Raja's New Albums

I am terribly disappointed. I listened to the whole album twice and not even a single song excited my interest even to threshold level. I must confess I didn't like Foolishq from Ki & Ka either. that tamil film 'Oye' had only impressive number "thendral varum". Even obscure films like Naadi thudikathudi or porkalthil oru poo had one interesting song each. I think the last really interesting album (if not a classic) he did was Abbayitho Ammayi (telugu). Tharai Thappattai was good too (Only that Sarath song might stay with me for future). The songs of Game didn't appeal much to me. I just checked his discography this year and realized that there was an album called Magudi. I heard it when the songs came out but if I didn't recall it when I am writing this - it only means that they didn't click (from longevity perspective) for me.  

Ultimately, I feel that there wasn't any stupendous album (like Megha, NEPV, RamaRajyam). Abbayitho Ammayi is the small peak among all other ok type or disappointing albums.

Love & Love only was a different album, so i am not factoring that here.

crimson king wrote:

The noughties started promisingly enough with Azhagi. Ivvan had the brilliant Appidi Parkirathellamm Venam.  Then Virumaandi-Pithamagan-Thiruvasagam solid purple patch which halted with Mumbai Xpress.  In the middle were Julie Ganapathy and Konji Pesalam, dud films with good songs.  But after M Exp, suddenly the meh albums began to overflow. Oru Naal Oru Kanavu disappointed a lot of people at the time though Khajiraho was eventually accepted.  Adhu Oru Kanaakaalam was even worse.  HOWEVER, when I was in Chennai last month, I heard Andha Naal Nyabagam on the radio and it sounds like a masterpiece compared to Amma Kanakku.  Seriously, hearing is believing in this case.  This is a new low.  Not that any of the tracks are bad per se but just terribly underwhelming and devoid of life.  So I do sort of agree with you that the noughties have been up and down (while I prefer to focus on the highs since anything great from Raja at this stage after so many films is a bonus) but at the same time Amma Kanakku defeats even the eternal optimist (VS being one such).

I actually liked kaattu vazhi kaalnadaiya from adhu oru kanaa kaalam with the slight Irish folk touch. Wondered why IR didn develop it into a full fledged song, maybe because it was the title song. Later, I stood vindicated when it was used as Paa's theme, so quite a few others had liked that (maybe including IR himself) besides me. It is not a great song or anything but has that IR stamp and some emotion/life in it. As you have pointed out I feel many tunes in past years have sounded listless. My expectations are not even great at this stage. A song like vilayaatta padagotti is enough, but even those have been sparse.
So if film music is no longer getting his juices flowing I hope he gets more opportunities and puts himself in a position to work on non-filmi projects along the lines of Thiruvasagam.

I can see a lot of dissatisfaction with Raja's recent work. As a small digression, I would like to talk about a recent album by a Raja artist, who has done a great job. I have not heard a nice fusion album such as this, in a long time (Swappnam is different and is hard for me to call it fusion, as it belongs to another class).

It is hard to get my attention on fusion as my standard is Raja. I have even dismissed experiments by Sudha Raghunathan as childish as hers does not come anywhere near my expectation (25% of Raja). However, there is one recent fusion album that meets my expectation.

This album is called 'Veena in Vienna' by Punya Srinivas, who was Raja's veena player for a long time. I think, she still plays for him. This album has 7 tracks by 7 composers, and three of these tracks are by Raja, VSN and Sharreth. The title track is by Bach and there is another track by Stephen Devassy which is the opening piece done very well.

I have been playing this for the past 2 or 3 days in a loop and highly recommend it.

1. Global gear by SD - Very nicely arranged and played
   
2. Veena in Vienna - Brilliant play by Punya as it is not easy to do Bach in veena. Now, if she talks about globalizing a South Indian instrument, this is it
   
3. Mad, Mod, Mood Fugue - Punya hits the ball out of the park with this Raja composition (HTNI). In full throttle, I was blown away by her talent. She simply reset all my views about the instrument by just this piece
   

App, not sure about the right thread, if I want to review this album in the future. This is for preserving. Absolutely stunning work by Punya.

