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Malaysian Deepavali Show - RAJANNA RAJA THAAN - From Annakkili to Azhagi

Topic started by Manisekaran (@ 202.156.2.8) on Sun Nov 7 05:23:27 EST 2004.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Last year I did a show on Ilayaraja for Deepavali. IT was so great a hit that the ASTRO Private TV Station is repeating on 9 NOvember at 4.00 pm Malaysian time. This is called RAJANNA RAJATHAAN- covering 25 years of Raja's music contribution. From Annakkili to Azhagi. A great hit. If you can, pls do catch it. You can post your comments on the show here, and I'll respond to them.
Thanks.

Archive of the older songs: http://forumhub.lunarpages.com/hub/f13.html .
If you want to post comments on older songs, pls go to this archive. There you'll find the previous songs/episodes indexed as separate threads. Post your comments on the appropriate thread.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: kumarr (@ 213.42.2.27) on: Tue Dec 14 06:41:40 EST 2004
  
  Ras, you very correctly said it.
  
  "Pon Vaanam Panneer Thoovudhu Inneram" is a great song by SJ and stands testimony to her versatility till date.
  
  I will only be surprised, if this is not part of the pick of Mani Sir.
  
  Her hummings in that song, are very difficult to replicate by any other singer.
  
  Sheer Voice Magic.
  
  She will drag the humming like anything and a sheer wonder and magic.
  
  In fact, I will rate this one ahead of the othet three mentioned by Mani Sir.
  
  Simple Reason, the other three songs have a tinge of sadness and pathos, whereas "Pon Vaanam Panneer Thoovudhu Inneram",though, Aekkam Niraindha Ondraaga Irundhaalum, is vibrant still.
  
  
• From: eden (@ 136.1.1.154) on: Tue Dec 14 10:03:06 EST 2004
  
  While all these songs by IR/SJ combo are great / mesmerising, I personally feel they are great melodic compositions basically and any one of the top singers (PS, KSC, VJ or Asha B / Latha M) could have done justice to most of them. Songs like sheNbagamE, EdhEdhO eNNam vaLarthEn, nAnoru sindhu etc. are equally moving.
  
  However, songs where SJ is incomparable are her duets with SPB! None can come anywhere closer to this combo!
  
  Ofcourse, there are some solo's as well where the basic composition is just above average but not sublime, SJ took them to greater heights. Examples : dEvan kOvil, deepam ondRu in nAn pAdum pAdal... or puththam pudhukkAlai in alaigal Oyvadhillai...
  
  
• From: eden (@ 136.1.1.154) on: Tue Dec 14 11:45:46 EST 2004
  
  However, I have to admit that Johny is a landmark album for IR and `kAtRil endhan geetham' a landmark song!
  
  'mAdha un kOvilil' is a nice melody (another song that comes to my mind of similar nature is the `kadavuL uLLamE Or karuNai illamE' of anbuLLa Rajinikanth which gives me goose pimples...BTW, who sang that? It's another proof that for a soul-stirring melody, any decent singer, even unknowns, can do justice)
  
  
• From: ttt (@ 192.160.6.252) on: Tue Dec 14 12:44:55 EST 2004
  
  kadavuL uLLamE (anbuLLa rajnikAnth) is sung by Latha Rajnikanth & chorus
  
  
• From: MumbaiRamki (@ 151.148.60.180) on: Tue Dec 14 13:39:39 EST 2004
  
  Mani Sir ,
  Thanks alot for the Madha Kovik song .......These are just gems !!!!
  
  
• From: Ayyappan (@ 165.91.179.139) on: Tue Dec 14 15:11:41 EST 2004
  
  ``Thenil Aadum roja
  Poonthendral Aadakkandeyn...``
  
  Another great song by Ilayaraja. Any idea about the movie?
  
