Maestro Ilaiyaraja New Albums 2011 - Hello Jaihind / Sri Rama Rajyam

[KV]

Ponnar Shankar - sumaara oru alavukku romba nallave irrukku.

Annamar kadhai, Bhavani varugira, Malar villilae - heady mix of styles, tunes and instruments. Nativity/authenticity and all, for this movie, I'd want to leave it to bhairavan, at one corner of the leaf. Just for these 3 songs, despite rough, uncut edges, I'd buy PS over the simplistic ASK.

Kannai pidithen, Thedi vandha - agmark love-it-loathe-it modern IR.

Kodi kotti - ostrich head in the sand dhaan. Raaja's kosuru for election campaign eh?

(It took a while to put behind that prankster's song list and accept this. Thumburu, I'm guessing you'd skip the album on the whole and listen just to the last minute of veena+flute piece finishing off Malar villilae!)

[dochu]

IMHO, the album is different. Not sure how most of the songs fit the 'period' film. I don't get that 'old' feel which one normally would expect.

[V_S]

Bavani Varugiraa - What is this man doing in this song! He has freaked out in this song and it seems asking indirectly "Yaaru Kitta". Normally for a folk tune, he used to give layers of western classical orchestration. Here I cannot believe what I am hearing. The tune is itself a blend of folk and WCM. Shreya's voice sounds like honey! The choir works as a backbone of this song. Apart from this surprise, there is no regular structure in this song, which is again unusual of IR (eventhough he has done sometimes depending on the situation of the song).
Starts with high energy pambai, drums. WCM style in pallavi (just like magalir mattum title) and just observe the scale change @1:38, goosebumps Suddenly after first pallavi, the songs takes you somewhere else. Again Shreya sings a different pallavi. Then what is it called I just listened a minute ago?. Shenai and the folk/WCM choir in the first interludes, heavenly. With the charanams, the song gets better and better. That post-lude again is the continuation from adiye ivale (saavadi!). Again the big plus of this song is we get to hear additional 2 minutes (compared to normal 5 min. song). This song is the best so far for me. Killer one! Definitely as RS said, this is a challenge song!

Malar Villilae - Haunting prelude chorus and very grand orchestration! Very fast and powerful tune! Shreya at her best! Chorus is overwhelming! Vintage 80's raja. The way chorus peaks and finishes and when Shreya starts 'Malar Villile' Wow stunning! I could not spot that 80's song which reminds me when I hear this song. Is it 'Adi Penne'? No, I don't think so. That bonus post-lude of 1 minute, Pinnitaar raasayya! Again a challenge song.

Kannai Padithen - What a tune! This is the depth we long for in today's generation songs. Raja vintage melody! nothing more to say, it will stay so long. Except the percussion rhythm is more louder for this kind of melody! Again Shreya and Sriram rendered beautifully. One more Andala Lokam! Again one minute bonus song!

Thedi Vantha Devadhai - Very different and refreshing tune. Shreya#4. When Shreya sings "kattikitten", ottikitten, "vekkapatten", "kathukkitten" with her diction, one will fall for her singing! Kunal and Shreya with their husky voices brings that erotic mood beautifully. Why is that humming @3:05? Unusal again (is that IR competing with current trend, please don't sir)

Annanmar - IR's at home. Madhu's singing is brilliant. Excellent mix of oratorio sytle and folk genre, only IR fossible! Prelude is energetic just like adiye ivale interludes. I didn't like the synthesized claps, violins and udukkai. Otherwise excellent!

Kodi Kotti Koduthalum - The violin arrangements in prelude and in pallavi reminds me of 'rakkamma kaiyathattu', but the latter one is special because of real instruments (is this one real or synthesized?). Orchestration is Excellent, but tune-wise the flow is there, but depth could have been better. But where is Chinmayee?

Those questions about period and how these songs match up with those, only Raja and Thiyagarajan can answer. Definitely, it would have been better if this has been taken into consideration. Also about the lyrics and the language spoken at that time. May be we are asking for too much here. Atleast song lyrics could be like Malar Villilae, sounds better.

Overall amazing and very grand soundtrack , except synth going little overboard (first time I am experiencing!). I can listen to four songs anytime, anyday! But if you ask me a difficult question, if I give you either this or ASK, which one do you prefer? Eventhough, ASK has only three songs, I would go for ASK for its nativity, down to earth and innocent nature.

[V_S]

Thanks Ajay for the PS link!

[rajkumarc]

Ponnar Shankar availale on iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pon...ar/id430617680. Looks like it just got released.

I couldn't find ASK on iTunes though.

[Nerd]

After the blissful veenai on mridangams in the 2nd interlude of malar villilE, you could hear the rhythm player using a synth pad which he stole from Airtel super singer. Thats how horrible it sounds. That sums up this album for me. There is not a single song minus these (albeit minor in some) irritations. I would take ASK any day over this Ponnar Synth Shankar. Waiting to hear them in better quality, may be then the songs will sound better.