I am now getting greedy - if VSN, Punya can do so well, God only knows the talents buried in Raja's musicians and what they can do. No wonder, Raja once told the audience that every musician who works for him is a composer.

ravinat wrote:

1. Mad, Mod, Mood Fugue - Punya hits the ball out of the park with this Raja composition (HTNI). In full throttle, I was blown away by her talent. She simply reset all my views about the instrument by just this piece
   

App, not sure about the right thread, if I want to review this album in the future. This is for preserving. Absolutely stunning work by Punya.

Veena in Vienna is Superbly executed. Just brilliant. In fact, Raaja's I Met Bach At My House from HTNI (the 7 min track) draws its inspiration from this Sonata. Raaja himself speaks of how he heard Carnatic music in this Bach composition here: http://www.tubechop.com/watch/5771609

On Mad, Mod, Mood, Fugue. A pedant's grouse. The song does not have any fugue does it? This is not MMMF. MMMF is based on Mayamalawagowlai as the album cover makes us aware.



The flowery description does not help one bit and YT is full of wrong names for various tracks. But this one is clear as daylight. The actual MMMF is here:



As one can note, this one is a fugue. Raaja has spoken of how he played this to Paul Mariat and the latter was engrossed. This extract is from Raaja's autobiographical Sangeetha Kanavugal, which he wrote for Kumudham in 1983 post a European and American trip. அப்பவே இத கம்போஸ் செஞ்சுட்டாரு though he released it with HTNI in 1986 only. He himself mentions it being set to Mayamalawagowlai: http://isaignanibakthan.blogspot.in/2012/03/blog-post.html (in fact, the hyperlink to MMMF in this blogpost takes us to the chalanaattai piece only   அவ்வளவு ஊரிருக்கு. That track in Chalanaattai is in fact called Don't Compare).

As much as Punya's work is impressive and this is a trifling mistake, mild disappointment that neither she nor the album producers/Purple Note sat down, did research on this name of the track they played. ஏன்னா இதுல பியூக் இல்ல! ராஜா பார்த்தா என்ன நினைப்பார்? 

PS: I've uploaded all the tracks from the album with their right names as per the album cover (the cover does not list one track! Worst fellows) and made a playlist too for easy access: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn4GJpNVAHewdTYXS46WDPN2nhYNid22Q

DM

  Good point and I should have paid more attention when I posted Punya's album. It is a big repetition of the screw-up from the 80s. Ragams, track names, everything was screwed up for a simple album that had 10 tracks. Punya should have known better.


  You see, it's like Colgate, when they tell you that it whitens your teeth 22 times (according to serious market research), you start believing in it. It was my Colgate moment

ravinat wrote:DM

  Good point and I should have paid more attention when I posted Punya's album. It is a big repetition of the screw-up from the 80s. Ragams, track names, everything was screwed up for a simple album that had 10 tracks. Punya should have known better.


  You see, it's like Colgate, when they tell you that it whitens your teeth 22 times (according to serious market research), you start believing in it. It was my Colgate moment

No issues. There was this foreign music student who did this with HTNI (audio extremely poor. Kindly ramp vol. all the way up and use headphones):



Again. She's got the name wrong thanks to YT screwups. I did what I always do. Posted a lengthy comment correcting her and speaking on what I feel about that particular track. Do watch the video and read my comment. Sorry app, if we're taking this thread to another direction.

No issues, DM - please feel free!

Here is some info related to new release, but funny news :
http://www.jannalmedia.com/article?nId=8465

இந்நிலையில், “அன்பு நண்பர்களுக்கு... நான் டைரக்டர் AMR ரமேஷ்...நான் இயக்கிய ஒரு மெல்லிய கோடு படம் பல தரப்பட்ட பிரச்சனைகளிலிருந்து மீண்டு ஜுலை 1ம் தேதி வெளியாகிறது..தயவு செய்து விமர்சனம் எழுதி என்னையும் படத்தையும் காப்பாற்றும் படி அன்புடன் கேட்டுக் கொள்கிறேன்” என்று தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

