The keyboard tones make me suspect the looming presence of Karthik Raja in this recording and I miss Viji Manuel’s vintage Fender Rhodes tones but the flute work is very interesting (as on Illuthu Pothina too).ĩ.
SPB rocking it along side long time collaborator Janaki. Kaatuley Kamba Kaatuley – Rajakumaran: Brilliant, brilliant duet with similar rustic-Western juxtaposition. Sung, however, in a pure Tamil mould by Mano and Janaki.Ĩ. In fact, the more stripped down arrangement makes the juxtaposition even more interesting. Not necessary that he is using a big orchestra with strings and woodwinds everywhere. I want to emphasise here…when I say orchestrate, I only mean something synonymous to arranging. Like the song coming up next in the list, it expertly blends a rural sounding melody with extremely Westernised orchestration. I didn’t even realise there is this song as well on Honest Raj.
Illuthu Pothina – Honest Raj: So, the other day, while playing Day by Day, YouTube aiyya suggested this song to me. That way, it isn’t really jazz at all but what else should we call it?ħ. What is very interesting is how he reconciles the looseness of jazz (captured in the dreamy and contemplative guitar intro) with his trademark staccato approach. Certainly one of his most authentic stabs at jazz. Day by Day – Honest Raj: Ravi Natarajan, who hosts the rajagenius blogspot, recommended this song during a discussion on Raja-jazz. Wish the production was better but if wishes were horses…Ħ. The melody is beautiful, beautiful, rendered well by Sujatha and the orchestration is out of the world, Raja doing chamber-jazz. BUT Niram Pirithu Parthen, this one is a gem of the sparsely populated Raja-jazz genre. It’s better than Kannukkul Nilavu, that I give. I am still not super-duper fond of Naan Thanga Roja, Thavikkiren or Kadhal Needhana. Niram Pirithu Parthen – Time: I had heard good things about Time album from Raja fans for a long time and not quite bought into it. ? One of the few songs where Asha Bhonsle has sung for Raja (along side SPB here) and imo her best one for Raja.ĥ. Hence…never judge a book by its cover or a Raja song by its intro.
The intro gives no indication of the magic that lies ahead. It is easy to, just off the somewhat generic/standard shehnai intro. But I HAD heard it before on a compilation…and ignored it. Another grahabedam beauty and brought to my attention by. Adhikalai Neram Kanavil – Naan Sonnathey Sattam: This one is interesting. The tension built up in the pallavi and released during the raga switch in the charanam has to be seen, or rather heard, to be believed. The song itself, sung by S Janaki, is picturised on Rohini and features a beautiful grahabedam overlaid on a rock-like beat. Kangalukkul Unnai Ezhuthu – Thanthu Vitten Ennai: This one is from the last film of legendary director C V Sridhar (and also happens to be the first starring Vikram, a long, long time before his superstar days). The evergreen, ever reliable pair of SPB and S Janaki delivering as always on vocals.ģ. A stylish romantic duet that morphs into dance-disco by the end. Uruginen – Anne Anne: This one I discovered at which you cannot access now from India at least because DoT has blocked it (don’t ask why!). For that reason and multiple time signature changes in just the prelude alone, this one is an absolute goldie and a must listen. Nalla Neram Neram – Antha Oru Nimidam: At the Ilaiyaraja masterclass hosted last year by director R Balki at the Goa IFFI, a fan asked about the Kannada version of the song and Raja quickly explained the concept of polymeters in lay terms. Luckily, internet never forgets and that is a good thing in this case!ġ. Below is a list of ten such songs that most if not all Raja fans will enjoy and about which many may not be aware of for reason only that he composes humongous amounts of music and some gems unfortunately slip through the cracks and disappear.
I also discovered new songs just by way of YouTube suggesting them (thanks YouTube!) to me. After that, the mp3s I found mostly had the same songs and as I got interested in rock and other Western music, I barely added new Raja discoveries other than albums that were being released in this period (2007 onward).Īnd then, years later, I stumbled upon Ilaiyaraja forums and also met fellow fans on Baradwaj Rangan’s blog. From around 2001 to 2005, mp3 expanded my awareness of Ilaiyaraja’s work like anything (a few I also found on and the now defunct ).
For the longest time, I got introduced to new Ilaiyaraja songs (new as in not heard by me before) through one of three sources – mixtapes compiled by my mother or relatives in Chennai, TV jukebox programs (we had no Tamil radio living in Mumbai) and, later, mp3 collections.