Ilaiyaraja and Hariharan

We must be indebted to A.R.Rahman for introducing Hariharan to Tamil film music with the song Tamizha Tamizha in Roja. Hariharan is primarily a ghazal singer who had sung a few songs in Bollywood after making his debut in the Hindi film Gaman under composer Jaidev. Unfortunately most of his initial songs in Hindi went unnoticed though few were good. Once Hariharan started with Roja he started becoming a regular singer in Tamil and even other composers started using his mellifluous voice. Till date he must have sung around 300 songs in Tamil and another 300+ in other South Indian languages.

Ilaiyaraja took to Hariharan in Kadhalukku Mariyadhai with the superhit song Ennai Thaalaatta Varuvaala and the rest is history. Since then, Ilaiyaraja has used Hariharan quite frequently and this combination also has had its unique charm. ARR must get the credit for giving Hariharan some brilliant songs and their combination is one of the best ever in Indian music history as seeing both the geniuses complement each other is sheer joy for the fans. In this context the IR-Hari combo is different but it also stands on its own considering the different type of songs that IR has given Hariharan even outside Tamil. My best picks under this combo would be the following in mainly Tamil/Malayalam:

1. Ennai Thaalaatta-Kadhalukku Mariyadhai
2. Meetaadha Oru Veenai-Poonthottam
3. Thendralai Kandukolla-Nilave Mugam Kaattu
4. Nilavu Paattu-Kannukul Nilavu
5. Vaanaville-Ramanaa
6. Poongaatre-Friends
7. Nee Paartha-Hey Ram (one of my personal favourites)
   
8. Aathorathile-Kaasi
9. Kaatril Varum Geethame-Oru Naal Oru Kanavu
10. Aaro Padunnu Doore-Katha Thodarnnu
11. Amruthamaay Abhayamaay-Snehaveedu ( a recent song in Kalyani raaga, so melodious)
12. Vilayaataa Padagotti-Dhoni (very touching tune)