Music On loop (13/03/2021)

 Enjoy Enjaami (Tamil): Santosh Narayanan: Santosh Narayanan truly delivers to perfect Indie song where both the visuals and the exotic soundscape truly take the Indie bar a notch higher. Santosh Narayanan's highly effective rhythms get solid support from Dhee's stupendous vocals as well as Arivu's portions. Santosh Narayanan delivers Kanda Vara Sollunga earlier where the composer blends the earthy tune on the more global pedestal with respect to the soundscape and in Enjoy Enjaami also composer does the same brilliantly, the way the rustic Oppaari Anju Maram valathen blends to Dhee's vocals with Kadale, Karaye is perfect.

Khamaj Connection (Instrumental): Mahesh Raghvan ft Nandini Shankar: After Kapi dance, Mahesh Raghvan returns with another wonderful Classical fusion. The lovely interspersion of electronic sound and Violin is blissful to listen to. The duo enters the frenzied notes towards the end which is especially goosebumps-inducing and finishes the song in high. 

Koi Jaane Na (Hindi): Tanishk Bagchi: Har Funn Maula: Tanishk kept the tried and tested Middle Eastern sounds for Har Funn Maula and the song is adequately addictive enough in the vocals of Vishal Dadlani and Zara Khan. Though the tune lays flat, the rhythms and Vishal Dadlani salvages the song immensely.

Karnan (Tamil): Santosh Narayanan: Thattaan Thattaan: The wonderful earthy melody deserves a much better singer than Dhanush but he does adequately decent work. The tune reminds me of Ariyadha Vayasu from Paruthi Veeran in some places. Santosh Narayanan employed Sathish's flutes as well as Meenakshi Ilayaraja's vocals effectively.

Rung: Ali Sethi: Ali Sethi returns with the stupendous classical fusion and the song is unfortunately very short less than 3 minutes and one wishes that the composer could have made a full-fledged song nevertheless solid track from the composer.

P.S You can listen to the songs as a playlist on youtube.

Music On Loop (05/03/2021)

Mera Fauji Calling: Vijay Verma: Bheeni Bheeni Si, Aa Zindagi Tujhe Zara Sa: Vijay Verma easily delivers in this multi composer album backed by Sonu Nigam and Hariharan in Bheeni Bheeni Si and Aa Zindagi respectively. Bheeni Bheeni Si's lovely semiclassical melody most probably based on Subhapantuvarali works wonderfully where Naveen Kumar's flute complements Sonu's blissful rendition. The melody-wise Aa Zindagi fares a tad lower but it is always pleasant to listen to Hariharan's vocals and the singer enthuses this energetic song with his improvisations. 

Love, Life and Pakodi (Telugu): Pavan: La Nymphe Metropolitan Ee Payanam: Pavan's Love Life and Pakodi's music sync with the theme of the new-age film. The breezy guitar-laden soundtrack's best is definitely Ee Payanam and the track features nifty guitar riffs backed by Anurag Kulkarni's fantastic rendition. Though the tune structure has a familiar vibe, the arrangements by the composer are top notch especially with the kickass strings section in the background of Anurag's Sargam. Pavan collaborated with the Anglo-French singer Applonie and delivers a knockout exotic song with gentle guitar riffs while the singer takes care of the song with her mesmerizing rendition.

A (Telugu): Vijay Kurakula: Kalayika O Maya, Epudeppudo Badulepudo: Another new composer who impresses this week in Telugu with the listenable set of songs is Vijay Kurakula and the composer blends in wonderfully the classical elements to the songs. Kalayika O Maya's serene tune crooned by Deepu and Pavani is gentle to ears while Thiyagaraja steals the show with a few great violin solos. Deepu shines in another solo Epudeppudo Badulepudo and the dark tone of the track backed by equally gloomy stellar arrangements work magically and thanks to Srinivas's flute sections.

Sita On the Road (Telugu): Praneeth Yaron: Madhuram Madhuram, Urumunai Ne Mervana: Praneeth Yaron directs as well as composes music for this film and the album features a whopping 10 songs. The composer shows promise with a couple of tracks and another fantastic thing is most of the songs are crooned by female singers. Madhuram Madhuram works perfectly for its classical elements except for the mishmash of English verses intermittently. The track largely benefits from Harini Rao's stupendous rendition and Gautam Raj's violin solos. Urumunai Ne Mervana's meditative tune with intermittent flute bits by Raghava Sai turns into full rock towards the end.

Rang De (Telugu): DSP: Naa Kanulu Yepudu: The show stealer of this week also comes from Telugu from DSP who is in the stupendous form with Naa Kanulu Yepudu after Uppena. The melody is jaw-droppingly beautiful and Sid Sriram's singing makes it even better. The tune is backed by wonderful Ilayarajaesque arrangements with flutes and string sections while the tongue twister Guppedu Gundekka Pandaga evela works magically.

Aishwarya Murugan (Tamil): Ganesh Raghavendra: Ammammamma: This track largely benefits from the beauty of Hamsanandhaam while one can easily mistake this as Imman's composition accentuated by Yugabharathi's lyrics. Abhay Jodhpurkar effortlessly nails the rendition.

Theeni (Tamil): Rajesh Murugesan: Naan Kettaen: Naan Kettaen is completely Vijay Yesudas show with his baritone vocals while Rajesh kept the background arrangements lively. The tune features the lovely anu Pallavi and the wonderful classical touches in the interludes.

Vettai Naai (Tamil): Ganesh Chandrasekharan: Murukku Meesakaran: The lovely melody which gets better with the Charanam portions works largely because of Shakthishree's vocals and Manonmani's stellar Sarangi solos.

