No..this is not about me and my husband! But why not - yes! But may be not now!
Today its to celebrate the famous musical duo of tamil cinema, Ilayaraja and SPB! There are also other duo like MSV-ramamoorthy or TMS-P.Suseela, Raja-PBS! But more than these pairs, the trophy goes to - Ilayaraja and SPB, though what shocks me most is they both were born in the same month, June 2 and June 4, which i never knew all these years. Trivias apart!
Well, how do i start? From where do i start? For, one man is popularly known as the Isaignani (music maestro) and the other used to record 20 songs at a stretch in a day and make it all of them hits right away..scoring a record of singing over a 40,000 songs from all Indian languages put together. and to be able to put few songs as ones favourite is not fair. One can go on and on bubbling with names of the favourite tunes at the break of every second.
I will anyways try to list my favourites that strikes at this moment of time. Its so easy there are more than one song you like from a movie. Often it ends up that you seem to like all the songs from a particular movie, each one you cannot give up for the others.
I will do justice by listing my favourite top mostly belonging to the duo ... few songs might digress from Raja-SPB combo, never mind!
Trying to list them chronologically (not in the order of my fav - for its very difficult to rate that way)
1. SPBs first ever song was
Aayiram nilave va composed by KV Mahadevan(another legendary composer) starring MGR in the movie
Adimai penn. It is so obvious that SPB have handled the song with such a ease that one cannot say its one of his earliest songs. His first tamil song was for the movie
Shanthi nilayam starring Gemini Ganesan in the year 1969.
Adimai Penn was also released the same year and the song was right away a super duper hit making SPB the most sensational voice of all times.
2. Straightaway i decide to jump to the movie
oru nizhal nijamaagirathu (1978), may be one of the earliest movies where he lent his voice to Kamal hassan. My favourites are
Kamban yemaanthan and
Ilakkanam Maarutho.
3. Then from the movie
Shankarabharanam (which earned him his first national award), almost all songs sung by him.
4. The famous movie of KB -
Aval oru thodarkathai, and the song is
Irumanam konda where kamal hassan is a mimicry artist and he sings the song as a performance for his lovers wedding. Has a unique blend of melancholy and mimicry!
5. The first ever song of Vairamuthu - the famous lyricist was a super duper hit. SPB was his lucky charm - the song is
ithu oru ponmaalai pozhuthu. What powerful words!
6. Then comes from the movie
Salangai oli(1983) (a tamil remake of
Sagara sangamam) - Undoubtedly it has to be the song
Mounamaana neram. A wonderful duet by my most favourite male and female singer! SPB-Janaki is also a equally amazing duo who have given memorable duets. For both the telugu and tamil version of the movie, Ilayaraja scored the music. What a movie!
7. From now on, SPB just sang to every other song that got released in tamilnadu for every movie of ilayaraja, so i wont bother to mention the year/movie name. The next would be
sangeetha jaathi mullai from
kaathal oviyam, for the sheer power and melancholy in the song.
8. Next would be the song the tricky song which took him to fame instantly - the breathless attempt of
Mannil intha kaathal indri (proved himself as an actor too in this movie). The song just flows like utmost sweetness and appreciation on womnanhood. He himself accepted in an interview that he did not sing a patch of this song breathless but it appears like that - shows his mastery over breath control.
You know why he is good ? he literally acts his voice through the song making it even more easier for the artist to portray on the screen. So from now its easier for me to list genre wise.
Top romantic:
Neelavaana odaiyil,
Enna satham intha neram,
ithazhil kathai ezhuthum,
kaadhalin deepam ondru, raagangal pathinaaru, itho itho en pallavi among dozen others! The dozen can include songs like
unnai nan paarthathu, orey naal unai naan, pothi vacha malligai mottu, thean sinthuthey vaanam, chippi irukuthu muthum irukuthu, Ilaya nila, raathiriyil poothirukkum, paadu nilaave, puthu maapilaiku(esp for the harmony skills demonstrated by raja, also sung with his sister..yet another duet with his sister is
pani vizhum iravu), rojaavai talaatum, thokai ilamayil, yaar veetil roja, and the all famous
ilaya nila, vaa vennila,keladi kanmani, Guruvaayoorappa, Not from ilayaraj but this one i love so much -
sangeetha swarangal and
mazhaiyum neeye both from
azhagan. And who can forget
Anjali Anjali from duet (ARR's best shot). These songs are just too good!
