The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[app_engine]

The above youtube has three songs (all recently posted about...kalyANam / thAzham poovE / unnaiththAnE of KJY)...

[baroque]

energy flying high with IR's melam and acoustic drums.

Only ஜானு can match பாலா's naughtiness!

இது ராஜா பாட்டு!

Great gift for Navaratri from you, App_eng!
Thanks.

SHUBH NAVRATRI TO YOU ALL!

நீங்கள் கேட்டவை....dazzling இளையராஜா .... one more outstanding composition coming up from you.....mmmm... we are all ready!

Vinatha.

[Plum]

App, I think NK was a flop

[app_engine]

App, I think NK was a flop

At the minimum, I've seen 50 days' posters on the released theater itself in Trichy Means, commercial success. I'm not sure about Chennai, but the central / south TN, it had a good run and that guy Banuchandar had a few more movies...

[app_engine]

#162 நானே ராஜா
(நீங்கள் கேட்டவை, 1984 , ஜானகியுடன்)


This is primarily a SPB-show kind of song (I think for a light-music troupe / stage singer) and rAsA lets loose some nice drum work and other jazzy stuff. The brief indulgences by SJ in the saraNams are breezy and excellent complement to the stylish delivery of Balu. I don't remember the on-screen stuff at this moment, but going by the 'adiyE manam' visuals, there's strong possibility that Thiyagarajan is shown on-screen with YGM on the "fiber-drums" in a stage-light-music-performance setting.

The sounds that came out of those "fiber-drums" are my all-time favourites.

I'm sure the opening adi-dhadi of 'adiyE manam', end of saraNam of 'iLamai idhO idhO' and such excellent stuff came from the same kind of drums that are shown on-screen in rAjapArvai for the legendary instrumental piece...one of my friends used to quote abaswaram Ramji frequently on this - that only abaswaram's troupe and Ilayaraja had those drums then, in the whole state. YGM is seen with them on photos on the web (pictures possibly taken during the rAjA pArvai time period). In this movie again, he is seen to be playing drums...I know there're a few NT-thread hubbers who are close to him and perhaps we can ask them if YGM actually plays them too. It's unfortunate that this learned guy (B.Tech-MBA?) was made to play absolutely silly roles like that one in SKV. With his acclaimed stage skills, he could have made it better if he took up more of serious - even villainish - roles on screen rather than the sidekick comedy stuff for which he is primarily known for.

Despite knowing that this is not a regular BM stuff, all of us undertook trip to Trichy from hostel to watch the movie - partly a mark of respect to the director of moonRam piRai and partly to show appreciation for rAsA songs . While everyone got irritated with the movie overall, by now I'm tuned to the 'even closing eyes one can enjoy rAsA mode' and was satisfied with the experience

[Plum]

YGM plays Mridangam for sure. Drums? Not so sure.Enga shaktiprbahuvukku oNNu vitta aNNanA iruppInga pOla? YGM serious roleA?But unga thinkingla oru nyaayam irukku - apdiyaavadhu makkaLai sirikka vekka mAttArAnnu kaNakku pOdaRInga. Good thinging

[app_engine]

YGM plays Mridangam for sure. Drums? Not so sure.

Plum,

This one is kind of a rare link :
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history...cle2103930.ece

The Samuel Grubb quoted here may be the singer of 'aNNE aNNE sippAyaNNE'.

And please note this portion :

In those days, beat bands — usually a quartet consisting of three guitarists and a drummer — were in vogue (Y.Gee Mahendra, who played the drums, and I combined to form a beat band named Phantoms). To break away from this trend and give its line-up greater variety, The Medics hoped to take in a saxophonist named Pacheco. For this to happen, Pacheco had to succeed in his attempt to get into MMC. When I told the dean how valuable this saxophonist could be to The Medics, he responded positively. ‘All other things being equal, Pacheco will get a nod if he performed moderately well in the interview,' he said. Our hopes were dashed when Pacheco developed cold feet and did not turn up for the interview.

With three guitarists, possibly YGM was playing drums and not mridh

[app_engine]

Dig

Here're some more interesting parts from that MMV / MMC linkku :

When a candidate was being assessed for admission to a medical college, his accomplishments in areas such as sports and music were also given weightage. A letter from music director M.S. Viswanathan stating that I was a good musician helped me get into MMC.

During a performance by The Medics, a youngster came on to the stage with a request. He was carrying a violin and a paper with music notes. He handed us the paper and requested that we play it. Since none of us could read music fluently, we asked him to play it on his violin while we followed him. As he played, we were wonder-struck. We took our hands off our instruments and were lost in the grandeur of his music. That youngster was L. Subramaniam — a fellow student at MMC. He later became the kingpin of the MMC orchestra which won many contests around the country.

end-dig

[V_S]

App,
Loved all your posts. As KV expressed, excellently written on 'Adi POdu Thanthanam'. Hearing now non-stop.
SPB-SJ dream combination will never occur again and it is clearly a setback for playback singing.
A wonderful year of oustanding music complemented by this dominant pair.

Regarding Nallavanukku Nallavan, my first favorites were Muthaaduthe and Chittukku while other songs caught me little later.

NeengaL KEttavai is one special soundtrack with every composition is an epic, except the one which lets us down and embarrassed as always, as you mentioned.

Thanks for all your encouragement on writing on 'O Vasantha Raja'. I am not sure if I will meet your expectations, but will write soon about it.
To be honest, I haven't started on it, quite hectic these days. App, please do not wait for me, write your thoughts on this terrific song, waiting to read.

I can never ever imagine your dedication and non-tiring effort to get this thread moving at a super fast and at the same time providing us with highest quality posts blended with your thorough experience. What amazed me more, is even if by chance missed day or two posting songs, you keep track of that closely and catch up in very next days. Till today not a single day was missed without posting.

[Sureshs65]

Plum,

YGM does play the congos / bongos for sure. I have seen it do live in some program on TV. I did not know he played mridangam.