Malayalam Film Music

Topic suggested by Rajaraman on Wed Jan 13 02:23:08 .


To discuss about MFM.

I'll start this off by reviewing 3 of the most famous albums..

His Highness Abdullah:(MD: Ravindran)

pramadavanam (KJY) - an excellent light song (jog based)
deva sabathalam (KJY,Sreekumar;KJY,Ravindran) - a ragamalika jugalbandi; kind of a competition song.
naadha roopini (Sreekumar) - national award winning song, based on Kanada.
Sreekumar does beautiful jet-speed swaras.
gopika vasantham (KJY,Chitra) - another beautiful duet song (shanmugapriya)
tu badi (KJY) - light hindi song with Kafi shades

Bharatham:(MD: Ravindran)

gopaangane (KJY,Chitra) - light nattai song
Rama katha (KJY) - Great piece by KJY. Set to subhapantuvarali. (I think KJY won national award for the whole album.)
raghuvamsapathe (KJY) - pure classical shankaranaranam with alap,swaras,thani.
srivinaayagam (KJY,Ravindran) - nice hamsadhwani classical song
? (BMK,KJY) - a kind of 'music teaching' song. Starts off in Mayamalava gowla and goes into a ragamalika.

Sargam:(MD: Bombay Ravi)

raagasuthaa rasa (KJY,Chitra) - tyagaraja keerthana nicely done filmy style.
kannaadi aadhyamaayi (Chitra) - good light song in mohanam.
sangeethame (KJY) - saramathi based one.
Andolanam (KJY,Chitra) - melodius duet.
Bhooloka Vaikunda.. (KJY) - KJY sings with lot of modulation in voice, unusually.
krishna krupa saagaram (KJY)
pravahame... (KJY)

I haven't heard this album much, so others please elaborate.

Review of Kudumbasamedham by Bharat, from a different thread.

----
1. En tharo Mahanubhavulu.. (Not a full song just this line only.. In film hero,ManojKJayan starts this as first line during his arangetram)
2. Parthasarathim Bhavaye.. Classical; hero's arangetram song..
3. Kamalambike Rakshamam.. : Semi-classical; Hero sings in one Katcheri
4. Pahimam Sree Rajarajeshwari.... CLassical; Ragam : Janaranjani; Srividya teaches children; Hero joins the song midway;
5. Neela Raavil innu ninte....Melodious song;Ragam : Shree; Hero consoles the sad heroine;
The picturisation of this song is too good.. Hero & heroine walk through the sandy riverbank in a moonlit background;
6. Oonjal urangi hindola ragam.. Pathos song; Hero in a pining mood having been forced to detach from the family;
7. Gokulam thannil.. Song not in film; This song is set in the mould of Kaikottikali song(This
is a Keralite art form which is usually performed during Onam time by ladies..)

Hope I haven't missed any.. Why I call this a landmark musical is that this film revived the semi-classical melody trend again; The two songs and Oonjal urangi.. standout best in this class; Also judicious usage of classical songs have been done because the two classicals are simpler to hear & experience rather than the normal difficult ones..

This director, Jayaraj, also became addicted to the music syndrome(as Sibymalayil) and produced two more films of the same genre but as usual the others failed to impact as this one;
But these films were also carnatic music-oriented and definitely good to hear; The two films are:
Paithrukam
Sopanam

Can discuss it later..

BS

Rajaram

Can you please explain to me how typical malayalam film songs are set.

Aruvi,
I didn't clearly understand your Q: 'set'??

First of all, I have listened to only a few of the albums. From what I have observed, MFM gives lot of importance to melody. The songs are predominantly classical music based. (There are of course, a few movies with only commercial songs but they didn't became great hits, I think.)

This is just IMHO :))

Oh! Sorry Rajaram! I thought you were well acqainted with the industry. I wonder if Thomas still visits this site. I think he is a malayalee. Maybe he can give us some info. I was just wondering about the history of MFM and the people who dominate it.

Mr.Rajaraman:
This is an excellent thread for discussing good malayalam film music for usual TFM lovers.I have a fairly good collection of semi and light classical m.film songs.If you e-mail me I can send some copies.This includes films of 60s and 70s too.
Recent films with vitage music include:
Surya gayathri-excellent film about a Palghat Brahmin family with Mohanlal,Urvasi and Major Sunderrajan as the former's father.Half the dialogue is in Palghat Brahmin tamil.Music by Ravindran is excellent especially the main song set to Abhogi.
Manichitra thazhukal too has great music with one tamil song in Kunthalavarali.
Ramamurthy

Mr. Ramamurthy,
Yes, I have also heard 'Manichitra thaalu' songs. The Kuntalavarali song is 'Oru murai vanthu paarthaayaa' right? The theme song of this movie (kind of pathos) I think is in Asaveri. I don't recall the first line.

Can you do a detailed review of Surya Gayatri? Pl do share your experiences about the oldies too. I know only a very few like Chemmeen, Thulabaraam (malayalam version).

Abhogi reminds me of another new song (in the same raga) in Shalini's next movie after Kaathalukku Mariyaathai (Mallu version). In tamil it came out as Nilave unakkaaga.

Rajaraman:

Thank you for starting this thread. I hope to contribute "regularly", depending on the availability of time! I am working on a brief history of MFM. I am a little hesitant due to the fact that I have been away from India for a long time, and because my resources in North America (in terms of Indian music) are very limited.

Anyway, I will start with the films PAITHRUKAM and SOPAANAM, both directed by Jayaraj (both listed in your earlier posting).

The songs in PAITHRUKAM were written by KAITHAPRAM and the music was by S.P. Venkatesh. The songs were all good. They were:

Neelaanjana poo........ Chitra
Vaalkkannezhuthiya..... KJY
Sivam Sivadagana....... KJY
Seethaa Kalyaana....... KJY
Swayamvaramaay......... KJY, Minmini (Minnie Joseph)


SOPAANAM, in comparison had mostly the traditional classics. KJY won his 7th national award for songs in this movie. (RR: You are right. KJY won his 6th national award for BHARATHAM). Lyrics for three of the songs were written by KAITHAPRAM, and the music was again by S.P. Venkatesh. Here is the list:

Thaara noopuram chaarththi......KJY, Manju

Soga sugaa mrudanga thaalamu...(Sri Ranjini Raaga, Roopaka Thaala-Thyagaraja- KJY, Chitra, Manju)

Aaraadhya manu mohanaa...(Raagamaaliga, Adi-Kaithapram-KJY, Poornachandra Rao)

Paavana guru pavana puraa...(Hamsanandhini,Roopaka-Lalithadaasar-KJY, T.N. Seshagopal)

Srutha kamalaa kucha (Ashtapadi)...(Mohanam,Adi-Jayadevar-KJY)

Saroja dala nethri...(Sankarabharanam,Adi-Shyama Saasthrigal-KJY)

Saadhimchanei oh manasaa...(Aarabhi,Adi-Thyagaraja-KJY, T.N. Seshagopal, Chitra, Manju)

Pon meghamei...(Chitra)

Vedhanudharathei (Slogam)...(KJY)

Ksheera saagara...(Devagandhari, Adi-Thyagaraja-KJY)

Deva deva...(Mayamalavagoula, Roopaka-Swaathi Thirunaal-T.N. Seshagopal, Manoj)

Nagumomu kalaivaani...(Madhyamavathi,Adi-Thyagaraja-Mano)

I am sure that you will find this a valuable addition to your collection.

Thanks for the info GV. Expecting more such contributions from people like you...