Sad ones:
Unakkenna mele nindrai(best), Malayoram veesum kaatru, Unnai ninaiche paatu padichen, Kuyila pudichu, Nilaave va, ithu kuzhandai paadum talaatu, Kaadhal rojaave,En kaathale and Minnale(last 3 are from ARR & not ilayaraja). This one is not sad but more in a consoling tone - Nalam Vazha from marupadiyum. What most would have not heard from the same movie i
s ellorum sollum paatu.
Playful ones:
Raja kaiya vacha, puducherry kucheri from
singaravelan, ram bambam aarambam,
en jodi manja kuruvi (very interesting song). In each of these songs raja have introduced a new genre of music like rock n roll, mix of folk and rock, use of various different instruments giving new flavour to the spirit of the songs.
Lullaby ones:
Pachaimalai poovu, nilavu thoongum neram, theaney thenpaandi. Please listen to them if you have insomnia problems!
Performance songs:
Mettu podu(ARR)
, konji konji from
veera(not raja),
sangeetha megam, pani vizhum malar vanam!
Folk genre:
Annaathai aadrar (
Aboorva sagodarargal was the first movie i saw in the theatre- i was 4 years then. my mother still tells me that i used to jump to dance when they put the song in oLiyum oliyum),
Paathakolusu paatu,
Chinnamani kuyile(tea
kadai song!),
kootathile koil pura, saanthu pottu, povomaa oorkolam! Each song outnumbers the other! Not to forget the song
maanguyile poonguyile from the super hit
karagaatakaaran.
Talli songs:
vanthanam, thakita thathimi and
singari sarakku nalla sarakku.
Best rajini songs of SPB: Obviously
Rakkama kaiya thattu (which was one of the top 10 most wanted song in london radios)..sheer musical brilliance by Raja sir.
Sundari kanaal oru seithi (same movie), Oruvan oruvan muthalaali, Basha song (im not going too much into this, the list is as usual endless!)
And i like all songs from the move
sigaram which SPB composed music, sung and acted. Top songs being
itho itho en pallavi ( which i already mentioned),
vannam konda vennilave, unnai kanda pinbuthaan.
5 on 5!
Thanga Thamarai penne and
Mun paniya are songs with a difference from his somewhat recent ones! shows his mastery over changing his voice and singing!
Best duets with Lata ji(
Valaiosai gala galavena from
satya) and Asha ji (
O Butterfly from
meera) : Must listen songs! Especially
Valaiosai.
Thankgod! There are some more hit songs of raja sir given by himself (
sorgame endraalum, kaathal oviyam etc :))KJY, Malaysia vasudevan, Jayachandran and many more! My fav from raja sans SPB would be
thendral vanthu ennai thodum, kodai kaala katre, enthan nenjil neengaatha, nee oru kaathal sangeetham and many! This needs a seperate article! so does the Janaki amma's songs!
My hands are aching after typing this article! But my ears cant stop listening to these delightful songs playing in my music player for about 3 hours now! Infact asks for more! Im a devotee of raja sir since 2001(before that it was quite unfortunate i did not get a chance to listen to his songs) and he still does not let me down ..who have supplied to us songs with such a musical delicacy to suit every mood with such awesome voices like that of SPBs, Janaki amma, KJY, chithra etc and im sure they will continue to do so in future also.
Long live music and maestros like Raja and SPB. Im sure i ve failed to mention many equally amazing songs. But listing them here is just beyond my ability!
This
song is a tribute to them. Why this song? Well raja's fans will know why!
Peace be to all.
