Raja's New Albums

Nandri Solla Vendum Nalla NaaLilE. I am bitten by this beauty so hard that I may not come out of it soon. Hamsadwani at its very best. Very auspicious and a divine raagam attributed to God Ganapathy, normally sung as a starting krithi in concerts, which brings brightness wherever it is heard. The flute, violins, bass, bell sounds in the prelude fill the air with divinity. Priyadarshini starts the song very well. Mridangam sounds loud and clear and gives an unconventional rhythm pattern which Maestro always enjoys exploring more and more. Already Maestro's magic has started. Pallavi is superb with great lyrics, while the lyrics in anu-pallavi could have been better (thirudanayE pidichirukku puthu dhinusa ithu irukku, koottal kanakku purinchiruchu pOtti pOda therinchiruchu, onnum onnum rendaachu rendum sErnthu onnaachu) as these colloquial words does not sync with pure words of pallavi, nevertheless the tune is just amazing. I love the way pallavi ends for the interlude to start; thumbamaana inbam thodara vEndumE (nice line there!) with vEndumE extends to enhance the sweetness to the maximum extent possible. That's Raja's signature.

I could not believe how Maestro is orchestrating in this much grand scale with just synth-driven violins, flute and veena. We used to hear some new sounds from synth which is normal, but we can hear some live instruments (especially string and wind instruments) on synth is only through Raja. I think mridangam is real one, please correct me. The ambience it gives is to be felt, cannot be explained. I have never heard such type of grand indian classical-based orchestration with synth alone from anyone else. Holy cow! Maestro is proving again and again that, 'Manam irunthaal maargabandhu'. In second interlude he changes the color by changing from mridangam to synth drums. He also adds piano along with violins and flute. Wow! Maestro does not shy away as he knows how to tame even the dangerous beast. Definitely with live instruments the effect would have been much better, but this is no way inferior given the budget constraints. The experience is undiminished and unmatched.

The charanam melody takes it way higher with the sweetness quotient. Flute filling the first two lines; enathu vizhiyilE oru puthiya dharisanam, enathu manathilE oru mazhalai kuyilvanam. Then comes the helluva of a line construction; 'manathu paravai siragil oLintha ragasiyam thirantha veLiyil virinthu parakkuthE' and 'idhaya vayalil vithaitha kuruvai muLai vida amudha mazhaikku kidanthu thavikkuthE' unbelievable construction there, bloody hell. How did he do that? How the words fit this lengthier line like a 'T' is another highlight. Kudos to Pazhani Bharathi. Maestro still adds more sweetness in the next two lines; thoongidaatha kaNNOram thEn theLikkum soppanaNgaL, poo nilaavum raathiriyum nammakkaLikkum arpanangaL (taming the beast before going for the kill). Then the rapid fire, 'asaiyum nilayum thudikkum isayum idhayam unakkuL paravi thudikkuthE' (my God!). Like a fastest ACE. Once it is smashed and delivered, there is silence for a fraction of second before we hear the claps that's when he starts again with 'nandri solla vEndum' slowly and casually as if he is getting ready for the next serve. Implausible audacity!

Excellent singing by Karthik and Priyadarshini presenting the bright mood throughout. This is what I call open and clean singing, no hesitation, no inhibition, no pushing of air. At few places some words of Priyadarshini were not heard properly. She tries to contract few words. For example when she sings 'raathiriyum', she sings 'rathiriyum'. Same way I heard 'koottal' as 'total'. Other than almost flawless singing by her, Karthik was brilliant. When they sing the repeat pallavi at the end, we can hear a beautiful harmony from violins.

