disc ...
by
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
.
Discography
As composer
;Films
;Television
*''Simran Thirai'' (Jaya TV)
*''
Crazy-in Vidathu Sirippu'' (Jaya TV)
*''
Rojakoottam'' (Vijay TV)
As playback singer
Devotional albums
* ''Prathidhvani'' (1986)
* ''Sambo Mahadeva'' (1990)
* ''Krishna Janardhana'' (1993)
* ''Aha Oho Ayyappa'' (1996)
* ''Vetrivel Sivasakthivel'' (2002)
* ''Moksha Mantra of Lord Shiva'' (2005)
* ''SriRama Dootam'' (2009)
References
External links
*
*Ramesh Vinayakam official Facebook pag
Ramesh Vinayakam*
Ramesh Vinayakam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinayakam, Ramesh
21st-century Indian classical composers
Indian male playback singers
21st-century Indian male classical singers
Tamil playback singers
Living people
Musicians from Chennai
Tamil film score composers
Telugu film score composers
Telugu playback singers
Carnatic composers
Filmfare Awards South winners
1963 births
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners
Indian male film score composers