Kamesh:

I love Oru Melliya Kodu especially the 1st and 3rd song.  Kida Pusari Magudi is a favorite album for me and I like almost all the songs in it especially the Manikuyilu.  Similarly I loved Oru Oorile except for Ippadiyum oruthan undu.  Listen to Vanathil Vanna malargal - what a breezy song and orchestration.  The other songs express a dads love for his daughter and really appeal to me.  In Oyee apart from Thendral Varum, Endha OOru Ponalum was great. Valmiki all the songs were very good.  Same with Mayilu especially Aathe.  Nadi Thudikudhadi En Devadhai and Veli Nattu Grama were excellent.  Rudrama Devi songs were excellent.  Azhagarsami - I loved Kudhikira and the title music.  I am disappointed that u guys didnt like Andha Naal Gyabagam (to me both the tune & the orchestration were close to the Eera Vizhi Kaviyangal songs especially Kanavil Midhakkum).  However, Jesudass sounded really old.  I also loved Ennada song in that movie.  Nandhalala songs were all very good (except that old lady song).  Chithirayil Oru Nila Choru - all the songs were great.  Piddly song was great.  I am not talking about NEPV and Megha as all of us agree with those albums.

Maybe I am just HCIRF that enjoys whatever he makes but I have been listening to him since Annakili days.  There is sheer brilliance in his songs even now that is unmatched.  I listen to Rahman, Anirudh and now Santosh Naryanan who are the guys who are said to make good music these days and most of it sound like abashwarams, prose, namaas prayers.  I cant decipher why exactly those songs are considered better.

And "Swapnam" one of his best works.  The prelude music to Ezhisaiyay......the start, the transitions and coming together to start the song .....that brilliance - who else can do this.  Just to imagine that he conceptualized all that in his mind and wrote notes and it came out that brilliantly.....OMG!

Similarly another piece I marvel for that reason is Kurangu Kaiyil Malai from Mumbai Express for the transitions it goes through.

His brilliance is unparalleled and consistent

counterpoint wrote:
I actually liked kaattu vazhi kaalnadaiya from adhu oru kanaa kaalam with the slight Irish folk touch. Wondered why IR didn develop it into a full fledged song, maybe because it was the title song. Later, I stood vindicated when it was used as Paa's theme, so quite a few others had liked that (maybe including IR himself) besides me. It is not a great song or anything but has that IR stamp and some emotion/life in it. As you have pointed out I feel many tunes in past years have sounded listless. My expectations are not even great at this stage. A song like vilayaatta padagotti is enough, but even those have been sparse.
So if film music is no longer getting his juices flowing I hope he gets more opportunities and puts himself in a position to work on non-filmi projects along the lines of Thiruvasagam.

The thing is few years back itself in an interview to singer Mahati (she was doing this series for Jaya TV IIRC) he said bluntly that today if he releases an album people will simply download and not buy CDs and in such a climate it is not possible for the artist to fund non film projects.  We can only hope for more stuff like Love & Love Only which will give him the width to express himself.

Saw Amma Kanakku yesterday.  A decent movie without any twist, action, etc.  Lot has been said about the songs of this film.  However we cannot blame Raaja for this.  All the songs are played for only a few seconds in the movie.  But as for the BGM is concerned, Raaja is in his usual form.  A separate theme piece for portraying the "porattam" between mother and daughter / helpless feel of the mother and another theme for the humorous scenes in the movie reminds us - As usual, Raaja is weaving magic to add more spice to the scenes.  I strongly think that today's directors are approaching Raaja mainly to get a good BGM for their films rather than extract good songs from him (Few exceptions - Bala, Prakash Raj, KH).  As there is a big Varatchi Nilamai as far as BGM department is concerned, Raaja is bound to get more movies with less focus on songs.  The film "Appa" releasing tomorrow has only one song with heavy expectations on BGM front.  Same with Kutramae Thandanai and Rajathandhiram 2.  Even Myskkin is not favoring usage of songs in his films.

manam mafia continues its action  

‘‘இளையராஜாவிடம் இருந்து உங்களுக்கு ஸ்பெஷல் பாராட்டு கிடைத்ததாமே?’’