Thedi Vantha dhevadhaiyE in loop. The 'modern' IR freaking out. I don't like Kunal's voice in this. Its an SPB song. ShreyaG is amazing like she always has been.

[V_S]

Ponnar Shankar availale on iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pon...ar/id430617680. Looks like it just got released.

I couldn't find ASK on iTunes though.

Thanks bro!. That's a great news for those living outside India.

[vem]

awesome album!

the tunes stuck in my mind the first time I heard these melodies!

I hope the movie becomes a hit too.

[raja_fan]

Thanks for the link.
Average songs

[jaiganes]

Bavani Varugiraa - What is this man doing in this song! He has freaked out in this song and it seems asking indirectly "Yaaru Kitta". Normally for a folk tune, he used to give layers of western classical orchestration. Here I cannot believe what I am hearing. The tune is itself a blend of folk and WCM. Shreya's voice sounds like honey! The choir works as a backbone of this song. Apart from this surprise, there is no regular structure in this song, which is again unusual of IR (eventhough he has done sometimes depending on the situation of the song).
Starts with high energy pambai, drums. WCM style in pallavi (just like magalir mattum title) and just observe the scale change @1:38, goosebumps Suddenly after first pallavi, the songs takes you somewhere else. Again Shreya sings a different pallavi. Then what is it called I just listened a minute ago?. Shenai and the folk/WCM choir in the first interludes, heavenly. With the charanams, the song gets better and better. That post-lude again is the continuation from adiye ivale (saavadi!). Again the big plus of this song is we get to hear additional 2 minutes (compared to normal 5 min. song). This song is the best so far for me. Killer one! Definitely as RS said, this is a challenge song!

Malar Villilae - Haunting prelude chorus and very grand orchestration! Very fast and powerful tune! Shreya at her best! Chorus is overwhelming! Vintage 80's raja. The way chorus peaks and finishes and when Shreya starts 'Malar Villile' Wow stunning! I could not spot that 80's song which reminds me when I hear this song. Is it 'Adi Penne'? No, I don't think so. That bonus post-lude of 1 minute, Pinnitaar raasayya! Again a challenge song.

Kannai Padithen - What a tune! This is the depth we long for in today's generation songs. Raja vintage melody! nothing more to say, it will stay so long. Except the percussion rhythm is more louder for this kind of melody! Again Shreya and Sriram rendered beautifully. One more Andala Lokam! Again one minute bonus song!

Thedi Vantha Devadhai - Very different and refreshing tune. Shreya#4. When Shreya sings "kattikitten", ottikitten, "vekkapatten", "kathukkitten" with her diction, one will fall for her singing! Kunal and Shreya with their husky voices brings that erotic mood beautifully. Why is that humming @3:05? Unusal again (is that IR competing with current trend, please don't sir)

Annanmar - IR's at home. Madhu's singing is brilliant. Excellent mix of oratorio sytle and folk genre, only IR fossible! Prelude is energetic just like adiye ivale interludes. I didn't like the synthesized claps, violins and udukkai. Otherwise excellent!

Kodi Kotti Koduthalum - The violin arrangements in prelude and in pallavi reminds me of 'rakkamma kaiyathattu', but the latter one is special because of real instruments (is this one real or synthesized?). Orchestration is Excellent, but tune-wise the flow is there, but depth could have been better. But where is Chinmayee?

Those questions about period and how these songs match up with those, only Raja and Thiyagarajan can answer. Definitely, it would have been better if this has been taken into consideration. Also about the lyrics and the language spoken at that time. May be we are asking for too much here. Atleast song lyrics could be like Malar Villilae, sounds better.

Overall amazing and very grand soundtrack , except synth going little overboard (first time I am experiencing!). I can listen to four songs anytime, anyday! But if you ask me a difficult question, if I give you either this or ASK, which one do you prefer? Eventhough, ASK has only three songs, I would go for ASK for its nativity, down to earth and innocent nature.

Good balanced review V_S..
I wrote this in the "latest raaja song thread" as a response to raj_musing. I thought it fits well into this discussion as well...
we are so nostalgic when it comes to Raaja and he has the most difficult job of having to pander to us and the current generation music listeners and balance the needs of both. Having said that , I like the synth work he has put in for ASK. It is trendy and in line with what yuvan or GVP might have done (little edges remain). However the soul of the song remains in the tune and that still is the same ol 70s- 80s raja that we remain rooted to in our nostalgia. With PS - the album requirements speak of grandeur - (however no money for Budapest here) - so he goes for the mix which is good too. The fact remains that the "idea" in the interludes are mindblowing - the counterpoints, the bass lines, the multi layered rhythms, the beat structure and tune that races to a climax in the end of malar villile are all awesome stuff which Raja has given us in bountiful quantities in the 80s and 90s. Glad to know that "ayya voodu" is still wide open..