This composition is complete and full blown one. Maestro has not shortened the interludes just because he has only synth to work with. He didn't compromise at all which is a very rare phenomenon to see especially at this age. What a journey this has been with Raja's Hamsadwani!. Starting from malargaLE naadharswarangaL mangala thEril maNakkOlam varNa jaalam vaanilE, mayilE mayilE un thOgai engE, thEr kondu sendravan, poo mudithu pottu vaitha vatta nila, athO mEgha oorvalam, chinna kaNmaNikkuLLE vantha chella kaNNanE, kaNNai padiththEn vinnai padhiththEn, this has been a great journey from days to months to years to decades by Maestro enhancing the beauty of the raagam with every outing. Every song has it own shine, color, richness, beauty and most of all, has the soul. When combined with magical orchestration it only grows beyond anybody's imagination. It is very very difficult to bring a unique flavor of the raagam every time and he has done it effortlessly. This is applicable to every song in this soundtrack. To bring the melody of this highest calibre and quality, it is highly impossible even for fresh music directors, leave alone the experienced. There is novelty in every line even while retaining the same raagam (which he has used many times already). Isn't it amazing? Isn't it a brilliant answer from Maestro on how we have our rich tradition of music still left to ponder while we are aimlessly looking to parasite. The highlight is, there is no end to this journey as these compositions will continue to find new music lovers even as generation passes by. Only thing which worries me is nowadays good songs like this are not getting their due attention and popular like those days. We should feel lucky to have listened to these invaluable compositions which others don't get to hear. Thank you Maestro for this wonderful gift!

unga appan pEra solli solli - First time when I listened to this song, I jumped out of joy as I remembered a film called Madagascar 3 and hence poured my one-liners here and in twitter. In that film, there is one tiger called Vitaly who has exceptional skills in jumping through the ring without the ring slipping (which we used to see during our childhood days). As and when he jumps through successfully, he brings in another smaller ring and tries to jump through. He continues in the same fashion till the ring reduces to the size which adorns our fingers. He also adds fire to the ring at last. Breath-taking!. Even with the same ring circus formula and Tiger doing the same 'jumping' thing, the audience didn't not get bored. Why? because they didn't see the ring and the same tiger alone, they see a challenge in every opportunity. Thus the audience were pushed to the edge of their seat to see if the tiger will succeed in this test as the ring becomes smaller and smaller. Inspiring stuff. Vitaly fails for the first time, but ultimately conquers. Ultimate test of temparament and creativity. Please watch this film if you haven't, nice film. You might wonder what relation this song has with that film. It definitely has, we will talk about it little later.

This is the first song I heard in this soundtrack as Ilaiyaraaja's name was on it. I could straightway connect to this song. A Classical treat from Maestro. Definitely this song also begs to be heard with live orchestration. It is a totally new song having no shades of his earlier songs. When we know this song has abundant energy, it also has boundless innovation. Cracking start to the song with trumpets, violins (all synth but) and that seducing rhythm pattern. I was blown straight-away by the stunning situation similar to adi raakkumuthu raakku. There the husband celebrates the occasion and praises the motherhood. Here the husband is asking her wife to bear a child which will bear their name and tradition. The former lyrics has a matured and serious tone, whereas here it is sarcastic and funny. Gangai Amaran after a long time with his brother. I am in total love with the lyrics and they way it fits the tune. The first lines are so funny that when I keep recalling its meaning, I cannot stop laughing. Straight-away connection!. Husband is asking his wife to bear a child which will scold her father and also to scold a scolding father (that's him) . 'unga appan pera cholli cholli thitta oru puLLa peththu thaa, thittugira appanayum thittugira pulla pethtthu thaa'. 'vaarthai jaalam' at its best after a long time. The choir (male and female choir alternate) which follows every line of pallavi and anu-pallavi substantiates the sarcasm behind those lines. Brilliant ideas. I love the humming there. Maestro even changes the humming in the next line. When we think the pallavi lines are little chopped and not continuous (I don't think that way, beautifully constructed ) he springs a last line of anu-pallavi where we get to hear the soul of the song. How beautifully he adds; 'antha puLLa kodu chella kiLiyE', the line which I listen again and again. Rhythmic arrangements are truly out of the world, it took some time grasp it. Just this aspect deserves a thesis.

