A tribute to the legend of Johnson Master!

Johnson Master

Johnson Master was a musician always in constant search of new harmonic and rhythmic patterns, who can create melody on his guitar. For an average Malayali his music is nothing less than goose bumps!

The rain sounds with the background music from ‘Thoovanathumbikal‘ can take you for a joy ride of music. You see rain as a recurring theme and almost a character through the genius of Johnson (as well as the director Padmarajan). Johnson Master is someone who has never had any formal exposure to classical music in its pure sense. However, Its not easy to pick a list the best songs from a music director who has composed music for more than 300 Malayalam films. A lover of western music, Johnson grew up listening to a lot of Cliff Richards and Tom Jones. And when you listen to ‘Devi ‘ from ‘Njan Gandharvan‘, it astonishes you that this man had no classical training of music.

His musical narratives in many films is jaw dropping. He had the ability to lift your senses through his background canvas of music during the film. Think of the music when ‘Sethumadhavan’ in ‘Kireedam’ loses everything in the end. Or the lone Idakka sound when ‘Ganga’ transforms to ‘Nagavalli’ and there is much much more to this list. He was rarely seen without a guitar in his hand. The man was truly inseparable from his music!!!

Most people remember this song(video below) for its emotional experience of the film itself and for Mohanlal. But it was a master piece from Johnson Master!