Picks 536 - 770

[madhu]

thanks RR !

[Neel D]

Pick #536

Song: Adaiyil ennadi
Film: Ennadi Meenatchi
Music: Shankar-Ganesh
Singer: S.Janaki, Malaysia Vasudevan
Lyrics: ?
Year: 1979

"romba nALAga enakkoru" was the most popular song from the film "Ennadi Meenatchi" and has remained popular till now. But "Adaiyil ennadi" was also a hit song back in the days. There is at least one other moderately hit song in the album but can't remember at the moment. I think the film did fairly well at the box office.

This song is a nEyar(Jack) viruppam.

http://raretfm.mayyam.com/stream/pow...iyil_ennadi.rm

[thyagu666]

hi admin/friends,
iam serching for few songs of illayaraja(app-200 songs),i have the link which shows my list, can i directly put it here or request one by one.please guide me .

thyagu

[Neel D]

Vinatha,
Don't get your hopes up. I am hardly a romantic.

Thyagu,
Could you post few requests at a time?

[Neel D]

Pick #537

Song: kathiravan udhayam
Film: Haridas
Music: G.Ramanathan & Papanasam Sivan
Singer: Nagappattinam Chandrasekaran Kamakshi
Lyrics: Papanasam Sivan
Year: 1944

It is my gripe that there is no serious effort being taken to preserve Tamil films and Tamil film music of the the classical era of TFM. Even though film artistes had been governing Tamilnadu for decades there has been no dedicated attempt to restore the movies and music of the first three decades of Tamil talkies, a period when hundreds of extremely talented classical musicians and stage actors made their contributions to Tamil films. This week we shall try to revive some of the songs, three female solos, from that period.

Nagappattinam Chandrasekaran Kamakshi also known as N.C.Vasanthakokilam (now we are talking) possessed one of the sweetest voices among the classical singers of her time. She was a popular carnatic singer and was also a busy actress in the 1940s. Her first film was Chandragupta Chanakya (1941) and the last was Krishna Vijayam (1950). After apparently a failed love and a failed marriage she found herself a patron in Coimbatore K Sathasivan who directed her in some of his movies and also promoted her as a stage singer. She was doing great until her life and career were cut short by tuberculosis sometime around 1951. But she left behind some great vocal music and films.

Haridas, of course, is a legendary film that played for over two years straight in Chennai. We all know that the leading man MKT spent all that time in jail after the famous Lakshmikanthan murder case verdict. MKT's appeal had to go all the way to a London court as India was still under the rule of the British. Along with great songs, Haridas had a symbolic sex scene, lot of eve-teasing and some politically incorrect lines delivered by NCV herself. Very bold for its time. The film was made at Central Studios, Coimbatore. NCV played the arrogant but loving wife of MKT in the film. "kathiravan udhayam" was supposedly a popular song in its time. But of course with MKT singing so many wonderful songs in the film it is no wonder that NCV's songs in the film were overshadowed.

I am sure Papanasam Sivan did not just write the lyrics. He must have probably composed the tune also while G.Ramanathan took care of the orchestral arrangement. Hence I added Sivan's name under Music.

Part of the statistics in this post was found on the internet. Thanks to Randor Guy and the like.

http://raretfm.mayyam.com/stream/pow07/kathiravan.rm

[thyagu666]

sorry for the inconvenience

[Neel D]

Pick #538

Song: jAlilO jimkAnA
Film: Amaradeepam
Music: T.Chalapathi Rao
Singer: Pillavaalu Gajapathi Krishnaveni
Lyrics: Thanjai Ramiahdas
Year: 1956

There is no need to introduce P.G.Krishnaveni. Everyone knows Jikki, the queen of TFM playback in the 1950s (in close competition with P.Leela).
Could someone provide the expansion for the initials P.G.?

I chose "jAlilO" for the controversy it created when it came out. The lyricist Thanjai Ramiahdas was dragged through hot coal for using some meaningless and/or non-Tamil words in this song. Decades later my highschool Tamil teacher was still complaining about this song and the songwriter. But I think Ramiahdas wrote a song that fit the situation, two gypsy girls performing on the street. Ramiahdas has written many meaningful songs too but this is the incident most people remember him by. Considering today's song standards(?) it seems very unfair. Jikki brings her sweetness and her trademark "Ohhh..."s and makes listening to this apparently meaningless song a pleasant experience.

The song sequence in the film is really beautiful. Young and gorgeous Padmini and another beautiful girl (E.V.Saroja?) sing and dance on the street to entertain people. A crowd is standing around them in a circle and watching them perform. The girls are dancing away to the lively beats of the drum singing the catchy song. That is when a young, in-shape and handsome Sivaji Ganesan walks in. He has an unlit cigarette between the corner of his lips. An arrogant and carefree attitude is all over his face and body language. Totally Hot! He cuts through the crowd and gets to the front of it facing the dancers. Padmini who is dancing looking in another direction turns and finds Sivaji standing there, and in an instant her face lights up. A little bit of a surprise in her eyes, a lot of happiness in her face, and a smile under her breath suggesting that she knew he would come... all this while she is still dancing... Classic Padmini! They didn't call her Nattiya Peroli for nothing.

http://raretfm.mayyam.com/stream/pow07/jalilo.rm

[RR]

Neel & others,

We've been having problems with long threads. So I'm trimming this thread. Hope it's ok henceforth. Sorry for the trouble.

[Murali Srinivas]

Dear Neel,

Only yesterday night, I watched Amara Deepam and today I am finding it here. Your narration of the scene was so beautiful and I could visualise it again, the scene being so fresh in memory. Thanks for the pick

Regards

[SN23]

Jikki's father name is Gajapathi Naidu. His name had another prefix 'PillavAlu' (Equivalent to Chinna piLLai?). May be these two stand for P & G.

Neel: Great songs by Ganakokila pAdagiyargaL. Nandrigal kOdi