Tale of 2 songs...

Ilayaraja has been called many things. God. Greatest composer of all time. Isaignani. He is all that and more. The creative output he has in 4 languages is unparalleled. Here are 2 gems from his Kannada collection. What amazes me about him is his longevity. One song is from a 1981 Dr. Raj movie (Incidentally sung by Rajkumar himself) called Nee Nannu Gellalre and the other is from a 1997 Shivrajkumar (Rajkumar's son) movie called Nammora Mandara Hoove. 2 amazing songs. One for the father and one for the son.

Sometimes you listen to a striking song somewhere (mostly on FM or while having lunch in some hotel) and wonder about the song. Which movie is it from? Who is the singer? Who is the music director? One of those songs is the first song of this post. Jeeva Hoovagidhe. I remember listening to this song once on FM and searching for it online by searching for terms from the lyrics. :P
What.A.Song. It has all the trademark Raaja-isms. Congo drums, Strong bass line, sweeping interludes, catchy tune, brilliant singing by Dr. Raj. Tough to find another sing with so much throw. Just superb.
Listen to the first interlude to understand what I mean. The trademark violins (Pure genius) give way to an acoustic guitar sequence (which reminded me of the interludes from Ilaya Nila) and ends with some sort of a tabla-synthesizer sequence. Bliss.

The next one is a sort of folk-ish number with the usual SPB awesomeness. Halli Lavaniyalli. There is a strong undercurrent of Bass in this song. The first interlude is absolutely divine with the flute beginning, supplemented by a strong bass and some female chorus. The first charanam follows with some vocal to and fro between SPB and the female chorus. Brilliant. Lots of choral work again happens in the 2nd interlude. 2nd charanam has SPB again taking up the "gamagams" with ease and just being his usual self. Raaja gives us a lesson in how to use voices interspersed with instruments to create intricate interludes.

2 songs. 2 different eras. For father and son. 2 absolute classics.

_/\_

P.S Raaja's Kannada repertoire is quite awesome. Geetha IMO is one of his all time best albums.

Raja in the Bay Area

So, the long overdue Bay Area Raja concert finally happened on March 1st (though it ended on Match 2nd :P). As usual, Raja put up a musical spectacle. As he himself said during the concert, he is a musician, not a showman. I could go on and on about the 4.5 hour non-stop musical awesomeness but I am going to pick out only a few highlights from the magical evening.

• As with most (or all? not sure) Raja concerts, he got off the mark with a thumping cover drive in the form of the divine Janani Janani. There is something about his voice and this song. Magical. He also sang Swargame Vandhalum Endralum and Thenpandi Cheemaiyile. His rendition of Idhayam Oru Kovil was one of the high-points of the show. His voice is so sincere. Beautiful. :)
• SPB got a splendid Tendulkar-esque reception from the crowd. I am not sure if I heard right, but he said something about how fans have been asking him and Raja to do a concert together and finally it has happened. 
• Hariharan's entry was also met with warm applause and lots of hooting and whistling. He started off with the Hey Ram classic Isayil Thodangudhama. Super choice of song. 
• Chitra entered the stage to a standing ovation from the crowd. 6 National awards. By her own estimate, over 1000 songs sung for Ilayaraja (Not sure about this). Absolute Legend. She started off with the Agni Natchathiram hit Ninnukori and sang many songs with SPB and Mano. I was surprised that there were no songs from Sindhu Bhairavi. I was expecting at least one.  
• I thought the night belonged to the SPB and Raja combination. Started off with the Telugu classic Mounamelanoyi (Mounamana Neram in Tamil) then went on to the telugu version of Maasi Maasam. Then came one of the highlights of the evening : Ilamai enum Poongatru. One of Raja's greatest songs. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, Chitra joins him to belt out the Telugu version of Unnal Mudiyum Thambi's Ithazhil Kathai Ezhuthum. Amazing. After a small breather, the SPB-Raja awesomeness continued with some of their best Telugu songs. Really liked this one : Keeravani. The awesomeness continued with the full version of Sundari Kannal and fittingly ended with a spirited rendition of Sagara Sangama/Salagai Oli's Thakita. The SPB-Raja combo never fails. :)
• Another highlight of the evening was the Jugalbandhi of Hindolam songs. These songs were all sung back to back and were sung in such a way that 1 song nicely linked to the other. Raja started off with Naan thedum sevanthi Poo and then Hariharan took over with Azhagu Malar aada. SPB then continued with Naanaga Naanillai thaaye and then ended with Ananda Then Kaaatru. Neat. 
• Last but not the least, the Acapella. Naan Porandhu Vandhadhu. Beautifully done.

A Raja concert is a must-see for all Raja fans. Didn't look at my watch even once during the 4.5 hours. I just thought Yuvan and Karthik could have been used better. Maybe a song or 2 from Neethane En Ponvasantham would have been nice. But there is only so much you can do in 4.5 hours. :D