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

**AravindMano** · 23rd April 2010, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by Sureshs65

.. and my left arm too..

**Google Adsense** · 23rd April 2010 11:07 AM

**Sureshs65** · 23rd April 2010, 11:24 AM

Just heard 'aaro paadunnu doore' from 'Katha Thodarunnu'. Very intriguing song. I can understand RajaAlltheway's reference to 'Mudi Mudi'. The orchestration is in the same jazzy style. Lovely guitar, piano and violin usage, in a very jazzy form. The charanam is very interesting with the rhythms going very steady against a tune which twists and turns. What a melody buildup in the charanam. What intrigues me is the pallavi itself. The start reminds me of old Hindi film songs. The same way 'Swapnangal' reminded me of old Hindi songs. I can understand why Sathyan was enthusiastic about this song in his interview and said he always demanded melodies from Raja. The whole orchestration is very similar to 'Paa'. Both the interludes are lovely. The way the song starts with 'Aaaaro' and Chitra follows with 'aaatmavil' is enough to pay for the full CD!!! Outstanding song which can only be conceived by a genius like Raja who can mix the great music of past with his own sensibilities and to that add a jazz layer. A song to keep for a long time, as Sathyan had mentioned in his interview.

**Sureshs65** · 23rd April 2010, 11:32 AM

And the song continues the orchestration style of Raja from last year. Lot of keyboard work. Not much flute. The recording is lovely.

**Sureshs65** · 23rd April 2010, 11:40 AM

Just heard the other two songs as well. Need to go out now so can't post a detailed review but can say I agree with Hulk to a large extent.

**rajasaranam** · 23rd April 2010, 12:42 PM

raja_fan,

Welcome Back! We were missing the fun

**Sureshs65** · 23rd April 2010, 05:42 PM

Here is my review of Kadha Thudarunnu.

'aaro padunnu doore' (Hariharan / Chitra): Chitra starts humming and Hariharan mouths the first line followed by Chitra's humming and then a lovely prelude on the violins and the keyboards. Hariharan starts the pallavi with the drums joining in. A lovely arragement a la 'Paa'. A constant synth drumming and bass follow the pallavi but stop when Chitra repeats the pallavi. A nice guitar followed by keyboard and violins make up the first interlude. The drumming remains constant and stop suddenly when Hariharan starts the charanam for a line and start again. The charnam is very melodious. The second interlude is dedicated to the keyboard with the violins providing the counter. The song ends with a delightful postlude. Compared to the earlier songs with Raja, I find Hariharan doing a very nice job here and seems to be at ease. (I liked his sing in 'Chal Chale' as well.) Chitra, as usual, is impeccable. She is incapable of putting a wrong step. A wonderful song and the best song of the album. No wonder Sathyan was excited about this song in his interview.

'mazhamegha chelin' (Shweta / Vijay Yesudas) The song starts with a prelude rhythm with keyboards and synth. The violins then join in and all of them stop when Shweta starts the song. The keyboard plays in a very asynchronous way when she sings the pallavi the first time. The torturous pallavi is trademark Raja with its many twists and turns. The synth here is not like in the 'aaro' song but rather the older Raja style. Reminds me of the lovely female solos that Raja gives in Malayalam like 'punnara poo' etc. The first interlude is on the synth. Vijay Jesudas starts of a very melodious charanam. A lovely rhythm follows the singers throughout the charanam. The second interlude is very nice. Overall a very melodious song. If only the synth effect in the first interlude was less ..... Looks like Shweta is Raja's recent favorite in Malayalam. Where has Manjari vanished?

'kilakumala kammalitta': The song starts with a synth prelude. A few taps on the thavil make way for Karthik to start the song. The ending of pallavi reminds me of a song from 'Kaliyoonjalu'. (the 'thanku diku thalam' part.) The first interlude has the shenoy. My feeling is that it is a synth shenoy. The charanam is energy filled with tabla joined by multiple percussion instruments providing a lot energy. The synth effects in the second interlude are definitely old fashioned. A lovely shenoy with bass backing is the highlight of the second interlude. A very energetic song. My feeling is that the energy level would have gone up even more if the synth effects were avoided.

Overall I am loving the songs. As with his movies Sathyan seems to be getting into a pattern with respect to the songs he uses in the movies. One song where the melodic aspect dominates like 'mandarapoo', 'swapnangal', 'melleonnu'. In this movie, 'aaro' takes that slot. Another faster melody like 'atinkaraiyorathu', 'kaiyetha', 'allipoove'. 'mazhamega' takes that slot. Then one rhythmic folk type song, 'devaram', 'adi thirathannil', 'chandakoru'. In this movie, 'kizhakkumala kammalitta' takes that place. So an expected Sathyan movie, with expected songs. Yet, you want to listen to the songs again and again.

A general observation. There seems to be two Rajas when it comes to synth usage. One, in the style of 'Paa', where the recording and the synth effects are very nice and trendy. The other is the older style Raja. Somehow the synth effects aren't as good as the 'Paa' style and some old fashioned effects creep in once in a while. It will be great if Raja sticks to the 'Paa' style of recording as well as synth usage. It is very jazzy and attractive.

In a private conversation. rajaalltheway pointed out to the fact that 'aaro' sounds similar to the charanams of 'poo poothadhu' from 'Mumbai Express'. I feel the similarity is due to both songs being in Pahadi. 'aaro' is an excellent melody nevertheless.

In short, a very enjoyable album. 'aaro' is one which will survive for a long time.

**Devaraagam** · 24th April 2010, 12:38 AM

suresh,

Nice review..

Just started to listening the song..

before starts listening..I though why satyan is not keeping more than 3 songs in his recent movies..this is 3rd contineus movie which has only 3 songs...

**Sureshs65** · 24th April 2010, 12:56 AM

DR,

I am sure you will enjoy the songs.

No clue why Sathyan has only three songs. Yes, the last three movies had three songs and so did 'Achuvinte Amma' earlier. 'Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal' had scope for songs and I think that had 4 songs or more. 'Rasatantram' had 4. I guess Sathyan must ask for atleast 4 songs. One good thing is that Sathyan uses all the songs he gets.

**Hulkster** · 24th April 2010, 07:22 AM

<a href="http://sevenmountain.blogspot.com/2010/04/katha-thudarunnu-happens-to-be-first.html">
Katha Thudarunnu Instrumentals</a>

Voiceless full version samples for those who have not heard the tracks. Not sure who did the voiceless ones but its from the same website that raja_fan listed.