IlayaRaja's New Albums 2013-15 - Mahendran film/Thaarai thappattai/Mythri

[SoftSword]

:tchu-tchu-tchu-tchu:

sunil.. mudiyala...

ata

sunil.. toomuch...

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

sunil, my bad english. very bad, actually. i didn't knew how to translate the tamil word "chellam" sorry if my post was mis-leading. i shud have stopped with the word 'favourite'.

lets talk only about music

[kiru]

Sunil
If you haven't checked out 'yaathE yaathE' yet, you're in for surprise! Helluva deadly number, this one, highly additive!

Absolutetly...especially after watching IR on youtube teach Bhava .. the man acts it out..not just sings..
Dhoni is an acoustic delight .. Shreya can be conferred honorary citizenship of TN (and some kids of rich politicians/stars kicked out ).. na. muthukumar shows maturity in lyrics.. ofcourse, TN is the land of the poets and musicians

[Gregorysab]

Caught up with Dhoni and Mayilu. My thoughts on them...

dhoni: A very simple and sincere album with pleasant melodies. I was expecting some poignant stuff (i'm sure the film will have some poignancy or melodrama, depending upon the capabil;ity of the director) but was surprised to see very easy-mood melodies. My preferences ranked here:

1. Vaangum - The most brilliant composition in the album. Suresh has already posted all my thoughts, about the jazz element and the tala pattern. I can only add that a 68 year old composer, teams up with a 64 year old singer and few instrumentalists whose age could be between 40-65, to dish out one of the most youthful and peppy numbers ever. It is the surprise song for me, because I never expect that kind of guitar usage from Raaja (since it is not pure classical style, which Raaja does usually). Raaja, in my opinion, has pushed his limit and experimented well in this song.

2. Vilayaattu: Many of us here have our own likes/dislikes or reservations about Hariharan. Heck, even raaja himself might have some reservations. But we must admit that Raaja is totally besotted with Hariharan. For in every other film, he gives hariharan atleast one song that is totally befitting his voice. And its been this way since about 12 years may be. Lot of people associate Hariharan's songs (hits) more with ARR but empirically, I suspect Raaja must have given more songs to Hariharan than ARR. Clearly Raaja loves this guy, for consistently giving him some wonderful songs. coming to this song, it is a very mature melody. Hariharan sang it with great poise and sincerity. On a parallel plane, i almost imagined this as a S.D.Burman composition (sung by SDB himself). I dont mean, IR used some SDB song... but the song has the quality/mood of the songs that SDB did in some of his bengali private albums. Shreya's rendition is also quite good. in my opinion, we cannot compare both renditions because shreya's pronunciation is slightly folksy(intentionally nasal at places) while hariharan goes more on a very lazy style of pronunciation. Equally listenable!

3. Chinna Kannile: Sweet, enjoyable no doubt. Nice rendition. Beautiful interludes. But I have some reservations about the composition (particularly the pallavi). I felt it is a bit too simple and less heart-tugging, from the standards of Ilaiyaraaja. It is not bad. But it is like any other 'good' composition by any other music director (not totally newbies). I mean, if a Vidyasagar comes up with this song I would have definitely said "fantastic" but I put Raaja on a higher pedestal and hence, I am unable to eulogize this song beyond calling it a good song.

4. Thaavi Thaavi: Again a nice, listenable composition with wonderful interludes! The charanams flow flawlessly back to Pallavi. But then, I am not sure if it will continue to enthuse me 2 years from now. I felt the pallavi very nursery-rhymish though good to hum. But i must say that Raaja's rendition is very good. Very warm and sweet (i dont know why i did not feel so at some points in Kalagane kanulatho in Gaayam-2). But in this song, he gets it very right!

In all, a very good album after Sneha Veedu. Certainly promising!

Moving over to Mayilu:

1. Yathae - easily the pick of the album. Raaja goes full-throttle right from word go (with that bass line bounce). It is amazing that he still pursues various colours in Keeravani raagam. The guitar strumming + table in charanams is a brilliant one by raaja - something that again proves that he is not stuck in past but is constantly trying new things. A brilliant composition overall.

2. AadhiSokka - This is a typical Raaja song of 80s, updated to 2012. The quality of melody is so 80s (which means Raaja is the same). One can feel it all the more in charanams, the melody is very Bharathiraja+Raaja kind. The way he has painted that old raajaism on new canvas. amazing. What brilliant interludes. Loved this.

