Monthly Archives: April 2009

Raagas in Films: Sindhu Bhairavi

It is quite a task to write about one of the most loved raagas in Indian music, the versatile Sindhu Bhairavi. It is versatile because it gives a lot of scope for music composers to experiment. There have been innumerable tunes in this raaga but the beauty is all of them sound different! Another feature of this raaga is that it can be used for a variety of situations. Here is a list of the immortal tunes in this raaga. As always I have only posted some of my favourite Sindhu Bhairavi songs here, which showcased its beauty.

  1. Unnakenna Mele-MSV-Simla Special-Composing at its best, a very unique song with a varying tempo.
  2. Enna Satham-Ilaiyaraja-Punnagai Mannan
  3. Muthu Mani Maala-Ilaiyaraja-Chinna Kounder-Happy Sindhu Bhairavi, A case study on Sindhu Bhairavi composing. Period.
  4. Nilave Mugam Kaattu-Ilaiyaraja-Ejaman-This is Sad Sindhu Bhairavi for you. How many raagas will this man, Ilaiyaraja, play with?
  5. Maargazhi Thingal-A.R.Rahman-Sangaman-Brilliant song, very well sung, the pathos in the raaga rises to the fore!
  6. Nilavu Paattu-Ilaiyaraja-Kannukul Nilavu-Sindhu Bhairavi+Jazzy interludes, an unusual but captivating concoction!
  7. Ovvoru Pookalume-Bharadwaj-Autograph-Great tune+Inspiring lyrics+soulful singing
  8. Soll Soll En Nenje-Vidyasagar-Pirivom Sandippom-You will not imagine a song like this, especially the chords in the charanam.
  9. En Uyirukkul-Vidyasagar-Mahesh Sharanya Mattrum Palar-One of my recent favourites, splendid orchestration.

Margazhiyil Kulichi Paaru…..

You must be surprised on seeing the title of this post, this is the first line of a soothing tune composed by another talented-but-ignored composer Bharadwaj. This song comes in the movie Onbathu Roopai Nottu, where almost all the songs were melodious, folk-based rustic numbers. This song sung brilliantly by Sreenivas is the pick of the album. The chorus, the silent orchestration (means not intruding into the song by towering over the voice, which is the case in some songs!) and the mellow tune combine to give a healing experience. Listen to this when your chips are down, you will feel rejenuvated!

Found a TREASURE: I am elated!!!

I had been to Landmark this evening for browsing books and music (my monthly ritual of visiting major music shops-my temples!). When I was crossing the Tamil music section, I just saw 2 A.R.Rahman MP3 CD’s released by Aditya Music. I thought they must be Telugu songs of ARR but I was wrong! To my pleasant surprise, the CD’s contained most of the Tamil albums of ARR, especially the older ones whose original CD’s are difficult to buy today. Without second thought I bought them and when I listened at home, they were of superb quality.

The reason I am elated is that I did not have the original CD’s of many of these old albums of ARR as I could not find them. Aditya Music has bought the rights of all these movie albums from Pyramid Music-the original audio company which used to release these cassettes!

When I was listening to the songs I remembered my childhood, when I used to rush to the music shop to buy the cassettes of these films and play them so much that they almost got erased. Now I have the wonderful, ORIGINAL QUALITY MP3 LEGAL CD, which I can hopefully savour for the rest of my life! Thanks to God for giving me this treasure. The curious thing about this is that I searched and searched but found only 1 copy of these 2 CD’s Volumes 1 & 2. I was searching if there is a Volume 3 of these CD’s but could not find them. The tried the Aditya Music site but it is a static website 🙁 I will visit other music shops to see if there are more volumes.

It was almost I was destined to buy these today. This has happened to me innumerable times, where an album I am searching for years, suddenly falls into my lap! Each of the CD’s cost only Rs 75. Here are the details of the film albums on the CD’s.

Volume 1

  1. Padayappa
  2. Indian
  3. Bombay
  4. Karuthamma
  5. May Madham
  6. Kizhakku Cheemaiyile
  7. Love Birds
  8. Pavithra
  9. Rangeela (Tamil-I prefer the original Hindi)

Volume 2

  1. Muthu
  2. En Swaasa Katrae
  3. Duet
  4. Mr.Romeo
  5. Gentleman
  6. Sangamam
  7. Iruvar
  8. Uzhavan

This is A.R.Rahman’s vintage collection at its best. I already have Roja/Kadhalan & Pudhiya Mugam/Thiruda Thiruda original audio CD’s.  The only old albums left to have in original are:

  1. Indira
  2. Minsaara Kanavu

A million thanks to Aditya Music for bringing out these old gems of ARR again. I am going back to listen to these melodies………..