The Sunday Kalyani..

Recently, Ilaiyaraaja composed music for a tamil film,"Oru Naal Oru Kanavu". My sunday morning began with this album.i had this album in my previous hard-disk which crashed. thankfully, i remembered the film name and immediately got hold of it yesterday.

i jumped out of my bed and played the best song of the album ," Kaatril Varum Geethamae". Sung by ilaiyaraaja's current favourite shreya Goshal, along with his previous fav sadhana sargam,bhavatharini & hariharan, this fantastic song is set in "kalyani" and very beautifully crafted with simple chords. the instruments used in this song are keyboards(synthesizers) & flute only..along with the basic rhythm(percussion instruments) like tabla.

the wonderful start, sets the feel followed by a very simple 1st interlude(quite Un-ilaiyaraaja-like) on keyboards.then,1st charanam..this charanam is backed by key-board chords intelligently..if what i have noticed is right..the keyboard just supports the vocal part..after 1st line(which connects the 2nd line with a s.d.burmansque flute) the aalaap just elevates the classical feel in the song. and the way he ends the charanam(logically)..it is as if he is completing the crescendo.

the 2nd interlude has flute playing basic notes of this raaga.the tune of 2nd charanam is different from the first one..yet, so beautifully composed...there is some sense of maturity reflecting in it..the charanam gets into some swara-jugglery finally coming back to Pallavi.

the beauty of this song lies in its simplicity in handling the raaga..forget purists, even a lay man feels so cool listening to this song that he just wants to sit back..close his eyes and enjoy the rasa.there are no heavy/elaborate orchestrations..no frills...with more emphasis on vocals and the composition as such..
the 1st time i heard this song, i was really dumb and folded my hands bowing to the invisible ilaiyaraaja infront of me. i bet, u will keep humming this tune, after listening to it only once.and then, you would be playing it..on & on...
(check it @ raaga )

Today, Ilaiyaraaja has reached a stage where he doesnt need to prove things to anyone.Yet, he does...
Salute the Emperor