Kalyani

Adi Thozhi Adi Thozhi (Thendral)
Unnai Charanadainthen (Thavamai Thavamirunthu)
Unnai Charanadainthen (Thavamai Thavamirunthu)
Mulai Thirugum (Kanaa Kanden)
Summa Kedantha (Thambi)
Alaigalin Osaigal (Rameshwaram)
Yen swasathil (Jerry)
Naana Ithu Naana (Vattaram)
Mazhai Nindra Pinbum (Raaman Thedia Seethai)

Few days back, I was listening ‘Hare Ram (Telugu)’ soundtrack and though I was listening to the songs casually without paying much attention, a silky voice infectiously rendering the hippy ‘Naa Na Naana na na na’ phrase in the starting of the song ‘Yakhudha zara’ suddenly caught my attention and the voice sounded familiar too. The CD inlay spelled the name of the voice as
“K A L Y A N I”. And now you know why I listed those songs.

When I heard her first in ‘Adi Thozhi’ (Thendral), I got very much impressed by her sweet, silky and exquisitely expressive voice. Infact my admiration for her skyrocketed when I saw her performing unplugged in quarter finals of A.R.Rahman’s Ooh la la la (She is the lead singer of the band Route 10). Though her band didn’t make it through to the finals, the way she sang the band’s original composition and the ‘Nee Paartha Parvaikku’ remix still lingers in my ears. It is no wonder that she has given voice for some of the best melodies that have reached my ears in past few years. Rarely do I listen to songs for its singer as I did for Kalyani’s voice.

Though I am happy that she gets best of the melodies to sing, I think our composers can use her more often. I don’t really agree with the general opinion that today’s singers lack uniqueness in their voice. A serious music listener can easily realize that there are as many different voices as it was two decades before. Sainthavi, Shwetha, Chinmayi, Mathangi, Madhumitha, Mahathi are the names that immediately come to my mind, when I think of distinct voices. When our composers - who are incorrigible when it comes to choice of singers, are busy teaching Tamil to singers like Madhusree (those who can never get the Tamil diction right) in name of freshness, this bloody bad phase of good Tamil singers will continue in the Tamil Film music scene.

Subramaniyapuram Soundtrack

When I posted this, many asked me to listen to the songs of ‘Subramaniyapuram’. Even before writing that post, I had listened to Subramaniyapuram soundtrack but nothing stuck with me on first few listening, not even ‘Kangal Irandal’. I now wonder why I didn’t like them when I listened to it then because now I like it and I like it very much. And the reason is not just the music.

The first song I liked was not ‘Kangal Irandal’ but it was ‘Kaadhal Siluvayil’. The emotional quotient in the melody was so high which is further enhanced by Shankar Mahadevan’s heartfelt singing. As I was listening and I was beginning to like, an amateur orchestration with oddly sounding trumpet piece in the second interlude was totally out of place, and I switched to the next track. But the montage for which this song plays as a background score made it the most endearing song of the soundtrack.

My problem with ‘Kangal Irandal’ was the singers. Instead of sounding fresh, they sounded little odd initially and again the strings in the second interlude reminded me of a Rahman’s piece and as the strings were played on keyboard it sounded too amateurish to my ears. It affected the smooth flow of the melody. But when I saw the visuals of the song in which the rhythm of the montage is exactly matched with the rhythm of the song, I started liking it more. And the then annoying strings in the second interlude beautifully fit the tension that builds as Samuthirakani walks suspiciously towards Sruthi when she is speaking with Jai and the soothing choir that ends this piece makes us feel as relieved as Jai and Sruthi after a brief romantic thrill.

‘Madurai kulunga’ sounded authentic and good when I heard first time, but it sounded more meaningful when I saw that so much happens within this song in the movie. Again, the sudden shifts to strings in the interlude fit to T for Jai’s ecstasy who finally finds his girl in the festival crowd.

Kudos to Sasikumar and James Vasanthan for making a befitting movie soundtrack in days when movie soundtracks hardly have music that is unique to a movie - any song composed (by any composer, sometimes) for any situation from any movie can be used for any other situation in any other movie.

Mayilu

Listen this.

To put in Vadivelu style, Raaja – “Only you possible”.

Thanks to Emjay for posting the clip.

Raaja - A State of Mind

Rock, Jazz, fusion, world, hip-hop, folk, new age, pop, Indian classical, western classical, orchestral - In an urge to understand and appreciate various forms of music, I try and find the best in each of the aforementioned genres of music and listen to it. But sometimes I just get stuck with Illayaraja and think that listening to all those various forms of music is all but a waste of time. In times like these, Illayaraja (music) becomes a state of my mind and I say to myself, “Just listen to one genre of music - ‘Illayaraja’ and that is enough for this lifetime.” I often get into such a mindset and it takes a really fantabulous music of some other composer to shake me out of it. I guess I am not alone.

Dhanam Soundtrack

Kangalum Kavipaduthey, Uliyin Oosai and now Dhanam! Illayaraja is in fine form. The soundtrack is rich with Raaja’s typical melodies, amazing instrumental pieces in preludes and interludes, beautiful bass lines and catchy rhythms. The soundtrack is worth buying just for ‘Kannanukku Yenna Vendum’ song.

I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack except for the song ‘Ulagam Kidakuthu’. From when did Raaja included staves for samples in his score sheet? The first interlude of this song has the same melody sample that we hear in Citibank ad in raaga.com (earlier we heard the same in Yuvan’s Pudupettai) and that is not the only reason why I skip this song.