film-music on S Anand

A R Rahman Hindi songs

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:24:32 +0000

By popular demand, here are interludes from 15 Hindi songs of A R Rahman. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Guru 13 Mar 2009 5:08 am: 8/15, seems to be the lowest so far …
Steve 12 Mar 2009 7:26 pm: Got 15/15 :D
Ashwin Krish 13 Mar 2009 2:06 am: got 14/15 stumped by 9. I do not listen to remake songs (as matter of principle)… so if this is a tamil song remade in hindi with different mix, I wold not know
Swapnil 12 Mar 2009 12:08 pm: Gr8 quiz…got it all right!Bingo!~
Lavanya 12 Mar 2009 10:18 am: can any one tell me no.9….i COMPLETELY forgot the answer!!
gowrishankar 12 Mar 2009 3:42 am: bang 15/15 expecting few more…
Jay 11 Mar 2009 10:50 pm: aaarrggh…. 9 is driving me nuts… and 12 is stumping me big time…. the rest i guessed it less than 3 seconds flat…
Aravind 12 Mar 2009 2:26 am: good quiz!! :D got 15/15… struggled a lot on 12, though!!
Rivjot 12 Mar 2009 8:31 am: 15/15 Yayy!!! I love myself :D
Jayram 13 Mar 2009 10:19 pm: Stuck in three songs 9,10 and 12. Overall score 12/15.. Good selection…
Srinath 12 Mar 2009 1:13 pm: 15/15.. yay!! :) the answer for 9th is saathiya. mera yaar mila de song :)
Rams 13 Mar 2009 5:31 pm: Yay… got all 15! good one dude!
subbu 13 Mar 2009 3:40 pm: YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! 15/15 was stuck at 12 but made about 5 guesses to get it right. so , strictly speaking I don;t deserve that one point cuz I dont even know the song.
Fameeb 13 Mar 2009 7:22 pm: Ho!!! WoW! What a feeling !! Got 15/15 !! No.12 was a real tough one. It was troubling that am not getting this song. Obviously one of those albums which we heard a lot in Tamil but not in Hindi. Original is always original.Rest of them were all cool. Great Job by Anand. Really enjoyed this one ! Real Good work buddy. Long Live ARR !!
bujji 13 Mar 2009 1:16 pm: hey can anyone tell me 11….except tht i got evrythng
Ananth 13 Mar 2009 12:06 pm: 12/12… happy… 9 & 12 were thougheee… @Ashwin - nice principle… but this song is not there in tamil though the movie is there :)
Vijai Ananth 14 Mar 2009 3:21 am: Way to go…Got all right too…..RAHMANIA MALAYSIA
Dheepak Narsimhan 14 Mar 2009 4:41 am: Good quiz… Really gud job n its challenging.Got 15/15. yahooooooo….
Aditya Pai 14 Mar 2009 8:04 am: Yes…. scored 15/15. Good quiz.
Chandra 14 Mar 2009 6:14 pm: I dont know answers for the 9th, 10th, and the 12th songs. I know the 10th by-heart but am not able to get it… its stuck at the “tip of the tongue” as they say..!
Niranjan 18 Mar 2009 9:54 am: Am puzzled by 12……:-( not getting in any way…
rekha 28 Mar 2009 5:23 pm: got stuck on 1o and 12th…….please post answers
smriti 7 Apr 2009 12:14 pm: 14/15…..someone please helpme on 12…arrr!!! its eating me up! pls post the answer.
arun 15 Apr 2009 8:05 am: 15/15…yipee..feels great
rachna 27 Apr 2009 5:35 pm: got 14/15
Nihal 1 May 2009 7:22 am: wa super! fantastic and elastic and plastic
Shrikant, Aditi &Meera 15 May 2009 10:57 am: Struggled quite a bit on 9. All three of us. Separately. ;) I guess it falls into the li’l old-songs category now.. And to think, we work for a Bollywood Radio Station!!:D Cheers! Shrikant
sridharan 28 May 2009 9:45 am: 12song was very nice and arrahman was the maestro.jai ho
Viju 23 Jun 2009 4:25 am: Awesome one.. I still don’t get the 12 though! :(
Renuka 7 Jul 2009 11:56 am: 9/15. Bad! Awesome quizzes :-)
Anup 4 Nov 2009 11:09 pm: Hurray, I made it. 15 on 15 mate :)
Mohan 29 Nov 2009 5:54 pm: 13/15. unable to figure out 7 & :0(
Naveen 5 Mar 2010 9:14 am: Finally !!! 11 took me time !!! finally 15/15!!ufff!
tulsi priya 5 Dec 2011 4:17 pm: 12/15.. i really cant guess 3, 11 and 12
chethana jadhav 22 Nov 2011 5:57 am: 12/15… !!! took time to guess 10 th.. :(
Akila 12 Dec 2012 10:10 am: 14/15…. couldn’t get 9 right.

Tamil songs quiz 2008

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:00:00 +0000

Here is the background music from some songs from 2008. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green. (One spelling is tricky. Try M instead of N at the end.)

Comments

Niranjan 18 Mar 2009 11:10 am: Any idea on 10th one?
Sanketh 12 Jun 2009 7:22 am: Nice quizzes these …
Swami 15 May 2009 8:15 pm: I couldn’t find out the last one.
nirmala 18 Dec 2010 7:45 pm: couldnt find 9 n 10 help pls
saravana 18 Apr 2011 9:23 pm: #10 hard to find
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 2:01 pm: 4/10
aafiya 6 Sep 2012 9:27 am: 10th is hard to find.me 9/10
Niranjan 6 Dec 2012 4:31 pm: 8 and 10 hard to find

Tamil songs quiz - Enchanting first interludes

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Some background scores just stay in your mind. Here is a tribute to 20 wonderful first interludes, dating from the 1980s to the 2000s. Can you guess which movies they are from? (My intention here is not to make this tough, but rather to let you enjoy the music. So hope to see most of you score 20/20)

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

santhosh 27 Dec 2007 12:00 pm: Nowadays, more and more people are coming forward to post their ideas going inside their mind. It is really a very good thing, to bring out the thoughts to the world. Who knows, this may be very much useful for someone else.You make a Really Good Work . Keep Going . All the Best . If you find time kindly visit my site also regarding tamil mp3 songs for free download at http://www.movies-tv-songs.com/ Thanks in advance.
Arun Kumar M K 27 Dec 2007 12:00 pm: This is an awesome collection and also a wonderful job at your end. Anand neengal anadmaga vazha en vazthukkal. I thought the 14th song was Baba (it was sounding like Baba undan vasalile pala kodi pengal kathirukka…) But somehow got it wrong. Which one is that? Congrats again on a fantastic job…I have become ur fan. Thanks, Arun
Sanketh 27 Dec 2007 12:00 pm: The ID3 tags on the songs are a giveaway for those who don’t have a QT plugin inside their browser. Had to forcibly ignore my music player’s window title … Nice collection, btw (7 actually has the main tune). Arun, 14 sounds very similar to the Baba track, but the title says “Unnai Ketena”, so I am curious too as to what it is.
SR 27 Dec 2007 12:00 pm: cant find 1 and 14.excellent entertainer.
kiran 16 Feb 2009 4:44 am: 20/20. (14 and 19 were very tricky)
sathish 19 Feb 2009 12:00 pm: 14 is from movie desam - swades in hindhi (its the same song of baba )
S Anand 20 Feb 2009 3:36 pm: Hint for 19: It’s a Ramesh Vinayagam song
Bhaavna 8 Jul 2009 1:20 am: Awesome anand!!! I cant get the first 3 though….most of the songs I cant remember the movie but I can guess the song!!!Nice one!!!!
Sujatha 16 Sep 2009 6:20 am: Great work Anand ! Most of them were easy.Still working on No:7
V.Srinivasan 15 Jan 2010 5:48 am: Hi Very interesting. I got 19/20. No.2 is very familiar, but could not find out. Any clue?
gurucharan 20 Feb 2010 4:40 am: No.7 is kinda easy!!!!
Saku 16 Nov 2010 4:38 am: Good one.. had some of the tracks not been longer, i wouldn’t have maxed this… thanks..
MICHAEL JACKSON(NIK) 27 Dec 2010 8:50 am: TO BE FRANK I SCORED JUST 5………………… I STARTED CRYING AFTER HEARING THE BGM…..
Sowmya 24 Feb 2011 7:28 am: Could someone tell me the answer for the first track? It sounds very familiar.
krishnan 19 May 2012 7:52 pm: Very different approach to induce interest in music.
Kannan 24 Oct 2011 11:13 am: Awesom work. Got complete score… Please give me more…
Anand 27 Apr 2012 9:33 am: 17/20, missed 7,12,18 :(
Sridhar 26 May 2012 3:58 pm: Couldn’t figure 2 & 14 :(
Akila 12 Dec 2012 10:52 am: missed 2,11,12.. I’m breaking my head over 11… answers pls?
Panimalar 17 Jan 2013 4:24 pm: pls answer for the first track..I got all the other songs. Keep up the gud job Anand..expecting more quizzes from you like this.
Priya 16 Dec 2013 3:55 pm: 19/20.. Bt cud n’t get 14…. please..?
akash 28 Oct 2014 5:58 am: Nice work anand ji. Keep it up. Do tunes were simply mesmerising. But couldn’t find 14th. Managed to get 19….
Kumar 26 Jan 2019 9:01 am: Good collection
Revathi 16 Apr 2018 12:01 am: please tell what song is 1 and 14
xavier 7 May 2020 1:05 pm: i cant find 14th
Yeskay 28 Mar 2020 3:50 am: How can we see our answers
Hari 9 Mar 2018 4:39 am: All done except 18. But why my scores are not updated.

Tamil songs quiz 2006-2007

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Here is the background music from some hit songs from 2006 and 2007. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green. (A couple of spellings are tricky. Try J instead of S and V instead of G.)

Comments

Anonymous 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: Error in plugin!
natarajan 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: Ur quizzes are great.great idea. but in this quiz, when we download we get all the details about the clip including movie name which is the album title. Thrill of finding the name is lost.
Sanketh 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: Awesome quiz … couldn’’t figure out the answers to 3,5,6,10 … could you please post them some time. Or maybe I can just see the file names in the HTML :) Btw, glad someone else likes Atrai Thingal
S Anand 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: Natarajan, you’’re right. I’’ve removed the clip details now. Thanks!
ravishankar 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: all are easy clues..but where to fill in the answers???
Prin 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: Got 9! Couldn’’t figure out number 8 - haunting me tho’’. Awesome quiz and idea btw…
Kumbakonam 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: I am the winner! I got 10!
sirpi 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: can u plz give clues for 2 and 9
ragav 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: good quiz …cant find number 6 :( shud be yuvan song :D
anees khanem 8 Jun 2007 12:00 pm: awesome
Senthilkumar.S 24 Mar 2009 7:18 am: Nice one… got 10 out of 10…
Niranjan 18 Mar 2009 12:50 pm: cannot find no 6…… 9 out of 10 correct
vidhya 5 Aug 2009 8:13 am: I got only five.It’s very interesting.It’s nice to work.
supraja and ranjith 2 Sep 2009 11:56 am: very intresting.i got only 7 out of 10.could not find 1,6,9………………………….
Priya 11 Apr 2010 9:58 am: Can someone please tell me no 1? im really going crazy…..
Swathi 17 Jul 2012 1:51 am: what is the answer for number 10?
ramya 16 Dec 2011 5:31 pm: ans: 6 pattiyal,8 kalvanin kadhali, 1 pachaikili muthucharam and 9 sivapathikaram
fowziya 24 Dec 2011 10:54 am: what a great quiz man!!!!!! awesome! next time add songs of latest 2011!!!!!!! its a great time pass…………:-)xxxxxlove it
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 1:44 pm: 6/10
Kamala 25 Nov 2015 6:19 am: Great Quiz! Can you email me the answers please.

Classical Ilayaraja 15

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 12:00:00 +0000

This is the 15th of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.
I’ve added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.
You could also try my Tamil song search.

Dharmavathi is the 59th melakartha raagam. Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma2 Pa Da2 Ni3 Sa as arohanam and the converse as avarohanam. It is the prathimadhyamam of Gowrimanohari (23rd melam). About couple of years ago Rahman tuned a superb Dharmavathi song in Vandicholai Chinnarasu. The song is sugam sugam vendum. I think the singer of the song is Vani Jayaram. It is one of the best songs that Rahman has tuned in his short career so far. It is a very sexy song. He starts the tune in the madhyama sthayi like Sa Ga Sa Ga, with a very very prominent chord sequences in the background. While another song from the same movie became a good hit (senthamizh naatu thamizhacheeyE sung by the late Shahul Ameed), this lovely song based on a pure classical raagam did not become a hit. Earlier, Rahman has tuned one more Dharmavathi in the movie Gentleman. The song is ottagathai kattikko, which came as an unbelievable melody in that movie with a fantastic rhythm played in the pukka South Indian instrument “thavil”.

Of course, Rahman had exhibited the usual (predictable) “cinema musician’s tendency” of deviating from the raagam by using some foreign swaras in both the above songs. Even though there is predominant use of Da2 in sugam sugam, in the charanam he uses Da3 Ni3 prayogam like Neethimathi raagam (60th melam). In ottagathai kattikko, he very liberally uses both Ni2 and Ni3, making it difficult to bring it under either Hemavathi (58th melam) or Dharmavathi. For our purposes to discuss Dharmavathi, I called ottagathai kattiko as Dharmavathi in this essay.

Rahman said in one of his early interviews that he avoided listening to contemporary music as did not want to get influenced by that music. He wants his music to be original and new! Alright bro, make music without the influence of your forefathers! Let us see, if you can!

This is an ever changing world. People are born constantly and people are dead similarly. We all have come into the world not like Mr. Jesus Christ without a father. We have our roots strongly based on our immediate previous generation, and less significantly on the innumerable generations in-between from the ages of origin of man to now. Newtonian concept of gravity was put to disuse by the “nascent” Einsteinian concept in the 20th century. The important thing to remember and appreciate is that Newton did prominent work on gravity before, and his ideas pre-existed the period of Einstein. If it were not for Newton to intrigue Einstein, the latter would not have become such a great scientist. If it were not for the stimulus of advaitha of Sankara, neither would have Ramanujam come up with his visishtadvaitha, nor Madvacharya with his dvaitha philosophy. Nature requires a pre-existent state to progress to the next state. It sends Nagesh first in the time window to do his comedy and then Vadivelu. It sends Shatrugan Sinha first and then later Rajnikanth. We are all a small part of the continuously self-propagating enormous force that originated in the big bang. Nobody can molt the profound ancestral influence to become a “new” creator (in absolute terms).

Ilayaraja too, has tuned wonderful Dharmavathi’s. His first was probably in the movie Vikram. The song is meendum meendum vaa. S.P.Balasubramaniam and S.Janaki! He starts his song in madhya sthayi like Sa Sa Sa Sa (meendum meendum) and then all of a sudden jumps one octave to the thara sthayi Sa (vaa). He has used Mridhangam as a wonderful rhythm support in that song. In the charanam the tune is just excellent. Pa Pa Pa Ma2 Da2 (thekku marathil) Pa Pa Pa Ma2 Da2 (sedhukki vaitha) Pa Pa Ma2 Pa Ga2 Ma2 Pa (dhegam idhu thaana). Even in the charanam he frequently jumps from madhyama sthayi Sa to thara sthayi Sa. To me, it seems like Rahman got the idea to tune his sugam sugam from meendum meendum vaa. Both are very sexy, romantic playboy channel duets! Both of them are great in their own aspects.

Ilayaraja’s possibly second Dharmavathi is illam cholai poothadha in the movie Unakkagave Vazhgiren. This was not a big hit like kanna unai thedugirEn vaa in the same movie. However, illam cholai is one of the milestones in his career. I would say that it is one of his top bests. It has been sung by S.P.B. He starts like Ma2 Pa Sa (illam cholai) Sa Ri2 Sa Ni3 (poothadhaa). He prolongs the kaakali nishadham and beautifully gives a gamakam and then travels down to panchamam. Initially he uses tabla for accompaniment and then in the charanam there is wonderful mridhangam, the usage of which is very typical of him. Listening to this song is one of the best musical experience that I have had in my life! In Varusham Padhinaaru his E aiyyaasaami is a kind of Dharmavathi with lot of mixture of Ma1. In Veera, his konji konji is quite a pure Dharmavathi. Maragadhamani has given a very pure Dharmavathi in thaththithom in Azhagan. He has excellently used keyboard with fantastic gamakams in that song.

