Category Archives: Unique Genres

Innocent Songs of Ilaiyaraja

Do not be intrigued by this catchy post title, it is there for a reason. Ilayaraja is one of the few composers who manages to manifest every known human emotion through his songs. Be it happiness or sadness, inspiration or dejection, elation or shyness, you have a Raja song for every situation. While listening to a few songs I felt they had a certain pure, innocent quality and feel to them and these are the songs that I will highlight.

  1. Paarijatha Poove: A fantastic song with a retroish feel, the choice of singers is also very apt (Surendar & Chitra). It seems to be based on the Mohanam scale and I believe this song was a huge hit when the movie (En Raasavin Manasile) was released. The overall sound is so refreshing and unlike any typical Raja song.
  2. Onna Paatha Neram: Once again its Chitra with Malaysia Vasudevan singing this happy-go-lucky tune, its sounds as if two children are singing to each other. More wonderful is the fact that this was in a Rajini film (Adhisaya Piravi).
  3. Kuyile Kuyile: Chitra scores a hattrick here, her voice is so silken that it seems tailor made for such songs and Malaysia Vasudevan again lends excellent support. This song is based in Madhyamavathy raga and Raja explores different dimensions of the raga.

Haunting Songs

There are certain songs which we keep remembering long after listening to them, they literally keep playing in our head in the background. A few examples of songs in this category are:

    Varugiraai (Anbe Aaruyire): This is by ARR and like a few ARR songs it will not impress you in the first listen, it might sound ordinary. But its a cracker of a song with excellent singing by Hariharan and Chitra. Apart from the tune, the crescendo effect at the end is is a nice touch to end the song.
    Our Thuli Vishamaai (Aadhi Bhagavan): This is an engaging song from the word Go. It has a Hindustani feel with nice some nice swara patterns in the second interlude. Yuvan composes this and the singing is by Sharib Toshi and Shreya. One of the highlights of the song is the orchestration featuring a couple of stringed instruments (Amalraj) which sound very apt for the song.
    Praaptham(Chekka Chivantha Vaanam): Once again ARR creates a tune with a very unique feel and structure and it is an instantly likeable one too. Karthik sings it with a husky feel which totally suits a song of this nature (my guess is its ARR’s idea). The second charanam is different from the first with a little more gusto and it beautifully switches back to the pensive mood once again.
    Jaaniya Ve (Dus): This song by Vishal & Shekhar is a very soulful one and the tune gets unpredictable in the charanam (in a good way) adding to the overall variety. Hariharan and Mahalakshmi completely ace it.

Songs in the Competition Genre

It’s quite challenging for directors to come up with creative situations for their songs. It’s even more challenging when you have to explain situations to super-talented composers like Raja, because only when you challenge them will you get something special! The “Competition genre” is basically a situation where the actors in the song compete and are trying go one up on each other. This gives scope for innovation in the music and it also makes the lyricists work harder. Let’s look at some songs in these situations, this is just an indicative list and by no means exhaustive.

  • Ennama Kannu: This is like a slient conflict between Rajini and Sathyaraj in the movie Mr.Bharath and Raja cooks up a beautiful Sindhubhairavi tune (wonderful innovation indeed) and the lyrics by Kavinger Vaali are brilliant. SPB and Malaysia Vasudevan also up the ante through their spirited singing.
  • Mannar Mannane: A majestic song and oozing gambheeram in every note. The orchestration is amazing with some powerful lyrics. SPB and Janaki seem to be enjoying here and Raja uses a rare raga Kalasaveri here to great effect.
  • Minsara Kanna: ARR comes up with a beautiful song in a melodious and intense raga Vasantha and this is probably one of his best songs. Nithyashree starts the song with all gusto and in the second paragraph Srinivas takes over in a more mellow manner but his singing is excellent. The orchestration and the way it ends on an explosive fashion makes us visualize the whole scene.