New tunes allure Kannada music directors

Bangalore, June 24 (IANS): Kannada music directors and lyricists are drifting to newer pastures while baton-wielders from outside rule the roost in the industry.

Kannada cinema's most popular and trend-setting music director and lyricist Hamsalekha has set off on a musical journey of a different kind.

This multifaceted personality who has carved a niche in the field of music and drama in the state has opened a school of folk music called the Desi School.

Hamsalekha has scored music for over 300 Kannada films and penned lyrics for a majority of the songs composed by him. Successful films like "Premaloka", "Ranadheera", "Shabdhavedi", "Muththina Haara", "Ramaachaari", "Annaiah" and "Haalunda Thavaru" are only a few examples of his musical and lyrical brilliance.

Hamsalekha has also announced that he will be arranging a musical journey to spread the message of peace and protection of environment throughout Karnataka.

"I want to awaken people about the importance of protecting the environment and communal harmony in the state," he says.

"Several musical tours were planned earlier. But what makes this different is that we have decided not to have unnecessary speeches, felicitations, garlanding and other features.

"We want it to be an uninterrupted three-and-a-half-hour show. The message to people will be that bombs cannot ensure lasting peace in the country. We want messages like 'mother earth is our temple' to penetrate into the psyche of the audience," says Hamsalekha.

Another music director and lyricist, Kalyan, known as the poet of love in Kannada cinema, has been doing different things of late. On Valentine's Day this year, he brought out a musical album for which he used only fresh singing talent.

"I have collected the opinions of stars like Vishnuvardhan, Upendra, Ravichandran, Shivaraj Kumar, Ramesh, Jaggesh, Puneet Raj Kumar and Sudeep about love, and these opinions are included in the album, says Kalyan.

Last year, during Valentine's Day, Kalyan went to the residence of late K.S. Narasimha Swamy, well-known for his love poems in Kannada, to felicitate him.

On each of his birthdays, Kalyan has made it a point to visit blind schools or orphanages to offer sweets to students and to entertain them with some melodious music.

Popular lyricist Nagendra Prasad has now turned film director. He has started working on the film "Nalla" with Sudeep as the hero.

Prasad made his debut in the film industry as a dialogue-writer. Prasad had always made it known that film direction was his ultimate goal and was found discussing films and story with many of his friends in the film industry.

Outsiders are beginning to take over where Kannada film music directors and lyricists have moved on.

R.P. Patnayak from Telugu cinema, for example, has bagged five Kannada films. S.A. Raj Kumar from the Tamil film industry has been booked for three new Kannada films, one featuring Vishnuvardhan in the lead role.