What was the Last Ilaiyaraja song you listened to? - Part 2.

[raagas]

Suresh,

I think it was a direct film. The film also has one of those rare telugu songs sung by IR "Saarangi Saarangi" (IR did not sing many telugu songs).The film had Suman as hero.

And this "eppudoo oppukovaddhu ra otami" song was first written as poetry. IR then gave the tune to pre-written lyrics. I realized it after watching this video:

Sirivennela sings this song in a totally different tune (composed by him i think) at a private gathering.

Previously i used to think that, atleast in Telugu films, because of language-knowledge barrier, IR ALWAYS came up with tune first and later lyrics were woven into the tune. But there are exceptions like these songs where he composed tune to pre-written lyrics. And did a superb job at that.

[Plum]

raagas, there are two famous examples for pre-written lyrics - laali laali and nenu saitham?

[jaiganes]

my daughter was at it again - she started singing out of the blue that delightful song 'Oru vaandu kootame dhayya dhayya' and I had to play that and nenu nenuga on the loop. My father who knows telugu now wants to teach her telugu after seeing the interest in singing telugu song

[Sureshs65]

Jai,

It will be very good if your daughter learns Telugu, given that children pick up a language fast. Even otherwise, like many of us, she will pick up other languages if she is Raja fan And that has the additional advantage of picking up good music from other languages as well!!

[Sureshs65]

Was listening to 'oLi tarum suriyanum' from Valmiki. The feeling of peace and hopefulness that Raja creates is beyond words. (The female singer's pronunciation is hopeless though.) The whole song is perfectly orchestrated to supplement this emotion of hope and there is certain calmness in the whole song.

The first interlude is almost like what he did for songs in Malayalam 'Guru', except that he tries some of it using the synth. The piano runs towards the end of charanam followed by the piano/keyboard solo is out of the world. I don't think anyone can criticize Raja's singing in this song.

Every song in Valmiki was a gem. Unfortunate that the film didn't do well. Still we need to thank the director for inspiring Raja with his story. Since its release I haven't found one Tamil album which can musically match this album in all aspects. Including Raja ones.

[app_engine]

விழியிலே மலர்ந்தது, உயிரிலே கலந்தது (புவனா ஒரு கேள்விக்குறி) on repeat since last evening.

I've written earlier also about the love I have for this wonderful song. The free flowing flute, guitar and grand violin combo with thuLLal percussion.

Since we were discussing drums recently, there was some focus today and I strongly feel the percussion arrangements for this song is excellent by any standards (though the recording suffered the lack of technology in Chennai those days). Experts can confirm this - probably a 3 beat cycle. The catchy "sounds" are during the grand final interlude, where the boom-boom country drum plays like 1-2-3-1-2-3, among a huge bunch of violins

There was some nostalgia as well. My town-citybred cousin was the main source for all TFM tidbits those days of my nAttuppuRa life. He was so animated in his description of this song, the recording etc and he mentioned "40 வயலின் ஒரே சமயத்தில கிராண்டா இருக்கும் பாரு" about the second interlude.

Well, it was my turn to repeat this to many at school and get thrilled to see the wide-open eyes! However, on one day, a new kid around the block shattered all this talk by phoo-phooing me saying "இது என்ன பெரிசு, 'எங்கே நிம்மதி'யில எழுபது வயலின் - தெரியுமா"

[app_engine]

The lyric by Panju Arunachalam is quite catchy in pallavi (there are movies made with titles 'uyirilE kalandhadhu' and 'vizhiyilE malarndhadhu' even). It's so-so elsewhere, some portion even bordering on vulgarity. I was just curious to see whether the girl on screen fits at least some of the description (if not all).

நீங்க என்ன நினைக்கிறீங்க?

[Sanjeevi]

is not same type of rthym for both "KanmaniyE kadhal Enbathu" and "ViliyilE malarnthathu"?

brand IR

[Shank]

One of my favorite songs is "Poonthendral Kaatre Vaa" from Manjal Nila (1982). What a terrific song...superb tune!! It's a beautiful composition with a touch of melancholy underlying the entire song. I love the stanza negotiations and the melody progression in this track...and as with most songs from that time, the guitar work is stunning!! The usage of flute, guitar and Sax in this song is phenomenal. I also like the fact that there are a lot of folk motifs intermingled in the song. Of course, Jayachandran and Susheela are perfect for this song.

http://www.thiraipaadal.com/albums/ALBIRR00350.html

[raja_fan]

Shank,

I agree.."poonthendral kaare..." will be one of the kind of songs that younger generations ( even old ) need to be exposed to understand the genius of IR !
It will also break the popular myth that experimentations with sounds came after IR era..