 

“ஆமாம். அதைக் கேட்டவுடனே எனக்கு ரொம்ப ரொம்ப சந்தோஷமா இருந்துச்சு. இளையராஜா சார், ‘இந்தப் படத்துல அம்மா கேரக்டர்ல வர்ற பொண்ணு ரொம்ப நல்லா நடிச்சிருக்கு. என்னோட வாழ்த்துகளை சொல்லுங்க’னு சொல்லி பாராட்டியதா இயக்குநர் சொன்னாங்க. நம்ம வாழ்க்கைக்கு ஒரு அர்த்தம் தர்ற கொட்டேஷன் மாதிரி அவரோட வாழ்த்து இருந்துச்சு. ராஜா சார் பாராட்டியது என்னோட வாழ்க்கையில பெரிய விஷயம்!”

kutRamE thaNdanai ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvinGRjIEKg&feature=youtu.be

Review of "oru melliya kOdu"

Ramesh's screenplay aided by Krishnasreeram's cinematography and Ilayaraja's background score makes it an interesting watch.

Review of 'appA'

Ilayaraja's music is movie's major strength. The background score adds value to human emotions portrayed on big screen.

When will these reporters check facts before writing such nonsense?

Ilaiyaraja reintroduces a popular female singer after 14 years

'abhinayam kAttukinRa' of uLiyin Osai is 2008, dude!

BRangan's appA review

Appa is dedicated to Samuthirakani’s “thirai ulaga appa” K. Balachander — the music is by “isaiyin appa,” Ilayaraja — and he seems to have imbibed only the preachy aspects of the great director, regrettably evident in his latter-day films. 

'isaiyin appA' 

ki and kA - did S-E-L do something also?

The soundtrack album features songs composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy for the T-Series label besides having an original song composed by Balki’s regular collaborator Ilaiyaraaja, who has also composed the background score of the movie.

Lyrics have been penned by Kumaar, Amitabh Bhattacharya and Sayeed Quadri. The full music album was released on 25 February 2016.

The film released worldwide on 1 April 2016. Made on a budget of 20 Crore the film has earned over 100 Crore worldwide.

kaLathur grAmam / Madhan Karki

Can someone authenticate this news?

சரண் K  அத்வைதன் இயக்க, A R மூவி பேரடைஸ் சார்பில் ஆவுடைத்தாய் ராமமூர்த்தி தயாரிக்கும் படம் களத்தூர் கிராமம். தடையரத் தாக்க, மீகாமன் படங்களை இயக்கிய மகிழ்திருமேனியிடன் உதவியாளராக இருந்தவர் இயக்குனர் சரண் கே அத்வைதன். இத்திரைப்படத்திற்கு இளையராஜா இசையமைக்கிறார். இது அவருக்கு 1001 வது திரைப்படமாகும். பாடல்களை தாமரை, நா.முத்துக்குமார், மதன் கார்க்கி ஆகியோர் எழுதியுள்ளனர். 

இப்படத்தில் மகாநதி, 16 வயதினிலே, கிழக்கே போகும் ரயில் போன்ற வெற்றி படங்களை தயாரித்த ஸ்ரீ அம்மன் கிரியேஷன்ஸ் S.A. ராஜ்கண்ணு அவர்களின் மகன் மிதுன் கதாநாயகனாக நடிக்கிறார். படப்பிடிப்பு முடிவடைந்து இறுதிக்கட்ட பணிகள் நடைபெற்று வருகிறது.​ இப்படத்தின் பின்னணி இசை சேர்ப்பில் கலந்துகொண்ட இளையராஜா படத்தின் கிளைமாக்ஸ் காட்சியை கண்டு கண்கலங்கி இயக்குநரை கட்டிப்பிடித்து பாராட்டினாராம்​.​ 

app_engine wrote: kaLathur grAmam / Madhan Karki

Can someone authenticate this news?