Dharmavathi has two very melodious janya raagas. One is Ranjani. Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma2 Da2 Ni3 Sa; Sa Ni3 Da2 Ma2 Ga2 Sa. The best song in Ranjani in cinema is muthupandhalil rathina oonjalil sung by T.N.Seshagopalan in the movie Thodi Raagam. Kunnakudi has tuned it in an unparalleled manner. MSV has used Ranjani in few of his cinema raaga-malikas (Ezhuswarangalukkul has a bit of Ranjani in Aboorva Raagangal, and also ranjaniyai azhaithEn in the movie Mrudhanga Chakravarthi). The other popular janyam of Dharmavathi is Madhuvanthi. There is a subtle Ma1 usage in this raagam. In the movie Nandha En Nila, obscure music director V.Dhakshinamurthy has tuned one excellent Madhuvanthi song. The song also starts like nandha en nila. My Houston room-mate Karthik used to repeatedly listen to this song again and again for hours. If you listened to this song, you will know the addictive potential of this song. Like “heroin addict”, “ganja addict”, we can proudly call ourselves as “nandha en nila addict”! It is one of the best ever recorded Thamizh cinema song!

The 10th chakram (in other words, the 4th chakram of the prathimadhyama melaraagas) has probably the more popular raagas among the prathimadhyama melams. The 55th is Shatvidhamargini, 56th - Shanmukhapriya, 57th - Simhendra Madhyamam, 58th - Hemavathi, 59th - Dharmavathi, 60th - Neethimathi.

Ilayaraja has given a lot of Shanmukhapriya songs. thamthanathamthana thalam was his first Shanmukhapriya (in Bharathiraja’s Pudhiya Vaarpukkal). One of his very early classical ventures that proved to the Thamizh cinema world what kind he was! It is a very fast song sung by Jency. In his earlier days he seems to have really liked tuning fast songs (like mazhai varuvadhu in Rishi Moolam)! In thamthana song, the thabla rhythm, veenai and flute interlude are mesmerising. His other Shanmukhapriya songs are kaadhal kasakkudhaiyaa (Aan Paavam), thakita thadhimi (Salangai Oli), ooru vittu ooru vandhu (Karagaattakaaran), sollaayo vaai thirandhu (Moga Mull). We have to remind ourselves of the earlier music directors contribution in this raagam that includes pazham nee appa (Thiruvilayadal), muththaitharu (Arunagiri Naadhar), kurangilirundhu (Thookuthooki), maraindhirundhu (Thillana Mohanaambal). Devendran has tuned kannukkul nooru nilava in Vedham Pudhidhu. One interesting thing to note is that even Thyagarajaswami has given only one krithi in this important raagam, while cinema fellows have been handling it quite often, the maximum number being by Ilayaraja!

Shanmukhapriya uses Ri2, Ga2, Ma2, Da1 and Ni2. If we change the Ni2 to Ni3 we get Simhendra Madhyamam. Probably, his first number in this raagam came in Panneer Pushpangal. The song is aanandha raagam. This song has got one of the most abnormal starts! It starts in thaara sthayi Ga! It goes likes this: Ga2 Ri2 Sa (aanandha) Sa Ri2 Ri2 Sa (raagam). A beautiful start and a wonderful job by Uma Ramanan! His second song in this raagam came in Mukta Sundar’s debut film Kodai Mazhai. The song is kaatrodu kuzhalin naadhamE. The song has been sung by Chitra. A highly classical song. The heroine gives a dance performance on stage for this song. This song also starts in a very high pitched Ga2 of thara sthayi! I first listened to this song while watching the movie in the theatre, and the song was just gripping! His next Simhendra Madhyamam came in Oruvar Vaazhum Aalayam. The song is nee pournami. He starts this song in middle octave Ri2! The song goes like this: Ri2 Ga2 Ri2 Ga2 Sa (nee..) Ga2 Ma2 Pa Ma2 Pa (pournami). The swara structuring of this song is just marvellous. He uses groups of swaras up and down like a thrilling roller-coaster ride, and later in the end of the song he starts presenting alternating swaram-sahityam sequences that are just wonderful! His last Simhendra Madhyamam song is thalaattum poongaatru in Gopura VaasalilE.

We have discussed Hemavathi raagam in our earlier essays. Nobody has tuned Shatvidhamargini or Neethimathi in cinema! These are extremely rare raagas even in classical sadas. If we just change the Ga2 to Ga3 in the raagas discussed above, we get all the important raagas of the next (11th) chakram. 63rd - Lathangi, 64th - Vachaspathi, 65th - Mesakalyani (commonly, called as Kalyani). We know that Ilayaraja was the most prolific music director in tuning Kalyani in cinema. Did anybody think that he would use the other important raagams from this chakram in the nineties?!

Once upon a time there was a director called as “P.Vasu”! He used to shoot whatever perversion that came to his mind during the most uninhibited of his dreams as films! He had the extreme fortune of getting “Ilayaraja’s kadaaksham” in most of his movies, and the films would be jam-packed with superb songs! Just because of Ilayaraja, those films would “runno runnunu run” tirelessly in the theatres, with money “fallo fallunu falling” down the roofu! Mmmmm…… Did P.Vasu know that he got one of the two great Lathaangi songs ever tuned in one of his junk movies? The first popular Lathaangi is aadaadha manamum uNdO in Mannadhi Mannan. The song has been sung by T.M.S and M.L.Vasanthakumari. Great song!

The other popular Lathangi came from the harmonium of Ilayaraja! The movie is Walter Vetrivel. The song is raasavE chitterumbu. He has presented an incredibly pure Lathangi in a “tappaanguthu kind of format” in this song. It was a mega-hit song reverbrating throughout the Thamizhnadu, from the slums to the elite! Prabhu Deva and Sukhanya dance for this song. It is one of the songs, which, when a common laymen rasika listens, he just feels it as a “great” tune, while a knowledgeable rasika immediately recognizes the intelligent use of a hardcore classical raagam and becomes wonder-struck! Ilayaraja has tuned another Lathangi in eeramaana rojavE (adhO mEga oorvalam). But, that song was not a big hit. He also gave a Vachaspathi in one of his songs, nikkatumaa pOgattumaa neela karunguyilE (Periya Veetu Pannaikkaran). A beautiful song. But, it was not a big hit. I don’t think anybody else has tuned Vachaspathi in cinema.

Vijayanagari is a janyam of Hemavathi. Actually, this raagam was “discovered” by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar in this century. He just omitted Nishadham in Hemavathi and called it as Vijayanagari. There is a famous M.K.T song soppanavaazhvil magizhndhu in this raagam. Ilayaraja tuned one Vijayanagari in paadaadha thEneekkal. The song is vanna nilavE vaigai nadhiyE. He has beautifully used the Ma2 of this raagam. But, from puritans point of view, he has done a mistake. He has also used Ga3 to give a very sad appeal to the song. That is not permissible.

Vijayanagari is very closely related to Sivaranjani. While Sivaranjani is a janyam of the 22nd melam (Karaharapriya), Vijayanagari is a janyam of the 58th (the prathimadhyamam of the 22nd). Sivaranjani is also a very “soga” raagam. Kadalai urundai is called the poor man’s meat, as it has reasonably all the essential amino acids as meat, but at a lesser cost! Like that, we could call Sivaranjani as the “cinema rasika’s Mukhari or Bhairavi” as it has the same dose of “sadness”, but, in a lighter form. Sivaranjani’s arohanam and avarohanam are: Sa Ri2 Ga2 Pa Da2 Sa; Sa Da2 Pa Ga2 Ri2 Sa. Nowadays musicians liberally use Ga3 to add beauty to this raagam.

To list all the Sivaranjani songs of Ilayaraja is impossible. To list a few that comes to the mind immediately: adi aathaadi (Kadalora Kavidhaigal), unnai thaanE (Nallavanukku Nallavan), poovaNNam pOla nenjam (Azhiyaadha Kolangal), solai pushpangalE (Ingeyum Oru Gangai), kaathirundhu (Vaidehi Kaathirundhal), pon manE (oru kaidhiyin dairy), vaa vaa anbE (Agni nakshatiram), valli valli Ena (Deiva Vaaku), adhikaalai nera kanavu (Naan Sonnadhe Sattam), kuyil paatu (en raasavin manasilE) etc. Also, Sivaranjani is one of the unique raagas in the sense that, it is probably the only raagam that has been handled by every Tom, Dick and Harry calling himself as a music director. Manoj-Kiyan tuned tholvi nilayEna (oomai vizhigal), S.A.Rajkumar tuned paattu oNNu naan paadattuma (Pudhu Vasantham), Shankar Ganesh tuned aval oru menagai (Nakshathiram), lately Rahman has tuned kannum kannum (Thiruda Thiruda), thannerai kaadhalikkum (Mr.Romeo). In Karuthamma, Rahman has scored a fantastic song (poraalE ponnuthayee). It is also Sivaranjani based, with weightage given to Ga3 (like Mohanam) in the happy version, and to Ga2 in the sad version. This song unquestionably proves that Rahman is one among the most remarkable music directors in Thamizh cinema now.

The present continuous success in the Indian filmdom might make Rahman feel as though he has gone to the top of the globe. The total ouster of Ilayaraja from the #1 position might give a feeling of superiority than other creators now. Perhaps, that is the reason why he said that he avoided listening to contemporary music! Ilayaraja had the same status once upon a time. He behaved like a narcist then! He quarrelled with everybody in the cinema field because of his superioritic complex. He spoke ill of Vairamuthu on air when both he and Vairamuthu had been selected for national award! This behavior pattern is not unique to Ilayaraja! Almost everybody who comes to the limelight for some reason seems to become gripped by the evil “conceit”! Jayalalitha performed the marriage of her step son in such a grand manner only because of “conceit”! The mind seems to constantly work with the central thought “I”, “ME”, “MINE”! Nothing else matters to the mind!

Pigs like Jayalalitha and Sasikala, Maestro’s like Ilayaraja, Rahman, superhuman beings like Mother Teresa, billionaires like Bill Gates, and all of us would be dead and sleeping in our graves in just another millennium from now! We will all be forgotten and even our own progeny would not know us! When that be the likely practical eventuality, then why conceit? 65 million years ago, in the Jurassic age, the dinosaurs ruled the earth! Where are they now? 65 million years from now, the homo-sapiens species might be extinct, and even Ilayaraja’s microgram worth of dust might not be found in that world! Then, why conceit? In the inconceivably large space-time co-ordinates of Mother Nature, the infinitesimally small human being fails to realize his mortality during his life time. He dances proudly for “HIS” achievement, fails to acknowledge other’s talents, yells at his competitor with contempt and conceit! Oh, the director of all such conceited activity - THE MIND! You are a conundrum!

Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Internal Medicine Department,
Brackenridge Hospital,
Austin, Tx 78701.

Comments

Sophiya 13 Feb 2007 8:17 am: Nice!!!!
Adyan 13 Feb 2007 8:18 am: Well and Informatory
AISHWARYA MOHAN 19 Feb 2007 2:35 pm: SIMPLY COOL…………
m.srinivasan 23 Feb 2007 12:41 pm: Expose false claims of so-called veterans with bought out titles before thier names
Mani 1 Mar 2007 4:15 am: Superb man.. Keep up the good one … read some of your lines with joy.. all the songs are good.. Liked “Pigs like Jayalalitha…. " poor pigs..
sundar 4 Mar 2007 8:06 am: A very neat and detailed study of useage of ragas in tamil cinema.. Though I am layman liked it very much
venkat 12 Apr 2007 7:03 am: good music analysis
Kesava Prasad 11 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: Wonderful research and wonderful raagas to talk with….just like “Simhendra Madhyamam, Lathanki, Vajaspathi” those r rare raagas used in film songs…what about Hamsa nadham…..Thendral vanthu ennai thodum, Isayil(Hey Raam)..I like simhendra Madyamam in How to name it album too…..
sudhir 11 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: was indeed an in depth analysis of the usage of the ragaas in film music. Scathing comments towards the end were a bit of an eye sore, however, it was really bold to call a spade a spade. However, the analysis seems to be restricted to the opening sequences of songs, the way the ragaas have been tinkered. What is mesmerising about the music of Ilayaraja is his wondeful interludes in the songs. any comments?
Jeganathan 11 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: Hai I am Iilayraja fane Ilayaraja songs download please
Ani 11 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: Hello I believe a person’s work of art goes with the person’s personality. I dont have a baseless comment here but i will leave it at that for now. I dont understand how you can be all in praise of raaja till the end of the article and then write totally unnecessary comments about him in an article titled “classical ilayaraja”…what are you setting to prove here? By praising a guy, analyzing his works and then spitting on him in the end, you know more about things than the artist himself? And wat do u know about how or why raaja might have spoken about vairamuthu or watever else he did. Its your site after all and u CAN write watever crap u want…but u MAY NOT write random stuff about a genius and get away without atleast such a comment from one guy in the world.
K.Sridhar 18 Sep 2008 6:58 am: Dear Sir,
Gone through your analysis after a long time, I wish to mail you. I dont know whether you will read this.; Kindly reply my mail. After that I shall contact you for some assistance/guidence for a programme, which is based on carnatic raagas.
Sridhar.K
vinanthi 29 Nov 2008 7:03 am: cool..could u jus tel me which movie does this song belong to?isayil thodungudamma..viraha naadagame..vasantham kandadamma.and so on
Vidhya 24 Mar 2009 3:45 pm: The post was good. Nice to see how our movie songs can relate to carnatic music. I just have one concern tho…isnt vijayanagari raagam supposed to be a janyam of dharmavathi (59th melakartha)? I am not a music expert…just trying to get it clarified for my knowledge sake.
vivekananda 11 Jun 2009 2:36 pm: dear sir, Ur analysis is good but i didnt like the way u wrote about raaja sir at the end. Raaja sir is still undoubtedly the number one in cinema music and this is undisputed. Do not like about great personalities like raaja sir and rahman like this. it deeply hurts us.
Kesava Prasad 8 Sep 2010 11:37 am: To Vinanthi….Isayil thudanguthamma is from film “Hey Raam” and the raga is Hamsa Naadham….Thendral Vanthu ennai thodum, Minnaram Manathu (Malayalam) are some of the other songs in same raagam composed by Raaja Sir…
Arvind 31 Dec 2011 9:37 am: Dear Sir, Many of the links are dead now….would it be possible for you to update them for ease of browsing….Everytime, to google the terms and see is bit painful….. thank you for your supreme efforts!!! Sincerely, Arvind Madhav
Nivetha Sekar 12 Mar 2012 1:39 pm: wonderfull. superb. no words to explain
smdyuvaraj 21 May 2011 6:10 pm: good analysis…but I wanna to register one thing what you said about Illayaraja - do you know what Vairamuthu had said abt Illayaraja..did u analyze why Raja said like that abt vairamuthu…no one is perfect in this world…let me ask you..did not you speak bad abt others in your life…don’t write what ever you think abt Raja….most of the top directors, top stars who act now would not have been in tamil industry if there is no Illayaraja…he is guy who deticated his life to music…write good things buddy :)
SELVAAM KB 29 Sep 2011 9:13 am: Do not compare ilaiyaraja and rahman pls. Raja sir is a jennies
venkiee 26 Feb 2011 9:06 am: regarding ilayaraaja`s behaviour he hardly knows anything other than music i hope , he seldom appears in public appearance even his own movie audio release even today raaja scores 12 films ( 2011) his reputation is same as then ar rahman is a technological genius but raaja is the god of music even today most of the radio station survives by the name of ilayaraaja… raaja and vairamuthu problem did not bring ar rahman u cant hide the scent of the flower…whatever raaaja is the god of the music for me i compare raaja with sd burman salil chowdary and c ramachandra not with any others even naushad or roshan or ar rahman every one in these line are great but only few are greatest…raja is on number one of alllllllllll….according to me
BALAJI 6 May 2011 6:35 am: nice i did not know the raagas but in your explanatory i will realise the thing which was exatly allocate nice work
Chandrasekaran Viswanathan 27 Oct 2013 12:10 pm: Dear Sir, I like your analysis very much. Let there be ego, superiority complex,etc among them-but our (music lovers) admiration and love for them is unquestionable.
DR. V. RAMANATHAN 6 Nov 2014 1:49 pm: Illayaraja has handled almost all common ragas of Karnatic Music so aesthetically that sometimes you feel that they eminate better RASAS not found even in some Kritis and Keerthanas . I think such a man is licenced to have some EGO.
Prabhu S 22 Apr 2015 6:34 pm: Hello Sir, Your style of writing is very interesting. Your explanations on the various Raagas would elicit interest even in ordinary music lovers. Just curious to know what is your profession and where are you now.
suresh 9 Jan 2016 11:33 am: Sir, In azhiyatha kolangal song both raja sir & salil chowdhury composed the song. Am I right sir
VImal. S 14 Oct 2016 9:36 am: Really Awesome. A clear cut of End. Brilliant Article.!

