Pasanga

After stupendous success of 'Subramaniyapuram' music, James Vasanthan is back with 'Pasanga' soundtrack. For any composer, or any artist who got huge success with his first attempt, the real acid test is repeating the same amount of success in the immediate next project. I guess James Vasanthan would pass this test with flying colors as the music of 'Pasanga' is sincere and immensely likeable. Though it is too early to form a general opinion on James Vasanthan as a composer, after listening 'Subramaniyapuram' and now 'Pasanga' I could observe that James Vasanthan is a great fan of Illayaraja, listens a lot of rock music, a composer with a lot of restraint and one who cares more about music and less about the sound.

The soundtrack opens with simple and elegant melody in 'Anbalae' rendered by M.Balamurali Krishna. Though his voice sounds geriatric, the singing is soulful. The lengthy pure solo flute and violin interludes have become a rarity these days but in this song the feel-good factor is maintained through such interludes. But, what pulls down the song a bit is the oft-heard rhythm loop.

'Naandhaan gonppanda' is a freaking roller coaster ride from the word go. It instantly reminded me of Raaja's Anjali songs, because of typical zing in the orchestration that is so much like that of Raaja. The rocking interludes, Yuga bharathi's word play, some wild layering of rock and folk beats, the instantly hooky 'Naandhaan goppanda' phrase, brilliantly performance of the kids harmony and one can go and on listing the aspects that make this song work so well.

'Oru vetkam' has everything in it to become the next 'Kangal Irandal'. It is a simple sweet romantic melody with a soft thump that could make anyone swing their body and tap their feet instantly. This time James cleverly goes to Shreya Ghosal and Naresh Iyer and both push the song to the next level with their exquisite rendition. It is commendable that with a template that is so similar to 'Kangal Irandal', James is able to make this song sound interesting and fresh without reminding its predecessor much.

I am glad that I didn't skip the track 'Who's that guy' in haste after listening to the starting guitar riff that sounds like that of 'Adiyae kolluthey'. In such songs, it is bound to happen. Here is an unpretentious genre piece that doesn't have the composer shouting from the roof top about his ability to compose rock music.

Nalla Pasanga.

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.