Sivaji

... the much awaited blockbuster movie by the mega-star combos of Rajini, Shankar and ARR. The music was released last weekend.

After the first few listens, all i can say is ARR Nee Enge ?

Ay Hairathe - Guru

While i will resist the temptation to write a detailed review of Guru as yet, this song has been a personal-record-of-sorts for me.

I have distinct phases when am just addicted to one song, to the extent i will be breathing that song. And then, i'd move on to another, without losing the love for the previous song.

The first preview clip from Guru was Ay Hairathe - and it just was amazing. The tun-tun-tuns and Hariharan's voice and one of ARR's few totally tabla based songs. When the song finally came out, i was kinda feeling let down especially with too-much variation in the name of improvisation at the ending and hence tuned-out of this song.

Some point later, when i was trying to mimic the tun-tun-tuns, i went back to this song, and then i got hooked :D - the record setting spree, where the song literally looped at my desk and home for 4 non-stop days and many more stop and go days, courtesy my work ;) .

The highlights are,

1. Obviously the tune - very nicely done
2. Hari's singing and his kind of mini-comeback to ARR's albums
3. Alka Yagnik - i have been a known non-liker of her nasal and irritating voice. But this song, has showcased her 'abilities' without her having to reach for her vicks inhaler. IMHO, she has proved her point to me- but this does alter my opinion about her singing in other songs ;)
4. The string bgms are just way to awesome and the variations are goooooooooooooooood !
5. For some funky reason, it sounds like IR'sh song to me, and yes that still is a highlight :)

Enjoy the song everyone, while my addiction lasts ;) :)

Varaga nadhi

Was listening to this song from Sangamam (my review : here) after a long time - at a relatively high volume - and was able to observe tiny and interesting ideas that ARR had while at work.

The frenetic pace, the energy in the song, the amazing rendition, beautiful instrumentation, neat lyrics - made for a good r&r song - one could not hope for a better relaxation !!!

Sometimes, you can clearly see why genius'es are His own children - AND/OR, are we the benefactors of such creative music :) ?

I know, So I can...

One musical example of this attitude is a song 'Garuda Garuda' by Deva, for the movie Natpukaga. This was the distinct phase of his career when he decided to abandon IR 'style' in his composition to be current with ARR's 'style' ;)

Listen to this song carefully, and observe the piano riffs throughout- a'la jazz/blues song - and the bass sections and 2 people in the carpool immediately noticed how 'odd' certain sections were.

e.g 1.01 -1.02 , 1.32-1.33, 3.00-3.02 and so on...

Be a judge :)