Ramesh Vinayagam - The Unsung

Listening this song which Chinmayi has posted in her blog, watching SPB’s interview in NDTV’s Super south, watching Jaya TV’s Ragamalika, and watching the video of Srinivas’s performance in last year’s finals of Raj TV’s Raajageetham made me to revisit University, Nalathamayanthi, Ye Nee Romba Azhagha Irukkae, Jerry and Azhaghiya Theeyae soundtracks. Yes, I am talking about the unsung Ramesh Vinayagam, who inspite of being more talented than most of the successful composers in Tamil Film music now, is yet to get his due. Ramesh Vinayagam apart from composing music for movies sang few songs for other composers and also did orchestration for other composer’s songs.

Srinivas never forgets to sing the ‘Kasthuri Maan inamae’ song he sung for Ramesh Vinayagam in the movie ‘Azhaghiya Theeyae’ in his concerts, S.P.Balasubramaniam when talking about young composers, put Ramesh Vinayagam along with Illayaraja, A.R.Rahman and Vidhyasagar. The strong knowledge in classical music, his technical acumen in finding faults in a singer’s performance, his interest in varied genres of music are there for everyone to see in the show Jaya TV’s ‘Raagamalika’ in which he judges the aspiring singers. In one of the episodes, P.Susheela herself was amazed by the level of depth in the details that Ramesh Vinayagam gives to singers on how better a song can be sung. And further, his latest composition for Jaya TV’s serial ‘Simran Thirai’ is a sample of Ramesh Vinayagam’s talent and superior taste in music.

Ramesh Vinayagam is one of the rare composers who established a clear identity of his own in his music right from his first soundtrack. I still remember watching the trailer of ‘University’ which had mostly visuals from the songs. What a smashing debut it was. Ramesh’s music doesn’t sound like any other composer’s. In this era of Rahmanism, it is really hard to find one such composer.

An easy way to judge a composer’s ability and talent is by listening to his soft melodies and by checking if it has got that eternal feel in it. Ramesh’s melodies for sure have that eternal quality. I still cherish listening to ‘Vizhigalin Aruginil Vaanam’, ‘Kasthuri Maan inamae’ from Azhaghiya Theeyae, ‘Yen intha nenju’ from University, ‘En Swaasathil’ from Jerry and above all the romantic waltz ‘Enna Ithu’ from Nalathamayanthi which would definitely find a place in my list of 100 best melodies of Tamil Film music.

Ramesh Vinayagam brought in some rare genres of music into Tamil film music and while doing so, he didn’t make it sound totally filmy; he sticks to the basics of the genre of music and yet makes it an interesting filmy song piece. ‘Stranded on the streets’ from Nalathamayanthi, ‘Ullalae Ullalae’ and ‘Boom Theme’ from Azhaghiya Theeyae, ‘Nenje’ and ‘Vimmavey’ from University are such rare pieces of music which fortunately made its way into a Tamil movie through Ramesh. Even the kuthu numbers or the so called rhythm based numbers are done with so much taste and an aesthetic sense by Ramesh.

Ramesh Vinayagam is a man of orchestration. Be it any song, there is a clarity and elegance in his orchestration. Ramesh has a unique way in writing Vocal harmonies. Some of vocal harmonies he introduces in the interludes of the songs and the chorus parts he puts as a parallel layer of the lead vocal melody are so deep in melody, complex and brilliantly written.

I am surprised that none of the directors who worked with Ramesh Vinayagam went back to him again. Take any successful composer in Tamil film music, they all have had a very strong bonding with some of the best directors of their era, and I sincerely hope that Ramesh Vinayagam finds one as soon as possible. I want to listen to more and more of his music.