Raja's Gems - the latest one you heard...Part 3

**V_S** · 11th March 2011, 08:53 PM

A perfect soundtrack to kick start the morning! Even if someone had a difficult yesterday, or not feeling well, once he hears this album, every difficulty/pain will be crushed and dimnished into air. The energy we get in every song is outstanding. SPB and S Janaki transfer their energy in their singing to us. Today on a dull morning I was waking up my kids dancing with these songs, especially that amazing "Navvindi Malle Chandu Nachindi Girl Friendu". The dull morning suddenly became very bright. SPB and SJ freaked out (as if Maestro was not there while recording

). Guitar vamping is ultimate!. Everyone became jubilant. Such is the power of these songs.
This whole soundtrack will be our subrabatham for few more days. Eureka Saka Mikha!! Yahoo!!

**Google Adsense** · 11th March 2011 08:53 PM

**raj_musing** · 11th March 2011, 10:50 PM

'Abilasha' is indeed a wonderful album and my pick is "Banti Chamanti". Infact I just got to listen to "Navvindi Malle Chandu" now and got stuck with the energy applied for singing this song. Completely power packed..!

**rajkumarc** · 12th March 2011, 02:28 AM

Urakalai Godavari is my favorite from Abilasha followed by Banti Chamanti. This was the album that propelled me to listen to a lot of IR's telugu songs.

**raamrams** · 12th March 2011, 07:54 AM

i'm addicted to this song

**skr** · 12th March 2011, 09:38 AM

14th May 1976 saw the entry of Maestro Ilaiyaraja through the movie Annakili..This 14th May 2011,our Maestro Ilaiyaraja will be celebrating 35 Years..I guess we Hubbers should start a thread picking the 35 greatest Movie Albums of the Maestro and arrive at the final list by 14th May 2011..It would be very interesting to see what is finally arrived at after adopting different criterias/deduction techniques etc from his massive ouevre spanning almost 900 Films..

**thumburu** · 13th March 2011, 12:15 AM

vakuLabharanam could never get more menacing than this song when Janaki seductively opens with
la la la lalala laalalalaa...........
enticing the hero into the enemy's den . The guitar itself sounds so ominous . The 2nd bgm has such freaky brass, guitar - Vandhadhu nalla idam from Garjanai

**Sunil_M88** · 13th March 2011, 02:03 AM

For individuals who think they are convinced that Ilaiayaraaja sir is stuck in a time warp and cannot deliver anything that would satisfy the needs of a stereotypical urban youth, would be really surprised by and enjoy Masaka Venaka from Gaayam 2. Though the song does require some repeated listening and scrutiny, it nonetheless, I believe captures the pulse of the new generation.
If this song was in English, it would be a perfect match for Rihanna as the higher notes of this song i.e. the chorus, seem to me to be tailor made for her. However, Anitha does soar here in her own way. I’m not sure if Raaja sir listens to Rihanna or for that matter Grime / Dub-step music, (music genres from the underground scene of London) but I feel, knowing him, he probably does, as he is open to all types of music. Conversely, if he doesn’t, he deserves serious applause for creating this kind music out of experimentation and for that matter he has jumped ahead of time with this composition, be it the music or melody.
The key factor here however is that his approach depicts his trademark style of composing and he has not aped sounds from the west. Right from the air guitar in the prelude to the exploration of Latin styles in the first interlude, his ease of blending genres in a melting pot is clearly visible. Many are aware he mostly delivers that bright sparkle of the whole song in the second interlude. In this song that is once again proved as the most distinctive Indian orientated part of the song appears in the second interlude. The unpredictability of that harmonium / accordion sound is the real highlight of the song. One wonders where he gets all this fire in composing interludes from. Even though the second interlude starts off on an Indian note it surprisingly concludes in a Latin format which emphasizes why I don’t have a clue about the instrument being a harmonium or an accordion.
Out of all the songs from this album, this one impacted me the most as all others did have that nostalgic sweet familiarity. However, this impacted me as it was a fresh song but once I got stuck in the mould of the song I came to the conclusion that Raaja sir has always moved along with time, but maybe we are sometimes naive to acknowledge that.

Sunil

**V_S** · 13th March 2011, 07:46 AM

Super post Sunil! Gaayam-2 is one of Raja's best soundtrack. Only 'Andalala Lokam' and 'Endukamma Prema Prema' got little prominence in this noisy music world. But other tracks which are also equally brilliant: Masaka Venaka, Eluthundru, Kalagane (my favorite) were trashed mercilessly without being given a second look at it. I would say it's all a result of pre-occupation rather than genuinely. The song 'Masaka Venaka' is again a beautiful experimentation by Maestro, which got unnoticed. As you said it is a very fresh and different song compared to others. But good atleast, last year, Suresh Kumar brought up one another beauty: 'Eluthundru' in his blog (ursmusically). Now you have brought up this song. Thanks again and you have made me listen to this soundtrack again.

**Sureshs65** · 13th March 2011, 02:12 PM

Sunil,

Superb post. My views are almost a replica of yours. I had posted about this song here when I reviewed the album and have later posted how much I liked this song in Twitter.

I am not sure but I think this song was not used in the movie. If only a capable director had picturized this song, it would have reached a bigger audience. This song is a terrific song and the whole 'Gayam 2' album is a gem. Not a single song in it that you would not want to rewind.

**Sureshs65** · 13th March 2011, 02:15 PM

'Melle Onnu' and 'Swapnangal Kannezhudiya'. To be honest I will give away many of 80s Raja songs for these two gems. So very peaceful and so melodious. Wonderful to hear late in the night and go to sleep peacefully.