Classical Ilayaraja 11

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

This is the 11th of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.
I’ve added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.
You could also try my Tamil song search.

V.G.Pannerdass has got an experimental animal in his V.G.P Golden Beach near Madras! That is his “goorka”. He pays that watchman only to stand near the gate with an expressionless face. Whatever the passersby do, he would stand there with the same old expressionless face! Let Kamal Hassan do all the “seshtai” that he does in the last scene of Moonram Pirai, the VGP goorka’s mask like face would show neither happiness nor sadness! He’d neither cry nor laugh. The VGP management is so proud of this guy that it is even ready to bet a hefty prize money if that would motivate somebody to make this guy cry or laugh. I cannot help wondering at VGP’s morbid taste in having this kind of a person at their gate.

Now, can we consider the usage of raagas to make this person change his emotions? If Ilayaraja goes before this person and sings his Valli song (enna enna kanavu) or Payanangal Mudivadhillai song (vaigaraiyil) in Subhapanthuvarali raagam, would it make his affect sad? It perhaps would, because some of the raagas indeed have a powerful negative effect on one’s affect, causing him to go to the lows! Let SPB go before this person and sing his Mayuri song (idhu oru mananaatiya medai) in the raagam Brindavana Saranga, or L.Vaidyanathan sing his veeNaiyadi nee enakku (Ezhavadu Manidhan) in Kalyani, would it make his affect happy? It perhaps would, because some raagas indeed have a very powerful positive effect on one’s affect, causing him to go to the highs! (This is what music therapy basically aims at, right?). Now, the question is, are there any raagas that can really make this person laugh or at least to open his pursed lips and give a smile ?!

The human species is very conceited that only it can laugh! It has concluded that the sense of humour is an essential human quality. Maybe, during the innumerable years of evolution, it is the only species that has somehow successfully learnt to expressively manifest its inner humourous feelings. Just because the animals do not widely open their mouth and laugh (as many of us do often, much to the disgust of our neighbours!), the old ancestral members of our species seem to have concluded that the animals do not have any sense of humour. I at least know of one another species that can express its humour well! Buy a pocket of “kadalamittai” and start ascending the stairs of Trichi Malaikotai to have Lord Ganesha’s darshan. Those garrulous monkeys ‘gumbal’ there will stealthly follow you and at one oppurtune moment “rag” you and snatch away your kadalamittai with a swift agile attack! While they recede away from you (or rather you recede away from them) the victims report noticing a kinda derisive laughter by the monkeys! Anyway, if raagas can cause sadness and crying, can it also cause a person to laugh!

Music directors often face this challenge, when directors tell them a comical situation in their movie and ask for a tune. M.S.Viswanathan has done a fantastic job in the movie Bale Pandiya. The song is neeyE enakku enRum. MSV tuned that song in chaste Sudha Danyasi. The situation of that song is a very comical one, Sivaji Ganesan and first class actor M.R.Radha vying with each other in their jest. The lyrics too is quite comical. But, the question is, does the Sudha Danyasi raagam of the song have an element of humour in it! Probably not.

Ilayaraja too has used pure classical raagas to suit humourous situations. In Thambiku Endha Ooru, Madhavi is a city girl. Hero Rajini is a country brute! Madhavi happens to come to Rajini’s village once. And now, even a small “paapa” with a rubber nipple in its mouth will tell the rest of the story: Rajini will sing a song critisizing Madhavi, Madhavi will get irritated, then she will fight with Rajini and vice versa, and when the villain comes, both of them will start loving each other and finally, the extras in police dress will come and arrest the villain….! Can you try to guess what raagam Ilayaraja has used for the comical song! Arabhi!

Arabhi is a Sankarabharanam janyam. Its arohanam and avarohanam are Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Da2 Sa; Sa Ni3 Da2 Pa Ma Ga3 Ri2 Sa. It is a very pleasant raagam. It is closely related (sanchara-wise) to Devakandhari. There are no cinema songs in Devakandhari. But, in the pre-Ilayaraja period we have got one Arabhi song. That is Erikkarai mElE. I guess it has been tuned by the then giant K.V.Mahadevan. T.M.S starts the song in his “ganeer” voice in the madhyama sthayi dhaivatham. Ilayaraja’s first Arabhi song is “aasai kiLiyE arai kilO puLiyE..”

Malaysia Vasudevan has sung this song. He is one of the best singers of our time, who has been appropriately used only by Ilayaraja. Malaysia does not seem to have got any proper training in classical music. His voice is like a resume with record of BA (history) from Madras University and 2 months of computer training in NIIT! If you give it to a proper bodyshopper it will come to California. Otherwise it will just go to teach 7th standard history text in Madras Corporation school! (Thou shall not take offence, dear resume!) Like Rahman uses the “thagara dappa” voice of Suresh Peters wonderfully and sells it, Ilayaraja has used Malaysia’s unpolished voice excellently in many of his highly classical songs. aasai kiLiyE is one such instance….The song starts like this Ma Pa Da Sa, Da Sa Da Pa, Pa Pa Da Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa Ri, Ri Ma Pa Da Da Pa Da Sa….It is a fantastic song, giving all the raaga-lakshanam of Aarabi in a very pure form. Even though the avarohanam of Aarabi just lists all the swaras of Sankarabaranam plainly, there is a specific way by which you got to use those swaras to make it sound Aarabi. The temporal duration (karvai) of Ma is usually protracted while the gandaram is just touched upon very rapidly. Thus Ma Ga Ri Sa is sung like Ma….GaRi Sa. Also, we can practically omit the usage of nishadam and the raagam would still be unblemished. Ilayaraja has not used Ni in this song. The lyrics of this song is funny.

aasai kiLiyE arai kilO puLiyE
azhugina thakkaaLiyE
mEyura kOzhi ellaam aaguradhu kariyE
adiyE en arumai thavakkaLaiyE

If the hero taunts the heroine by calling her as “spoiled tomato” then it is understandable. When the hero calls her as “half kg of tamarind”, what does it mean? But, that is how the song goes…. Now, lately Ilayaraja has given two more Aarabi songs. One song goes like mannavanE mannavanE manasukkEththa thennavanE (Thandhu Vitten Ennai). I think it is a Vijayakanth movie song. The song has been sung by SPB and Janaki. It is a very melodious song. He has used Ni in this song. The last Aarabi that he has given comes in the movie Pudhupatti Ponnuthayee. The song is madhurai vaazhum meenakshiyE. This is also an unbelievably classic song sung by K.J.Yesudoss and Janaki. One can very easily learn Aarabi with the help of these cinema songs! But, does Arabi have an element of humour? Probably not.

Carnatic music is like Choolaimedu 24 hours polyclinic in Madras. You go there with just symptoms of common cold. But the Doctor there (who has not yet cleared the subjects that he failed in final MBBS) has lots of surprises for you. He says that you are very week and almost coerces you to have the supposedly invigorating 5% glucose drip (which hardly has a total of 25 gm of glucose in it!). Carnatic music has got lot more surprises to give you than this Doc! There is a raagam which has got the same arohanam and avarohanam as Aarabi (Sa Ri Ma Pa Da Sa; Sa Da Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa; Since we can sing Aarabi without using Ni, we can say so) The raagam is Sama, another janyam of Sankarabaranam. Even though Aarabi and Sama are swara-wise identical, they are totally two different raagas sanchara wise. The difference comes in the way we deal with the gandaram. In Aarabi, the Ga is just touched upon while we go from Ma to Ri. In Sama, we can be little more liberal (time-wise) with Ga. Also, there are certain special prayogams in Sama like Ma Pa Da Ma. So, these minute details make a drastic difference in these raagas.

MSV is the only one who has beautifully used this wonderful raagam, Sama in cinema. He has given two Samas. One is in the movie Sirai. The story is a revolutionary plot charecterizing the pathos of Lakshmi, an innocent rape victim. She is the wife of a Brahmin priest, Prasanna. After the rape the priest finds her repulsive, and she decides to go and live with the rapist (Rajesh)! In the first few scenes there is a song to portray the kind of love the priest and his wife have for each other. The song is naan paadi kondE iruppEn in the raagam Sama. Oh, boy! What a song! What a classic Sama piece! Vani Jayaram has sung this song. The heroine says:

saahithyam naanaaga sangeetham neeyaaga
naal thOrum isai archchanai
en paadal nee kEtka un kaNgal enai paarkka
naanE un varadhakshinai

How beautifully the poet (Kannadasan?) has written about their love. Later, after the rape, the hypocrisy of the hero’s love gets fully exposed. Very rarely, we get to see such classic song, classically acted and classically picturised (director: R.C.Shakthi). The second Sama that MSV has given is mounaththil viLaiyaadum manasaakshiyE (Nool Veli) This song has been sung by Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna. It is a great song. These are all great contributions of MSV to Thamizh cinema music.

Recently, in the movie Sathi Leelavathi there is a very humourous song. The song has been sung by Kamal Hassan himself. This maarugO maarugO is in the raagam Kaanada. Kaanada is a major gana raagam. It is probably now less sung in the katcheris than about a few decades ago (the popularity of a raagam seems to go through a cyclical change through years!) Kaanada is a janyam of Karaharapriya. Its arohanam and avarohanam are Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma1 Pa Ma1 Da2 Ni2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Pa Ma1 Ga2 Ma1 Ri2 Sa. The key prayogam that gives Kaanada its identity is Pa Ma Ga Ma Ri Sa. Ilayaraja has followed the grammer of this raagam sincerely in the pallavi and charanam. But the interlude music is not very good. Because, he used this raagam for a humourous situation, does it mean that it has an element of humour in it! Probably not.

Earlier, he used Kaanada in a very majestic way in the movie Sindhu Bhairavi. The song is poomaalai vaangi vandhaan. Yesudoss! With the drone of the Thamboora, and the usage of very minimal instruments, it is a fantastic song. Rahman has few Kaanada’s to his credit too. First, pudhu veLLai mazhai in the movie Roja. There is another number kisu kisu nammakul kidaiyaadhu (Manidha Manidha). There is a liberal Ni3 in this song. Deva scored a Kaanada song too (thennamara thoppukullE kuyilE - Michael Raj) Earlier, how can we forget the old gem mullai malar mElE by the music directors of yesteryears. Dharbari Kaanada is closely related to Kaanada. While Kaanada is the janyam of the 22nd melam (Karaharapriya), Dharbari Kaanada is a janyam of the 20th melam (Nadabhairavi). Thus we use sudha daivatham (Da1) instead of Da2 (sathuchrathi daivatham) in Darbari Kaanada. Ilayaraja has a few songs in this raagam. The best example is aagaaya vennilaavE in the movie Arangetra Velai. Uma Ramanan and Jayachandran (or Yesudoss?). Uma Ramanan is another unfortunate singer (like Malaysia). Only Ilayaraja has exploited her marvellous voice to the maximum capacity. Recently he has used her in Paatu Paadava (nil nil nil; an half boiled Vasantha) and in Pudhupatti Ponnuthayee (oor urangum nErathilE; a superb Hindholam). Perhaps his first Darbari Kaanada is isai mEdaiyil (Illamai Kalangal) sung by SPB and Janaki. There is another one in the movie Mounam Sammadham (kalyaana thEnnila) by Yesudoss.

A couple of years ago, cinematographer Ashok Kumar directed a Hindi movie called as Kamaagni. Reportedly he had sexploited the heroine from top to bottom as the story was some kind of abstract Freudian theme! (P.C.Sriram did the same to Ishwariya in his movie Meera. Is there any association between camera-men turned into directors and hard-core sexploitation?) My brother tells me that there is a very good Darbari Kaanada song in that movie. And, it seems Ilayaraja has done a very rich re-recording in that movie, mostly in Darbari Kaanada!

There is a song in the movie Enga Ooru Paatukaaran in which (I presume) that our village hero “pasu nesan” Ramarajan milks his cow (the meaning of the song goes like that). I don’t know if that scene was supposed to be comic in that movie, but since Ramarajan would have mostly come in his “touser”, probably it was a comedy scene! Can you imagine what raagam Illagaraja has used to tune this song azhagE nee pErazhagi? Kunthalavarali! Look at the selection of raagam! Kunthalavarali is a Karaharapriya janyam. Sa Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni2 Da2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Sa. He has used this raagam very beautifully in this song sung by SPB. Particularly the thara sthayi Sa Ma prayogas are very good (veerangalum dheerangalum…) Maatai paal karakaradhuku Kunthalavarali kEkudha! I don’t know if there are any more kunthalavarali songs in cinema music.

Man is essentially a visual animal. He gets most of the information from the external world as a tremendous fund of visual input. The visual information interacts with his intellect and can cause all different kinds of emotions. Just look at the “heart-wrecking” scene of an old thaatha accidently walking on a banana skin and falling on the ground! It might be a real humourous scene! Just look at a self-assumed hero (trying to show film in front of a ladies hostel with his 2 stroke Kawasaki Bajaj!) skid and fall on the ground! It might be a real humourous scene. Strangely, just auditory input alone doesn’t seem to have the capacity to evoke man’s sense of humour! Sure that music can cause sadness and happiness. But, humour?! Recently, Music Television showed Beavis and Butt-head farting in public, with a fantastic “background” score! That music indeed seemed to be very humourous. But, if I had put off the TV and let my room-mates hear that “music” alone, I doubt if they would have at the least made a smile!

Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Internal Medicine Department,
Brackenridge Hospital,
Austin, Tx 78701.

Comments

sivakumar 18 May 2007 1:10 pm: hai i like all ilayaraja voice songs
Guru 10 Mar 2011 5:04 am: Hi, I am an avid follower of classical raja’s blogs and love to claim that I am a fanatic of classical IR. Please provide your mail id to talk further. Guru

Top Tamil songs

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Since I like Tamil songs and statistics so much, I did some analysis on the ~1,400 Tamil songs I'd listened to in 2006.

The trends are around the length of a typical film song are interesting. For example:

Songs have gotten longer over time. On average, a song in the 60s was 4 minutes. A song in the 2000s is 5 minutes. Each decade adds about 14 seconds to the length of a song.

But some of the old movies have pretty long songs. Thiruvilaiyadal and Vanjikkottai Vaaliban have among the longest songs on average, for example.

As a corollary, newer music directors make longer songs. While KV Mahadevan's songs lasted 4 minutes, Ilayaraja's songs lasted 4.5 minutes, and AR Rahman's songs last 5 minutes. Today, Ramesh Vinayagam's compositions are 5.5 minutes.

However, Deva seems to make longer songs than usual for a 1990s director (5.5 minutes), while Devi Sri Prasad makes shorter songs for a 200os director (4.3 minutes).

Since I rated the songs, I could also analyse my preferences. I like older songs a bit more.

My top movies list for instance, has only one movie from the 2000s, 2 from the 90s, 5 from the 80s, 1 from the 60s and 1 from the 50s.

My all-time favourite movie (for songs) is Vaidhegi Kaathirundhaal. I didn't need the analysis to tell me that, though.

My all-time favourite music director is G Ramanathan, thanks to Uthama Puthiran, Ambikapathy, Madurai Veeran, etc. AM Raja follows, and then the great Ilayaraja. It's interesting that AR Rahman falls below Harris Jayaraj and Deva. He also falls below MS Viswanathan, but that's not surprising.

For quite a while, I was convinced I liked shorter songs. But surprisingly, it turns out that my preference is quite independent of the length of the song! Anyway, all time favourites short songs include:

Indhiraiyo	Kaadhalan	1:02
Muthu Mazhaiye	Mazhai	1:21
Yamunai Aatrile	Dhalapathi	1:22
Anbana Thaayai	Mahanadhi	1:34
En Azhagenna (mp3)	Minsara Kanavu	1:47
Manamagale	Devar Magan	2:13
Poojaikkaaga	Payanangal Mudivadhillai	2:18
Suttum Vizhi	Kandukonden Kandukonden	2:18
Brindavanamum	Missiamma	2:48
Theerthakaraiyinile	Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu	2:49

P.S.: It's interesting that three of them have Bharathiyar songs in them.

