raagas,
thumburu did mention the 'Time' song. And yes to Kasturi Maan and yes again to Ninu Vetiki Vetiki. SPB had some very good words to say about the latter in his show.
Printable View
raagas,
thumburu did mention the 'Time' song. And yes to Kasturi Maan and yes again to Ninu Vetiki Vetiki. SPB had some very good words to say about the latter in his show.
Sureshs65 , among the songs you listed, I can vouch for "shiva kara","ghanashyaama","kodamanjil" of "Kochu kochu santhoshangaL" to be as good any female solo of the elegant eighties. I find "sandiyare" pretty ordinary
Among the solos listed by raagas, yes, Julie Ganapathi has that melodious "enakku piditha paadal" with "Dharbaari kaanada" flavour despite Shreya's enunciation problem. I also fell for the groovy, sleek "ninnu vethiki" in Shreya's vocals. "Nethu varaikkum" has a pleasing "pahaadi" with "mohanam " touch and Sujatha has done good justice to the song. Only the colloquial tamizh robs the song of its beauty to some extent . I forgot to mention the last female solo I really loved before "kaNNil paarvai" is "dheemi dheemi" of Shiva - 2. I want more of this IR now
Also vintage Raja was the real emperor of soft, breezy romantic duets with SPB/Janaki's immortal singing and mesmerizing ludes. A sweet surprise element always used to lurk in most of his duets like "adhi kaalai nerame" , "vaanam enge megam enge", "oru naaL unnodu oru naaL" "veLLai pura ondru", "solai poovil maalai thendral" , "nilavondru kanden en jannalil" . I miss these kind of duets and what he gives today is just a mediocre song with lame paalavi in "unakuLLe irukindren" . The last duet I liked were "poo poothadhu" of "Mumbai express " and "kajuraaho" of "ONOK" , despite its resemblance to "roja poonthottam". In "Anumanaspadam", there is a decent tune in Hamsanandhi scale "mallelo" , but something is missing in that. May be elaborately embellished interludes? [remember , Raja used to simply play around freely with scales like Hamsanandhi/panthuvaraaLi/Vasantha" earlier . Now what happened? Looks like somebody has surely curbed his free flowingness].
thumburu,
Agree to much of what you say. There is no SPB / SJ now. That is a definite problem. It could be that Raja is not sure if people can execute his song like how SPB or KJY used to execute it. So he gives these 'modern' songs like Kajuraho etc, which are probably easier to sing. The other day I was listening to some singing competition. When the singer sang what can be called a 'hit' song of another music director, it looked as if he was doing a decent job. But when he took up 'Poonkatre' from Friends, immediately the lack of quality was apparent. So I think it is a combination of circumstances that is forcing Raja to adopt a certain style. I personally think even a singer like Hariharan did not touch the heights of SPB and KJY, when it comes to Raja songs. (I know people may disagree with me here but that is how I feel)
Perhaps that's why he himself sings a huge % of songs, ask Bhava to sing some and "force KJY to sing some with struggle" etc :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Sureshs65
:-(
AE,
There is an interview which he gave to Telugu TV channel where he said that due to electronics, all talents were becoming lazy and how it was difficult to get them to sing even one line correctly!! I can believe him when I hear some of the singers who have become popular due to one or two songs sing in some TV program.
One reason I think his output in Malayalam is better is also probably because of the singers. Madhu Balakrishnan is one of the better singers. He sang 'Vasantha Nilavin' very well. Manjari also does a good job. M G Sreekumar is also good. For some reason Chitra is not being used much in Tamil. Maybe producers want 'new' voices? I can't think of any very good female singers in Tamil. Guess that is why he 'imports' Shreya and Sadhana? Using Bhava will always remain a point of contention with his fans and that cannot be helped.
"Hariharan did not touch the heights of SPB and KJY, when it comes to Raja songs. (I know people may disagree with me here but that is how I feel)"
Idhula disagree panna onnum illai - Hariharan's best came with others - maybe it is a clash of style between Raja and him. I liked Meettadha Oru Veenai though.
Plum - in 'meetadha oru' HH struggles in the higher octaves such as 'marandha andha paadalukku adiyedutthu kodukkavaa' whereas Mahalakshmi sang it relatively easily
Plum/irir123,
Meetaatha Oru was fabulous except for the high octave slips by Hariharan.. Can wait many years ( and put up with some junk) just for number like that.. beautiful Reetigowlai..
Cheers
MSKdffd
Both Hariharan and Mahalakshmi spent many hours of rehearsals to get their gamakas right.
c'mon guys, there are many gems, dig out them.
I liked malayalam song "Mandhaara Poo" from Vinodha Yatra. Nice Kalyani.
Hariharan does struggle in 'Meetadha'. As Plum says, there seems to be difference in styles between Hariharan's singing and Raja's tuning.
raagas: Madhara Poo is lovely. I have this theory. Whenever Raja composes based on a raga, he rarely goes wrong. In the recent times, for some reasons, lot more of his songs are scale based. Songs in movies like 'Kadhaluku Mariyadhai', 'En Mana Vaanil', 'Manasellam', 'Shambu' etc. In Malayalam movies he has more songs where the raga is clearly enunciated. Examples would be 'Koda Manjin' (Suddha Saveri), 'Madhara Poo' (Kalyani), 'Vasanta Nila' (Sriranjani) and 'Oru Chiri Kandal' (Mayamalavagowla). You can say the same about 'Katril Varum Geethame' (Kalyani)and 'Maa Ganga' (Yamuna Kalyani) and songs of Uliyin Osai. I haven't really analyzed all recent songs to claim that my theory is correct but Raja's vision of a raga is unique and if he uses the raga explicitly, you will definitely get a good song.
BTW, can anyone tell me what ragas are these songs based on: 'Ammayennum Vaaku' (Ponmudi Puzhayorathu), 'Varavelkumo' (Pacha Kuthira), 'Kadapurathoru' (All three have the Mayamalavagowla touch but I don't think they are MMG. My feeling is that these could be Vakulabaranam but I don't have a clear picture of Vakulabaranam in my mind. So cannot be sure). 'Subhaniyogamale' (SMS) and 'Kannanukku Enna Vendum' (Sounds like Natabhairavi when the sing the swaras but is the whole song based on Natabhairavi?)