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.