All of this analysis was possible because I recently dumped WinAmp and moved to MediaMonkey, which lets you write your own scripts.

Try this: search for a song and listen online.

Comments

hermes 5 Jan 2007 3:50 pm: do u know any sites tht allows u to download carnatic numbers
hermes 5 Jan 2007 4:09 pm: let me know if the below link is of some mileage to you in your music research
hermes 5 Jan 2007 4:12 pm: http://www.tamilnation.org/culture/music/index.htm . am sorry here is the link
S Anand 5 Jan 2007 4:33 pm: Thanks for the link, Hermes. I’m afraid I’m not into carnatic songs… my interest stops at listening to film songs.
Sathya 6 Jan 2007 4:34 pm: I was a little surprised that you rated G.Ramanathan and AM Raja ahead of IllayaRaja. But of course taste vary. My fav illayaraja number is “Poomalaye engum iru thol serka vaa” from Pagal Nilavu and one of the underrated song “Sangathil padaatha kavithai” from Auto Raja.
S Anand 6 Jan 2007 6:16 pm: Actually, I rated the songs and not the directors. I guess it just so happens that the AM Raja and G Ramanathan songs I have are better, on average, than the huge Ilayaraja collection I have. The entire analysis is completely biased by what songs I have, of course.
Anand Srini 8 Jan 2007 6:57 pm: Is there a correlation between the length of a song and its popularity ? Its popularity is measured on the scale of repeated broadcast on FM channels and private use in night clubs.
SNambiar 9 Jan 2007 2:17 am: The statistics would have been more accurate if you consider the length of the composition viz-a-viz the length og the actual song. ar rahmans songs generally tend to have loads of music interludes bewteen actual singing. The ratings have been provided by you is it? Wish there had been a statistic indicating number of times a song has been played over the years. That way when a particular number has been played most can be tracked. Perhaps the period could have something to do with what you have been upto, check if there is any correlation between particular categories in your blog post which you seem to favour during the same time … Ok now am going over board :)
S Anand 15 Jan 2007 8:11 pm: Anand, I didn’t have any data on popularity I’m afraid. The only thing I have is the number of times I’ve heard the song, and on that, there’s a definite correlation.
S Anand 15 Jan 2007 8:15 pm: Sachin, yes, the ratings are mine. I considered using the ratings from raaga.com or musicindiaonline, but I find these are not too good. (They don’t consider fewer votes as a disadvantage). I do track the number of times the song has been played over time, but it’s just on my computer :-( and since I have only 1 year worth of data, for just 1 person, it’s nowhere near enough. Hmm… as for the correlation with blog posts… gosh that would be some analysis!
Neelan 24 Jan 2007 3:46 am: wow..AR Rahman’s songs’ ratings are quite low than I’d expected :(
Adiya 2 Mar 2007 2:41 pm: Same Pinch.. even i have a playlist which has short songs.. superb..
Ashish 7 Mar 2007 6:31 am: Hi Anand, I dropped by at your website from Desi Pundit search engine link. It is really interesting what you do with your scripting knowledge applying it in daily situations. I am newly converted MediaMonkey fan but I don’t know how to write JavaScripts. Would you mind sharing your favorite MediaMonkey scripts which you have picked up or written your self? Thanks a lot. And I am loving your statistical analysis of Calvin/Hobbes, Movies, Songs, everything :)
wazim 27 Oct 2008 7:45 am: thats crap man..Rahman is the BEST EVER…
swaraj 6 Feb 2009 11:35 am: What jobless idiot. The time spent on doing this could be spent on something useful. Just listen to music and Rahman has give lot of good music also. Illayaraja is all time best and MSV is an icon.
Balu 11 May 2009 6:50 pm: My friend gave me your website link to download songs..I was just going through your other posts and you are crazy, man(In a positive sense of course!!) ..I too am really statistics kind of guy have did little of what you have did like organizing and reorganizing the songs according to different category..finally came up with year the movie released as the criteria to group it ..But anyways love your posts and statistics though it may not match my taste exactly ..I personally Yuvan ahead of Ilayaraja and Rehman even though i live 8Os music a lot..
P Kannan 4 May 2009 3:20 pm: SA, Good work. It is your personal favourites. I have not listened to all the songs. This is a good start. You probably need to come up with a unbiased criteria. Forget about naysayers. There will always be plenty. There has to be intellectual discussions; and this is a start. Work to earn a living is ok but this is passion. I am glad that you have it. P.
Kannan 25 Jun 2009 6:31 pm: Be honest on Assesing Musica Directors! A.R is the best of all! Dont under estimate him just because he is a muslim! He is the legend! ACCEPT IT!
Rangan 8 Oct 2009 2:39 pm: What about MGR Classic songs from movies like Anbe Vaa, Padakotti, Adimai Pen etc etc. All songs from the above movies are Mega Blockbuster songs. Cine industry people are having thought that when taking account of songs, first will come MGR songs and then only from other actors songs.
Guhaprasath 14 May 2010 3:14 am: I should say sir, that it is an Impressive analysis…. and done meticulously well… Such passion in music… Please Keep up the good job… Thank you.
Magesh 5 Jul 2010 8:07 am: Dear Anand, Your ratings were acceptable. Good analysis. I do listen all songs from MGR songs to Yuvan Shankar Raja what i understand is Raja is all time great. however Rehman and Yuvan are good composers. All other composers can be listened at once or few times but only one legend songs can be listened always is nothing but Raja.
nithin 3 Oct 2010 2:23 pm: Ar rahman Superb………….
siva 10 Dec 2010 3:19 am: This analysis is limited to anand. I think u interlectually reflected on your taste of music. Rahman fans has no rights to comment on your passion. its a bit suprise that you actually sat down and spent time doing this. but again please recheck you variables and you might come up with diffrent results. also wish u good luck with music and no disrespect for your tast. diffrent approach. I kinda like it.
Satish Babu 3 Jan 2011 6:35 pm: Just watch any music and does it ever strike you, do you realise only on music director’s song gets repeated always, now tell me what else evidence do you need to tell Illayaraja is the best.
srk 4 Dec 2011 4:49 pm: mattew, just listen rahmans enna solla pogirai from kandukonden kandukonden, its better than rajas musiq,if you carefully listen the song you can hear the magics,only if you carefully hear……………….!!!
D. Chandramouli 15 Dec 2011 10:27 am: One of my favorites is “Andha Sivakami Maganidam Seidhi Solladi” from movie Pattinathil Bootham, set to music by Govardhan(?) and soulfully sung by P. Suseela. I urge the readers to listen to that song closing the eyes - it’s an out of the world experience. Of course, I also rate G. Ramanathan as the best - all his songs were carnatic raga based, sweet to the ears. Uthamaputhiran, Ambigapathy etc were classics. The second in rank is of course MSV-Ramamurthy combination (not just MSV), followed by KVM (Kungumam, Padagotti and umpteen others). Certain songs by AM Raja are wonderful - particularly, listen to the background start up music for the song “Oho Andha Baby” from Thenilavu. What a happy and romantic feeling the song creates! Only in Ilaya Raja songs, we can get that “mann vasanai”. Currently, ARR rocks with mesmerizing tunes.
Matthew 12 Nov 2011 8:10 am: Illayaraja s tons of times better than rahman..no one has ever used flute n tabla lik maestro used..so stop comparing rahman wit raja
Raj 12 Nov 2011 8:20 am: Rahman s d best one
Vishnu 9 Mar 2012 2:59 pm: does every one has to have a website?.. Let us move on. The cini music is an evolution like everything is in the world. SO the current directors have learned a lot from earliar ones and mix them with music from all over the world. So A.R is no better than sudhrson or any one else in that era. And mr Kannan where does muslim comes in to picture here. People like you creates bin laddens. mlet us stick to music here.
guru 3 Jun 2018 5:50 am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaZAUDIeVKg தமிழ் புதிய பாடல் தொகுப்பு - பார்த்ததில் பிடித்தது -படைத்தவர்களுக்கு நன்றி அருமையாக இயக்கி பாடியுள்ளார் - இதை விமர்சியுங்கள்

Classical Ilayaraja 8

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:00:00 +0000

This is the 8th of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.
I’ve added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.
You could also try my Tamil song search.

South Indian classical music has got an excellent treasure of superb names. Most of the raaga names seem to be Sanskrit derivatives. Even though there are some Thamizh equivalent names for raagas such as Sankarabharanam, nobody uses them. Ki.Veeramani is probably very sad about this. Maybe, Vairamuthu has some plans like translating all the raaga names into Thamizh as he tried translating Thyagaraja’s ’nee dhayaradha’ in Sindhu Bhairavi movie as un dhayavillaiyaa (if only Ki.Veeramani was ready to fund the project, from the 5 lakh rupees that he got for perpetrating the deeds of thandhai Ee.Vae.Ra. Periyar, from Selvi Jayalalitha). Alternatively, Ki.Veeramani may get somewhat sensible and appreciate the high-level idiocy in trying to translate the proper nouns in raaga names. And he may rather to encourage a lower level of idiocy by goading his clan to replace all the Sanskrit sounding sounds like ‘ksha’, ‘jha’ etc in all the raagas to their Thamizh equivalents and then accept the raaga names. Then, Shanmukhapriya would be called as Dhanmukapriya (as Vibhishanan in Valmiki Ramayanam became Vibidanan in Kamba Ramayanam)!

Some raagas seem to follow the first, middle and last name system! The only difference is, you don’t give a space between the first and last name. For example, Kalyani has a first name (which is commonly omited), and that is, ‘mesa’. This mesa helps in identifying the number and position that it occupies in the melakartha scale. While there is no dearth of names, for some unknown reason, there is lot of repetition in naming the raagas. Thus you have Mohanakalyani, Amirkalyani, Yamunakalyani and so on. In this case, the above said raagas are all ‘DNA’ testified offsprings of Kalyani. But there are some other unrelated raagas that have common last names. For example, the Ranjani group of raagas. We have Ranjani, Janaranjani, Mararanjani, Megaranjani, Sivaranjani, Karnaranjani and so on. Of these, Mararanjani is the 25th mela raagam. Ranjani, Janaranjani, Sivaranjani, Karnaranjani are janyams of the 59th, 29th, 22nd and 22nd melams respectively. See, how unrelated they are!

Unlike the Ranjani group, some of the Bhairavi raagams are indeed genitically related. In this group we have Nadabhairavi, Bhairavi, Sindhu Bhairavi, Ananda Bhairavi, Salakabhairavi and so on. Of course, there are other few Bhairavis like Ahir Bhairavi (the Hindustani equivalent of Chakravaagam) which are not related to the above said Bhairavi group.

Nadabhairavi is the 20th melakartha raagam. While it is such an important raaga in the western music (the C minor scale), its importance is completely undermined in our music. The fecundity of Nadabhairavi has been fully exploited in carnatic music to get innumerable janya raagams which are commonly sung, while the parent raagam has become totally ignored. There are not very many keerthanais in Nadabhairavi. But in cinema music this C minor scale is the supreme king. Probably one third of all the cinema songs are set in Nadabhairavi scale. Ilayaraja has scored countless songs in this scale. None of them is classical. So, even though one might know thousands of these songs, he might not be able to identify the Nadabhairavi raagam when sung in the classical sadas! Some examples for the songs in this scale would be kannE kalaimaanE (Moonram Pirai), kalyaaNa maalai (Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal), engirundhO iLamkuyilin (Brahma), raakku muththu raakku (Yejamaan), ennulE ennulE (Valli - what a song!), then thenpaandi seemaiyilE (Nayagan) etc…. A.R.Rahman’s chandralEkhaa (Thiruda Thiruda) is another fantastic example of the C minor scale. In many of these songs, the music directors tend to present a hybrid by incorporating Da2, and Ni3 usages. Ilayaraja, who is known for his very minimal deviation from the chosen scale, also seems to enjoy presenting an (expected) vagary of occasional Da2 and Ni3 usage in these songs.

Bhairavi is a major ‘gana’ raagam. It is a sarwaswara bashangam. Thus the aroganam is that of Karaharapriya and the avarohanam - Nadabhairavi! Hence you could call it as the janyam of either Karaharapriya or Nadabhairavi. However, since it is more closely related to Karaharapriya (sanchara-wise), it might be appropriate to call it a janyam of Karaharapriya, with a reduced daivatham in the avarohanam (from Da2 to Da1). The movements of Bhairavi have got a very powerful quality to evoke a gloomy mood. It is much worse than Subhapanthuvarali (the raaga which is oft used in the cinema for sad situations - a very ’light’ one when compared to Bhairavi).

For a guy who daringly ventures into the bermuda triangle of classical music, that is, the rare vivadhi raagas such as Kanakangi, Bhaavani etc, it is a kind of surprise why Ilayaraja so far did not bother to touch upon the greatest of all the janya raagas, Bhairavi, in at least one of his songs. Even in his classical music albums like the ‘how to name it’, I don’t remember there is any Bhairavi piece. On the contrast, MSV has tried Bhairavi twice (as far as I know) in cine-music. Both of them are excellent. They are ‘oru puram parthal midhilayin mydhili’ (the second charanam in the song adhisaiya raagam in the movie Aboorva Raagam. MSV says that the rest of the song is set in some vague raagam called as mahathi); The second Bhairavi that MSV gave was thiruppaarkadalil paLLikondaayE (Swamy Iyyappan). What a lovely song! What an unbelievable classical presentation of the essence of Bhairavi! What a marvelous rendition by K.J.Yesudoss! You have to enjoy this song atom by atom (anu anuvai rasikanum!) There is no doubt that the ultimate classicism in carnatic music lies with few raagas like Bhairavi, Thodi, Sankarabharanam, Begada, Karaharapriya and Kalyani etc. The ascendency in the scale of knowledge and performance of even the classical musicians would be evaluated by the critics according to the mastery and proficiency that they show in handling these raagas. Such is the weightage that a raagam like Bhairavi deems from the purely classical people. Ilayaraja miserably failed in this aspect.

There was a wonderful opportunity recently for him to handle Bhairavi. That is, in the movie Moga Mull. The author of that book Thi.Janakiraman, writes pages about this great raagam. In the novel, he actually writes few paragraphs of just Bhairavi swaras alone, and about the beauty of those swaras. This he writes in the context when the hero Babu and his friend Rajam sit in the Kumbakonam public park and listen to the Bhairavi raagam broadcasted in the park radio. Since so much emphasis was given to this raagam in the story, I was lead to believe that the director Gnana might have told Ilayaraja and got a superb Bhairavi song. But, alas! There was just a small piece of re-recording in Bhairavi alone, that too, Bhairavi varnam, when Babu’s music master Ranganna teaches music to his disciples. Thats all.

Mukhari and Husseni are raagas very closely related to Bhairavi. Though it is generally said that Mukhari is the apt raagam for gloomy mood, perhaps Bhairavi suits more to such a situation than the former. Cinema musicians have preferred to use Sivaranjani or Subhapanthuvarali for sad situations than Bhairavi or Mukhari, probably because of the terrific gamakam involved in these raagas. Too much of gamakam and cinema music don’t go together! However, MSV has taken a shot at Mukhari too, in two songs: vaadaa malarE thamizh thEnE (Ambikapathy), pOgaadhE pOgaadhE (Veera Pandiya Kattabomman). I have not heard both these songs. But have heard people say that they are very good Mukharis.

Ananda Bhairavi is a fantastic raagam. It is a sharp contrast to Bhairavi. As the name indicates, Ananda Bhairavi does not have a sad quality like Bhairavi. It brings ‘aanandam’ to the listener. It is traditionally used in real ‘mangalakaramana’ situations. During the celebration of marriage occasion, when the bride and the groom sit in a swing and play ‘oonjal’, there is a kalyana sampradhaya song. That is ‘ponnoonjal aadinaalae’! The raagam is Ananda Bhairavi! You should have listened to that song, to appreciate how pleasant it is, particularly when a group of ‘maamis’ sing this song in an early morning muhoortha schedule! It will even make the father of of the bride who is performing a ‘dowri’ kalyanam, lacrimate due to aanandam, forgetting all the sufferings he had to go through to perform the marriage.

Ilayaraja has given two Ananda Bhairavis so far. The first one came in Rajni’s Raghavendra. The situation is: Manorama sings this song humouring Lakshmi, who develops an affair with the Raghavendra (future swamy). That song starts like: parthalae theriyadho naeku, adiyae sarasu… The second Ananda Bhairavi that Ilayaraja gave came in Sridhar’s Iniya Uravu Poothadhu. The situation is: the heroine (Nadhia) or somebody gets pregnant and the ’thozhiyar’ crowd sings this song (during valaikapu?). The song starts like chittu pOlE mottu pOlE piLLai vara pOraan kattil mElE. Both those Ananda Bhairavis were good ones. Look, he has used the raagam to suit happy occasion in both the instances! Mangalakaramana situations!

