Monday, September 26, 2005

Wondrous AR

Yes, I am talking about Rehman!! I am literally spellbound by the ‘Mayiliragae’ song. It is certainly one of the most beautifully woven spell in the air. It falls under the simple songs genre—simple in terms of usage of the orchestration. It’s an amazing blend of North and South. And, I never imagined Tabla and Thavil would compliment each other so well.

Even the non-apparent but significant cymbals (jinggu cha) are a treat to follow! I am sure each of the performers would have been on cloud nine when they were performing for this song—especially the rise in the tempo of the Thavil and Nadaswaram bit just before the second half of the song. In fact, the Thavil and the Nadaswaram are the inseparables—like the letters ‘Q’ and ‘U’ of English.

Talking about the vocals—none other than Rehman can use Madhushree’s voice in a better way. Be it the song from Aiyudha Ezhuthu or this one in Ah Aah. It is just the perfect example of how good or bad a voice can sound when in the hands of different music directors. And except for a few places, even Naresh Iyer has also mellifluously sung the song.

The pallavi of this song, ‘mayiliragae mayiliragae vardugirai ennai…’, which in the broader sense means that the touch of his or her beloved is similar to the magical and the lovely feel of the caress of a peacock feather. Believe me, the tones in their voices evoke similar emotions on the people who listen to the song!

I shouldn’t be talking about the ‘Maramkothhiyae’ song on this occasion, but I am compelled to as this is an amazing concept per se. Again Rehman excels in the remixed version of his own wondrous slow-tempo song, ‘Mayiliragae’. Each of two songs is unique but still each song is as dependent on each other like the steps of a ladder. Together they act in tandem to elevate the listener to a higher plane and both the songs compliment each other well in its characteristics.

Rehman for sure has craftily created a musical treat—at least for me!!

20 comments:

Prabha said...

hello :)
Wuz listening to something else...
as soon as i read this immediately switched songs :)

wookie said...

which movie is this one from? And what does mayiliragae mean?

vashok said...

I have almost lost touch with recent Tamil songs. I try listening to some new songs, find them too "harsh" and overdrawn and then finally give up and go back to the tried and tested Ilaiyaraja in the 90's and some of Rehmans earliest tunes. So I would really appreciate if u could post something on a list of good to great new tam songs.....

reNUka said...

hey prabha!!!! how are u doing? :-)
thanks for switching over... i would encourage as many people as i can, especially because i smhow feel this is too classy for normal listening. and rehman always creates excellently classy pieces and smtimes it goes unnoticed!! :-(

hey wookie!! this song is from the tamil film 'Ah Aah'--rehman's latest film. and 'mayiliragu' means 'peacock feather' :-)
mayiliragae means 'O! peacock feather'
varudugirai means 'caressing'
ennai means 'me'
(the 'you' is hidden over here).

hi ashok!! :-)
will need some time to compile them - can u gimme a day or two?

S m i t h a said...

u did to me, what u did to Prabha. switched songs immediately :D
very good review, would have never noticed the things u mentioned otherwise.
did i mention i have met ARR :D well, not over a cup of tea, discussing music or something.. but sat 5ft away from him at Bombay airport :P

Krish said...

Thats a nice song...a very soothing and lyrics-wise a good composition...though I am not too much entralled by the Voice!..a nice song I must say!

Krish said...

BTW, I think it is "Mayiliragae, Mayiliragae, Varudughiraai, Mella"..there isnt any "ennai" in the song!:P

reNUka said...

hi ashok - here it comes...
these are just a few that i managed to gather and write about
Suttum vizhi sudarae – Ghajini
– Sriram Parthasarthy is intonates brilliantly in the latter half of the song and the rhythm is subtle but stunning!!

