Raja's Gems - the latest one you heard...Part 3

[RR]

You sure it is Gamanasrama. Generally in Gamansrama you hear a lot of 'Poorvi Kalyani'. Here I hear more of Panthuvarali / Kamavardhini (especially in the pallavi). Ofcourse the charanams deviate from the raga.

Quite clear, suresh. Filmy Gamanasrama shows a lot of hamsanandi in it, if you listen to it a bit more carefully.. Pantuvarali resemblance is natural as only dhaivatham is different. But here we see more hamsanandi.

BTW, good review of chinnavar songs.

[Divine22]

Suresh - actually, not all songs are hero-heroine duets. Only andhyile, maarappu and kottukali are. Padagottum pattamma is a disco shanti-prabhu item song ostensibly one of those street performances impromptu in meenavarkuppam during thiruvizhaa. Same with guntooru ghongura. And hear this - kadalora kavidhaiye is for gounder-senthil-sarala

Kadalora kavithaiye ~ Hilarious song,,, with GM-Senthil & Sarala with their colorful clothes and rib tickling dance movements. i Love the GM-Senthil-Sarala portions from the movie vr much, than the movie itself. Typical story,nothing interesting other than the songs & comedy portions.

Famous Piyaa-piyaa (senthil as kadal creature)

[Sureshs65]

After a long gap, two songs of 'Thandavakone'. 'kaatu vazhi' what a lovely start and the outstanding atmosphere that he builds. The pallavi so beautifully structured to reach the cresendo at 'sambho siva siva'. And then 'neeraal udal kazhuvi'. This is a knock out song. Hats off to Manika Vinayakam. Not an easy song to sing at all. And the ambiance created is unparalleled. Heard it on repeat mode. I don't mind if the other songs are not so great or the usual Raja songs, these two songs are more than worth the cost of the album.

[Gregorysab]

Suresh,

I loved Kaatu Vazhi.

Coming to what I am listening now: http://www.thiraipaadal.com/tpplayer...7'&lang=en

Mazhai Megham by Asha Bhonsle. A very serene composition. Raaja never goes wrong with Bhageshree (for that matter any raagam). A lovely composition that spells tranquility, on the same lines as "Aamani Paadave Haayigaa"(geethanjali). I wish Raaja gave more songs to Asha Bhonsle than what he actually gave. Ofcourse he does like her voice! In this song, every note, every line, every phrase is just right, as if it is ought to be so. Sit back with this song after a day's work in office, it has such a relaxing effect, thanks to both, the raagam as well as his gentle treatment. It is songs like these that make me marvel at his genius in melody. If you notice, this song does not have any "earth shattering" musical ideas, such as Pani Vizhum Malarvanam. It is very simple. but extremely heart-touching melody. Nothing experimental (not that I am complaining). but just evocative as it should be... like the melodious music of 50s/60s. Raaja!!! you are...

[Sureshs65]

Kamal,

I know it is one of your favorite numbers. You have stated that here a couple of times Lovely melody.

Revisited 'Uliyin Osai' today. What an album. Loved all the songs. Remember writing lengthy posts on it. Today's listening has given me the idea for the next raga post. Can you guess what raga I could be posting?

[Sunil_M88]

Devulle Mechindhi (Read at your own leisure)

I don’t think anyone here, has extensively written about this number. When SRR released, I was so hooked onto “Jagadhananda Karaka” that all other tracks equally became secondary excluding “Devulle Mechindhi” which was following “Jagadhananda Karaka” very closely.
Some background reading:

SRR is an album I still haven’t finished listening too, 16 whooping tracks and all tracks that I have heard, individually have the potential to overtake many albums released last year. With the recent discussions in the forum over quality, this and *apologies to bring them here* 180, VSV and Rockstar are certainly the best sound engineered OSTs of 2011. SRR, was my Telugu pick of 2011 (Even though I haven’t finished the album ) followed by Anaganaga Oka Dheerudu. However, there was also the “Ela ela” song from Panjaa which made me highly impressed. Therefore, it can rightfully be said both father and to an extent son reigned over the Telugu film music last year.