Ananda Bhairavi is one unique raagam in carnatic music. It defies the general grammer that regulate the structure of all raagas! We know that there are 12 (normally) definable swaras in an octave (from lower to upper Sa). They are Sa, Ri1, Ri2 (Ga1), Ri3 (Ga2), Ga3, Ma1, Ma2, Pa, Da1, Da2 (Ni1), Da3 (Ni2) and Ni3. If you count in terms of the number of individual swaras considering each of them seperately (like Ri1, Ri2, Ri3, Ga1, Ga2, Ga3 and so on), then you would say that there are 16 swaras in an octave. Of these 12 swaras, we use almost all the swaras in Ananda Bhairavi. The ’namkevastha’ arohanam and avarohanam of this raagam is Sa Ga2 Ri2 Ga2 Ma Pa Da2 Pa Sa; Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga2 Ri2 Sa. But there is much much more than this arohanam and avarohanam. You have Ga3, Da1 and Ni3 proyogams in this raagam. You can use Pa Ni2 Sa prayogam. With so much of bashangam, it looks as if it is very ungrammatical. Yet, it follows perfect grammer of its own, that define its raaga-lakshanam. Ga3 and Da1 is mostly used in making Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da1 Pa sancharam. Ni3 is used in making Da2 Ni3 Sa Ga2 Ri2 Ga2 Sa sancharam. In short Ananda Bhairavi typifies the purely aesthetic hallmark achievement of carnatic music.

Recently, Thamizh cinema music has got two more Ananda Bhairavi additions, from the now very famous Deva and Rahman. Deva’s one is konja naaL poru thalaivaa in the movie Aasai. Hariharan has sung this song. It is a great piece. Superb job by Hariharan. Look at the way the gamakam of gandaram is used in this song. Katcheri type of gamakam in a cinema song! Yet, it seems that this song has become a big hit! A welcomable change in Thamizh cinema music! In this song the lyricist (Vaali?) says ’thEnaara paalaara paanja en kaNNukuLLa’ to indicate what a visual delight the heroine’s beauty is! Look how he is crossing the gustatory (taste) and visual sensory modalities! How can honey flowing into the eye give any pleasant sensation? Perhaps we should not look at a poetic usage from the scientific stand point of view! Then he says ‘dhEsiya kodi pOlE poththi vachchEn nenjukkuLLE’! What an atypical analogy to indicate the preciousness of the heroine to the hero!

Rahman’s Ananda Bhairavi is the song mettu pOdu in the movie Duet. Prabhu and Ramesh Aravind sing this in a light music concert. It is a fantastic song. Rahman has used this raagam in a very intelligent manner. The song starts like Sa Sa Sa Ri2, Sa Sa Sa Ri2, Ri2 Ma1 Ga3 Sa, Ri2 Ma1 Ga3 Sa, Sa Sa Ri2 Sa. Look at the way he uses Ga3 in the begining of the song itself! Classically when you sing Ananda Bhairavi, when you descend like Pa Ma1 Ga3, there is a caveat right at the Ga3 “don’t go any further down”! But Rahman goes further down to Sa from Ga3! In this poor grammatically ungrammatic raagam, what can you say about this usage? When you listen to the song it is so illusory and sounds perfectly Ananda Bhairavish! Intelligent musicians can re-define raaga lakshana! Perhaps this is one instance. I don’t know if classicists will agree with the way the raagam has been used in this song. Vairamuthu’s lyrics is just wonderful in this song. He advises the janatha to achieve success like the tender roots of a germinating seed inside a hard rock (paaraikkul vErai pOlE vetri koLga)! What a powerful analogy to boost one’s confidence to achieve success! Maybe, I could add ‘dinosaurai pOlE tholvi adayaadheer’ (don’t attain failure like the dinosaurs)! One of the theories for the extinction of the dinosaur family is that the females could not bear the weight of the males during mating! What a stupid reason for such a mammoth species to perish and become extinct! Shame, Shame, Shame…!

Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Internal Medicine Department,
Brackenridge Hospital,
Austin, Tx 78701.

Comments

Anonymous 8 Jan 2007 9:05 am: Kalamaadu onnu karavai maadu moonu- Magalir mattum is also ananda bairavi
ramesh viswanathan 29 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: Hello Sir, This was an excellent piece of information about carnatic raagams. I would like to know more about 1. Abheri. 2. Shanmukhapriya. 3. Devagandiri. 4. karnataka Devagandiri 5. reethigowla. there are many more, if you let me know something on the similarl lines will be thankful to you. Rgds Ramesh
A.R.VISHNU VARDHAN 29 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: Hai every body, Any one can send me all songs of MOGA MULL.
dayanandhan 19 Sep 2008 7:38 am: informative post.. hats off..
one clarification:
the song vaadaa malarey thamizh theney from ambikapathy and pogaadhey pogaadhey from VP -Kattabomman are the compostions of Isai Maedhai G Ramanathan.. and not MSV..
pls clarify..
Sai Magesh 18 Mar 2009 9:49 am: Thanks Anand. Nice piece of information. I don’t know carnatic music but I listen. I was listening to “Paluke Bangaramayena” from yesterday and the songs from duet and aasai were coming to my mind. I came here and confirmed that they are of same raaga.
augustine 2 Mar 2010 5:42 am: well done and keep it up your wonderful task in music world

Classical Ilayaraja 3

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 12:00:00 +0000

This is the third of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.
I’ve added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.
You could also try my Tamil song search.

Subhapanthuvarali is a ‘bayangara soga’ raagam. If you hear it you will cry; I will cry; ‘saraa log’ will cry. Given the conditional event of Rajiv Gandhi or Indira Gandhi’s death occuring, Subhapanthuvarali played on the radio or TV by some ’thenga moodi’ bhagavathar during the days of mourning will make even those music insensitive Indira Congress leaders shed at least ‘crocodile tears’! Can you imagine this raagam being used in the cinema for a sexy scene like that in ‘Hot Shots’ in which the hero Charlie Sheen fries eggs on the heroine’s umbilicus as though it was a bunzen burner?! Yes, there is a song in Subhapanthuvarali for a situation like the above said, in the movie Getti Melam. That was the first movie in which director Visu joined Ilayaraja, starring Karthik and Sasikala. Visu had tried some sexploitation in that song sequence by bringing Sasikala in swimsuit for few minutes, Karthik grazing over her all the time! The song is dhagamae undanathe, thindaaduthe manamae. That was pure Subhapanthuvarali. Maybe it evoked sexy mood. Maybe not! Neither the movie nor the song was a big hit. Perhaps the failure was only due to the ineptitude of the raaga selection. Visu never joined with Ilayaraja after that!

Ilayaraja has used Subhapanthuvarali umpteen number of times for sad situations. His first Subhapanthuvarali came in vaigaraiyil vaigai karaiyil in Payanangal Mudivadhillai. S.P.B had done a wonderful job in that. The song was a big hit as were the other numbers in that movie. Ilayaraja and director R.Sundarajan reportedly had a physical fight about who was the main reason for the movie’s hit! Childish fellows! After sometime, R.Sundarajan became a pal with Ilayaraja once again, reconciling to the fact that Ilayaraja was indispensable at that period of time when he was at his peak. Some of his other Subhapanthuvarali are madhavan azhakiraan in Rajni’s Raghavendra, one song in Valli (enna enna kanavu kandayo). In Paadu Nilaave he used Subhapanthuvarali for one situation in which the hero and heroine enter into some sort of music competetion. That song is vaa veliyae intha kootai vittu. Mano and Chitra. Mano had shown his vocal gymnastic skills in the thara sthayi sancharas in that song.

Subhapanthuvarali is the 45th melakartha raagam. One raaga before that, (i.e. 44th) we have Bavapriya raagam. Ilayaraja has composed one song in this scale. That is kandupudichchEn kandupudichchEn in Guru Sishyan. One of my friend said that some carnatic big shot (Sudha Raghunathan or someone) told in an interview in MTV that it was a good Bavapriya and that Ilayaraja had used this ‘soga raagam’ in that funny situation in which Prabhu humours Rajini about his new love affair with Gowthami. I would simply say that it was a good song in Bavapriya scale. Thats all! Similarly there is a good song in the suddha madhyama raaga scale of Subhapanthuvarali, that is, Dhenuka. It is the song in Thooral Ninnu Pochu: en sOga kathaiya kELu. Let us simply call this as set in Dhenuka scale (with few slips) and not as Dhenuka raagam.

The sixth raaga from Subhapanthuvarali, i.e. 51st mela raagam, is Panthuvarali. Ilayaraja has conspicuously not produced any good number in Panthuvarali.The only one that I know is the re-recording in Raja Paarvai in which blind Kamal plays violin with the troup. I forgot the situation for that in the movie. Sa Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa Sa Ri Ni Sa… that is how the recording goes. Though it is usually quoted as good Panthuvarali, I did not like it very much. He had tried some fusion in that. Nothing can beat MSV’s ezhu swarangalukul in Panthuvarali. It is like listening to a katcheri. Vani Jayaram’s performance was terrific. Did she get national award for that song? Perhaps, it is because of this song that she always says that MSV is the best music director who gave carnatic music in pure form, forgetting about Ilayaraja’s inRaikku yEn indha (Vaidhegi Kaathirundhaal) and other innumerable etceteras. Maybe, Ilayaraja stopped giving her chance to sing in his movies only because she praised MSV all the time!

Ilayaraja was very prolific in the sudha madhyama counterpart of Panthuvarali, that is Mayamalavagowlai. Since Mayamalavagowlai is relatively very flexible, you can distinctly show the colour of the raaga just by traversing its notes alone. Not much of gamakam is needed. You can use this for all kinds of situation like sadness, happiness etc. Ilayaraja has completely exploited this raagam to the point of its fullest use, so that no other music director can bring out any better than him from this raaga. His first song in this scale probably came in Ponnu Ooruku Pudhusu (enna paattu paada enna thaaLam pOda!). His other Mayamalavagowlai are manjaL nilavukku inRu (Mudhal Iravu), andhi varum nEram (Mundhanai Mudichu), madhurai mari kozhundhu (Enga Ooru Paattukaaran), uyirE uyirE urugaadhE (Oruvar Vaazhum Aalayam), illam kaadhal veeNai (Vellai Pura Onru), raama naamam oru vEdhamE (Sri Raghavendra), maasaru ponnE varuga (Thevar Magan), en thayenum koyilai (Aranmanai Kili), kottu kali kottu (Chinnavar), poova eduththu vachchu (Amman Koil Kizhakaalae). There are so many songs, that quoting all would be cumbersome. Some of them have actually been tuned in tappanguthu situations. In Bharathiraja’s Ennuyir Thozhan, there is a song machchi en mannaru. It is a pukka Mayamalavagowlai (even though it is tappanguthu). That song has the following lyrics:

Machchi en mannaru mansukkula bejaru,
Touch pannaru, takkara poanaru,
Daavu oru daavu naan kaatum naerum…
Sammunu sammunu vaasam sallunu sallunu veesum…

Though I’ve not seen this movie, from the lyrics I guess that the song situation should be like this: The poor pettai rowdy hero buys a new autorickshaw and shows it to his lady love and sings a song! In the charanam of that song look what the heroine asks the hero to buy for her! Not jewelry! Not house or ‘bahuth keemthi property’! Not new silk dresses! Just two tickets for matinee show to a Rajini’s movie so that they both can go! Thats all! Also, in the charanam the hero says to the heroine ‘kaavEri aaraattam odaathE nee mE… koovam thaan naamE..’ Funny! Isn’t it? It is as though these people are just talking in Madras language in that song. Good depiction of poor class life. Even though the thamizh kaavalargal purists might say that this song is a kuppai, I liked the lyrics very much. How else can you write for a situation in which ‘pettai rowdi’ sings a song? In kottu kali kottu (Chinnavar), he has extracted heavy vocal support from SPB and Chitra, making them go up and down the scale in beautiful array of swaras. You should have listened to it to appreciate it. One of his Mayamalavagowlai closely resembles one of MSV’s song. It is enge naan kanbaen in A.S.Prakasam’s Sadhanai. It is just like kallellaam maaNikka kallaagumaa (Aalayamani). He should have definitely got the idea for that song from MSV’s above said song. Some MSV fans might call this as blatant plagiarism! Is it? I don’t know.

Considering the panchama varjaya raagam of Mayamalavagowlai, he was the only one who ever used it so far! That is the Lalitha raagam. It seems to be a recent attraction to him. The first Lalitha came in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, when Kamal sings a duet with L.A.K.Malam, as the heroine Seetha calls herself (as shit!) derogatively in that movie! idhazhil kadhai ezhudhum is a great Lalitha. Ilayaraja should have definitely got the idea for this tune from Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s heranmayim lakshmim. To me, the movements of both the song and keerthanai seem similar. But Dikshitar ingeniously starts the keerthanai in suddha daivatam. The continuity of the tune that Ilayaraja has maintained in idhazhil kadhai ezhudhum, the step by step progression from one swara to another, the development of superb sangathis, each and every bit in that tune is simply excellant. This song is like a milestone in Thamizh cine-music. Gangai Amaran’s lyrics is unusually wonderful, matching his another brother paavalar Varadharajan’s maNNil indha kaadhal (Keladi Kanmani). He proved himself a poet in this song! Subsequently, following the hit of his first Lalitha, Ilayaraja tried another shot of ‘half-boiled Lalitha’ in iLam kuyilE kuyil tharum isaiyE (Priyanka). The start of this song is like Ma Ma Ma Da Sa Ni Da Ma Ma Da Ma Da Sa Ni Ma Da Ga Ma Ri Ga Sa. A beautiful start indeed! But the tune gets spoiled in the charanam. I am told that there is another of his Lalitha trials in Veera too. I understand that it is like a small virutham (thirumagal un) sung by Arun Mozhi. I have not heard it so far.

Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Internal Medicine Department,
Brackenridge Hospital,
Austin, Tx 78701.

Comments

R.V. EASWAR 20 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: Dear Mr Ramakrishnan, I read with interest your learned article on some of the ragaas used by Ilayaraja. It was erudite and gave much insights to laymen like me in appreciating ragaa-based film songs. However, I do not think it is fair to compare one music director with another - each one was in a different era and there were very little common factors that can be used for comparison purposes. Actually, my humble opinion is to forget all comparisons and just enjoy the music, whoever has tuned the song. I look forward to more such articles. Yours sincerely, r.v.easwar (of MSV-Ilayaraja era)
venkateshan.S 20 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: You hail from srirangam and you have a scanty respect for bhagavathas which is very disheartening.
DS Hari 7 Jun 2009 3:37 am: What about using lalitha is Sengamalam Sirikkithu in Dhavani Kanavugal..massive use of violin in the second interlude..PLEASE COMMENT.
narayanraj 13 Sep 2009 5:30 pm: excellent blog with lot of informations and tasty coomments,satire etc., madhura mari kozhundhu and kottu kali kottu are nadanama kriya .ok . narayanraj

Classical Ilayaraja

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 12:00:00 +0000

This is the first of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.
I’ve added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.
You could also try my Tamil song search.

Recently, I watched the movie Chembaruthi on video. One of those unethical, “kuppai” screen printed video cassette, you know, that gives you a vision like that of a “soda-butti” watching TV without his spectacles! Ilayaraja has done a fantastic job in that movie. Though I had heared all those songs many times while I was in India, watching that movie created a reminiscent train of thoughts in my mind, about Ilayaraja, his music, the dramatic change he brought about in Thamizh cinema. I thought that it would be worthwhile to discuss his music, particularly the CLASSICAL aspect! I am aware that it is not possible to write about all his carnatic oriented songs, about how he has handled those raagas, how he has deviated from the classical style etc. But it would definitely be interesting to pour out our ideas once in a while in a random order of the raagas covered by him.

In Chembaruthi there are six songs, out of which 4 are carnatic based. All the songs were “sooper hits”. To a guy who knows carnatic music, the raagas are explicit, and to a non-classical rasika, they are just great tunes! This was one of his specialities, to give the raaga in almost good shape and also make a good cinema tune out of it. And of course, the rhythm should give scope for good dance movements so that the hero and heroine could share their love by dancing! Maybe, many of his tunes have to be branded as semi-classical or light music (even though the raaga form might be pure) only because of this rhythm factor.

