Monthly Archives: June 2019

39: Song of the Day: Kannil Paarvai

Song: Kannil Paarvai

Composer: Ilaiyaraja

Singer: Shreya Ghoshal

Lyrics: Vaali

Movie: Naan Kadavul

Rasikapriya is a rarely used raga in films, there are only a handful of songs in the raga and in Naan Kadavul, Raja creates a mesmerizing composition. The tune is a stunner as per the usual Raja standards. He embellishes it with intricate Saarangi pieces and an excellent strings ensemble. One more highlight of the song is a Chenda- like percussion supporting the song as the background rhythm. The song situation is about a blind girl lamenting on her situation and the song effectively conveys the brooding emotion very aptly.

38: Song of the Day: Oru Kadhal Vanducho

Song: Oru Kadhal Vanducho

Composer: Raghav-Raja

Singer: Shankar Mahadevan

Lyrics: Thaamarai

Movie: Hey Nee Romba Azhagairukka

Hey Nee Romba Azhagairukka was probably the first movie in Tamil to have more than 2 composers. This song was my favourite among all the other songs. It is composed in Desh raga. The whole song is like a celebration, melodious, yet full of verve and energy. The use of diverse instruments, time, the vocal harmonies and the energetic singing by Shankar Mahadevan make it the best song of the movie. The lyrics by Thaamarai are also very poetic. It’s sad that the composers Raghav-Raja got no more chances for anymore movies.

 

37: Song of the Day: Kalaadhara

Song: Kalaadhara

Composer: Rajhesh Vaidhya

Singer: Unnikrishnan, Anuradha Shekar

Lyrics: Gangai Amaran

Movie: Vegam

Rajhesh Vaidya, the popular Veena artiste has composed the music for this movie. The movie was produced by SV. Sekar, starring his son but it vanished without a trace. This particular song set in Desh raga is a very good composition. Interestingly, Rajhesh has not used too much Veena in this song, maybe consciously, instead there are keys, a strings section and flute. Unnikrishnan sounds very good (I do not like some of his film songs as his voice sounds very thin) but Anuradha is just about okay. All-in-all, a very melodious composition by Rajhesh Vaidya.

36: Song of the Day: Roja Poo Ondru

Song: Roja Poo Ondru

Composer: Kannan

Singer: SPB, Chitra

Lyrics: Karky

Movie: Rendavadhu Padam

This is a retro song tuned by composer Kannan in the Ilaiyaraja genre with the typical instruments that Raja would use for such a duet song. It starts with beautiful male vocal harmonies (quite rare as many vocal harmonies are female ones owing to the mellowness of the female voice) and followed by a strings piece and SPB launches into the song with gusto. The first interlude is primarily saxophone, strings and Veena and Chitra joins SPB in the charanam. The second interlude has wonderful female harmonies, followed by a poignant violin piece followed by an energetic nadhaswaram piece leading into the 2nd charanam where the composer adds a tabla instead of the rhythm programming. This is all-in-all a competent melody song that Kannan can be proud of.

35: Song of the Day: Aatha Un Sela

Song: Aatha Un Sela

Composer: Ghibran

Singer: Sundar Narayana Rao

Lyrics: Yegadesi

Movie: Kutti Puli

Aatha Un Sela is a very unconventional song and the unique song because, it has minimal background music and all the focus is on the tune and the voice. The tune is sedate and it will slowly start growing on you. The primary instrument used is a stringed one and it adds to the serenity of the song, considering the situation where the hero is singing to his mother. The composer must be given a lot of credit for conceptualizing such a song in an age where all the instruments are crying loud and competing with the voice.