kONAtha sengkarumbu (Padikkatha Pannaiyar)
Pick #594
Song: kONAtha sengkarumbu
Film: Padikkatha Pannaiyar
Music: Ilaiyaraja
Singers: Dheepan Chakravarthi, S.P.Shailaja
Lyrics: ?
Year: 1985
A fun song. DC and SPS render the song very normally. They do not overdo anything. IR has kept the tempo of the song moderate. Together it makes the song enjoyable. Don't know much about the film "Padikkatha Pannaiyar" except that it starred Sivaji Ganesan.
Thanks to Priya for sending this song.
http://raretfm.mayyam.com/stream/pow07/konatha.rm
pAdum vaNdE (Kalangalil Aval Vasantham)
Pick #595
Song: pAdum vaNdE
Film: Kalangalil Aval Vasantham
Music: Vijayabhaskar
Singer: Vani Jairam
Lyrics: ?
Year: 1976
"Kalangalil Aval Vasantham" starred Muthuraman and Srividya. I believe that this song is sung by an insane Srividya searching for the lover who abandoned her. VJ does a stunning job bringing out the desparation of the character, the state of being lost, and the beauty of the lyrics. Vijayabhaskar's rich and beautiful orchestration adds eeriness and exoticness to the song. All songs in the film are wonderful. Either VB or VJ certainly deserved an award for this album. Other songs are:
maNamagaLE un maNavaRai - VJ
anbenum sudarAl - VJ
mudhal mudhal varum - VJ,SPB
http://raretfm.mayyam.com/stream/pow07/padum_vande.rm
mAlai mudhal kAlai (Unnai Thedi Varuven)
Pick #596
Song: mAlai mudhal kAlai
Film: Unnai Thedi Varuven
Music: Ilaiyaraja
Singer: Vani Jairam
Lyrics: ?
Year: 1985
"Unnai Thedi Varuven" was directed by Sridhar. As always, he managed to get great tunes from the composer. Today's pick is one of the best among IR's western compositions but went overlooked. A very delicate composition that is all about control. You can feel the woman burning with lust, yet there is a restraint in the way she expresses it, and you can feel that too. The song is like a woman with her heaving bosoms and the instrumentation is like a delicate silk fabric that envelopes her, barely. The charanams start to intensify as they get close to the finish, gradually increase and finally hit the peak (starting at "suganggaLum suvaigaLum nAnthAn" and peaking at "nALEthu" and again in the next charanam starting to intensify at "aRinthavan purinthavan yArO" and peaking at "vArAnO"). Yet you can feel the careful and controlled execution of the finish, like walking on a tight rope, like she does not want to disturb the calm of the night. Wonderful job by VJ. The vibratos and the kiRakkams at the end of the phrases are a delight.
http://raretfm.mayyam.com/stream/pow07/malai_mudhal.rm
thottilil thodanggidum (Kanne Kaniyamudhe)
Pick #597
Song: thottilil thodanggidum
Film: Kanne Kaniyamudhe
Music: M.S.Viswanathan
Singer: Vani Jairam
Lyrics: ?
Year: 1986
Following the western number let us enjoy another dimension of VJ's vocal skills - the semiclassical genre she is well known for. Today's pick, a beautiful philosophical song, however, went overlooked. MSV fully utilizes VJ's classical music skills just as he previously did with "Ezhu svaranggaLukkuL", "sugamAna rAganggaLE", and "kaNNan kOvil paRavai", to name a few. VJ sang two outstanding solos for "Kanne Kaniyamudhe" - the dramatic sad song "oru piLLai azaiththathu", and "thottilil".
The film starred Sujata, Rahman, Amala, Jaisankar and others. If I remember correctly Sujata is a dance teacher, married to Jaisankar and has a little son. For some reason she runs away from home leaving behind her husband and son. Many years pass, Sujata returns and takes up a job as a dance teacher in Rahman's dance school. There she finds out that Rahman is her own son. But she cannot tell him that she is his mother...you can imagine the drama and sentiments that would follow. MSV scored many beautiful songs for the film.
This song concludes a week of VJ songs.
http://raretfm.mayyam.com/stream/pow07/thottilil.rm