Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as "Janaki Amma" and Nightingale of South India.[4] She is one of the best-known playback singers in India. She is referred to as 'Isaikkuyil' in Tamilnadu[5] and 'Gaana Kogile' (Singing Cuckoo) in Karnataka.[6][7] She has recorded over 48,000 songs[8] in films, albums, TV and Radio which includes solos, duets, chorus and title tracks in 17 languages including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil , Malayalam, Hindi, Sanskrit, Odia,[9]Tulu, Urdu, Punjabi, Badaga and also in foreign languages such as Japanese, German, and Sinhala. However the highest number of songs in her career were in Kannada, followed by Malayalam.[10][11] Starting in 1957 with the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu, her career has spanned over six decades.[12]
She has won four National Film Awards and 33 different State Film Awards.[13] She is the recipient of an honorary doctorate[14] from the University of Mysore, the Kalaimamani award from Government of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Rajyotsava award from Government of Karnataka[15] In 2013, she refused to accept Padma Bhushan, and pointed that it is too little and had come "too late" and that South Indian artists were not given their due recognition.[16]
Widely acclaimed as one of the most versatile singers, her association with singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and composer Ilaiyaraaja is most talked about. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s her duets with P. B. Srinivas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas, P. Jayachandran and Dr. Rajkumar topped the charts across all the South Indian languages.[17] She has sung in almost all the genres of songs and has performed live on stages in more than 5000 concerts across the globe. In October 2016, Janaki announced her retirement from singing for films and stage appearances. However, under pressure from the film fraternity, she made a comeback for the Tamil film Pannadi in 2018.[18]
Main article: List of songs recorded by S. Janaki
While in her twenties, Janaki moved to Chennai on the advice of her uncle, to work with Music composer R. Sudarsanam in AVM Studios as a singer. She started her career as a playback singer in the Tamil movie Vidhiyin Vilayattu in 1957. Subsequently, she performed in the Telugu film M.L.A.. She sang film songs in 6 languages in her very first year. She picked a Malayalam lullaby "Amma Poovinum"[27] from 10 Kalpanakal as her swansong of her 60-year singing career and retired on 28 October 2017 with a concert held at Mysuru .[28]
S Janaki's highest number of songs are in Kannada.[10] Her solos and duets, with P B Srinivas, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Dr. Rajkumar are considered evergreen.
Janaki sang her first Kannada song in 1957. By the early 60s, she had started working with many prominent music composers. Throughout the 1970s and 80s she remained the number one female playback singer in Kannada films. Most of the music directors, from G. K. Venkatesh, Rajan–Nagendra to Hamsalekha, gave her most of their top compositions.
She has a record number of duets with P B Srinivas, S P Balasubrahmanyam and Dr Rajkumar. She was awarded the Karnataka Rajyotsava awarded in 2014. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore for her contributions to Kannada film and music.
Some of her top hit solos in Kannada cinema are:
S Janaki and Malayalam songs are inseparable, she sang her first Malayalam song back in 1957. She practiced the correct accent and the nuances of the language which later made her one of the most sought after singers in the industry. She was the favorite of many popular music composers like V Dakshinamoorthi, MS Baburaj, Shyam, MB Sreenivasan, A.T.Ummer, and Salil Choudhary.
S Janaki went on to sing thousands of songs from early 1960s to mid 80s. She received her first Kerala state film award for best singer in 1970 and went on to win the same almost every year for the next 15 years. It was her command over the language and perfect diction that took her to great heights in Malayalam films. S Janaki is perhaps the only non-Malayali artist who has won maximum awards in Malayalam films.
Some of her hit solo tracks in Malayalam films are:
S Janaki sang her first Tamil song in 1957. The song Singaravelane Deva from the movie Konjum Salangai brought her to limelight in Tamil films. M. S. Viswanathan gave her many hit songs every year throughout 60s and early 70s. It was the song Unnidathil ennaik kodutthen Avalukendru Oru Manam (1971) that consolidated her position as the most promising singer thereafter.
She sang many songs under many famous composers. Ilaiyaraaja – S. P. Balasubrahmanyam- S Janaki combination gave hit after hit from mid 1970s till 1990s. S Janaki is the only singer who has won state awards under the oft-called top three music composers of the state (M. S. Viswanathan, Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman).
Some of her best solos in Tamil cinema are:
S Janaki started her career in Telugu films in 1957. Movies like Bava maradalu, Pooja Phalam and Bangaru Panjaram had songs by S Janaki which were immensely popular. She gave continuous hits throughout 1960s and 70s. She continued to give hits till mid 90s. S Janaki has won 12 Nandi awards, 10 for films and 2 for television serial songs.A few of her solos are:
Composer Bappi Lahiri was impressed by a Hindi song sung by S Janaki for a Tamil movie, when he visited Prasad Studio. He decided to have songs sung by her in his upcoming Hindi movies and introduced her to Bollywood.[22] She sang many duets with singer Kishore Kumar.
Some of her notable Hindi songs are
Janaki sang many evergreen songs in Odia. She has sung about 68 songs in Odia films. Her songs are still popular today and she also won 1 Orissa State Film Award.
Janaki also sang a few songs in other languages.
| Awards | Wins | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | ||
| 11 | ||
| 10 | ||
| 6 | ||
| 1 | ||
| 1 | ||
|
Total |
33 | |
Nandi Awards (Andhra Pradesh State Film, Music, Television and Arts Awards)
Special Honours
Other Awards