The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[baroque]

The "concurrent" lines :
என் கண்மணி இள மாங்கனி சிரிக்கின்றதேன் on one track
& உன் காதலி உனைப்பார்த்ததும் சிரிக்கின்றதேன் on another track
it seems, as explained by some...

app_eng

concurrent - அப்படின்னா happening at the same time
தானே சொல்லும் போது , he is telling as என் கண்மணி , அதையே... his மனசு or பிம்பம் telling as உன் காதலி .
possessive adjectives - my, your
the above two sentences mean the same but not happening at the same டைம்.
concurrent என்று அர்த்தமில்லை.
vinatha.

[app_engine]

concurrent - அப்படின்னா happening at the same time

You're right, that's why I placed the word within quotes It's lyrics "interspersed"

[jaiganes]

#7 தாலாட்டு, பிள்ளை ஒன்று தாலாட்டு
மணித்தொட்டிலில் உன்னை மெத்தையிட்டு
சிறு மாங்கனிக்கன்னம் முத்தமிட்டு
(அச்சாணி, 1978 )

thAlAttu -the obviously most "realistic" genre of film songs! Possibly the first lullaby in SPB-IR combo. This had the voice of PS as well, my most preferred voice for ammA.

(This and stage program / music class / religious ritual kind of songs are the only ones on movies that people should "sing" (move lips) IMO. Everything else should be montage only IMSO, unless there's something special on screen, like mudhal mariyAdhai ones or kuzhaloodhum kaNNanukku kind. The lip-the-lines-n-dance-n-run-around kind of "love" songs are the most difficult to watch. Unfortunately, such ones continue to be filmed in TF under the pretext that majoriy of movie goers still enjoy them / help them relax etc. The good part for me is that most movies are watched on DVD's nowadays and all such songs can be conveniently skipped.)

achchANi song is sweet and one'll have to admit that there're not many "IR-unique-70s" stuff in the song, such as adi-dhadi percussion or in general, his unique style of orchestration. It's a simple song, no lengthy preludes or complicated interludes but what makes it click are the melody, softness, sweet singing by SPB-SJ and lines that echo what typical parents in TN dream for their children (will he become a doctor , earn good name etc).

Interestingly, though this was a regular listen during radio days, I didn't connect it with the movie that also had 'mAtha un kOvilil' which I knew definitely as an IR song. (By this time, started noticing the MD and the SJ song had strong elements of IR-ism while thAlAttu didn't have much). The portion that goes like "யாழிசையிலும் ஏழிசையிலும் இல்லை இந்த மோகனம்" could have pleased anyone who grew up with KVM-MSV melodies and they wouldn't have associated such lullaby with a nattuppuRa ALu who had a taste for 'western' too

Till date I don't know anything about the actors / story / on-screen stuff for this song. And don't feel excited to google for that

Awesome song. yet another song, I thought is done my MSV . The interludes are so minimalist and the shift in the charanam towards the end is so MSV in style.
Only the brief jazz passage in the second interlude says "IR here". Otherwise a sweet MSV mode song. too short for my comfort. could have been longer..

[app_engine]

#9 காவேரிக்கரை ஓரத்திலே
கன்னிப்பொண்ணு வரும் நேரத்துல
...
பொன்னுல பொன்னுல பண்ணுற மூக்குத்தி
மின்னுது மின்னுது ஒத்தைக்கல் மூக்குத்தி
போக்கிரிப் பொண்ணுக்கு பங்குனி மாசம் கல்யாணம், பாட்டுக்கச்சேரி
பொய்க்காலு குருதையில ஊர்கோலம்
(சிட்டுக்குருவி,1978)

Quite a jubilant SPB song, back to his earlier kind of "immature" voice and the whole setting makes it a racy one!

The typical ridicule to students who speak in total country style when they arrive to our school was 'என்ன மருதைக்கு போயி குருத வாங்குவியா'. This usage got captured in this song effortlessly. This song had much more 'kOlAmbi' speaker time, along with 'ada dada mAmarakkiLiyE' of this moive, than the polished 'en kaNmani'.

Experts can clarify whether the prelude has shenoy or nAdhaswaram.

This album was perhaps among the last ones before compact cassette players hit TN. It was the vinyl record era, mostly with 45 RPM records that can hold two songs on each side and most films can be contained in one disk and some in two. It wasn't till much later that TFM could enjoy the 33 RPM LP records which were regular for HFM in 70's.

