IR's New albums - Ver 2008

BTW, the review was copied from elsewhere :lol:

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Originally Posted by Fliflo

Sir,



If you are at chennai then you can well enough get it from Musicworld - Spencers. The album {front}cover has an awesome picture of Raaja sir.



Ilamai kanavugal - Karthick and Rita. Lyrics - Valli

…..begins with spick and span voice of Rita. Soon after manual rhythm and funky synth bass give the lead for Pallavi. String orchestra and bass guitar are used as filler. Former for 1st interlude and later in betwixt the handsome Charanams. Normally, any music lover can extract hidden or candid pleasure in the 2nd interlude of any Raaja sir’s song. Very peppy/mind blowing interlude for melody songs. Soft native cadence/stupefying interlude for {electronic} rhythm oriented song. This song falls on the second huddle. Staggering synth chord progression and strings arrangement do follow call and response rule with live bass drum at 2nd interlude.

Interesting fact: It does have tines of turntable sound, might be made through synthesizer, which I have neva expected {at least in this album}. It does not bother the lead melody, though {smile}.

Ulagam kedakuthu – Sunitha sarathy. Lyrics – Valli

…begins alike contemporary electro funk song and changes path as energetic pop. 1st and 2nd interludes have interesting middle-eastern lute kinda instrument {Oudh…eh?}. At 2nd interlude, well structured Brass instruments along with bang band orchestra are more away from usual pattern. Programmed percussion and chipmunk voice mix change the color of the song. However, Sunitha’s put-on accent/slang let down the song.

Dhanam Dhanam – Karthick. Lyrics – Valli

It is not a normal run-of-the-mill kinda song. It does have interesting rhythm pattern with south Indian earthy instruments with Djembes and synth bass as bassline.

Koothu onnu – Raaja sir and Feji. Lyrics – Palani Bharathi.

I guess after the song - Velli kizhama from Shiva, Raaja sir’s attempt for de genre of the song. It has more tribal nuances say de flute prelude, peppy programmed & live rhythm during vocal part and Djembes at 2nd interlude and reed sound through synth. Stunning usage of bass guitar {synth bass…eh?} is simply rocking.

Unnakulle irukirein – Sriram parthasarathy – Bilsenday. Lyrics – Mu.Metha.

…yet another mesmerizing romantic composition from Raaja sir’s music factory. First a couple of lines strongly strike de melody de song Kommallo koyila - Ninnu choodaka nenundalenu, later so much of twist both in lead melody and rhythm/orchestra. Pallavi has both synth rhthym and manual percussion. Chord progression with piano/synth, bass guitar, string orchestra, live percussion at first interlude is Gorgeous. After 2nd line of Charanam, de melody, poly-rhythm wid miruthangam and synth bass steal the spotlight. Awesome, alluring, passionate, zeal and lovely 2nd interlude has mild accelerando of flute, string orchestra with embellishment of synth chord later dazzling live percussion joins to completely change the ambience so romantic. My pocket is already filled with so many numbers like this {of course Raaja sir} song. This song turns on greediness within me to acquire it as well {giggle}.

Kannanukku enna vendum – Bhavatharini, Prasanna and Sriram Parthasarathy. Lryics – Vishali Kannadasan.

Song of the album.

This semi-classical song would make your day very meaningful and momentous.

Charanam:

Nadhi vazhi oru oodam povathu pole, vithi vazhi en ullam un pugal {pugazhil} paadum.

As a boat goes according to de direction of stream, my soul would praise your overwhelming according to the destiny.

Thurigaigal theetatha oviyum neeye. Paaril unnai paadatha kaalangal veeney,

You are work of an art, which was not painted by brush. Day without singing about you is futile.

Unnai potra manin methu ullam undu khodi khodi, unthan ullam enna vendru sollu Kanna {smile}.

There are crore crore soul onto this earth to praise you. Kindly, tell us about your ideology.

Actually, I have just imposed Raaja sir on the place of protagonist {Krishnah} for the above lines. So, day without listening to your compositions/ not singing about you is meaningless.

Even, the second charanam has evocative lines as your melody through flute would evoke water flow even on moon and my desire is longing for that lullaby. Raajasaranam.

This song prevents me to lament about my misdemeanor and more like declaration of guilt. I should say it is a divine magnum opus.

Kattilukku thana pombala – Raaja sir. Lyrics – Muthuligam.

It is a very situational song with philosophical lines, which script depends. All about social issues of mercy/pities women and bad gestures of male-chauvinist. Interesting ethnic rhythm with synth bass and distortion guitar apt for this rational song.

A mixed album with many alluring interludes, contemporary output and fulfilling melodies.

always

~~Raaja rules!

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Fliflo, Loved Reading your post. Fantastic review of the alum! :clap:
Kudos

Raaja Rules :yes:

I see what you mean. When I started (somewhat unfairly, given the repertoire of Raja vs VS) comparing both, it was based on my opinion that Raja was stuck oh-so-unfortunately with that synth sound that sounds archaic. His tunes and many a times, interludes is what draws me these days. VS, on the other hand seems to have found a magical blend between both - listen to RTS' Vaanathai vittu vittu - this could a Raja tune, but the mild innovations in the backgrounds make it completely in sync. On the other hand, Ippave Ippave and Mazhai nindra have beautiful tunes, but in an orchestral package so reminiscent of the Raja of yore, sans the synth.

