Malayalam Film Music

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Pallaavoor dhEvanaarayanan:

Another album by Raveendran. After a slightly depressing work in "ayaaL kathaiyezuthugaiyaaNu", I had my doubts. Here is a review and preview of the songs.

PoliyO poli: (4/10) mood - upbeat, lead tune - classical - raga - madhyamaavathi

It is now fashionable for the heroes of the films to prove their mettle in singing too. Sometimes we get an output that is pleasant and sometimes an output not worth a mention. This song falls in the middle The song set in the raga madhyamaavathi had been "tried" by mammootty. The song starts with an old man (probably thilakan - who is the mallu equivalent Vijayakumar in tail) sating a few "words" and you instantly get a feeling of discomfort. Anyway, after that initial ride on this rough voice, mammootty sings the first line with a bass guitar' support and vocal harmony. After this comes a garland of beats - a really good variation using tabla and drums. This is the most appealing part of the song for me. The rest of the song is set almost fully on tabla. The interludes are tolerable. Mammotty's voice is like a 10 year kid 's practicing varnam or geetham If anybody has heard "Vannaathip puzaiyudE theeraththu", he can immediately recognize that the line " poliyO poli pOkkil;E naakkilE" going in tune with "thiruvaathiraiyil sree paarvathiyaai". Madhyamaavathi is one raagam where unless the composer is a genius, not anything new can be churned out. The tabla beats in the song are pretty much like punjabi bhangra. The shehnaai usage is arbitrary. My suggestion is that you may try this song for partying.

(2) VaarththingaLaal: (8/10) mood - ruthrathaaNdavam like - lead tune - classical -raga - hindhOLam

A GEM in Raveendran's repertoire. Set in the raga hindhOLam, I can hardly find an anya swaram. To my naive ears the song seems to be carnatically pure. But one cannot escape "azagu malar aada" - atamil song from "vaidhEhi kaaththirunthaaL" by IR slowly creeping into the mids. As I mentioned already, it is difficult to carve out a melody from a pentatonic raga very different from the existing songs. This song is a perfect example of how a composer of raveendran's calibre can tune a song in a common raga but give a totally different dimension through a good orchestration. The song has two versions - solo(KJY) and a duet(KJY, KSC).

Though one of the biggest fans of KJY, I must admit that the gamakam in KJY's voice is almost nil The swara sanchaaras at the end of the song lack flavour of both KJY and raagam There are a couple of places where his swara rendition is just like a talk. In his heydays, songs like "nakshathra dheepangaL" which are capable of giving any singer a kick, came to him as if they are his most obedient pets. The gamakam and bassy command that he expressed in those kinds of songs are totally lacking now. He sounds very much strained.

Coming out the interludes of the song, the first interlude needs a mention here there is a line which is a note-by-note flick of "Saamaja varagamana" (the fiddle). But the flute and the violins give a richness. The second intelrude has a variety of thaLa structures, but here too the fiddle part has been flicked from a tamil song " malarO nilavO malaimagaLo". The ending portion "G M M D N S G M M D N S G M M D N S". This song has been rendered by JEyachandran. It is one heck of a long interlude.

The final portion of the song has the swaras of KJY which are not so attractive.

(3) ElapulayantE (7/10): mood - song in a paddy field probably and upbeat - lead tune - classic

This is beautiful folksy song set in a two ragas. The first one seems to be naattak kurinji as it reminds heavily of "oru murai vanthu paarththaayaa" and "kaNNaamoochchi yEnada" but once it changes beat it jumps to brindhaavaNi. The violins in the interlude give you no clue as to what is going on during the transition from one raga to the other. But it sounds great. The final flute piece is worth hearing more than twice. A fantastic but fast paced delilvery of brindhaavani.

A qualm I have is the harsh choral harmony that raveendran uses in most of his songs. He should reconsider. A worthy number.

(4) Pularinilaavu7/10) mood -classical lead tune - classical

A song set predominanly in madhyamaavathi with a hell lot of anya swaras. A song worthy of being in our collection. The greatness of the song is in the differences "santham" or "meter" that raveendran effects through out the song. A semi-classical, establishing the title of the movie.

(5) Mridhanga jathi:

Not much to say as it is just jathi. A connoisseur of mridhangam may appreciate if he is capable of imagining a dancer of Dhivyaa uNNi's calibre in his eyes

(6) Sanchara ratha: KJY

Once again does not invoke a comment as it is set in pancha vaadhyam of which I am not a big fan. But raveendran plays his stamp all over by the variation in thaaLa and the tune. The tune is vague and gives no idea as to what ragam it could be though I could hear something similar to thOdi at the end. KJY SOUNDS GREAT !

All these songs (mp3 clips) can be found at:

http://www.myplay.com

Send me a mail if you are interested. Will tell you login & password.

Enjoy !