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Friday, January 22, 2010

Musically Yours

Well...this was one topic that was in the making for a long time...so long that u can say about 17 years to be precise. Wondering what am blabbering since blogs never existed that time. Well think again since even internet didnt exist at that time and as far as a computer was concerned, it was a big box that had a suitcase of a hard disk and had the now extinct floppy disk. Flummoxed at what i am trying to say, worry not. All i want to say is that over the past few days i have been overcome with an urge for music. Now u people must be thinking where did few days come in when i mentioned 17 years previously. Actually the 17 years meant right from the time a genious burst into the limelight...into the world of music. Yes...i am talking about Allah Rakha Rahman. Still wondering where did rahman come into the picture, well this blog is about music and for me listening to music started with those magical and now almost immortal words "Chinna chinna asai". I started listening to music around that time and when this magician burst out into the scene, i was so addicted to him that i started to like good music.

But you people may ask why now when this should have been my first post!!! Well this post has come at this point of time when am so addicted to music. With some amazing movie songs that have come out recently, i was so transfixed to listening to songs that i started to see every movie in a musical angle. This new change started when i attended the mastero's concert at chennai. It was an absolutely awesome experience and around the same time i upgraded my net connection to BSNL Unlimited...thanx to my banking mom ofcourse.. I started downloading lots of movies that i wanted to see again though i may have seen them multiple times on TV. It all started off with my all time favourite Indra ....and that absolutely awesome song Nila kaigiradhu...the song in which Harini burst into the limelight and which had me totally glued on to it...though the movie in itself is a gem of a story the songs were totally outta this world. The BGM's well they are by rahman and so no questioning the mastero's creations.

Then i saw one movie which is infact not a bad movie (considering the recent movies like kuruvi, vetaikaran, asal, aegan..). The movie am takling about is En Swasakatre...man what songs this had...absolutely fabulous. Even though the movie was a monotonous run of the mill one, the BGM's were such that they complemented every scene and made it watchable. especially the theme BGM...i just loved it...

Next in line was one of my all time favourite movies and one among the first movies that made me cry - Kannathil Muthamittal. Even now when i see the climax when Keerthana asks nandita das if she can call her Amma, my eyes become moist. The emotions are brought out so well by the actors and with a haunting BGM running behind, Rahman once again proves how well he can compliment a scene and bring out the raw emotions to the viewer. My discussion of kannathil Muthamital cannot be complete without my pick of the Album - Oru deivam Thanda Poove. And i maybe odd in my taste, but i like the Male version more than the female. People may argue that the female version - Nenjil Jil Jil - won the State award for best singer and i agree 200% the soulful rendition by Chinmayi deserved it, but somehow i like the male version more than the female one. Another song without which Kannathil Muthamital is not complete is Vellai pookal. Rahman always has this amazing ability to render soulful songs sound as if its straight from the heart (Even though this one was straight from many people's heart).

Then came a language change and i saw a gem of a movie that was a big dud at the box office. Even now when i think of this movie i fell like catching hold of the movie goers collar and bashing them up for making such a movie a flop. The movie in discussion is Delhi 6. I was already in awe of the talent the powerhouse director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra possessed in terms of having a musical taste as well as making a socially relevant movie vis-a-vis Rang de basanti. That was one movie that just made me inside out. It was like lightning and thunder from a clear sky and it hit me hard and that movie will have an impact on me forever. Now back to the movie am talking about. This movie was a revelation both pictorially and musically. What a story. How many people would have thought of making a story on such a theme and putting it across to the audience convincingly. That is one movie even the totally down and out person must see for inspiration. Too bad as i mentioned it didnt do well at the box office. Even now am fuming at the taste of those people who saw the movie and called it crap. And regarding the BGM's, this was one movie where i believe i saw a new Rahman for the first time. It had started with Swades and RDB and this was his metamorphosis into a pure magician who played with sounds and made them mesmerize the listeners ears. Even before the movie released Masakali was a huge rage and am not sure if people loved Sonam kapoor in that song but i just loved the beauty of Masakali (the pegion's name). There were few other songs that dint quite appeal to the general public. But these 2 were pure gems from Rahman. One of them definitely was Rehna Tu and another was Arziyaan. Even Dil Gira Dafatan appealed to me a lot. These 3 were so soothing to listen. Even a troubled mind will be calmed on listening to this. The BGM's were outta this world. Perfect foil to the happenings in the movie and supporting the songs. It was like Rahman Reloaded. He kept getting better with each album that he made both with the songs and BGM's. The whole world was head over heels on listening to Slumdog Millionaire. Even though the songs werent like his other compositions, this was definitely not bad. One song that came also as a BGM was Mausam Escape theme. This song had wonderful orchestration and the combo between the electric guitar and santoor as perfect. The song alternated between the melody and rock genre and was a treat to listen to.