Now comes the Maestro only territory, the orchestration. This time it is a new territory even for Maestro as he does not have his men behind him to play for him. This song has more difficult orchestration even compared to the earlier one as Maestro opted for WCM style orchestration. He could have easily chosen a easier route (based on the budget) but he didn't do so. That's where the confidence and authority comes in again. In the earlier song he has to look for the sounds of mainly veena, flute and little bit of violins, but with WCM he has to completely rely on violins/cellos, layers of it. On top of it he also uses trumpets to its maximum effect. In the first interlude, the cellos and trumpets form a counter-melody too. After some time, we get to hear vocal harmony, like never before. Our hearts goes out for it. Stunning sequence of melody!
yeh muthu pOla puLLa undu
yeh pethu pOdu peththu pOdu
yEn aasaiyOdu kekkurathu
ada aLLi kodu aLLi kodu
yeh thagathagathom yeh thagathagathom yeh thagathagathom thagathagathom
yeh thagathagathom yeh thagathagathom yeh thagathagathom thagathagathom

In the second interlude the intense shown in violins is still more aggressive. Hear the layers of violins. One layer plays in staccato mode while other layer plays in tremolo fashion. Male choir join with shehnai forming another rare shehnai-vocal counter-melody. First time ever! When shehnai and choir join along with another keyboard sound, we could even think if the rhythm arrangement has been changed, but it's not. If you hear everything together, we can definitely hear a new rhythm arrangement, but Maestro is actually playing the same pattern, but see how he mesmerize us with the rhythm by adding these subtle layers. Then santoor joins in with violins for a racy finish. He brought out the WCM orchestra in front of us with a wonderful harmony of layers of synth instruments and vocals. I would say this is the biggest accomplishment by any composer given the constraints.

Coming to the charanam melody, it is so vibrant even it is short. Nicely written lines by Gangai Amaran. No voice other than Maestro could have brought the soul effectively. What started as a rollicking fun song, now gets transformed into reality. Maestro's voice brimming with soul when he sings these thoughtful lines. The mood completely changes here. Again the humming here after first two lines is not sarcasm, as we can hear, it actually extends what Maestro is trying to convey. What a brilliant move by Maestro! Also please hear, Maestro has now changed the rhythm pattern (only in charanams) and he seamlessly changes it back during pallavis. How many in the name of innovation? The best touch is the last line when he finishes with aplomb; 'appan pOla puLLa vanthaa appanukkum kooda pala buthi mathi solli kodukkum', I am torn into pieces. I am still awe-struck in all these 35 years on how is he able to finish so convincingly every last line of charanam without any ambiguity. Such a sheer joy to listen to these lines. I pray God to give me million re-births only to listen to Maestro's ending charanam lines and how he connects to pallavi.

munnavanga senja thavam seikayil veLangum (aaaa…)
nallathethu kettathethu pOga pOga theriyum (aaaa..)
paattu moottai vandi vechcha vElayellaam
kottom pOttu attagaasam thaan nadathum
appan pOla puLLa vanthaa appanukkum kooda pala buthi mathi solli kodukkum

solli thantha viththai ellaam avanukku peragum (aaaa…)
appadiyE puLLa vazhi arputhama thodarum (aaaa…)
nalla vedhai kettu pOi muLaikkaathu
nambu kondu vaanam vaththi pOgaathu (not sure about this line )
selvam endraal piLLai selvam sErntha selvam eppozhuthum unnai vittu velagaathu

Please don't miss the guitar pizzicato after the last line of charanam, lovely.

Brilliant, unconventional folk melody wrapped in ICM and WCM outfit with Maestro's signature all over. No complaints whatsoever. Now coming to the question I posted at the start. What's the relation between this song and that movie? Maestro yet again proves how he creates a boundary on his own and also knowing that with every outing the boundary gets shorter (as the essence of this raagam has already been churned out a lot by him), but he knows the way to emerge successfully. Vitaly fails for the first time, but Maestro never fails. The song in question is composed in keeravani raagam. While he has scored lot of songs (>70 songs. Wow!) in keeravani raagam (compared to other raagams), this song comes as a breath of fresh air which is unbelievable to think that it is again in same raagam, as it completely broke the expected parameters already composed by Maestro. While I look at his list of songs in this raagam I only feel dizzier. It is like a director giving him a different situations every time and asking him to compose a song in the same raagam, but no shades of his earlier songs. On top of it, choosing WCM style orchestration (equivalent to adding fire to the ring) with no team behind him to play for him. Imagine the difficulty and the steepness to climb. Innovation is not just breaking the boundary every time for no reason (ignoring the demands), it is how you restrict yourself and come out successful (complying with the demands). Anyone dare to take this challenge?