MAESTRO ILAIYARAAJA NEWS & TITBITS VER.2010-2011

[thumburu]

veteran hubber complicateur's recent article in Chennai Times - makes for an interesting read.
http://complicateur.blogspot.com/201...l-trinity.html

[app_engine]

From a link jaiganes posted in Kamal thread in TF section :

Vannanilavan on the making of 'avaL appadiththAn':

Ilayaraja was an upcoming music director then. He used to be present right on dot at 8.00 am, on the days when he was to score music, along with Gangai Amaran. They would come to the office of Kumar Arts, together. Ilayaraja used to just roll one tune after the other from his harmonium even in those days, endlessly.

[raagas]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/e...ow/8024036.cms

Happi to release in Black & White on May 20th.

which means, the audio should be releasing anytime now (or should have been released by now).

[vel]

sooper hit'nnganna!! Sengaathu Boomiyilae...

[raagas]

Vel,

From that video, we can gather that there are 5 songs in the film and 2 of them seem to be melodies. Interesting! looking forward to the album. Is it out in the stores?

[vel]

raagas, CD releases on April 23rd

[Sureshs65]

sooper hit'nnganna!! Sengaathu Boomiyilae...

yov. ennaya nadakkudhu. We don't even know such a film exists and suddenly the music is released !!! Sounds good from what I heard. The recording is quite good. Let's hope that they don't do a 'Ponnar Shankar' again !!! (Anyway, by listening to the clips of 'Sengaathu Bhoomile' I can clearly 'see' both the sides of the argument now itself )

[Sureshs65]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/e...ow/8024036.cms

Happi to release in Black & White on May 20th.

which means, the audio should be releasing anytime now (or should have been released by now).

High hopes raagas. Going by the 'Ponnar Shankar' experience it will not be a surprise if the audio releases (if it does) after the movie releases But to be honest, I am also looking forward to the music of 'Happi' to see what Raja has done in Hindi after 'Paa'. Let's hope they release it soon. ('SRK' is totally shelved now I guess. No hope there.) Which brings us to the Marathi movie for which Raja had toured Maharashtra. No news on that yet. Maybe they will also release it suddenly? With Raja, you never know

[vel]

alov, surprising you were not aware of sengaathu boomiyilae - http://tamil.galatta.com/entertainme...ile_46357.html

[raagas]

High hopes raagas. Going by the 'Ponnar Shankar' experience it will not be a surprise if the audio releases (if it does) after the movie releases But to be honest, I am also looking forward to the music of 'Happi' to see what Raja has done in Hindi after 'Paa'. Let's hope they release it soon. ('SRK' is totally shelved now I guess. No hope there.) Which brings us to the Marathi movie for which Raja had toured Maharashtra. No news on that yet. Maybe they will also release it suddenly? With Raja, you never know

Same here Suresh. Happi is the album I am looking forward to because it is special on many counts:

1. Raaja's Hindi album - To see what Raaja does in Hindi where tamil tunes are not rehashed (i think this film has fresh tunes). So it is like starting with a clean slate, on an unfamiliar territory.

2. collaboration with a Hindi/North India based film-maker - I always wanted to see what the film-makers based in Bombay/delhi would like hear from Raaja. What can they extract from him? Or rather what can Raaja deliver to their sensibilities? Given that he somehow could not make any significant inroads into Hindi film music (despite being respected by them), this film is a litmus test to see if he can tame that game or not. His previous hindi films are mostly by South Indian film-makers (Balu Mahendra, Kamal Haasan, Ramgopal Varma and Balki - tamilian anyway,though he made hindi films). Somewhere, Raaja understood their thoughts and the language of their needs and catered accordingly. But this time - it is a different game.

3. Sensibilities of film-maker - Bhavana Talwar's previous film 'Dharm' did impress me. Though Raaja has some experience of working with women film-makers (no discrimination as such, but it is always interesting to see the taste of a woman film-maker) such as the lady who made Vishwa Tulasi, this time, he is collaborating with a woman film-maker (who is into non-commercial films) whose preferences seem to be western classical music and the music of S.D.Burman & Madan Mohan (from the interview of Bhavana Talwar).

4. Experimental Film - This is a non-commercial/experimental/parallel cinema kind of film that is now being turned into Black & white. The songs are sung by lead actor Pankaj Kapoor, who has probably never sung before.

Given these factors and context, in my opinion, this should be the most awaited album for Ilaiyaraaja fans. If Raaja breaks the myth (that he couldnt cater to Hindi sensibilities), then it could be a big turning point for his career as well. I am doubtful if the film will be successful enough to spin its music sales too. But still, if music lovers appreciate the album - it will be an achievement and prove his detractors wrong.