I'll never ever claim that I like VS over Raja - thats not going to happen in my lifetime since Raja has been an influence from my school days - but all I'm saying is that VS seems to be more clued into upgrading his music and also seems to have found a sweet spot of melody, with a Raja-like sound that is very very appealing to people like me yearning for Raja's comeback into simple, un-synth orchestration combined with his ability to conjure fabulous tunes.

I'd even say that the more mod composers - Yuvan, Rahman, HJ et all do not seem to have found such a sweet spots, like VS. Even a Marudhaani from Sakkarakatti (ARR) or a Ye chilipi from Gharshana (HJ) or Para para pattaampoochi from Katradhu Tamizh (YSR) have such refined degrees of modernity in them - that while sounding perfectly competent and highly listenable, they do not have that simple, unadulterated charm of an 80s Raja song. It may be just me - living in the past glory of Raja, but what the heck, we all yearn for good ol' times to return :-)

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Originally Posted by rprasad

Inetk,

There is a difference in IR giving 80's style songs again today and VS giving those styled songs. VS has a lower level of expectation among the masses and fans and hence any good 80's style melody number irrespective of whether it resembles IR's styled tunes will be lapped up by the masses(infact that is the great irony here people like IR styled songs from VS but not a similar one from IR himself). That is not going to happen with IR. People will immediately start to lament that its an often heard tune and it resembles his some other tune and so forth. So this is kind of a no win situation for IR. Even you if i remember correctly have written off some tunes as outdated/archaic 90's or 80's style in some of your reviews of IR albums.

And also comparing VS songs now to IR's 80'songs is clearly stretching it too much. IR's 80's songs were classics and unmatched in terms of melody, orchestration and experimentation. VS cannot come close to matching those classics which IR tuned in 80's. Terming those gems as simple standard and predictable is again totally incorrect statement. Most of IRs' experimental scores which turned into classics are all in 80's. And i think everyone will agree that IR's 80's songs period will probably rival MSV/TKR's 60's as a golden period of tamil film music.

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yes, Yaathey seems to be very very good song but I am afraid of IR synth usage, the recording quality and the packaging

I saw the interview of the new singer Ujjainee in SS TV. She is from Canada. She said IR heard her song from Yekan under YSR and selected her.

She has debuted under IR for a song in Jaganmohini. As usual with all singers, she was going ga-ga with his knowledge, strictness, professionalism, his perfection with diction, etc and said he made her recording very comfortable.

Hi Karthik,

I understand what you say. It was something that Carnatic Music critic 'Subbudu' once said about Raja when comparing him with Rahman. He said that Raja was able to get some superb and simple melodies like 'Sendoora Poove' and while praising Rahman for his sounds and beats, wondered if Rahman can come up with something like 'Sendoora Poove'. So your aching must be for melodies like 'Sendoora Poove', 'Chitira sevvanam', 'Malargalil Aadum', 'Kannan Oru Kai Kuzhandai' etc. As rprasad said Raja is in a no-win situation since lot of people would say the melody is old if Raja gives it but if others come up with it, it will be welcomed.

An artist has to evolve and keep trying new things and if it is a person like Illayaraja I can understand his tunes getting more complex. He has to challenge himself. So I am not so sure if Illayaraja himself wants to give a simple straightforward melodies. (A great combination of melody and complexity was the music for the film 'Kaalapani'. The songs were inherently sweet and the orchestration was brilliant.)Even the excellent melody from 'Uliyin Osai', "Kallai Irunden" is so multi-layered. It is indeed a joy to listen to it and it gives great satisfaction. If you ask me if it is a straightforward and a simple melody, I would say no. The listener has to put in some effort to understand and appreciate all the nuances.

The one thing I would like in Raja's music is to have atleast one song in each film, wherein the ragam is clearly heard. I am not talking about 'Uliyin Osai' type carnatic classicals but the lovely Reethigowlas, Hamsanamdam etc that he has given. I hole than whenever he touches a raga for film music purposes, that song never fails. Just listen to the outstanding 'Vasantha Nila' from Sooriyan based on Sriranjani.

One thing I am sure about is Illayaraja's work ethic. There is effort behind very song and if you look carefully you can see that. I watched 'Aa Dinagalu' recently and the work he has put for the BGM is phenomenal.

Whether we will get more "Chinna Kannan" or "Kuyile Kavikuyile", is not known, what I do know is that Illayaraja is still thinking and experimenting. So we are bound to get decent albums from him. If he is inspired, he can still give outstanding music.

S.Suresh

Should read ,"I hold that.." and not "I hole than.."

S.Suresh

Aa Dinagalu, Kannada movie with outstanding BGM from IR is released in high quality DVD. (First time for a Kannada Movie).

http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/k...nts/15857.html

Just to add, Aa Dinagalu was one of the better outputs from IR in recent times,both interms of quality and also in reaching masses.

This movie was one of the six hits in Kannada of 2007 and the songs "aa dinagalu" and "sihigaali" are played very frequently in the FMs (even now).

A similar effort in Tamil will do wonders for him and his Fans.

To add to what rooky said, 'Aa Dinagalu' is definitely one of the better Kannada movies to come out in recent times. An excellent movie on the violent underground without any on screen violence. May not be the perfect movie but a top class attempt.

S.Suresh