18. MAATHA UN KOVILIL

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18. MAATHA UN KOVILILE

An unprecedented event took place in the history of Tamil films songs, and that has been very close to the heart of Ilayaraja. When Ilayaraja composed music for any song, he paid much attention to the singers that he selected. As he entered the cine field, he had concluded to use singers like P. Suseela, S. Janaki, SP Bala, Jesudass and Malaysia Vasudevan. He was right, as these were the singers who brought out the best of Ilayaraja’s imagination. The female singer who was able to capture and reproduce the imagination of Raja to almost perfection was S. Janaki.

While composing the song MAATHA UN KOVILILE in Mahalakshmi Coimboines
ACHAANI, something unexpected took place. The song was practiced once and the next was to be the final take. The band was ready, and as soon as the cue was given they started to play the prelude. Things went well. Then S. Janaki started to sing. As soon as she went into the first charanam, the melody went haywire and the tune was off tangent. Then all of a sudden the musicians stopped playing. S. Janaki was blinking in shock. Raja was furious! They wanted to know what went wrong. From the recording room, he enquired as to why they all had stopped playing the music. As Raja approached the musicians, he was informed that they were completely mesmerised by the golden and most enchanting voice of Janaki that they forgot themselves and finally forgot the tune as well. Raja just smiled at S. Janaki and she very politely smiled with acknowledgement. This time they were set to record again. In the second recording all of them- S. Janaki and the musicians went one more scale higher to do a better job!. That song became a super hit.

(Such an event had never taken place in the history of the Tamil films. It was only in Samboorna Ramayana an event quite similar to this did take place. When CS Jayaraman was singing the song “INRU PI NAALAI VAARAAI” the sound engineer was completely at loss with the beauty of the tune and the emotional presentation of the singer, that he forgot to switch off the engine even seconds after the singing was over.)

Listen to 'maadha un kovilil' (http://tfmpage.com/cgi-bin/song.pl?id=mani-18.2)
I have three songs where S. Janaki is simply at her best. Violin and Veena seem to blend almost perfectly well in this great song. It seems Ilayaraja himself had taken a liking for this song. One may also remember that Raja had composed few songs on Christian theme and this is about the best, along with Devanin Thiruchabai Malarkal in Avar Enakke Sontham. Apart from the above, PAADAVAA UN PPADALAI from Naan Paadum Paadal was an excellent piece. The other is KATRIL ENTHAN GEETHAM from Johnny. We booked a female singer to sing the Johnny Song. She did well at the rehearsal, but could not perform on the actual day, as she admitted that the song is indeed and impossible piece for singer, let alone newcomers.

My personal opinion is that Kaatril Enthan Keetham is still a better song. So I chose this song for the show. I find three elements contribute to the success of the song- the musical works, meaning the tune, the background music which is simply and exceedingly haunting, and the full emotions with which S. Janaki sang this song. After the song Singara Velane Deva in Konjum Salangai, this song, I believe must have been the most difficult for Janaki. Again it is my opinion that S. Janaki was the most appropriate choice for this song. Johny shall always be remembered for this song. The song is a crowning glory for the movie.

As the rehearsal was on, I was mesmerised and this time I forgot myself- honestly. It is such masterpieces that have made Raja an immortal figure in the arena of Tamil film music. My question is who gets the credit for the super performance of the song- Raja or Janaki. It is quite difficult to divide the credit. I see it as a perfect combination of a team effort.

I hope TFM Team could provide all the three songs.


Kaatril enthan geetham
kANAtha ondrai theduthey (2)
Alai poley .. ninaivaaga
chillendru veesum maalai neyra
(Kaatril)

Engengum inbam adhu kolam poda
EnnuLLa veenai oru raagam theyda
AnbuLLa nenjai kANAtho
Aanantha RAgam pAdAtho
Kangal Yengum
Nenjin sogam .. MEylum yEtrum (Kaatril)

Nillendru sonnal manam nindral podhum
Neengatha nenjil Alai Oyinthaal podhum
Mounaththin RAgam kELAtho ..
Mounaththin ThALam podatho ..
Vazhum kAlam yavum ingey nenjam ThEdum
(Katril)


Listen to 'kaatril endhan geetham' (http://tfmpage.com/cgi-bin/song.pl?id=mani-18.1)

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Mani sir,
who is the lyricist for 'maadha un kovil'. This song really rends your heart when Janaki 'thaayendru unnaith thaan piLLaikku kaattinEn'. There are not that many songs in which people are emotionally/personally involved with Divine figures (somebody post if they know better, this is an interesting cultural phenomenon). The only other song that comes to my mind is KVM's gangai karai thOttam ..though less serious, but equally moving considering the helplessness of a lovestruck woman with Lord Krishna.

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Mani Sir

Thanks for the write up

Madha un Koyilil is by 'Vaali'

Bala

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Maatha un kovillale -entha padam sir ??

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Mumbai Ramki

maatha Un Kovilile in ACHAANI

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I can't seem to locate 'paadava un paadalai' in my collection. If anyone has an .mp3, pls send it to rrprivate-tfm at yahoo dot com. The other two are up.

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Naan Paadum Paadal - Paadava Un Paadalai is available here
http://web.music.coolgoose.com/music/song.php?id=102225

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jeeves

Thank you so much. Now the list is complete.

manisekaran

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Manisekaran,
Thanks. These three are definitely great numbers, especially "Maatha Un Kovilil" and "Kaartil Endan Geetham". However amongst the many real complex songs composed by IR and rendered excellently by Janaki, I would rate "Pon Vaanam Panneer Thoovudu Inneram" from "Indru Nee Naalai Naan" (forget the pathetic picturisation of the song showing the widowed Lakshmi dancing in the rain in 'viraga daapam', with Sivakumar doing his trademark senseless, distorted, facial expressions, again trying to portray his version of viraga daapam) and "Sangeethame En Jeevane" from Kovil Pura as very important numbers that appeal to both the lay person and the technically-tuned listener. In my opinion, not many singers (amateur or professional) can do justice to these songs.

I'm not sure if these do feature in your pick, but thought I'd highlight them nevertheless.

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Adding to the Listing of Ras
'AZHAGU MALAR AADA , ABHINAYANGAL KOODA ...'
from VAIDHEHI KATHIRUNTHAAL.

Manisekaran, Also I remember faintly, SONG 'MAATHA UN KOVILIL' brought IR and Kannadasan more close. Also I remember that BELL sound in this song has some story. While recording IR created some news about this BELL. If somebody knows, pls throw some light on this matter.


Regards

M Madhanraj

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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.

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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...

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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)

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kadavuL uLLamE (anbuLLa rajnikAnth) is sung by Latha Rajnikanth & chorus

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Mani Sir ,
Thanks alot for the Madha Kovik song .......These are just gems !!!!

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``Thenil Aadum roja
Poonthendral Aadakkandeyn...``

Another great song by Ilayaraja. Any idea about the movie?

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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 (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_Nikolaus_Forkel
)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach (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 ;)

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How come Deva doesn't have one :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilayaraja

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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 :-))

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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