3. Entha kutham - a poignant composition. The mood of this song immediately takes us to the sombre feel that probably would find its rightful place in a Naan Kadavul perhaps. The female humming (aaraaro) is like a small glow in that song, keeping the proceedings warm. Charanams have the right flow. Raaja's rendition is good! Infact, i think i would rank this song as top, if we have to ignore the standard melody as barometer.

4. Thukkamenna - a standard 80s raaja melancholic (suitable for rustic films) song. Except for the nostalgic element, it didnt get me excited much.

5. Kalyanam & namaloda - again usual rustic numbers reminiscent of 80s raaja. namaloda had good interludes/instrumentation. I dont think they will carry much recall value compared to other songs.

To sum up - Yathae, Enna kutham and adhisokka symbolize his versatality (known anyway). each a brilliant song in their own right. Since i liked 3 out 6 songs, I can say I have mixed opinions on this album, but the qualitative aspects of the 3 songs I liked far outweigh the other 3, which makes this album very interesting for me. In short, I am not at all disappointed. Raaja delivers!

[Sunil_M88]

sunil, my bad english. very bad, actually. i didn't knew how to translate the tamil word "chellam" sorry if my post was mis-leading. i shud have stopped with the word 'favourite'.

lets talk only about music

Sure!

Don't worry, my English isn't perfect. You're post wasn't misleading, I was just being silly... I went to Google translator and searched "Chellam" and it listed Dear, Darling, Child, Sweetie and Honey I'll assume you meant Dear. Naan Thamizh karka vendum

[anegan]

Sure!

Don't worry, my English isn't perfect. You're post wasn't misleading, I was just being silly... I went to Google translator and searched "Chellam" and it listed Dear, Darling, Child, Sweetie and Honey I'll assume you meant Dear. Naan Thamizh karka vendum

Sorry for the digression
Last week we had a Typewriting in தமிழ் தட்டச்சு பட்டறை (Tamil session in Minnesota). There was a lot of enthusiasm. We hope to hold few more sessions.

[anegan]

I am totally hooked up to Velayaatta Padagotti... absolutely fantastic.
There were a few other songs that I have heard over 100 times in a few days... this is one of those.

[vem]

It seems Sengattu Bhoomiyile is a disaster
http://behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-r...le-review.html

Comments worth noting: Is this IR's music ? Hilarious comments

On Quality of movies: It goes without saying that we cannot take movies as intense as many of the Hollywood movies. My son who is just 5 years old was spellbound yesterday to see the "Alien" movie, taken in the 80s. I watched it for the nth time and still the suspense and screenplay looks so fresh and exciting as before. Many others are there in that category.

On the other hand, 90% of our movies fall in a category: Love, Arival, and Vulgarity. IR composes music for these mediocre ones too.

Why aren't we rising to the occasion and take solid movies that are watchable again and again....

Can Virumandi become a Usual Suspects ? I am not sure, but a novel attempt at least. I wish we could get some family entertainers at least in the future.

[layman10]

விளையாட்டா படகோட்டி - ஹரிஹரன் மற்றும் ஷ்ரேயா இரு பாடல்களுக்கும் ஒரே கோரஸை ஆரம்பத்தில் வைத்திருக்க வேண்டாமே! ஹரிஹரன் பாடல் ஏற்படுத்தும் உணர்வுகளுக்கும் கோரஸிற்கும் சரியா ஒத்துப்போகல என்பது எனது அபிப்ராயம்.

மேலும் கோரஸ் உருவாக்கத்தில் - நிலைப்பாட்டை ராஜா கொஞ்சம் மாத்திக்கணும். டிஜிட்டலுக்கு ஏற்றவாறு ராஜா நிறைய விஷயங்களில் தன்னை வகைப் படுத்திக் கொண்டாலும் கோரஸ்-கான ஒலிப்பதிவு மட்டும் மாறவேயில்லை.

I dont understand?. What is has digital has to do with this?. why voice reproduced with fidelity is not good enough? digitally processing tavil to shenai is just a fad than trend (mostly by MDs who cant think beyond). There is so much great music world over that still produces instrument/voice sound with fidelity, that is no way inferior. It need not be done, unless such processing/manipulation itself can be justified as an art form (like brush stokes in paintings) rather than a mandatory step.

[SVN]

VeLayaatta PadagOtti is a sweet melody that is going in a loop in my ipod now. Interestingly both versions - Hariharan's and Shreya's have their unique flavours and are great in their own right. Shreya's pronunciation is EXCELLENT! The lyrics are simple, yet profound. The SDBurman feeling is probably because it's a 'boat' song!