Love Story (Telugu): Pawan Ch: Saranga Dariya: The folk song's backstory is equally impressive as the tune. Sekhar Kammula's musical sense is a winsome one and going by the two songs of Love story, he will continue his magical touch irrespective of the composer involved. Pawan embellished the tune with the punchy arrangements aided by Mangli's rustic vocals.

P.S. You can listen to the tracks as a Youtube playlist here.

Weekly Earworm (10/01/2021)

 Sreekaram (Telugu): Mickey J Meyer: Sandalle Sandalle: Mickey J Meyer brings back his Happy days Mojo in Sandalle with respect to the tune and the folksy lyrics by Sanapati Bharadwaj Patrudu helps a lot. The alluring chorus along with Mohana Bhogaraju's rendition elevates the song from its familiar vibe.

Carvaan Lounge Tamil: Flute Navin: Kunguma Poove: Flute Navin's heady techno dance floor mix of iconic Kunguma Poove is undeniably catchy. Apart from the unnecessary processing in Chinmayi's vocals, the track is adequately engaging. Thanks to the Navin's flute solos and Chinmayi's playful rendition, the song does wonder. Though nothing much of similarity, the flute solos, Chinmayi, and the techno beats instantly takes me back to Ghibran's underrated Allari Pillagada song from Ungarala Rambabu.

Eeswaran (Tamil): Thaman: Velli Nillave: Velli Nillave is the only song that is refreshing in an otherwise largely tepid album that has Thaman's signature loud passable songs. ML Gayathri aces the rendition and Thaman aptly kept the arrangements minimal which accentuates the beauty of the song further.

Sashi (Telugu): Arun Chiluveru: Okey Oka Lokam: This track is a wonderful throwback to Rahman's early days, the rhythm sections, interludes screams Mozart's influence a lot. The tune is definitely engaging and Sid Sriram props up with his quintessential improvisations and the tune turns lovely especially with the ninna monna phrase in the charanam.

Yuvarathnaa (Kannada): Thaman: Neenaade Naa: Thaman's output in Telugu and Kannada seems to be marginally better because he moved away from his Signature sounds at least in Telugu considerably. This soft rock ballad benefits largely from the stupendous rendition by Shreya Goshal and Armaan Malik 

P.S The songs are available as playlists on youtube.

Music Review (Tamil): Maara

Music Review (Tamil): Maara
Music Composer: Ghibran

Maara, a remake of the Malayalam hit film Charlie and it is heartening to see Ghibran composing for the musical. Ghibran who gave soulful albums during the start of the career shifted to background score dominated movies and with Maara composer returned back to his stellar form. Though I miss the lovely sax prelude of Gopi Sundar's Pularikalo, Ghibran compensates with the 10 tracks for this album. 

Composer collaborated with Padmalatha in his earlier movies and gave few brilliant songs to her. In this soundtrack also, Ghibran gave one of the best songs (Theeranadhi) in the album to her, and Padmalatha aces the rendition as usual. One wishes that she gets to sing more often. The slight tinge of Muslim flavored tune and the layered arrangements especially lovely classical second interlude. Padmalatha aces the Charanam while Ghibran does his magic with the rhythm. Kaathirundhen sounds more like a conventional melancholy drowned with violin pieces in the arrangements. Srisha Vijayasekar who featured in Ghibran's spiritual series fares much better than Ananthu. But the tune doesn't quite hit off and stays low-key. Ghibran's first rap song Pagada crooned by Shabir and the track is adequately engaging. Thanks to the short two-minute length and also sprightly techno beat to gel well with Shabir's vocals. Deepthi Suresh's whispery vocals for Unnaithane works marvelously and one wishes that Ghibran could have made this a full-length song. Ghibran segues in Oh Azhage's chorus towards the end while Deepthi Suresh hits the crescendo with the title hook.

Ghibran's love for the Orchestral score is apparent in Maara & Paaru as well as in Search of Soul. In the former, the composer starts with the Yaar Azhaippadhu melody's key version associated with the strings and harmonies. Loved the way the melody is build up and reached the high with the strings sections. The keys provide the haunting tone to the track while strings go berserk behind the lovely harmonies. The search of soul is also bombarded with string sections but falls a tad lower than Maara and Paaru. Nevertheless worthy addition to the soundtrack.

The remaining three rich melodies released as a single earlier. The quintessential Sid Sriram in Tamil album, Yaar Azhaippadhu has an enticing tune and Thamarai's profound lyrics on the vagabond protagonist fits perfectly. Though Sid Sriram's diction irks at places, Ghibran's tune and arrangements make up for it. The tune hits its magic especially with the phrase 'Alaivaar avarellam Tholaivar phrase'. Oh Azhage also follows the lilting buoyant texture of the soundtrack especially with its punchy rhythm and ambient sounds. Benny Dayal is effortless with his high notes and the arrangements too easily lift up one's mood. Ghibran's spellbinding layered arrangements coupled with ambient sounds warrant a multiple listen definitely. The song's Hindi version O Ajooba sung by Yazin Nizar is equally good but anytime prefers Thamarai's lyrics than this one. Oru Arai Unadhu is a definite winner and the best song on the soundtrack. The enticing Celtic arrangements notwithstanding, Ghibran's prolific tune coupled with Thamarai's interesting wordplay makes this one a lovely listen. Loved the way the composer employed Yazin Nizar and Sanah Moidutty's vocals especially the interplay. Sanah Moidutty aces the second half with her improvisations.

Verdict: Maara is Ghibran's best in recent times and the composer impresses with the lush lilting soundscape throughout the soundtrack.

My Rating: 9/10

Pick of the Album: Oru Arai Unadhu, Theeranadhi, Oh Azhage, Yaar Azhaippadhu, Maara & Paaru

P.S You can listen to the full album on Spotify