Sample these- ‘ manam pOtti veenu’ (paarijaatham/1976), ‘pidichal pulinkOmbil’ and ‘ enikkippOl padanam’ (madhuraswapnam/1977), ‘kaLLakkaneru koNdu’(priyadarshini/1978), ‘ allaavin thirusabaiyil’ and ‘thankam kondoru’ (jayikanai janichavan/1978), ‘shantha raathri thiruraathri’ (thuramukham/1979) and ‘ nellu vilanjE’ (nithya vasantham/1979). Arjunan was so impressed by the young singer that he continued to give him some worthy songs in the subsequent years. Arjunan, the newcomer stole the show in the album that had songs by stalwarts such as Yesudas, Jayachandran, Brahmanandan, P.Leela and Madhuri. Singing the song ‘ jayikanai janichavan nyaan’ for Prem Nazeer under the baton of veteran M.K.
It was then that he made his debut in film music, and that prized opportunity came from lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi who was producing the Malayalam movie ‘chattambi kalyaaNi’ (1975/Bhavani Rajeswari Films) starring Prem Nazeer, Soman and Lakshmi.
He remained in Chennai, finding employment in the recording studio of HMV. He came to Chennai from Cochin in 1974 to record two devotional songs for HMV. Jolly Abraham learned music from masters such as Kumbalam Baburaj, Natesa Bagavathar and R.M. While the Malayalam film songs he rendered are numerous, with many of them being hugely popular, there are a handful of Tamil film songs that came his way that have remained in my frequent playlists unmindful of the years passing by.Ī website devoted to Brother Jollee Abraham and his gospel songs has a brief biographical sketch:
However, there was a time in the not too distant past when Jolly Abraham had made a memorable tryst with film music. Brother Jolly Abraham (or Jollee Abraham as he spells his name) has found his true calling in service of the Lord. George Syriac Orthodox Church at Toronto, The National Evangelical Church in Bahrain or at devotional congregations all over India. The devoted flock to his stirring concerts- be it at the El-Bethel Assembly of God Church in Staten Island, The Forum Hall at Denver, The Chicago Indian Church, The New England Tamil Church at Wakefield, St. He was the star attraction at the ‘Aradhana 2007’, a grand praise and worship program at the North Valley Christian Fellowship in Milpitas. His performance earlier this month at the Festival of Worship organized by the Asian Indian Christian Church at Silver Spring, Maryland had the audience spellbound. He is a revered name in South Indian Christian music circles.