சரண் K  அத்வைதன் இயக்க, A R மூவி பேரடைஸ் சார்பில் ஆவுடைத்தாய் ராமமூர்த்தி தயாரிக்கும் படம் களத்தூர் கிராமம். தடையரத் தாக்க, மீகாமன் படங்களை இயக்கிய மகிழ்திருமேனியிடன் உதவியாளராக இருந்தவர் இயக்குனர் சரண் கே அத்வைதன். இத்திரைப்படத்திற்கு இளையராஜா இசையமைக்கிறார். இது அவருக்கு 1001 வது திரைப்படமாகும். பாடல்களை தாமரை, நா.முத்துக்குமார், மதன் கார்க்கி ஆகியோர் எழுதியுள்ளனர். 

இப்படத்தில் மகாநதி, 16 வயதினிலே, கிழக்கே போகும் ரயில் போன்ற வெற்றி படங்களை தயாரித்த ஸ்ரீ அம்மன் கிரியேஷன்ஸ் S.A. ராஜ்கண்ணு அவர்களின் மகன் மிதுன் கதாநாயகனாக நடிக்கிறார். படப்பிடிப்பு முடிவடைந்து இறுதிக்கட்ட பணிகள் நடைபெற்று வருகிறது.​ இப்படத்தின் பின்னணி இசை சேர்ப்பில் கலந்துகொண்ட இளையராஜா படத்தின் கிளைமாக்ஸ் காட்சியை கண்டு கண்கலங்கி இயக்குநரை கட்டிப்பிடித்து பாராட்டினாராம்​.​ 

App

   100% authentic - you can't get anymore truth than this! Almost like what Trump wants us to believe

   The publication gave it away by saying that this is Raja's 1001th film

raagakann wrote:Saw Amma Kanakku yesterday.  A decent movie without any twist, action, etc.  Lot has been said about the songs of this film.  However we cannot blame Raaja for this.  All the songs are played for only a few seconds in the movie.  But as for the BGM is concerned, Raaja is in his usual form.  A separate theme piece for portraying the "porattam" between mother and daughter / helpless feel of the mother and another theme for the humorous scenes in the movie reminds us - As usual, Raaja is weaving magic to add more spice to the scenes.  I strongly think that today's directors are approaching Raaja mainly to get a good BGM for their films rather than extract good songs from him (Few exceptions - Bala, Prakash Raj, KH).  As there is a big Varatchi Nilamai as far as BGM department is concerned, Raaja is bound to get more movies with less focus on songs.  The film "Appa" releasing tomorrow has only one song with heavy expectations on BGM front.  Same with Kutramae Thandanai and Rajathandhiram 2.  Even Myskkin is not favoring usage of songs in his films.

I saw Amma Kanakku yesterday.  Totally agree with the post above.  The movie did not offer much scope for songs - you could not justify placing any long sonsg anywhere - the bit songs were so appropriate where placed and enhanced the emotions required for those scenes.  The background score was fantastic.  The title score was also fantastic mainly played on guitar accompanied by piano and drums.

kutRamE thaNdanai

Releasing on Aug 25 it seems

Saw 'Oru Melliya Kodu" yesterday on HeroTalkies.com.  Very impressed with the movie. The suspense is well kept a surprise until the end of the movie.  Ilaiyaraaja's background score was superb and really enhances the movie (as typically what directors say when sign IR).  The songs go really well with the movie too.  During the closing credits, the song 'Parandhu Parandhu" is played with a slight twist just with guitar and piano with no vocals - really brilliant.

I guess this news report is about "Anjali pApA":
http://www.sakshi.com/news/movies/anjali-in-ilayaraja-music-383808

Is it a bilingual? I saw a tweet on the Thamizh version...

OK, there's a Thamizh news report also :
http://cinema.dinamalar.com/tamil-news/49953/cinema/Kollywood/Ilayarajas-Anjali-Pappa.htm

1990ம் ஆண்டு அஞ்சலி படத்திற்கு இசை அமைத்த இளையராஜா தற்போது அஞ்சலி பாப்பா என்ற படத்திற்கு இசை அமைக்கிறார்