Lullaby of the Breeze!

Tamizh Cinema Music has seen very different male voices.

Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Chinnappa,Dandapani Desigar,Gantasala,Trichy Loganathan,T M Soundararajan, Seergazhi Govindarajan,S P Balasubramaniam,Yesudass,Jeyachandran, Malaysia Vasudevan....It is a huge list.

One of the most unique voices was that of Chidambaram S.Jayaraman's. Not only was the voice very deep and resonant but also that it was melodious.It also has the rare distinction of Sivaji Ganesan's 'First Voice' in films.

A little known fact is that C.S.Jayaraman was a very close relative of the present Chief Minister of Tamizh Nadu.

Now let us look at a very contrasting voice. This voice was not 'pure' in the classical sense and had its own weaknesses. But the best part was that the singer knew his strengths and his weaknesses and added beauty to the compositions of Raja right from the beginning until the mid '80s.

An interesting fact is that his voice was found suitable for Sivaji later on and he lent his voice for some of the super hits in the Sivaji-Raja combination.

'Muthal Mariyathai' is a classic example.

Yes..I am referring to Malaysia Vasudevan.

Now why am I comparing the two?

It is because Malaysia Vasu has rendered a wonderful song imitating C S Jayaraman.

This song is one of my personal favourites.

It is 'Aananda Thaen Kaatru Thaalaatuthe..' from 'Manipur Maamiyaar'(1980).

‘Manipur Maamiyaar?’ Yes..Don’t know if it had to do anything with the N.E. issues now because this film was never released.

In fact the comedy song ‘Samayal Paadame’(the original of ‘Enna Samayalo’) is also from the same movie.

‘Aananda Thaen Kaatru’ is based on Hindolam and starts with a lovely humming of Shailaja. The Violin Orchestra takes over and the Flute bits at the end are enchanting.

Guitar, Flute and the Violins are in full form in the first interlude but my most favourite bit here is the end(is it piano?)..

The variations of Tisram beats sound wonderful in the Charanams.

Listen to the Bass notes in the second interlude and the modulation towards the end where the Raga changes.

Truly Amazing!

Yes, it is the lullaby of the Breeze!!

http://music.cooltoad.com/music/song.php?id=296916

Hindi in Tamizh!

Tamizh novelist Sivasankari can be called as the Arthur Hailey of Tamizh Nadu.
Before writing on any topic, she would spend months studying the subject.

She covered a wide range of topics which included alcoholism and drug addiction .,

While the former was filmed, the latter came out as a weekly serial(not a mega)on Doordarshan in late '80s.

In mid '70s she wrote a novel on cancer- aptly named as 'Nandu'.How this dreadful disease affects a peaceful family was the theme of the story.

A South Indian girl from a conservative family falls in love with a North Indian and they get married after the usual protests from both the families.

The couple manage to fight this cancer but not the one that attacked them.
First it is the husband who falls the victim.

Then it is the turn of the wife who fights it out bravely.. A gripping story indeed!

This story was adapted by the 'Uthirippookal' fame Mahendran.
One had great expectations..But can Tamizh cinema ever change?

The Ladies' sentiment played a big role and the movie ended with the death of the husband and the wife kicking herself and shedding tears (so much that the teardrops fromed a riverr.In fact the tears were also 'brilliantly' used to wipe her 'Sindoor' off.Wow! Ladies' sentiment at its best!).

Whatever be the quality of the movie, it gave us some excellent music.Two pure Hindi songs and two Tamizh songs.

We shall see the Hindi Songs today.

In fact, two songs were recorded by Raja but Mahendran was not too happy with the songs.

It was fresh composing again.

The linguist who also has a very sweet voice Shri.P B Shrinivas wrote the songs.

The duet was sung by the ghazal singer Bhoopender- himself a fan of Raja- and Janaki.

'Kaise Kahoon' is a wonderful melody with lovely beats.One cannot miss the meloncholy touch in this duet.

'Hum hai akhele' is a Qawali type song rendered by Janaki.Takes us to the old hindi songs era.

Listen to these and enjoy: