Raja's New Albums

My take on Oru Oorla soundtrack.

ippadiyum orutthan undu – The song directly went to the bottom of my heart and sat comfortably after my first listen itself. Striking and bold Velmurugan’s voice with casual laid-back language and singing, amicable folkish tune, bright percussion (loop) all add to the glory of the song. Last time I heard such a bold and striking voice was of Pushpavanam Kuppusamy.

The song makes fun of an alcoholic and also adds a message. First time I had hard time concentrating on the interludes main reason being it did not demand my attention as it flows with the tune itself. Synth flute (sounds like a mouth organ?) in first interlude and synth shehnai in the second interlude.  Second interlude has that touch of melancholy. Nice and effective lyrics. One portion which I keep rewinding is when Velmurugan finishes the charanam with ‘ivanukkappa’ on a high note in an innocent way. Seducing part that! This song straightaway goes into classic category in my music listening dictionary for its innocence, earthy and arresting nature. How many folk songs Maestro would have composed yet another fresh one?


thaayE vanthaayE – This song captured me instantly when I listened to the ‘making of’ clip. Whenever we want to visit Pazani or ThirunaLLaar but we don’t have time, God presents himself in Vadapazani or in Vada ThirunaLLaar for us to save time. Same way when I wanted to visit the whole of 90’s compositions of Maestro, he gives me a free pass through this 2010’s composition so that I can get a glimpse of 90’s. Vintage Raja.

Thavil percussion to start the proceeding. Fantastic and racy tune. With excellent lyrics and Raja’s singing, the emotional quotient is very high. Surprisingly the song sings praises about the daughter (by a father) who fondly calls her his mother (?). Signature flute and shehnai interludes which I have been longing as I have expressed above.  Once the charanam starts there is no stoppage. I love the way charanam is constructed without any gap. Complex tune. It has its own charm with instruments answering first two lines. You know when I break down, when Raja sings ‘neeyE neeyE chellakkutti’. Raja's voice is growing sweeter and sweeter as he ages. So much glued to this composition that words fail to express the satisfaction it gives.


thannanthani endriruntha – Lilting sad song. I mildly get reminded of kaathiruppEn kaaththiruppEn/en usiru (sengaathu bhoomiyilE). I am so astonished that with some subtle changes in notes, we get another new and fresh tune which is only possible from the magical fingers of Maestro when people fear to even try these intricacies and rather fall into western prey only to be caught red-handed.

Back to home, back to bass. Back to tabla. Nothing like that. Dashing charanam tune. So sweet. Interludes pour melancholy with synth violins and santoor. Rewind that. Haricharan sings with lot of heart giving us the much needed soul. These are kind of moist and sweet tunes which are desperately needed today when people are trying to split rocks to find water in it. Another one in my classic list.


thEdi ennai kaanavE – Sweet and short song, but the impact it creates is big. Another pathos song. Arresting cellos/violins (only for few seconds) will make us long for more. Good that even in this short song we have a short interlude and short charanam. Great example of how to effectively use the time and convey the message.

vanaththil vaNNa malargaL - I am so addicted to this song. Damn addictive. Piano delight.  Sounds like unnai patri sonnaal (maththiya chennai) may be because of Rita and piano/jazz touches. If I sing the last line of charanam it connects to unnai patri sonnaal ;)Signature syncopation. I loved the way pre-lude starting with just guitar and piano with no percussion. Beautiful counterpoint there.

This song is about nature, people and world. Pallavi starts with just piano without any percussion. Love the way piano follows the pallavi tune closely. Breezy! Percussion (synth) comes only during the repeat pallavi (I would have preferred it even without that). Lyrics is good, but not great.  Two short lines (vanaththil vaNNa malargaL, malaril veesum thendral) followed by extremely long third line (thendralil veesum vaasam athu deivaththin kaanikkai oh deivaththin kaanikkai). How the hell is this possible?

I love the starting sound of inter-lude (I think from vibraphone?). Wonderful to hear. synth and piano interlude (only one interlude though). We will not know when the charanam started as the piano does not end at all, Maestro stops it with a convincing splash of bells to start the charanam. Beautiful! The biggest highlight of the song is it has that beautiful post-lude same as the pre-lude making it a coda. Not many IR songs has coda (another one I remember is poove sempoove), in that way it is a unique song. Rita sings it very well.

Only question I have about this song is where will it fit the movie (theme) as the title and the theme of other songs seems to be different. Considering ‘ippadiyum oruththan undu’ and this one, quite a big contrast (thereby showing Maestro’s every growing versatility). May be heroine introduction/title song. Eagerly waiting to see the placement of the song.


All five songs in my kitty, 24 carat sokka thangam, seikkooli illai sEthaaram illai. Lot of variety in these five songs. Four folk songs of different nature and one jazzy song. All five solo songs (with no chorus) with five different singers. Not sure if this is the first time? Five solo songs almost tells how the story is woven. Every song has a touch of desolation, even the refreshing vanaththil vaNNa malargaL has it in it's prelude. That is the running chord which connects every song (and us) and Maestro gives that chord to the director, in case he gets it.

Tune is the big winner. Songs to be preserved and listened frequently as it gives the same amount of satisfaction what we get from those mighty soundtracks. I would even say the soul will be more in these kind of simple, minimalistic folk soundtracks as it revolves around the native people of our land and the hardships faced by them and the way they carry their life merrily despite all odds. I feel guilty now for not even listing this soundtrack as the contender when picking the soundtrack of the year. I take this soundtrack as the healing medicine given by (forecast-ed) Maestro to us to forget about his ailing health as he will be back very soon with lot of music.  He did, he did for us. What a soundtrack to end the year 2013!