  
• From: senthilv.com (@ 68.88.72.12) on: Tue Dec 14 15:47:12 EST 2004
  
  Manisekaran:
  
  Great info! The first charanam of 'maadha un kovilil' pierces your heart like a no steel rod can do. No wonder that the musicians stopped playing their instruments :)
  
  KATRIL ENTHAN GEETHAM and PAADAVAA UN PPADALAI were my favorites since my childhood! That’s before I consciously started to listen to music in very late 80’s ;)
  
  The mood and the feeling that comes out of IR-SJ combo are really amazing to me. Probably, they understand each other's musical acumen better.
  
  Earlier someone (Prabhudas?) in this thread asked about “mysterious” ability by Raaja to invoke a certain mood and feeling in his songs. Well, I came across couple of notes which might give an idea or throw some insight into this “mysterious” phenomenon.
  
  ------
  Denis Diderot is a French philosopher, writer, encyclopedist.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Diderot
  (The links are just for reference, the actual notes are taken from a different source)
  
  Notes on his music theory: “Diderot deduced the theory that compositional principles in vocal, and later in instrumetal music derived from the basic intonations of living emotional speech (as well as from sound phenomena perceived by our ancestors in surrounding nature)”
  
  Another note is from Nikolaus Forkel. He is a music theorist and I think he made Sebastian Bach well known and famous.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Nikolaus_Forkel
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach
  
  Forkel on Bach:
  
  “He (Bach) considered his voices as if they were persons who conversed together like a select company. If there were three, each could sometimes be silent and listen to others till it again has something to the purpose to say”
  ------
  
  We all know Bach is Raaja’s favorite composer and his music also reflects some of Bach’s ideas.
  
  An observation from these notes is human emotions (originally) give birth to music and great music is not derived from other music or musical forms. It has to come within the composer the emotional realm. So when we(listeners) listen to these songs we are consuming those emotions crystallized in a musical form. When you feel something in Raaja’s songs, you’re probably feeling the “feeling” felt by Raaja or S. Janaki when they did the song. No wonder everyone feels like they know them ;)
  
  
• From: Vazhipokkan (@ 40.0.40.10) on: Tue Dec 14 16:44:19 EST 2004
  
  How come Deva doesn't have one :)
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilayaraja
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 68.16.25.50) on: Tue Dec 14 16:57:24 EST 2004
  
  I can see why IR liked "maatha un kovilil" a lot. He just had to rehash the tune a little to give "Maniyosai kettu ezhundhu" a couple of years later :-))
  
  
• From: Manisekaran (@ 61.6.39.139) on: Tue Dec 14 19:53:05 EST 2004
  
  Ras and Kumar,
  
  Thank you your opinions on Pon Vaanam Panneer Thoovuthu Inneram. I agree that this song is great in its own way, but the songs that drew wider attention from Raja's fans were the three I had mentioned.
  
  The song that I wanted to highlight is actually Maadha Un Kovilil, as there is an unprecedented incident behind the song . Then I felt Kaatril Enthan Geetham adn Paadava En Paadalai also need to be mentioned 'in passing" all based on the popularity.
  
  You can see other readers are choosing some other songs of S. Janaki.
  
  Perhaps the song Pon Vaanam is a matter of personal taste, though it cannot be ruled out that the song is indeed haunting. The orchestration is great too.
  
  Manisekaran
  
  
  
• From: Manisekaran (@ 61.6.39.139) on: Wed Dec 15 01:44:36 EST 2004
  
  
  
  19. ILAYA NILAA POZHIGIRATHE
  
  As a child Ilayaraja had been singing along the roads in his village, especially the woods. He used to make the flute himself and play it. Then when he joined his paavalar Sahodararkal musical troupe he started to play harmonium. Once in Madras after 1968 he started to concentrate on playing guitar and harmonium.
  
  In Madras he was desperate to learn western music from the famous Master Danraj. It was this master Danraj from whom several other MDs like TK Ramamurthy had learnt western tunes and instruments. Most of Chandrababu’s western styled songs were composed by Master Danraj.
  
  Initially, Raja enrolled under Danraj to play only guitar. But Raja could not afford to pay the fee. So Raja had to sell off his own harmonium player to pay the fee. This news reached the Master. He was only too sad to learn of the state of affairs Raja was in. But he was equally proud to see the burning enthusiasm on the part of Ilayaraja. Raja was to come for the lessons twice in a week. But Master Danaraj allowed him to come any day, or even every day. Master Danaraj also allowed him to learn not only guitar, but all other western instruments as well. In his great magnanimity, Master Danaraj decided not to take fee from raja.
  
