S Janaki Birthday: All you need to know about the 'Nightingale of South India'

Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh.

Janaki commonly known as S. Janaki recorded over 48,000 songs in her entire music career including films, albums, tv and radio. She was an occasional music composer too.

She is affectionately referred to as "Janaki Amma" and the "South Indian Nightingale."

First stage performance when she was nine

She had her first stage performance when she was nine years old. A Nadaswaram Vidwan Paidiswamy taught her the fundamentals of music. S. Janaki received no formal classical music training throughout her life. Janaki moved to Chennai in her early twenties, on the advice of her uncle, to work as a singer at AVM studios.

This was the start of her career as a playback singer. She made her debut in 1957, lending her voice to the Tamil film Vilayattu.

S. Janaki sang the majority of her songs in Kannada. Janaki had begun working with famous music composers by the early 1960s. She quickly rose became one of the top female playback singer in Kannada films.

Music directors such as G K Venkatesh, Rajan-Nagendra, and Hamsalekha gave Janaki's voice to their best compositions.

Received 12 Nandi awards

Janaki has received 12 Nandi awards for her contributions to Telugu cinema. Even today, Telugu songs such as "Neeli Meghalalo", "Naravara O Kuruvara" and "Page Vennela" are extremely popular.

When Bappi Lahiri introduced S. Janaki to Bollywood, the Hindi film industry got the opportunity to hear her beautiful voice.

S.Janaki won four National Film Awards and 33 State Awards during her six-decade career. She was famously known as "The Nightingale of South India" and was regarded as one of the most versatile singers.

Published on: Saturday, April 22, 2023, 04:27 PM IST