Oru maalai ila vaeyil – Also a good song from Ghajini
– the anu pallavi (if that is how it is referred to!!): sattru tholaivinil aval mugam… is excellent

Kadhal enbathu – Decent song from Oru Kallooriyin Kadhai

Kajuraho sirpam – Oru Naal Oru Kanavu
– Good song from Illayaraja (I see subtle similarities with the songs of Fazil’s earlier movies Kannukul Nilavu and Kaadhalukku Mariyadhai)

Yaaridamum – Thotti Jaya
– The Tamil version of Yeh chilipi (Srinivas is jus amazing) from Gharshana—kaakha kaakha’s telugu remake. I would prefer the Telugu version except for the racy and loud Hindi verses

Koncham koncham – Arindum Ariyamalum
– for its ghazal-like chorus bit

En kannodu nenjodu – Arindum Ariyamalum
– for its beats and pace

hey s m i t h a - :-)
u met rehman? - and thanks for revealing the context; otherwise, i wud have believed u guys were discussing abt production plan of Bombay Dreams :D

hi krishna, yeah it's 'mella' (poetically cud be interpreted as 'tenderly', though it means slowly) - i mixed up the lyrics of the Maramkothiyae song with this :D

it is 'maramkothhiyae! maramkothiyae!! mirattugiraay ennai'
where maramkothiaye = woodpecker
mirattugirai = threatening
ennai = me

Anonymous said...

I guess it is tenderly only...coz it is MeLLa and not mella...so no issues to it!:D

Jyotsna said...

Hi renuka,been ages na!!??how have you been?I am yet to hear this rehman number and now i shall after reading this post of yours!
:)

reNUka said...

Hi Jyo!!! :-) nice to see u here!! welcome home! am fine, tx. hope u r doing good too!!
this is from a tamil film Ah aah and if u can connect to raaga.com, here is the link.
http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/movie/T0000690.html
please do listen to it--in fact u cud try both, mayiliragae and maramkothiyae!

sensiblystoned said...

Im an Ilayaraja fan and frankly I didnt seem to like the songs that much. But it could be because I first heard the song only when I saw the movie and I was pretty pissed with the movie by the time this song came and I hardly paid any attention.

reNUka said...

hey ss!! :-)
ohh yeah!!! tell me abt it - i was so pissed off seeing the video!! :-(
he has massacred it and i was expecting a poetry in motion and all i got on the big screen was a macabre!! and watching the movie still remains the most recent blunders i have ever made.
but i got the cassette a month before the movie was released, so i didnt have to go through wht u went thru. :-) and smhow i forced myself to throw the memories of the song out of my system :D

wookie said...

'peacock feather'! wow ! thanks for the explaination.

Anonymous said...

I don't think I heard any of the songs you mentioned but will try to listen to some of them.

I wud have believed u guys were discussing abt production plan of Bombay Dreams :D

U know.."Bombay Dreams" is over hyped. nothing too good about it..except for the fact that its got a "Andrew Lloyd Webber" tag go it and it is the first Indian play on broadway(I think).
When the play released I dragged my roomates on the very first weekend, needless to say we were disappointed but the outing itself was worth it. Ticket prices are not to be discussed :|. Anyways, after a month or two they had these ads all over the place that bombay dreams is premiering on broadway !! huh ? then what was that we saw ? a preview ?? :O..dunno why they had to market it that way.

And yes, this is the same keshav u know..before u go again :).

Anonymous said...

oh yea..and not to forget that live lip lock-kissing in the end..if that counts as interesting :).

reNUka said...

hi wookie! :-)

hey keshav!
++And yes, this is the same keshav u know..before u go again :)++
ada paavi! :-)

though bombay dreams had a collection of his earlier hits packaged in a different way, a few songs are really good - ohh!! u went to the show is it! thts cool! :-)
had been thinking that it was open only to the UK!

REFLEX said...

when I listened to these songs, I found some similarities but I couldn't understand what the similarities. Later I realized that these 2 has a common tune. Both these are too good. Good post.

reNUka said...

hi reflex!! :-)

Whoosh 2 said...

very true.. and all this for that crap Suryah to spoil the entire song with that rather lousy picturisation.. I mean, what was he even thinking!!!!