  Very soon Raja excelled in playing western tunes. We know that Raja won Gold Medal from the London Trinity College for excelling in guitar.
  
  Then raja found himself as assistant to GK Vengkatesh. He was playing with other band members. Whenever other members went for lunch, raja used to stay back and play and practice with the assistance of some of his friends. It was to that extent that Raja had a strong ambition to prove a point.
  
  
  When KOVAITHAMBY produced PAYANANGAL MUDIVATHILLAI, there was ample situation for some of the best songs. In fact all the seven songs in this movie happened to be hits. Yet one song has to be singled out for the most beautiful way in which raja gave life to guitar. As much as violin was enslaved by Kunnakkudi Vaithianathan, Raja enslaved guitar to his command. In this song raja was simply at his very best. The song must be listened to from the original film sound track. It is longer and even much better. The song and the interludes had been cut off in the vinyl record.
  
  In my opinion that was the song that had the longest prelude and interlude using guitar. I remember how much the guitar players themselves took a great liking for this landmark song of Raja. It is most unfortunate again that raja never repeated guitar performance set tot his beauty in other songs. Bits did surface in EN Iniya Pon Nilaave in MOODU PANI. But Ilaya Nilla Pozhigirathe is simply incomparable to any other of his guitar songs.
  
  
  This is the first film where a cut out was made for Ilayaraja. He was again the first MD to have been given a cut out. It was a name recognition, nay name consolidation movie for Raja. The movie ran for 250 days! Remember Mohan too grew under the limelight of Ilayaraja, with this movie giving him a complete breakthrough.
  
  ilaiya nilaa pozhigaradhae idhayam varai nanaigiradhae
  ulaap poagum maegam kanaak kaanudhae vizhaakkaanudhae vaanamae
  (ilaiya nilaa)
  
  
  varum vazhiyil pani mazhaiyil paruva nilaa dhinam nanaiyum
  mugileduththu mugam thudaiththu vidiyum varum nadai pazhagum
  vaana veedhiyil maega oorvalam kaanumboadhilae aarudhal tharum
  paruva magal vizhigalilae kanavu varum
  
  (ilaiya)
  
  mugilinangal alaigiradhae mugavarigal tholaindhanavoa
  mugavarigal thavariyadhaal azhudhidumoa adhu mazhaiyoa
  neela vaanilae velli oadaigal oaduginradhae enna jaadaigal
  vin veliyil vidhaiththadhu yaar nava manigal
  
  (ilaiya)
  
  
  I remember even non Tamil speaking guitarists in Malaysia were moved to give glowing tributes to Ilayaraja for what they considered a masterpiece. This song made them lookout and dig the background of Ilayaraja.
  
  
• From: Sharath (@ 203.190.152.34) on: Wed Dec 15 02:39:35 EST 2004
  
  Mani Sir,
  
  I am posting a message for the first time here in this forum.
  
  Ilaya Nila is one of my all-time fav songs from the Maestro.
  
  Just a week back I played that song to my marathi room-mate and convinced that this is the original and the Kishore-kumar's Neele Neele Ambar par was a copied version.
  
  More than the song, which is absolutely out of the world, I like the finishing Guitar touch of this song and I re-play that section again and again.
  
  Thanks for the interesting background information on the song and on the Maestro.
  
  Just one small question, I read somewhere that when Maestro won Gold Medal from the London Trinity College for excelling in guitar, he was regarded as one among the top 10 Guitarists in the world that time.
  
  I also remember reading somewhere that the Maestro's favorite instrument is the Guitar and the most popular photo of his in cassettes and CDs is him with the Guitar.
  
  I think, even in the movie Manasellam, when Srikanth sings the "Chinna Kuyile" song.. his table will have the photo of the Meastro with a guitar in his hand.
  
  I think this will be a healthy thread to discuss more on Ilayaraja and his guitar.
  
  

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