Chalakku Chalakku Selai is one good number in Chakravaagam. There is no impurity in the tune (like any anniya swaram). He has confined to classical 16th, Sa Ri1 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni2 Sa. Of course, not to mention, that the lyrics are very bad, fighting to degrade the song from semi-classical to light music. In the charanam the heroine says kalyaaNam aagaama paay pOda vENaam, ennaala aagaadhu aamaam. You know, some good heroines with morality do say such deterrant, anti pre-marital sex things to the always advancing heroes!

Ilayaraja has only few Chakravaagams in his account. In the janya raagas of Chakravaagam, he has excellent numbers. Like, Malayamaarutham…. Sa Ri1 Ga3 Pa Da2 Ni2 Sa, Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ga3 Ri1 Sa. His first malayamarutham came as a pleasant surprise in Sridhar’s movie (for whom he always had a soft corner) Thenralae ennai thodu. I distinctly remember how the ‘Ananda Vikatan’ magazine wrote in glowing terms about kannmani nee vara kathirunthen song in Malayamaarutham. Yesudoss and Uma Ramanan had done a wonderful job in that song. Ga Pa Da Sa Ni Da Pa Da Pa Ga, Ga Pa Ga Sa Sa Ri. What a wonderful start! The sharp rishabam gave a beautiful colour to this song. Maybe Ilayaraja’s first Malayamaarutham was poojaikkaaga vaazhum in Kaadhal Oviyam. That was a good song too. Deepan Chakravarthi had struggled to keep in pace with that tune (like some violinists get into trouble with Seshagopalan’s pace!). Then came thenRal vandhu muthamittathu in Malayamaarutham in Oru Odai Nadhiyaagiradhu (another Sridhar’s movie). Gosh! That was a fast song too. Krishnachandar and S.P.Shailaja tried their best, but probably spoiled it. Particularly, S.P.Shailaja has sung like the shrill sound you hear when you apply the breaks on a car that you bought for $500! There are two other songs in which he has deleted both Ni and Ma in Chakravaagam. I don’t think that such a raaga exists in carnatic music with any known name. Those two songs are amudhE thamizhae (Kovil Pura), and nila kuyilae (Magudi). They are simply excellent. One should be an artist and play those songs to know their quality. amudhE thamizhae starts like Sa Ri Ga, Sa Ri Ga, Sa Ri Ga Pa Ga Ri Sa, Sa Ri Sa Da Sa… Pulamai Pithan’s lyrics glorified that song. In the charanam he says, if you listen to and speak Thamizh, oon mezhugai urugum, athil ulagam karainthu pogum, such is the beauty of this language! One cannot write any better, about the greatness of Thamizh language. (Those people like Thamizh Vendhan & co, who have no other job other than inundating the S.C.T with meaningless news about Thamizh Ezham, now, have a point!).

I vaguely remember a song “naan irrukka bayam etharkku” (Kuva Kuva Vaathukkal?) At that time, when I had primitive carnatic music knowledge, I had diagnosed that song as “Valaji” (Rishabam deleted in Malayamarutham, Sa Ga Pa Da Ni Sa, Sa Ni Da Pa Ga Sa, you can say that it is a janyam of Chakravaagam too, even though theorists might say ‘janyam of Harikambodi’). Maybe, that song is indeed Valaji. Ilayaraja has few songs in Revathi, another 16 Janyam. Perhaps the best onces are sangitha jaathi mullai (Kaadhal Oviyam) and kanavu onru thonruthe (Oru Odai Nadhiyaagiradhu). But I personally feel that MSV’s melodious use of Revathi is unparalleled in the song manthira punnagai (Manal Kayiru).

So much about Chakravaagam and its janyams and Ilayaraja. In Chembaruthi, two of the 4 carnatic songs, are in Sindhu Bhairavi raagam. They are kaadhalilE ezhumbura alaigaLai and “kadalile thanimaiyil”. Ilayaraja himself has sung the former (thso, thso rendition) and Nagoor Hanifa the latter. Both these songs are excellent Sindhu Bhairavi’s. One in three of all cinema songs are in Sindhu Bhairavi scale (one of the commonest cinema melodies, like the 20th mela Natabhairavi). Ilayaraja has innumerable songs in Sindhu Bhairavi, a variegated population from valai osai kalakala ena to shenbagame shenbagame etc. One cannot list all of them. But, probably MSV’s Unnakenna Mele Ninrai (Simla Special) is the best of Sindhu Bhairavi. In kaadhalilE ezhumbura the lyrics is unusually good. Probably, Muthulingam or whoever was the lyricist, had a strong tea before writing that song! That song goes to tell the pathetic life of fishermen. The lyrisict says in pallavi kadal thaneer karikudu kaaranam irukkudu, meenavar vidugira viyarvaikal kadalile kalakudu… (Sea water is saline because of fishermen’s sweat). Good idea, ain’t it?

Lastly,there is one song in Kaappi raaam in Chembaruthi: chembaruththi poovu (after decades, Banumathi Ramakrishna sang a tail piece of this song). His other Kaappi are ada maappiLLai (Siva), hei paadal onru (priya). As far as I know Ilayaraja is the only one who used Kaappi in cinema. All of them are good. He starts ada maappiLLai like, Ma Ga3 Ga3 Ma Pa, Pa Ma Ga3 Ma Ni2 Pa Ga2 Ri Sa Ni3 Sa Sa. Wonderful start! To start Kaappi in madhyamam and use its key phrase ‘Ga3 Ma Ni2 Pa Ga2 Ri Sa Ni3’ at the very beginning is an excellent approach to the tune. This is one of the instance in which his classical ‘vidwat’ was manifest. Even in chembaruthi poovu he uses the bashangam of Kaappi, in the very beginning, like, ‘Pa NI2 Ma Pa Ni3 Sa’. Why did he choose to score tune in Kaappi for both these above situations in which the bride and the groom are humoured by the ’thozhan’ and ’thozhiyar’ on the occasion of their betrothal. Is their any definite pattern that he follows in scoring tunes for situation? Maybe.

Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Internal Medicine Department,
Brackenridge Hospital,
Austin, Tx 78701.

Comments

A .somaskanda 11 Dec 2006 8:37 pm: I loved your erudite commentaries on IR’s music.I wonder if you could identify for me the raga in the popular tamil bhajan by Swami Haridas,“prabho ganapathey”, popularised again by o.s.arun in one of his recent bhajan album.thank you.
S Anand 17 Dec 2006 6:28 pm: This article is not mine, I’m afraid. It’s by Ramki (Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan), written in the 90s, and is the first in a series of 15. I plan to put in links to the rest over the next few days. Sorry about the bhajan – I know little of carnatic music.
Siva 18 Dec 2006 1:03 pm: I love only Hip Hops and Hard Rocks, I never listerned to old tamil songs. After reading this article and listrening to such songs, i was actually moved. Really they are Precious and yet to be preserved. Those hard rocks cannot sustain in peoples mind for a long time, these classical songs they have a longer life cycle.
Rajendra Kumar 5 Feb 2007 12:08 pm: The article is well written and it is obvious that the author has a sound knowledge of Carnatic Music.However, I must add that there are some factual errors. 1.Thendrale ennai thodu was released in 1985 and Kaadhal Oviyum in 1982.Therefore, it is wrong to say that his first Malayamarutham was in Thendrale Ennai thodu.But a little known fact is that Raja had indeed composed a song in Malayamarutham in 1980 for the film Nenjil adum Poo onru and the song is Kodi inbam …sung by SPB and Janaki.It is a pure Malayamaruthum and an excellent composition.Unfortunately the film was never released .. 2.The female voice in Thendral ennaimuthamittthu is Sasirekha’s and not Shailaja’s. 3.Amudhe Thamizhe is based on raga Rasika Ranjani-Raja’s own creation. 4.Finally, though the author is entitled to have his opinion, I do not agree with him when he says that Manthira punnagai-from Manal Kayiru is the best Revathi.I feel that Kanavu Onru Thondruthe from Oru Odai Nadhiyagirathu is the best Revathi I have ever heard in fim music because of the way it is composed and the way it is rendered…What a superb orchestration! Same is the case with Sindhu Bhairavi-a raga used by Raja very often.Valai osai, Attama therottama(Captain Prabhakaran),Enna Satham indha neram, Muthu mani malai..Mani osai kettu ezhundhu….the list is endless..Can these be matched by any other composer?I have my doubts…
AKILANDESWARI 17 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: One small request sir, I need the song lyrics (in words) from the film “Enn Rasavin Manasalae” the song which Act by Meena as “Kuyil Pattu oh” Please kindly send me the lyrics for this song From I Akila.
Sai Magesh 18 Mar 2009 12:19 pm: Chembarthui has a beautiful melody(may be best among other songs from the same film) “nila kaayum neram saranam”. Why didn’t the author mention about that? Is it not based on any Raaga?
jeyamohan.in » Blog Archive » இசை, கடிதங்கள் 28 Mar 2009 7:09 pm (pingback): […] இங்கே காணக்கிடைக்கின்றன. http://www.s-anand.net/blog/classical-ilayaraja/ பயனுள்ளதாக இருக்கும் என […]
usha 24 Jul 2010 7:00 am: nilawe nee ware vendhum, Oooo…. taniyeh unn tunai vendhum, Oooo…. Vaan tedhuthey unnai than odiwa..Ooo Ooo Ooo (Ilayaraja paadiya, intha paadal entha padathil endre teriyuma? Terinjal ennake solunggal…pleaseeee
balasoupramanien 18 Mar 2011 4:01 pm: Friends, he is not a young raja (Illaiyaraja) Big Big Raja! he is unreachable and not comparable . I never bored with his songs. He is a big big treasurer of every music learners (Coordination of Instruments, Chorus, Mood of the situation, vocal modulations, Experiments in music, language(s)). So, Pl keep listen, enjoy and learn music easily. Thappa sollalanu nenaikiren!!!! any comment please!
MBJ Pancras 26 Nov 2011 5:33 pm: Nothing But Wind Music the world filled with, And is God-breathed the melody in it. Music moves the world around on its way, And it’s wind in music dwells. Muse of Music! Let me imbibe thy notes For sans thee my voice lies half-dead When my heart is to sing That NOTHING BUT WIND is music. My soul enters the sylvan woodlands- The abode of musical birds, And in quest of music haunts every nest. It’s music that birds chirp, And I lay my soul on a pasture, And the chirping of birds does caress my soul: The cuckoo sings with twain quick notes, The nightingale babbles with nectarous notes, The sparrow squeaks with mumbling thoughts, The throttle bubbles with drizzling thoughts, All sail into, my soul cherished When wind turned to music through birds. Crickets join the orchestra with their wings rubbed the air, And music flows when their wings flap. My soul journeys along the bank of musical stream, Where bamboos rustle when wind penetrates them: It’s “Bamboo” music breathed thro’ flute, I learnt the love for music born thro’ bamboo Perfected with beautiful melodies. Dwelling on pastures music grows personified: Harps reverberate at the hands of the shepherds, Green music born of pastoral spirit join the bleating of lambs: The lambs bleat and music is breathed, And the whole of the pastures flutter with joy. Into deep woods my soul moves, And lions roar I hear, elephants trumpet, And ravens voice hoarse notes When “bamboo” music is tried by machines: Harp turned to Guitar, bamboo turned to piano, And music now flows thro’ science - Science that survives with computers. When engine whistles I hear music And train follows it with “friction” music, Rhythmic beats perfected on rails. ”Friction” music turned to “roar” music When air-plane has been invented. My soul speeds up - speeding up And hears jet engines launch musical roar Yet perfected by computer technology - An impeccable rhythm thro’ jets. My soul runs atop the mountain peak Where rockets zoom into the sky with “rocket” notes Blasting off for the stars, Measured with “light year wavelength”. Stars roll down with noise and roar, The universe being filled with “lightning” sound. Seeks solace the world shrouded with machines… ………seeking solace thro’ divinity With mantras chanted; Yet “disco vogue” lingers on earthly pleasures, And man is belittled by his social excusable sins, And his society turns to animalism. Down from the mountain peak my soul rolls down… The peak that showed me fleeting moments of life. An inevitable holocaust shrouds the earth, And a victim with wounds and bruises am I. Back into the sylvan woodlands my soul runs now- Into the sylvan woodlands, the abode of musical birds, And haunts every nest in quest of music. To breathe “bamboo” music I run, For I learnt the love for music born thro’ bamboo. Forlorn! Bamboos are found nowhere. My soul longs for “bamboo” music, Yet learns a truth that music is NOTHING BUT WIND. And my soul is convinced that Wind is Music, and Music is Wind. Longing for silent music at the threshold of woodlands My soul now lies. Muse of Music! My heart sang a truth That NOTHING BUT WIND is MUSIC. And it’s my garland of thoughts presented unto thee. This verse is penned as the versifier (I) has been inspired by the musical album of Ilayaraja, the first Asian who composed symphony at Royal Philharmonic Orchestra England, whose real genius has not been understood by many. The musical album is NOTHING BUT WIND. He is an Indian.
MBJ Pancras 26 Nov 2011 5:38 pm: Ilayaraja (Haiku) music genius born in Indian soil living in ragas.
Sita vishwanathan 12 Mar 2011 3:03 am: @somaskandan……..prabho ganapathe seems like raga tilang to me.
இசையோவியம் 1 – அமுதே தமிழே « இசையெனும் இன்பவெள்ளம் 15 Sep 2011 6:16 pm (pingback): […] http://www.s-anand.net/blog/classical-ilayaraja/ has more on the technical aspects of the song. […]
Ravichandran.N. 23 May 2013 9:38 am: Could you please tell me how do you identify ragas? I used to hear classical songs but am unable to identify ragas. Could you suggest means to get it? (Dont say I need to go for classes). However, you are a WONDERFUL person. I see MSV/TKR, ILAYARAJA, KVM as GODS.
Sudha 4 May 2018 5:25 am: In Sindhu Bhairavi ragam, we have IR’s “Maadha un Kovilil”, “Naanoru sindhu”, “Keladi kanmani paadagan sangathi”, “Poongatru pudhidhaanadhu”, “Mani osai kettu ezhundhu” etc…… all of which are as good as MSV’s Unakkenna mele nindrai. For different emotions, there are “Vanithamani vannamogini”, “Muthu mani maalai”, Oru naalum unai maravaadha", “Ram ram hey Hey ram ram” etc…..Lyrics are bad in “chalakku chalakku selai” because it was a coming-of-age kind of love story and it could also depend on the director / producer’s wish. S.P.Sailaja’s voice is a different one and IR has only used it perfectly. “Thendral vandhu muthamitadhu” is an excellent number. Maybe the male voice could have been KJY though I cannot put Krishna Chander’s voice factor down. There is a group of people that bashes IR for not giving enough chances to “newcomers” and then there is another group which bashes IR if the songs by the newcomers (or not the regular set like SPB/KJY/SJ/Mano/Chitra/PS) voices “spoil” the song! Intriguing! It is weird when people talk about the use of carnatic raga & grammar in film music and then complain about deleting from/adding something to it. Also, when the lyrics are bad, IR gets the whiplash while the tune is forgotten and when both the tune & lyrics are terrific, the lyricist gets the cake?????
vignesh 9 Jan 2018 7:53 am: Our favorite Ilaiyaraaja songs are compiled on his official mobile app. Get Maestro’s Music now for android and iOS on https://u3su2.app.goo.gl/VZeB

Hindi songs 1995s

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Here is the background music from some Hindi songs between 1995-1999. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Sarvadamana 13 Oct 2006 7:38 pm: 9/10 in the previous and 8/10 in this one. Is it possible to mail the answers for numbers 6 and 7 of this quiz and number-6 of hindi songs 2000s?
amitabh biyani 21 Oct 2006 5:28 pm: 10 on 10 here :) good quiz
sourish 21 Dec 2006 3:01 am: 10/10
deepak joshi 6 Oct 2012 5:49 am: thank you

Tamil songs by Ilayaraja in 1980s

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:00:00 +0000

More songs by Ilayaraja, composed in the 1980s. Can you guess which movie they are from? (Films are NOT repeated)

