Nandhalala : Myskin

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Originally Posted by Sanjeevi

I pity for Ilaiyaraaja

how can he satisfy his HC fans? :oops: :cry:

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I love Nandhalala songs, they are great melodies. Its just that it looks like an amateur production. The recording quality and instrument quality is lacking. If this album was titled "Music for your heart", released by some Nungambakkam amateur band called "New Horizons", produced in a local recording studio and sold independently, I would have quickly become a keen fan of "New Horizons". But this has the name "Ilaiyaraaja" on it - he should really start taking these things seriously. If you look at IR songs in early-mid 90s, there were many such "light music"' sounding songs, they will sound much better because of live orcherstra (mainly percussions). (For example, take "Kannaale kaadhal kavithai" from Aathma - imagine how it would sound if recorded the way IR is doing now. )

Where/what are you guys listening to ? I am eating pongal/vada on my extended lunch and listening to these songs in Windows Media Player through my Logitech USB headset streaming from sensongs.com and it sounds pretty good.. (I dont think this is related to what I am eating :-) )

Just listened to the songs. wonderful melodies. Completely agree with Kiru, the songs are simple and appeal to emotions. People seem to forget that the story deals with Mother and son and has a strong emotional undercurrent to it. IR delibrately has used what we call minimalist music and focused on creating a gentle emotional appeal to the songs. Ananth was asking why it could not be grander but that would be totally against the basic theme of the movie. Here the aim was not to create any specific mood as compared to NK where there was a need to create a specific mood to go with the theme of the movie and hence a more grander/high energy orchestration for couple of songs. Even then the Kei Veesi song is very catchy and breezy but still the rhythm does not get overdone and there is still that lightness to the song which is maintained throughout the album. Lovely stuff.
Also on the recording quality i only listened online and did not find anything that was very obvious or jarring and prevented me from enjoying the songs. I am sure the CD quality will not be worse than this. I think people should come out of the obsession with sounds and enjjoy the songs. I guess when one is used to hearing ARR and YSR /HJ recorded songs one tends to focus on sounds more and less on actual song quality itself. Ofcourse i would agree if the sound quality is bringing down the listening experience which is not the case here atleast in my opinion. And i am surprised that people expect something without bothering about the theme of the movie.
on the whole brilliant songs which should fit the movie theme perfectly. Excellent start to 09 for IR with two high quality albums.

ok, lets be more particular.

"Onnukkonnu" is the pick of the album IMO - great intro, great ambience, great singing by KJY. The problem? Percussion loop - with the great intro, the percussion could have had subtle changes to keep it interesting. The worst is when it simply extends into the first interlude - this is where IR used to rock before, changing the rhythm/percussion during the interlude and setting up the charanam. Instead, the same loop is extended, and changes abruptly for charanam - its neither here nor there. Second interlude is lot better.

"Mella oorndhu" also has a great intro, first interlude also ok. in charanam, "mudhal murai pogum..." part has an annoying 80s computer video game music kind of thing going in the background. IR used to fill in with great classical guitar arpeggios in places like that. second interlude also has that cheap casio keyboard quality.

"Thaalaattu ketka" also has a promising intro, first interlude is also great. but the percussion is so weak throughout the song.

"kai veesi" - is the kind of song where the bass alone could have carried it, but the bass sounds so electronic and low. This song is more energetic than the others, so atleast this could have used some more powerful instruments.

"Oru vaandu koottame" - imagine if the first interlude used instruments like old IR (no need to change a single note)! gives that "cheap imitation of IR" effect...

Again, its a great album, no doubt. It already sounds better once I got used to the sounds. If NK was not released, I'd be raving about Nandhalala. But after NK, it gives that apprehensive feeling that IR is going back to his synth unnecessarily. If you take a song like "Mandira punnagaiyo" - simple song (to appeal to the heart and not the mind, as someone nicely put) - nothing grand, but real flute, real violins, real bass, real percussions make it sound so good. First interlude is to die for!

Anyway, enough nitpicking. I'm going to shut up and enjoy the two great albums in 2009 from IR.

I think rprasad and kiru have said it all. The orchestration of this album really pushes the film and also gives us a listening extravaganza. The Technical aspects of the songs are also amazing. Especially the guitar in the melle oorndhu and the weird celtic like instrument in the second interlude of oru vaandu koottame. Kai veesi's prelude is out of the world.

With the exception of elilea which is not composed by raja all of them are excellent. I wonder what songs you guys are listening to as i dunt find a problem with the recording quality or the orchestration. For people who expect the orchestration to be as grand like rakkama kaiya thatthu or the strings in butterfly are out of your mind.

Just like how Naan kadavul songs are composed according to the film's demands so is nandhalala. Isn't the movie supposed to be a journey to find his mother together with a stranger? The songs seem to convey that exactly and also give us ecstasy.

Hulkster - u r bang on! the music for NK and NL are customised to suit the different themes of the respective films

once again I reiterate, IR has given NL the attention he usually gives to his Malayalam projects in recent times! there is no compromise in melody! and soothing!

My thoughts:

1) Mella oorndhu: Nice guitar/piano like prelude and nice tune (especially the pallavi). Nice rendition by IR, but I would certainly prefer a different voice.

2) Onnukonnu: Again nice prelude with nice/pleasant flute passages through out the song. Nice tune, but I would have preferred more natural instruments..

3) Elileo: For record sake, first gypsy song in a music album, otherwise I dont find anything interesting in this song. Will fit the BGM though.

4) Thalaattu: 80's styled tune with light and nice violin/flute bits. No doubt he has sung with right emotions, but again I prefer a different singer.

5) Kai Veesi: Some different orchestration and liked the charanam portion. Pallavi tune starts like a Yuvan tune!

6) Oru Vaandu: I think I hear Bhava's voice too. It should have been promoted as a song sung by "three generations" :). Anyways, decent tune, but I did not like the orchestration much.

Mostly all are situational songs. My picks are 1 and 2.

Eager to listen to the BGM.

thanks,

Krishnan

A very good album !

But IR is unlucky as always.
Whenever he comes with brilliant album in Tamil, the director will be ready with scissors to cut off the song from the film and make the extraordinary work go unnoticed..
Myskkin this time is the villain.. :(

Who can forgive Fazil for cutting off "Mella thira.." from ONOK ........Good example of how IR's brilliance went unnoticed..

"kai veesi..."

Vow ! Where were you Raja till now ??
Hope Myskkin did not abort this song from the film..

Elilea gypsy song - :) :)

yaaruppaa..adhu..indha song "kathaazha.." songai beat pannum-nu hype uttadhu ?! valila thudikkira maadhiri irukku paattu :D