I believe SRR is certainly blessed as it has an assortment of veteran singers, offers mammoth melodies which are not only present in the whole album but in individual tracks too. Raaja saab packs a life time supply of melodies, instruments and other additional variations in standalone single tracks here.
I’ve already expressed my feeling towards “Jagadhananda Karaka” –

http://www.mayyam.com/talk/showthrea...ihind-Sri-Rama Rajyam&p=726836&viewfull=1#post726836

I still standby what I wrote, but if you scroll down the link, you will read V_S sir quoting the maestro, “...that a song is loved/liked by you is because of a simple reason that it is already inside you.”

I’ll give my two cents here:

The above quote is definitely set in stone! I’ve been wanting to write about “Devulle Mechindhi” since Monday now (since then, this song hasn’t stopped ringing in my head). Whenever I sit down to write I usually play the subjected song but in this case when I play this my mind goes blank and I just end up listening to the song for hours without typing a letter Yes, I think I’ve discovered you can’t review certain songs and listen to them in that moment.

I found I’ve easily expressed my views over other songs but here I was totally lost. It’s just whenever I hear this song, I want to continue hearing it again and again and coming back to the quote, this may be because the song is already in my system furthermore it was probably embedded in my soul before I heard it, hence I simply cannot ignore it. E.g. as a born baby one feels safe next to his/her mother as they’ve spent nine months in her. I feel purified when I hear this composition. I’m not going to dwell on the intricacies of the composition because the devil lies in the detail. Although I want to write praises and praises over here, this composition somehow has soulfully disabled me from going into a length analysis.

The point I do want to raise, although I can’t express it, is the factor that keeps me replaying the song is the second and third charanam.

“Sivadhanuvu adigo… Nava vadhuvu idigo…
Raghu ramuni tejam abyam adigi adigo….
Sundara vadanam chusina maduram nagu momuna veligey vijayam adigi adigo…
Dhanuvuni lepey mohana rupam.. Pela Pela dvani lo premaku rupam..
Pumala ayyi kadiley a swayamvara vaduvey….

Ne nedaga saguninka janaki ani… Seethanu vasigey janakudu sriramamurthi ki…
A sprasha ki alapincheY amrutha ragameY…. Ramanukitha maYAhrudaYAm kaligeY seethe key…

Sree karam manoharam idi vedani PriYA bandhamani
Aajana bahudu jatha kudey a vani jatha
Anandha ragamey tanayugrina seetha…..”

The part highlighted especially the last two lines are arguably the best portion of any Raaja song I’ve heard recently or ever!

[jaiganes]

http://www.muzigle.com/track/yuva-kranthiya-1
Was listening to thaavi thaavi from dhoni and then i was reminded of this track from shiva sainya a 1996 kannada movie..
The movie has a lot of synth based blues - hip hop songs..
I personally like the cheerful/eery - jailalli hutti and Raajyakke yuvaraaja.
However this song is special - When i first heard it, I was left with mighty disappointment - this tune and arrangements and the chorus singing with all their life had everything going for it to be the "manidha manidha" of kananda cinema - yet the synth spoiled it as the majestic flood of violins was replaced by meek submissive prants of the synth. However the "feel" of the song seeps through the lack of majesty in the aural experience over time and now I appreciate it as a masterpiece in its own right.. Sad that I didnt see raaga or any other site have this song.. I have it on a CD I bought 6 years ago.. looking for quality mp3 in itunes..

[V_S]

Sunil,
Great write-up on Devulle mechindi!. I am telling you, this one is a soundtrack of a lifetime. Not just in recent years, or one of the best kind of soundtrack. This is THE best. I am doubtful we can hear such a soundtrack from Maestro again. How did he come up with these awesome tunes, no one can imagine. If I start listening to it, it will atleast take a week to come out of it. I have written about few songs earlier. As you expressed it, we cannot express the feeling in words. No soundtrack can come close to this. We should be blessed to hear such soundtrack!

[V_S]

Thanks jaiganes for reminding about shiva sainya. Will listen to it tonight. Dhoni is a winner all the way, but still tight-lipped till I get my CD.

[app_engine]

Finally came out of 'thenRal vandhu theeNdum pOthu' on the car, with the help of 'ninnukkOri varNam' which on repeat now

What a drum work!