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

arunvis 20 Jul 2006 4:51 pm: Most of these bits have the movie name in the file info when played in Windows Media player!
S Anand 22 Jul 2006 9:23 am: You’re right. I’ve fixed that now.
capriciously_me 26 Jul 2006 9:54 pm: awesome fun :) 1, 13 and 26 please?
S Anand 27 Jul 2006 4:55 pm: 1 is a film starring Prabhu, 2: Kamal and 3: Suresh
Anonymous 28 Jul 2006 12:34 pm: the clue u ve gvn s wrong.2nd s a movie starring karthik and 3rd s the one wth ramarajan
S Anand 28 Jul 2006 8:34 pm: Sorry, I meant 1, 13 and 26 respectively.
Sathya 31 Jul 2006 12:28 pm: thalaiva … thats just great collection. BTW, if you have the BGMs alone, could you put them as well ?
Sathish 1 Aug 2006 12:53 am: The Quiz was great..I saw ur site today..I have completed 28..if you could give another 5 more seconds of music for the songs 10 & 11, i would appreciate
S Anand 1 Aug 2006 10:15 pm: Sathish, 10 and 11 are both Kamal movies. Does that help?
Sathya 2 Aug 2006 10:52 am: Have you written the common.js yourself ? thats great. I would like to re-use/flick the “maptamil” function. You are quite wicked that you use one way SHA1 hash … there is no way to hack the answer (is there a way ?). So pls do post the answers ;-(
S Anand 2 Aug 2006 5:02 pm: Yeah, wrote mapTamil myself. Took me 2 weeks of testing on raaga.com – feel free to reuse!
S Anand 2 Aug 2006 5:05 pm: The reason I picked SHA1 instead of MD5 was that it’s tougher to crack. It can be done, but in about 2 power 69 calculations
Sathish 6 Aug 2006 11:39 pm: I figured out all the 30 movies..was a good quiz..Great work!!
vijay 4 Dec 2006 11:49 pm: This is awesome work … nice pics …I got 20 … @5 …know the song ..dunno the movie … Can’t wait for your 90s and 2000 list … when can we expect that .. I can give you a list of these kind of marquee songs that people are expected to find in
Muthuraman 31 Dec 2006 7:19 am: great work. keep going.
Archana 15 Jan 2007 1:23 pm: Anand, i want answers to this puzzle. Can you please help?
sundar 1 Apr 2007 1:20 pm: good quiz can give some clues here and there too
santhosh 9 Apr 2007 11:19 am: thakns
Ramkumar 29 May 2007 1:38 pm: What’s the film name for 26. I have listened to that BGM several 100 times… but couldnt find the name… :(
Ramkumar 29 May 2007 1:40 pm: Sorry, I want the name for 18.. 26th is Kozhi Koovudhu
vijayasarathy 20 Jul 2006 12:00 pm: I got it all 30 right man. it was interesting.great. thanks.
N.Ragavendran 20 Jul 2006 12:00 pm: I identified only 18. but it is very interesting. Even they give 100 songs like above. its really time passing.
shanthirou 20 Jul 2006 12:00 pm: Movie Name :kan simittum neram Song : unnai thotta thendral enru ennai thottu sonnathoru seidhi ullukulae aasai vaithu thalli thalli povathenna needhi.. please sent the song lyrics
Sathya 20 Jul 2006 12:00 pm: Hey! good one… i could get all 30 right …except for 26 which took some time to hit my mind…good work… thanks
A. Saravanan 20 Jul 2006 12:00 pm: Hai Anand, hw r u? i like to down load the song ‘anandaragam’-panneer pushpangal. But i could’nt. hw can i?. pls .
Lavanya 20 Jul 2006 12:00 pm: Hi, I was able to find for 22 out of 30 could u please tell me what is the answer for 2, 4, 5, 10, 15, 16, 18, 21
chandramouli 20 Jul 2006 12:00 pm: iwant all illayaraja songs from A to Z.Rply me as soon as possible
prana 20 Jul 2006 12:00 pm: 11 - Couldnt identify, can u let me know, which song is that one
jai 14 Aug 2008 2:28 am: 30/30 good test for (g)old memroy…
Prakash 22 Aug 2008 9:02 am: Hi,
How your are managing your time for this?… songs in diff langueages, movie… and others.

Its great stuff. I have gone thro your site/ diff experiences.

Fantastic. All the best

Prakash.K
ganeshen sk 9 Sep 2008 10:46 pm: realy i am enjoy all song
manikantan 24 Sep 2008 12:11 pm: I think i have found the maximum
mathew 8 Oct 2008 9:22 am: Good selection. Especially 30th-Kaadhalin deepamondru…..
Im going somewhere………
S Anand 8 Oct 2008 9:34 am: Thanks, Mathew. Glad you enjoyed it.
purushothaman g 17 Oct 2008 9:01 am: Ilayaraja song list is very very funtastic
SHANKAR 20 Nov 2008 10:57 am: Very Nice Bits from Raja………..
mathu 4 Feb 2009 6:31 am: very nice songs
KAAVALAN 11 Feb 2009 9:07 am: ILAYARAJA SONGS VERY FANTASTIC
S.Nanthini 12 Feb 2009 8:14 am: Very nice song from illayraja sir specialy i like song Tendral vanthu thidhum podu(Avadaram) i like so much becoz some time i think the song special to me….thanks for u sir»»»
Kavitha 14 Feb 2009 11:30 am: Can we know what movies are 7,26 and 22.?
srini 2 Mar 2009 4:47 am: Great work.. Found most of them. Can you tell me where the answers are so that I myself on the head for not getting that.. thanks
Barath 3 Mar 2009 6:41 pm: Dude, I got 28 right. Song 26 song information clearly displayed in real player. Song 8 was a real challenge. Give me a clue. Regards, Barath
S Anand 3 Mar 2009 6:59 pm: Yeah, my goof-up on Song 26. Will fix it soon. Song 8 is a Kamal song sung by Mano.
Reena 26 Feb 2009 4:50 pm: !! BINGO !! Finished all 30 !!! :) First shot :)
karthik 7 Mar 2009 3:34 pm: Great I Got 24 Of Them right..thanks for sharing
balaji 22 Feb 2009 5:42 pm: hi friend fantastic work by u gr8 hits of ilayaraja still remains!!!!!! r u fan of ilayaraja reply regards balaji
ashok 4 Mar 2009 3:25 pm: I got all thirty. GREAT quiz. keep going. why can’t you try SPB’s songs? You can pick up all rare gems out of his 36K + songs.Thanks for the initiative.
suriya 11 Mar 2009 11:58 am: great work!!! lovely songs… found 23 . 4,5,9,10,16,20,25…. any clues 4 tat?
chandru 11 Mar 2009 7:23 pm: Hey, amazing work dude,, keep it up :) but couldnt get 3 songs,, no 1 and no 10 & 26 , though 10 sounds very familiar and known,, pls do let know,, thankin you in advance
azhar 14 Mar 2009 8:57 am: hey, i have found all songs. its very easy. if u need any help tell me
sambasivam 15 Mar 2009 5:43 am: Excellent quiz Mr.Anand. Expecting more of that soon. got 23 out of 30
suriya 16 Mar 2009 3:03 am: help me with 4,5,9,10,16,20,25 plz
Usha 22 Mar 2009 12:58 am: Good one need to jog the memory
sriraghavan 5 Apr 2009 10:18 am: This is a good one… I accidentally came to this site while searching for something else. I was able to listen to such nice bits after a very long time. It brought back memories. I don’t know how to get the results; but all answers were green. I am sure all of them are correct but I need to confirm.
S Anand 5 Apr 2009 4:14 pm: Sriraghavan, if the boxes turned green, then the answers were correct!
sathiyanarayanan 2 Apr 2009 7:09 am: good one i scored 21 good effort
V. Srinath 10 Apr 2009 7:50 am: Hello All, I manage to score 27/30 - Box for song#18 never turned green despite the fact the answer is correct (I am 100% sure on the answer and my memory)
V. Srinath 11 Apr 2009 5:31 am: Hi! I tried again and got a score of 28/30 - Song#18 and Song#26 are still eluding. Would you mind mailing me the answers to my email id? Could not resist the temptation of knowing the answers.
SangeethaSaravanan 12 Apr 2009 10:03 am: good website.and a lovely collections of illayaraja.
gayathri 12 Apr 2009 2:27 pm: hi, this is very interesting.i got 20 correct out of 30.and i want d answers for 4,5,9,11,16,18,21,26,27
Terrence 13 Apr 2009 10:14 am: I guessed everything right cause the musician and his music lives in me.
naguleswaran 17 Apr 2009 4:38 pm: i guessed 25, i need 1, 10, 16, 23, 26.
Pattabi Raman 25 Apr 2009 12:13 pm: Hi I have got all 30 right
Pattabi Raman 25 Apr 2009 12:14 pm: 18 is idhyathai tirudathey 26 is kozhi kuvudhu
prem 25 Apr 2009 7:51 pm: really very interesting
Dr SIVARAMAKRISHNAN 10 May 2009 8:35 am: I am highly interested because I am a thick fan of RAJASIR.Iam now at kerala .He won the hearts of malayalees too.His latest BHAGYADEVATHA songs are big hit.
Varunkumar 12 May 2009 7:28 am: Hi All I too got all 30 Right
chandrakumar 29 May 2009 9:10 am: good collection, 29/30,one mistake is from song 23 .It is kathal oyivathillai .directed by bharathiraja .actors are kannan and radha .but it is not showing green signal
Swaminathan 27 May 2009 5:15 am: i WANT TO know song # 10 and 22 pls……
Swaminathan 26 May 2009 12:16 pm: I got 28. i want to know #10 and 22
Natarajan.S 30 May 2009 9:54 am: It really brings out …. I cant express the feelings …his work is such a heart touching that a piece is helping us to remeber the song ,I know all 30 but am not getting the spelling rite….
Saravana Prabhu G 2 Jun 2009 9:04 pm: Good Quiz Mr. Anand
Hakeem Raja Mohamad 17 Jun 2009 11:29 am: I got only 18.
mary 25 Jul 2009 6:08 pm: Very nice and interesting quiz for one to recollect songs. Excellent work
N.Dhinakaran. 16 Jun 2009 8:16 am: sir i like this type of approach very much and i enjoyed the same. i feel very interesting and spent my deep reactions in your quiz. thanking you and once thanks a lot for you.
Harish kumar 2 Jul 2009 6:37 pm: Brilliant Mr.Anand. The Most Wanted Site
Leo 24 Jun 2009 1:16 am: It was an easyone. Good effort.
mr public 21 Jul 2009 1:43 pm: nice work man.! i managed to get 28/30; missed 10 &26.!
Sankaranarayanan.M (MSN) 26 Jun 2009 5:27 am: Good effort, i can only get 15 marks. Realy good effort…
udaya 1 Jul 2009 1:07 pm: nice one anand… i got 27 though the other three i know the songs but not the films… good
vikram 30 Jun 2009 7:01 pm: hi am a gr8 fan of raja sir.He is a Legend.So the titile mastero opt’s to him.
Muralidharan 28 Jun 2009 8:47 am: HI Anand I got 28/30.Need answer for 1 and 19
sundar 29 Jul 2009 5:52 am: would like to know the answers for 30,16, 13, 12 and 7. i think it was pacha mala poovu from kilakku vasal. jst let me know the answers but i enjoyed taking it
S.Thangakani,Tuty 10 Aug 2009 1:46 pm: What a great quiz for ilayaraja fans.Keep it up Mr.Anand. I love ilayaraja songs from my childhood days.My best wishes to him.
A.Ashok Kumar 10 Aug 2009 2:14 pm: This is a good quiz.I remembered Raja sir films and i scored 30 out of 30,Good effort .
sagar 12 Aug 2009 2:29 pm: Hey it is realy superb nice music experience, good for music lovers
RAJU 20 Aug 2009 2:49 pm: Few songs need a little longer to recall .Otherwise a nice attempt to relish Gnani’s songs
nhnsn 9 Sep 2009 12:52 pm: hey i got 27/30.it really very interesting. i liked it a lon and i am a great fan of the evergreen illayaraja. Fantastic quiz
jayapriya 1 Nov 2009 3:59 pm: hai……good effort.i accidently entered this website.after that i know its like a quiz………iam a great fane of ILAIYARAJAsir.i loved his songs…………thanks for giving this website to us anand……….expecting more from u like this
Sujatha 15 Sep 2009 8:39 am: Excellent Quiz for Raja’s fan.Could have been more challenging.Do you have moe quizzes for the maestro’s fans?
Divi Bhaskaran 20 Sep 2009 12:40 pm: Excellent Mr. Anand. Great effort. Once I was just dreaming about such projects and now you have made it a reality. Fine. Thanks a lot. By the way I scored 28/30. I can’t find the song No.1, but managed to idendify the song No.5 as “Puttham Pudhu Kaalai” but not sure about the “Film Name”
Sitrodai 12 Oct 2009 3:39 am: Excellent…I got 24/30…
Kumaradevan 27 Oct 2009 1:57 pm: Excellent Site. Great Content. Clean layout.. A Rare combination.. Keep it up…!
Ramprabu 19 Oct 2009 1:31 pm: Mr. Anand, really it was nice. I got 27 out of 30. Pl. help me to find 16, 21 & 22.
venkatraman.s 19 Oct 2009 1:22 pm: a good excercise to review rajas songs.28/30 correct.
srilatha 28 Sep 2009 11:16 am: Mr. Anand wonderful collections and great attempt.
Ram 7 Nov 2009 6:14 am: got only 17 right guessed many songs but don’t know movie names :(
Selvam S 7 Feb 2010 5:53 pm: Really Fantastic work Anand ! im a great fan of Raja sir… looking forward more and more from you.. i guessed 27/30.. can somebody help to find out 10,21 & 26. Awesome!!
Veera 12 Jan 2010 10:21 pm: Excellent quiz.got 29 /30. Kadalora kavithaigal was wrong.
Subbu 11 Mar 2010 12:08 pm: Hi Anand, really a good web site. I came to this site with a great hope. I am looking for a song which was sung by his highness isaignaani ilayraja himself - the song goes some thing like this “…unnadamale ponnagamaa marayidey…” may be the words which i wrote might not be correct but sounds some thing like that… pls help me…
Jothibasu 3 Feb 2010 8:16 am: great ..I scored 27/30
boopalan.r 6 Feb 2010 8:24 am: I am not able to hear the full soing.
Krishnavel 16 Nov 2009 1:36 pm: Nice quiz. Myself and my wife could manage to get 29/30. Many thanks. However, Song 1 took one full day.
Kishore 23 Dec 2009 6:47 pm: Good One. But most of them very easy for Raaja fans. Some were tough. Can you post answers?
rita 3 Mar 2010 10:02 am: Really i loved this quiz, i love raja sir music, so i was able to guess 26/30
Subbu 12 Mar 2010 11:00 am: hello again, Anybody can help me on that pls…:)
yesgee 2 Jun 2010 9:09 am: I got 26 songs. It’s a very good choice to hear these songs.
shane 5 Sep 2010 12:21 pm: great feeling in answering the 30 wonders of the music world. i scored centum, and hope to score a real cent-um of isai kadavul’s songs. good work , pls continue
Vijay 10 Mar 2010 3:50 am: I scored 29/30. good work Anand.
R.Srinivasan 27 Mar 2010 12:13 pm: Hi thank you. I got 26/30. Really interesting
Subbu 26 Mar 2010 11:18 am: Hi and Hello, At last I have got the song which I was looking for - it is Thendral Vanthu Theendu bothu from Avadharam movie. :)
Saaju 27 Mar 2010 6:06 am: Anand, If possible listen to the song " nana yaar eval" from the movie " Ninaya ninatha paathen. This is a movie which was not a hit, but this song i feel is awesome. Pls comment Saaju
Sathish 5 May 2010 8:20 pm: Mine was 26/30………could have been better :-(
morees 13 Jun 2010 8:27 am: good collections..thx
Krishnamoorthy 2 Jul 2010 7:13 am: Beatiful songs by isai gnani. Raja Rajathaan.
K.Angayarkannan 5 Sep 2010 7:32 pm: hello,Ananad sir,I scored 29/30.26th song is your checkpoint.this song not hit song and song duration very low time.anyway Goodjob.all the best.
Gowri 14 Sep 2010 10:29 am: I got 20/30…didnt hear others!!!bcoz i’m in office…Great guys!!
shanthini 14 Sep 2010 1:14 pm: I entered 30 songs.
DiLRuPhA 18 Sep 2010 12:38 pm: Wowwwww….wonderful website….. thanx 2 u Mr.Anand :) really entertain me…. n i juz got 15/30 :(
Saku 7 Nov 2010 7:48 pm: Good one.. got everything except 26.. agree with angayarkannan, it isn’t a popular one i think so.. appreciate if answers are made available..
lenin 11 Nov 2010 3:49 am: hi, anand,is a nice collections….. nothing impossible
L.Dadhichi 14 Nov 2010 6:17 pm: Awesome quiz
Rooban 7 Dec 2010 7:45 pm: excellent work Anand. hats off..
Eswar 10 Dec 2010 5:52 pm: Hi,i just want download maestro’s famous melody cum rap song casted by silk smitha in a bar.which starts from ’la la la la la laa laa la la’pls i dont know the words.pls if somebody can help me it will be greatful.thanku
MICHAEL JACKSON 27 Dec 2010 6:11 am: I scored just 12………… I would have scored 30 if i ve lived in 1980’s…
kumar 13 Jan 2011 12:51 pm: scored 30/30
thanigai 14 Dec 2010 8:40 am: hey… i got 30/30….. @
thanigai 14 Dec 2010 8:44 am: @ selvam: can somebody help to find out 10 : Film : Kadal meengal, Song: Thalatuthae vaanam…. 21 : Film : Agni Natchathiram, Song : Oru poonga vanam…. 26 : Film : Kozhi Koovuthu, Song : Annae Annae sippai Annae….
saravanan 21 Aug 2012 7:16 am: good try to brush up the ialayraja fans memories
Sudhakar Dhanapal 19 Jan 2011 11:50 am: ohhh. just 26
DINESH 20 Jan 2011 8:11 am: Scored 21 out of 30. Except song No.1, I heard all the songs and the songs are very familiar. Even then I could not find out the film name. Thank you
P.SASI KUMAR 16 Jul 2011 5:09 pm: Excellent Work .same this way as a illayaraja fans we like it
Srini 2 Jul 2011 3:36 pm: got just 24/30; few songs really seem to be close ….
sivasankaran 27 Apr 2012 6:03 am: i got 4 out of 30.. i enjoys this quiz.. memory is out of date.. ha ha.. but i can guess al the songs..mmm really isai sidther is great…
KARTHIK 1 Aug 2011 3:16 pm: I scored 29/30, except song # 26.
Devi Shaji 27 Jan 2012 10:53 am: Hai Anand congrajulations,and thanks a lot . Wish you all the best. God bless you.
Ganapathi 12 Jan 2012 4:51 pm: Ilayara, alias music I can say the best musician in the world is none other than Mr.Ilayaraja.
Thiyagarajan.B 10 Dec 2011 7:15 am: Mother is God Music is God Illayaraja
kagithan 5 Jan 2011 6:53 pm: 2, 4, 8 & 22 help please
RCSekar 18 Jun 2011 4:04 am: Fantastic Exercie for our memory. Good work done by Anand. Long live Anand and Ilayaraja. I scored 29/30. I could not guess the song related to no.1 Anybody to my help? RCSekar-Chennai
mpganesh 11 Mar 2011 4:12 pm: i scored23/30;good job; i could not remeber some movies name;i am one of the fans of raja sir;thank u anand
Nandhakumar 28 Aug 2011 7:32 pm: Amazing collection and wat a composing guys. I got 30/30. Beautiful songs to here in night times. I think every one here will accept this comment. Thanks a ton.
gopi 2 Jan 2012 3:28 am: illyaraja songs was gold. whenever i get tensed that time i listned raja’s songs all sads was gone. raja’s is best.
Muthu 7 Dec 2011 7:45 am: Hi Anand Thanks for posting like this and post more raja sir quiz, I’m one of his greatest fan I got 27/30 pls tell me the answer for 7, 15 and 22
D R RAJA 21 Jan 2012 2:27 pm: hai, it is really suberp. can i get the lyrics of illayarajas songs.
Emmanuel 24 Oct 2011 11:50 am: eampa George appo MSV ya Eanna Solla pora?……………
Nandakumar. P. B. 22 Apr 2012 12:42 pm: Maesto is great and cannot express about him in words. His music is a soothing effect / remedy for day to day life complexes. Not like to stop even after repeated listenings. Some addicting magic in his songs and not seen in other musicians. So we like his musics done in 70’s, 80’s & 90’s etc. Thanks to God for getting chance to enjoy his musics.
madurai mouli 7 Apr 2012 11:20 am: We, the Tamilians are gifted by having been born here., Sivaji ,Kamal., Ilayaraja.,Kannadasan-the supremoes in their art ,world class,,who could only be duplicated,not replaced.
Anamika 12 Feb 2012 10:19 am: paaraamal pona pournami ellaam pariththu kodukkum oruvan kaelaamal pona paadalai ellaam thiratti kodukkum oruvan…
vikram 21 May 2011 4:03 pm: i like these songs i always listen at night ………
Baskar 14 Apr 2011 1:03 pm: I got 30/30. Was not easy. Some songs gave a very tough time especially 1 and 26. Great work Mr.Anand. It was like getting transported to the past.
natesan 9 Jun 2011 2:11 pm: got 23.. couldn find 4,11,15-17,20 & 23
kagithan 8 Jan 2011 5:00 pm: help me for 8 and 22
kagithan 8 Jan 2011 5:19 pm: one more to go shortly i’ll reach 30. thank you anand.
sathish 25 Feb 2011 5:31 pm: I have scored 29/30. Thanks Anand for wonderul work u have made.
g.s.rajan 29 Apr 2011 9:26 am: It is excellent.I have scored30/30
Vikram 7 May 2011 8:34 pm: I Scored 20/30
beulah 26 May 2011 6:48 am: i scored 29/30 :)
Dhiwakar 8 Aug 2011 11:20 pm: Please tell me the film of below song: Kaalangaathalae oru velai illame siru kallori pen pinnal sutrum kadal mamavane
gayathiri 26 Aug 2011 3:56 pm: im great fan of raja sir………legend of music………………i got 29/30…………..i dnt knw 2 find song 18……………great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hariram 17 Aug 2011 11:33 am: Raja rajathi rajan intha ilayaraja
George 11 Sep 2011 4:02 pm: Isaignani is a god of music
Sophia 14 Oct 2011 8:14 am: Loved the quiz! got a complete score.. and ur collection of maestroz music is cool too.
arun 15 Dec 2011 5:55 am: very good
Kannan 24 Oct 2011 10:36 am: Excellen collections. Got full score… Actually this is kids play for hardcore IR fan like me. Thanks.
Rajesh 3 Mar 2011 10:28 am: Hi I’m looking for an 1980’s ilayaraja song which goes like this “Kabiniyae, kabiniyae….unnnadum…vandaen.” Can you please help me get the right song /film details, so I can track it or download from somewhere?
p.niroshi 14 Jun 2012 3:26 pm: i wish to hear again the ilayaraja songs i knew all the songs but i typed the name it could not accept although i don’t bother about it because i love the all songs.
Vijay 16 Jan 2012 3:33 am: Feel gifted to exist and share the world with a genius like Ilayaraja.
suren 17 May 2012 1:44 pm: Good Collection
reghuram 23 Mar 2012 4:59 am: Raja sir is Nature’s grand living sound instrument. The sequence of notes that hit one’s heart comes so effortlessly to this maestro that one remains possessed for the entire time listenng to his music. I am particularly awe-struck at all the intro bgms of Raja sir. They have a unique pattern which no other can imitate nor fathom. to cite an example just listen to the intro of the Nalinakanthi piece “enthan nenjil nee thane”. Raja sir has that uncanny knack of picking up the key notes of a raga which will not be revealed until the actual pallavi is heard. In fact his into bgms are itself a great rpertoire for research on chors and carnatic music.
R. Vidhya from Thanjavur 6 Mar 2012 1:47 pm: Ilayaraja Sir is like a guru to me. With his songs only I get interested into music. I am thankful to God to hear his music especially rerecoding and orchaestration. Thanks to share with everyone.
Jeyaprakash 5 May 2012 2:05 pm: Got 30 out of 30, I really enjoyed it
s.karthik 16 Feb 2012 6:44 pm: ILAYARAJA IS GENIUS AND HE IS BRAHMMA OF MUSIC
venkatrajan 2 Mar 2012 6:14 pm: illayaraja the grammar of music.he is the heart pain reliever by his music
Ganesh from N’Castle 29 Feb 2012 6:52 pm: 30/30, grown up with Illayaraja music. Part of life. For every song there has been special and unforgettable occasions and moments. Those days we our friends are very much eager to hear new songs, For us cassettes are expensive, In our town (Pudukkottai) one Tea shop who owned by Sathya ( He resembles Sathya Kamal having beard and styled like Kamal, so we call him Sathya) bought new releases we all our friends top up there hear music with ‘Dhum’ and Tea for more than an hour. 80 ’s are the years which never come back again with full of joy and carefree attitude… Nothing But Raja’s Muzik…
Bala 20 Jan 2012 2:23 am: Ilayaraja sir is a god to me. He is the best musician in the world
mathi 16 Jan 2012 12:53 am: Ilayaraja is Gods Gift.
Arun Kumar MK 25 Aug 2012 8:24 am: No. 23 - Naan oru ponnoviyum kanden - Is it the movie Kadhal oviyum or Kannil theriyum kadhaigal? Anand, as usual outstanding stuff. I grew listening to these songs a million times. It did not take me more than 2 or 3 seconds to catch a song
thambidi 21 Jul 2012 9:21 pm: Dear anand ,Thanks a lot.30 /30 Expecting more quiz 1975 to 1990
Murali Deena 13 Jun 2011 3:25 pm: Listening to the songs (music) first few seconds also making me to enjoy it a lot… I could find all the songs first line.. But not the movie names.. Great collection. Thanks.
Anuja Nair 10 Jul 2012 9:18 am: Chanceless, What a legend, he is…..God’s gift to Indian music. Even a child will turn silent hearing his music. No words to describe…a heavenly feeling hearing his music. Should see him atleast once in my lifetime.
sarankumar 12 Aug 2012 7:32 am: ilayaraja is music god
Kaushalram 20 Aug 2012 11:22 pm: Thanks a Lot. Please can someone tell the answer for 1, 10 & 26. Theriyama mandey vedichirum..
a.m.basha 2 Aug 2012 9:28 am: i love heart raja
guru 5 Oct 2012 4:58 am: illayarajr is a gift for entair music fans
Malarvannan 8 Sep 2012 1:51 pm: Great Stuff… got 29/30, Whats 26?
Chenbagaraman Natarajan 24 Oct 2012 8:54 pm: Song7 - Kilakku vasal, song8- Michael Madhan kamaraj, and Song26 - Kozhi Kuvuthu..does not give a green to me –Y?
gopi 8 Jan 2013 5:12 pm: Thankyou for the Quiz. I got 30/30
Guitar chords 30 Nov 2012 8:50 am: I like all this songs and also the quiz..
Ravindran 30 Nov 2012 5:25 pm: Very Good Collection. Thanks for your Effort.
Hemamalini 15 Jan 2013 7:34 am: Nice collections. What are the answers for Nos. 1, 11, 21, and 22? It was very nice answering the questions.
venkatkrishnan 16 Jan 2013 8:33 am: song ,padiva thendrala .from move ,mudivala arampam. excellent guitar cords, and high frequienced drums ,i like this songs every time ,thank you
Panimalar 17 Jan 2013 11:05 am: Gud collections. luking forward for more quizes like this.
sasi kumar.P 21 Apr 2013 7:30 am: It is very good idea, i am interested very much, every one loves raja sir will get 30/30
Senthil 2 Apr 2015 4:15 pm: Wonderful collection from website…hats off admin.
Valavan 15 Mar 2016 11:56 am: Hi! Eswar, I was also looking for the same song for years and finally go it. It is from the movie “Vazhkai”. You can download video at You tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qveg840rPDY. The song starts with “mella mella ennai thottu”
Prabhakar 8 Oct 2019 4:12 pm: @Eswar, 24– I think the movie you are referring to is valzkai and the song is mella mella enai thotu