The recent songs that i heard from Rahmans works reflect a definite shift the class of music he gives. There are lots of different sounds and voices that we see nowadays...a big change from lagaan days where Udit Narayanan and Alka yagnik almost sang all the songs. He is now using variety of singers from different nationalities and genres for the songs and also using never heard before instruments. The recent Vinaithandi Varuvaya was a gem. Both the movie and its music were soft and peppy. Right from the Soulful ballad Uyire to the magical Manipaya to the peppy Anbil Avan, the songs had definite variety and also the story being truly beautiful, the BGM's also complimented it a lot. Next has come Ravan/Ravana and the Hindi one once agtain proves once again that Rahman always gives his mentor Mani the best compositions. Ranjha Ranjha and Kili Re Kili stand out and Reena Bharadwaj once again proves that she's not a one song wonder. (The same singer who gave us Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata from Meenaxi - A tale of 3 cities...awesome songs and BGM's to support a truly boring movie). Even Rekha bharadwaj's Ranjha Ranjha is a gift to our ears and Rekha Bharadwaj, Rahman's find through Genda Phool from Dilli 6 and Director/Music director Vishal Bharadwaj's wife, has done good justification to it. Now waiting with baited breath for the movie and its BGM's. Hope Rahman will do justification to our expectations....

If Anyone wants BGM' as below check the two links given







Credit goes to A R Rajib Dey from my Facebook Friends list and fellow Rahmaniac

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey .. Thanks for the links!! :)Yup.. I too feel that the male version of "Nenji jil jil" in Jayachandran's voice was better ..may be because of the lyrics...And.. y did you forget to mention the song "Vidai kodu engal naade".. Awesome song from Kanathil Muthamittal!!

Harsha said...

all i ever did was listen to music and if i liked it listened again; if i dint then i never heard it again..

never knew there was a in depth study to it.. good to see u like music so much.. or ARR to be precise.. well written post.. keep blogging.. cheers.. :)

Hariharan said...

@ Swetha : ya vidai kodu engal naade was also good...MSV's, Manikavinayakam's and Jayachandran's voices were perfectly suited to it...with loud choruses and rendering of some parts and subtle renditions of some parts...esp the lines "Thandai analum Thaimadi analum sugam varuma varuma" by jayachandran..vairamuthu produced beautiful words...but somehow compared to the other 3 songs dis one was one step below...but nevertheless this was definitely 100 times better when u compare songs from other music directors

Hariharan said...

@ harsha : ya i understand...many people would do the same...but just start listening to the songs with the lyrics and orchestration in mind and also watch movies alsong wid listening to the BGM'S closely and ur movie watching or music listening exprience will be enhanced 100 times better

likantk said...

cool one...keep going

APS said...

Next time if we wanna say MUSIC, then we can do it little different. Typing MUSIC, we need to use 5 keys on de keyboard tat are located on different extremes. Its better we say ARR instead. Its pretty easy. De keys are located nearby only.

---Let me end with a esmall mokkai---

However it is, we too are ARRs only one way of de other with a esmall difference. Rahman uses keyboard (Music). We use keyboard (Sharing).

Swe said...

Good one I totally loved it!!! ARR really is just too awesome, no words to talk about him!!!

Jabir said...

well hari u made me a fan of urs by naming few of my favorite tracks in the post.One thing that i would suggest is that try listening to different genre of music.Though ARR fuses many forms in his albums its always good to listen the isolated versions..for a change give a try to ghazals,qawwali(try Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan...he's a legend).Modern day tracks have become more music oriented i.e they create the music first then fit the lyrics later...so try listening to those good old songs where the lyrics were pure poetry and music was created to compliment them.You will be mesmerized by the deep thought and feelings those songs hold.

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