L. R. Eswari

Lourde-Mary Rajeswari Eswari (L. R. Eswari) is a veteran playback singer of the Tamil cinema, Telugu cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema industries. She also sang in other languages like Hindi, Tulu, and English.^[1] She has won Kalaimamani, the Tamil Nadu's state award, for her contributions to the film industry.

Early life

She was born in Chennai into a Roman Catholic family to Anthony Devraj and Regina Mary Nirmala. Her ancestors were from Paramakudi near Madurai. Her full name is Lourde-Mary Rajeshwari. The 78 RPM vinyl record containing her songs in her debut film Nalla Idathu Sammanthan shows her name as D. L. Rajeswari.^[2] Since there was already another established singer with the name of M.S.Rajeshwari her name was abbreviated into L.R.Eshwari. She did not have any formal training in singing. Her mother was a chorus singer in films. Eshwari used to accompany her mother to the studios and soon began singing in the chorus herself, but quickly got a break to lend her voice as lead-singer.
Her first song as a playback singer was Inba Naalidhe in the film Manohara as a chorus singer with Jikki. Music was scored by S. V. Venkatraman.^[3] Her first break came from Thiru. K.V.Mahadevan in 1958 in the movie Nalla Idaththu Sammandham, her first solo song recorded in this movie was "Ivarey Thaan Avarey". But major recognition came from the song "Vaarai En Thozhi Vaaraayo" from the movie Paasa Malar (1961) sung under the baton of Viswanathan-Ramamurthy, which composers explored and exploited her vocal abilities to the maximum extent possible over the next 20 years.

Career

She sang under the direction of famous composers like M.S.Viswanathan, T.K.Ramamoorthy, K. V. Mahadevan, Veda, V.Kumar, Shankar-Ganesh, G. K. Venkatesh and Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan. Her unique voice was considered to be suited for peppy numbers in the movies, be it a dance tune, folk song or a devotional track. Her song "Vaarayo Thozhi" from Paasa Malar was a popular choice for wedding music.

She has also recorded many devotional albums in praise of the Goddess Amman which were hugely popular among the Tamil community and were played in many temples. Her "Chellatha" and "Karpoora Nayagi" numbers has won her a lot of fame among devotees. She sang Christmas songs "Varuvai Varuvai" and " Deivam Thantha Divya Kumaaran" composed by Dr Anand Chellappa. She has won the Kalaimamani Award and other states awards. Her Hindi song "Uduthi Hi Chidiya" from the film Pistonwali, music by Satyam shows her ability. She sang romantic songs filmed on heroines as well as cabarets filmed on dance-artistes and also folk songs.

She made her everlasting impression in Telugu film industry with her husky and peppy numbers. Till date most of her songs are very popular among the Telugu audience. Her notable hits include "Masaka Masaka Cheekatilo" from Devudu Chesina Manushulu, "Maayadari Sinnodu" from Ammamaata, "Bhale Bhale Magadivo" from Marocharitra, "Arey Yemiti Lokam" from Anthulenikatha, "Le Le Le Naa Raaja" from Premnagar, "Malle Puvvulu Pillagaalulu" and "Theesko Coco Cola Esko Rammusoda" etc.

In Kannada language, Eshwari has sung so many super hits songs. Her fun-filled songs like "Dooradinda Bandantha", "Rasika Rasika", "Joke Nanu Balliya", "O Geleya", "Yaavurayya E Mukka", "Sityako Sidukyako",^[4] "Sumabaleya Premada Siriye", "Bangara Nota", "Kanda Kanmaniye" made her name household in Karnataka.

P.Susheela and She sang many popular duets in their times – Unadhu Malar, Chiththira Poovizhi, Ninaithaal Sirippu, Thoodhu Sella etc.. She sang a popular duet "Gudilona Naa Swamy Koluvai Unnadu" with S. Janaki in a Telugu movie Idalokam, music by Chakravarthy, which remains a top hit till date. She rendered several duets with S. Janaki in Kannada movies as well.

She sang various duets with all the leading male singers also – Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao, the Telugu doyen in his own music direction in Telugu movie Pandava Vana Vaasam, and in K. V. Mahadevan's music direction in Prem Nagar, T. M. Soundararajan, A. L. Raghavan, P. B. Sreenivas, S.P. Balasubramaniam, K. J. Yesudas, J. P. Chandrababu, C. S. Jayaraman, S. C. Krishnan, Thiruchi Loganathan, A. M. Rajah, Seerkazhi Govindarajan,Malaysia Vasudevan, & Jayachandran.

She also sang duets with female singers with most notably with P. Suseela, S. Janaki, Vani Jayaram, K. Jamuna Rani, M. S. Rajeswari and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi.

Re-entry

After a long break, she made her re-entry through a rocky peppy Tamil Song "Kalasala Kalasala " in the 2011 movie Osthe starring Silambarasan. Within a few days of this song release, it became a super hit and reached music box office top ratings. She sang the song "Naa Poondamallida" in the film Thadaiyara Thaakka the following year. She has also recently sang a Kannada song for the movie Victory, named "Yakka Nin Magalu Nanage" with Kailash Kher which also become super hit. In 2013, she sang a duet song called "Thagadu Thagadu" along with T. Rajendar in the movie Arya Surya. In 2014 she sang the song "Jaipuril Jaipuril" in the movie Athithi, music by Bharathwaj.

Notable songs

Tamil songs

Telugu songs

Malayalam songs

References

External links

• L. R. Eswari at the Internet Movie Database
• The Titillating Voices of Two Tamil Playback Singers in Movie minutes