IlayaRaja's New Albums 2013-15 - Mahendran film/Thaarai thappattai/Mythri

[krish244]

When I was posted the video of DHONI trailer, I was wondering if we missed out Mayilu (again produced by Prakash Raj)from our IR's future releases. What a coincidence, there is good news about the audio. Thanks Kamesh and Arvind for the news!

thanks,

Krishnan

[kameshratnam]

Click on the link and view the songs. It was the effort of Raja Sharanam to take this video and upload it on youtube. We can hear the songs tomorrow

[kameshratnam]

VERY RARE PICTURE of ilayaraaja and a superb write up
http://www.writerpara.com/paper/?p=2742

[KV]

Prasad - solid start to 2012 innings!

Oh nanna kandha - breezy, easy melody which, to me, is among the most soothing songs I've heard for sometime now.
Set again in IR's latest jazz format, the keys, bass and acoustic drums (or synth that sounds like it) gel beautifully with the tune. Karthik proves yet again that he's among the best of the newer lot. The interludes, surprisingly, are pretty short even by recent IR standards. Oh nanna amma/ Oh nanna kandha – are two bit songs versions of this in the album, the first sung by a kid.

Naanu neenu kanda – the pallavi’s kinda ordinary but the songs picks up nicely in the charanams. The interludes are beautiful, especially the 2^nd one where he takes off from where he’d left in the ASK title track, lovely guitars and flutes. The singers do a decent job and the synth sounds don’t jar.

Ondhu aramane – IR back in his sprightly Kudhikara kudhikara avtar! It feels a bit strange to listen to an IR song that starts right away without a prelude! The start could throw you off for a moment, but allow some time for things to settle and then the different elements fall in place nicely. There are a whole lot of things packed into this one - a super catchy tune, a pulsating bass line, nice percussions, violins, chorus, harmonies - Ponnar Shankar style of sorts. The charanams, in this one too, are done very interestingly, that could probably be like a throwback at Rakkamma kaiyya thattu, with the vocals backed by a section of violins and then joined by some finger snapping sound. The interludes are elaborate with a mix of playful violins, keyboards and female chorus (late 90s/early 2000 style that was heard often in Karthik Raja’s songs).

We are ok – A full fledged, modern peppy song that has little IR trademark, but not to worry, the song’s quite ok actually. It’s as if IR decided to do a HJ style ‘June pOna July kaatre’! Nonetheless, a pleasant listen in the ‘time-pass’ category, no great shakes or embarrassment. Ah, hang on a minute, I just happened to check the CD cover and it says Mano Murthy as it’s MD! (self pat ). Is Raaja aware of such a song in his album?

Overall, a very nice album. The jazz and synth sounds are beginning to gel better and it’s progressing in the right direction. The audio quality could have been far better though. The guy at the store where I bought the CD tells me there isn’t an audio CD released for this and that it’s only the MP3 . To worsen things, the recording quality is only 128kpbs But on the brighter side, the CD comes with 3 other IR albums (Gulabi, Nammoora mandhaara hoove and Prema raaga haadu gelathi).

[KV]

Just bought the audio of 'Prasad' and this is my initial report after the first listen.

Raja has composed 3 songs. One song is used three times !! Once as a full song, and twice as bit songs. The one strange thing is that one song for this film has been composed by Mano Murthy!!! Since Raja attended the function and released the CD, I guess he was OK with arrangements. Anyway, here are views of the songs:

1. 'O Nanna Kanda' (Karthik): This was the song we saw / heard in the trailer. A pleasing melody. Sung by a dad for his son. The charanam is smooth and free flowing. Karthik does a nice job in getting the right emotion. The second charanam has slightly different beat pattern than the first, which makes it interesting.

2. 'Naanu Neenu Kanda Kanasu': (Reeta, Madhu Balakrishnan): Sounds like a song between the husband and wife. The song has a touch of melancholy. Seems like the wife is singing asking her husband not to give up. Raja has been using Reeta for such songs with a touch of sadness lately and she is doing OK. Madhu sounds like Jesudas and does a good job. When emotions are concerned, Raja gets it perfectly. The tune is enchanting. You can clearly make out the situation from this song itself.

3. "Ondhu Aramane'" (Ilaiyaraja, Anita, Rita and Surmukhi): Sounds like a song sung for the kids. Nice work done on the synthesizer in the first interlude, reminding me a bit of one 'Yathramozhi' song. Sounds like this is a fun song. I am unable to place it but the way he joins the pallavi reminds me of similar structure from an earlier song. The second interlude is lovely as well, though a lot of it synth.

Bottomline : All songs totally composed keeping the film situation in mind. All three ooze melody. Do not expect a big bang album or the songs to hit you on the face. Expect something on the lines of 'Nandalala' and you will be rewarded. I am loving it.

Just noticed this. As usual, Sureshji pioneering the way! Nice review there, Suresh. Oh Nanna kandha is divine. Borrowing a hubber's description of Andhaala Lokam, this one too feels like resting in the lap of god!.

[Sureshs65]

KV,

Nice review.

Yes, the best song has the least orchestration As one reviewer told about the films of Ozu, "You need not move your camera to make a great movie. You need to move hearts." (Ozu was a director whose camera was almost always static.) That way Raja proves that in order to touch you, what is needed is a soothing tune. 'Oru Aramane' is indeed on lines of 'kudhikira kudhikira' and 'oru vaandu kootame' (Nandalala). I am enjoying the album. Going by the trailer and what Kheny said during the audio release, the BGM must be terrific.

Haven't seen a Kannada movie in theater till now. Raja made me watch a Balakrishna movie. Will he make me watch a Kannada movie now? Let me wait for the film to release and the reviews to come.

[vijjuk]

Hey I am from bangalore, I checked in chikpet yesterday, I could not find the audio..where did u guys get the audio?

[Sureshs65]

I bought it in Calypso, Jayanagar. They had lot of copies. I am sure Landmark may be carrying it as well.

[KV]

vijjuk, I bought my copy at Ganesh Videos (SP Road).

Suresh, very relevant comparison with Ozu. Btw, did you get audio/mp3? (I somehow don't want to believe that only the mp3 was released and not the audio cd).

Another query - I saw a Ramana Maharishi bhajans CD at a store recently, which unfortunately I couldn't buy at that moment. It read music by IR and performed by some group. Any idea if this one's a separate album by itself or a recording of live performance of songs from other Ramana albums?

[Sureshs65]

KV,

From my what I heard from the store fellow only mp3 has been released. Very unfortunate but that is how the Kannada music industry seems heading. I also checked the other music releases of new Kannada films and most of them were _only_ in mp3. Even the earlier movie of Raja in Kannada, "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" was also in _only_ mp3.

'SreeRamarajyam' was released in both, audio and mp3 formats, simultaneously.