Tamil Songs - 1975s

Tue, 09 May 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Ilayaraja scored Annakkili in 1975, and ruled Tamil film music for 15 years as isai gnaani. He took the mantle from MSV, who continued to score great melodies until 1980.

Here is the background music from some hit songs between 1975 - 1980. Can you guess which movie they are from? (Some films appear twice)

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Anonymous 9 May 2006 8:36 am: 17/20 5 songs not playing are 1,4,7,19&23 9,12,22- not got but i think will get if i come back later and try i struggled a lot for 5 spelliing got the song before the first second got over same for 18 but its not accepting my spelling maybe u can hv a few more options isai inban oh btw the quiz is good fun thanks
S Anand 9 May 2006 8:41 am: Oops, looks like I forgot to upload those 5. I’ll get that done by 6pm GMT.
Kaps 9 May 2006 9:56 am: Anand, The boxes are not turning green for 18. I think you need to provide more spelling options. I managed to find out that you have given a space between the two words for #6. even in #17 there is a space between the first two words. I also struggled a lot for 5. you should introduced an option with the letter t instead of k. any clues for songs 12, 21 & 22? I have also managed to find 17 / 20.
S Anand 9 May 2006 10:06 am: Funny, I thought I was ignoring spaces. I did think of the ’t’ option vs ‘k’ option for #5… will implement that. As for clues, I’m afraid I’m at office now – can’t hear the songs, and don’t remember the order. Will post clues by end of day.
zero 9 May 2006 10:16 am: At least a couple of songs are not playing right now. will come back later. Terrific stuff! Thanks.
S Anand 9 May 2006 10:51 am: Hopefully, it’s all fixed now.
zero 9 May 2006 11:41 am: 15/25. Failed - 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. Got 21 and 22 coz you said some movies appear twice ;). So, am not counting that. 18, 24 - the songs are way too obv, but i am struggling to recollect the films :(
Kaps 9 May 2006 11:47 am: Anand, 24/25 this time. I’m having problems cracking the spelling for #18. I’m quite confident of the movie. Once this is set right, my score would be a perfect 25. You might consider giving an option for the letter v instead of g in #23.
zero 9 May 2006 11:57 am: Death to me for not finding out 18.
Kaps, I guess Anand will not be considering that ;)
Googled for 24, the other got-the-song-not-the-movie one.
sudheer 9 May 2006 1:32 pm: I got only 7 movies right.. got a few more songs - without the movies.. but awesome quiz tho.. had good fun. thanks anand
Asa 9 May 2006 3:27 pm: I face problem in playing the song bits. I don hear any thing when I click the play button. Any pointers/help?
SLN 9 May 2006 8:21 pm: I got 23/25 on my own couldnt place 21 and 22. Still thinking, will try again later.
prakash 10 May 2006 2:10 am: 23/25
srivatsan 10 May 2006 2:45 am: song no. 18 is kanmaniye kadhal enbadhu from aarilirundhu arupadhu varai (that’s what i guess) but the answer doesn’t turn green?
zero 10 May 2006 5:05 am: prakash, you are right. It turns on for ‘aruvathu’
Vijay 10 May 2006 5:15 am: Try “aarilirundhu aruVadhu varai”.
sivaramakrishnan 10 May 2006 5:50 am: i got the spelling for 18.just spell it the way u wud speak out the name of the film.got 18/25
thennavan 10 May 2006 6:03 am: 25/25 once again confirming which era I belong to :-). Good selection of songs for all the periods.
Anonymous 12 May 2006 6:37 am: clue for #12 pls got the rest. isai inban
S Anand 12 May 2006 9:06 pm: 12: Kamal, K Balachander
hari 17 May 2006 12:26 pm: 15 points 3 with spellings mistakes
sambasivam 15 Mar 2009 7:10 am: first quiz in which i got full marks. dear anand, keep going
kamesh 16 Apr 2009 4:17 am: song no.7 not playing, and i could able to find out no.21, i think the song is cholam vidaikayile from 16 vayathinile it seems. any one let me know.i got 23/25. anand superb quiz. keep going
Mina 16 Oct 2009 5:40 am: Good one Anand. I too struggled with #5, but the “t” vs “k” option was a giveaway. TQ
Sujatha 16 Sep 2009 6:33 am: Got 25/25.Make it harder.
Saku 8 Nov 2010 2:17 am: good one.. except for the slight juggling for spelling for 21.. Isn’t it ’t’ instead of ‘v’?
paramesh 23 Jul 2011 12:09 pm: i got 25 correct . very nice
Kannan 24 Oct 2011 11:28 am: Two scores from the same song (12 and 14). I could not identify 21….feel bad
Panimalar 17 Jan 2013 11:22 am: Got 24/25. Can anyone tell me the answer to song #9..sounds familiar but unable to find it.