Thursday, January 15, 2009

chEARS to the Hero...

Train journeys on Mumbai local trains with an ipod in hand are good. Better when I have good earphones, and best when Ilayaraja is playing. Listening to songs that I have already heard a zillion times automatically draws me in so much that I end up playing those invisible guitars and drums and keyboards all at once, in thin air, wherever I can find some in those insanely crowded compartments.
A million eyes then fall on you, and you have to necessarily tone down, lest someone calls the police suspicious of terror calls on this weird phone-like device. After a raging internal debate on my duty towards Ilayaraja versus not offending the onlookers, I invariably bow to Raja and carry on in my own little space where every shake of my fingers meets an imaginary snare or every tap of my feet meets a fictitious kick pedal :)

In the most recent such journey, I was stuck at one point where I could not change the song coz there was no way I could reach into my pocket and unlock the ipod and so forth. And that was how I ended up listening to Naayagan for that entire journey. And realised for myself what an absolute gem the album is.
I have big time new found respect for Naan sirithaal DeepavaLi. I think it is one of any composer's best creations. How he manages to make the string instruments mischieviously dance to his tunes in the backdrop of a bombay brothel is simply unbelievable.
And if one were to start singing the stanza - as is the trend these days - it is just brilliant.
The orchestral start to Thenpaandi Cheemaiyile. Sensational.
The brisk violin sections in Andhi varum, the holi song. Intriguing.
The banjo (i believe) in Nila adhu vaanathu. Titillating.
Mani Ratnam must have had an orgasm when he heard the tunes first time.
And when the background score was done for the film, god (aka Ilayaraja) knows what he must have done.

That insanely amazing celebration of strings made yet another innocuous train journey blogworthy. Balls to the onlookers. I will play on all the violins you will never see with your naked ears.

9 Comments:

Blogger jan said...

Brilliant movie, too !
And why did G need to travel by train ?!

11:27 AM  
Blogger Navneeth Sundar said...

Even as someone else lifts the Golden Globe, our hearts still yearn to listen to this guy, who is responsible for our existence. Nee mattum enna vidhivilakka???
Yuvan crazy'a aanaalum, padaithavan padaithavan thaan :).

11:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The misfitting over (ab)use of 'orgasm' by both you and J will soon leave you guys impotent.

6:24 PM  
Blogger Girish said...

ROFL @ Subbu.
Nee pesuva da... onakkenna!

6:26 PM  
Blogger Girish said...

@jan: G has no car, no bike and no money. Hence no choice.

6:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ROFL @ Subbu
subbu - champion performer only
G has no car, no bike , no money and no .....

10:43 PM  
Blogger Jay said...

@Subbu,
Your anonymity is redundant.
@Girish,
I was saying great things abt naan sirithal's charanam to my mom the last time the movie was telecast on K TV sometime in Dec. With better 'sounding' singers like Janaki or Chitra or Shreya Ghoshal, the song might have made for instant attraction. Old wine it is, but outstanding song. My favorite in the album for sometime now.
And there is this Raaja song called "Iniyellaam sugame" from some random movie that Srini seems to be mad about. Need to check that out. KJY it seems.

12:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nice one :) reminded me of the good ole college days in chennai when i used to plug in my pod n travel by train...

But man....u seem to have relished each n every note of raja's..really appreciate...

keep it coming..

5:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@J: the song is 'Uravugal thodarkadhai...' from 'Aval appadiththaan'. Try cooltoading now - u ll get it. All the best for a pleasurable exp.
ps: stanza takes the cake...

-BK

11:45 PM  

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