Also, around this time period there came out the HMV fiesta record player that had a built-in power amp. With the speaker on the cover, no external amp / external speakers were necessary to play in tea stalls. I'll get to the album that was the max beneficiery in my next song

BTW, #9 was for yesterday, Sat 4/30, so another song is due for Sun 5/1

[app_engine]

#10 என்னடி மீனாச்சி, சொன்னது என்னாச்சி?
(இளமை ஊஞ்சலாடுகிறது, 1978)

Possibly the first IR-SPB-Kamal combo song which was gifted to TN by the music-savvy director Sridhar. While all the songs from the movie were huge hits, the other songs had only "limited" audience.

For e.g. 'thaNNee karuththiruchchu', though loved by everyone with its never-before-style for TFM, one could not hear the song on radio when appA was home. Same goes for 'kiNNaththil thEn vadiththu'. 'nee kEttAl nAn mAttEn enRA' was not in my fav books when arrived (I kinda liked the "teacherammA" song years later, though not to the extent of playing on loop). The classy one, that has continued to be popular till now (and my next # in this listing), wasn't as much a favourite for public address systems those days as meenAchchi.

Like I mentioned many times in the hub, IO was the first surefire biggie for tea stalls & buses in TFM! Though compact cassette players were'nt widely available and not in every home, buses started having those imported audio systems which was a big business differentiator. Tea stalls had the HMV fiesta (believe me, I had seen so many of them those days in Madurai dist which was my primary domain and was possibly reflective of what happened elsewhere in TN).

Thus started a long line of KH-SPB-IR numbers!

[V_S]

I listen to 'Ponnula Ponnula' very frequently. Nice to see your pick in Chittukuruvi. Super information about the vinyl record era.
In ilamai Oonjalaadugirathu, my favorite is 'Ore Naal'. Beautiful flute in the prelude followed guitar and then that beautiful piano?? run, wow! The interludes are still hearing as I type this. I think this song was also very polular like 'Ennadi Meenatchi' as I still vaguely remember that AIR used to air this song regularly those days. My whole family (including my grand parents ) loved this song that time.

[Meerakrishna]

Hi Guys, Please Visit ...

www.sjanaki.net

regards

[Plum]

ponnula ponnula is quite a riotous celebration of a song. I'll tell you something - sub-consciously this song evokes a memory of being in a thiruvizhA with speakers booming and all the colours of the festival around you. The catch is I have never been to such a thiruvizhaa.

So, going by app's description, either I have some ESP of a previous birth - or that is how much Raja can paint a landscape and milieu and transport it to your heart. I think Jai covered this concept few months back in PFC.

Ofcourse, you can always question the authenticity of the thiruvizhaa evoked in m y mind but then that is why I never shared this here until I saw app's real-life descriptions that startlingly match with my mind-picture,

[app_engine]

Hi Guys, Please Visit ...

www.sjanaki.net

regards

Quicky checked out the page on SPB-SJ, nice selections

One small nit pick, the song 'pAdu nilAvE' is from the movie 'udhaya geetham' (and not 'thEn kavidhai' as this page says, that phrase is actually the second line of this song )

[app_engine]

#11 ஒரே நாள் உனை நான் நிலாவில் பார்த்தது
உலாவும் உன் இளமை தான் ஊஞ்சலாடுது
(இளமை ஊஞ்சலாடுகிறது, 1978)

As mentioned in my post on ennadi meenAchchi, this is the most classy song in IO, IMO. The song with most longevity, people enjoy this till date. A sweet violin / guitar / VJ / SPB concoction that had Kamal / Sripriya and a "coffee bar" on screen True to that image, this song was kind of a pioneer in popularising custom-tea-stall-music even in the smallest hamlets of TN. (Big upgrade from playing from radio, there should have been a spurt in the sale of vinyl records by the time IO was a rage).

On a personal front, by the time IO was making waves, our circle was already in the habit of dissecting the interludes, commenting on light music orchestra performances as to how they don't match up to the originals etc. Especially sharp was my cousin's observation as he pointed out the 'chin-chA' that goes along with lead guitar in the second interlude Later, IR did the same thing with the first interlude of 'AnandhaththEn kAtRu thAlAttudhe' (guitar-jAlrA combo), caught by him again and he had instant admiration by all in the relative circle

The common saying that IR kicked out HFM from snobbies of TN, IMO, happened around the IO time. IIRC, buses were still playing 'hum kisi se kum naheen' stuff but IO and other IR songs were fast garnering the major share of the audio time progressively!

When the third interlude ends (after the sweet violins, terrific humming and the lead guitar), if one does not get transported to a moony night - well, that person possibly has some bad personal memories embedded...