To those liberators with Kolaveri

Not so long ago came a song that marched into the lives of every citizen of this virtual world, the minute it went online. Before people could fathom what the fuzz was all about, what the lyrics meant, what language it was based on, it jelled into our lives like the dress we wear every day. Be it sarcasm, anger or disappointment, the catch phrase of the song became the cue for all and sundry.  

When something out of the blue gets a standing ovation there is bound to be a group for stripping everything off from it. Little did it realise that the whole world was wearing the dress of rage.  Soon enough, the active world which fights over inconsequential issues, got neck deep in a debate to decide on the sanctity of everything it couldn’t preserve in reality. The saviours of tamil, music, culture and most importantly woman freedom couldn’t get enough of the controversy.  While I loved the quirky style of the song (yes I believe it is a song – after all we did accept even a tribal grumbling as a song) it was amusing to see how hatred was spreading around it. Was it because a lean chalk piece of a man with no great looks, but with all the luck by chance, got catapulted to superstardom by just rambling about for 3 ½ minutes? Or was it out of anger at the deteriorating taste of the masses which accepted the daft lyrics and the sloppy tune? I did stick with the latter reason because those who were behind the propaganda were the intelligent fools I respect. I even tried to reason out with them that it is not worth spending time debating on it, that the lyrics doesn’t have a meaning and is just there to produce a rhyming sound & it should only be valued as an immensely entertaining song. But the moment I termed it as an entertaining song, nothing else mattered & the debate continued as to how I can term it as entertaining when it was devaluing everything we should be known for.

To all those self-appointed liberators who are crying foul at how irresponsible the song is, I have only this to say - In a world filled with gold, diamond, Ferrari, people who can afford them still buy fake ornaments & nanos because of the simple fact that it’s convenient & hassle free. In the real world that my dear liberators live in, when their chips are down, the first word that comes out of their mouth (be it a guy or a girl) is ‘fuck’ & not ‘oh dear holy God’. Maybe they can’t understand what I mean, because they are busy ‘lamo’ over the indecent proposals & sexist remarks that are being passed on as jokes in BBT & HIMYM.

So why this Kolaveri on those people when the euphoria surrounding the song is dying down? It is because after a long time I switched on FM only to hear this song.

This song represents everything that was talked against Kolaveri & everything beyond that. So why haven’t the so called liberators come forward to protest against this uncomely song which vehemently proclaims to be the male chauvinist that Kolaveri didn’t plan to be?

Aadhavan

Music: Harris Jeyaraj


Soft notes backed by liberal and yet delicate strings of the guitar, singers rendering in lower scale; their high pitch notes which dangerously abuts melancholy, the chorus humming the tune in pop style or like a pathos, the saranams of the songs being just fast slow fast slow versions of the pallavi or nothing related to the mood created by the initial motifs, incomprehensible words or mere noises becoming interludes: these are the set pieces one could find in any of Harris’ compositions. With all these to his backing, Harris shells out his 29th album from his repetitive factory only to surprise us this time with the different proportion of the same ingredients.

Hasile Fisiliye (Karthik, Harini, Dr. Burn, Maya)

The adagio rendering of “Byile Bylamore”, “Hasili fisili” builds up into an allegro movement preceding the rap, with Karthik taking over with his enticing humming, complimenting the rush of feeling as expressed in the lyrics and finally Harini breaks the ice with her charming voice. The addition of Dr. Burn in this version is another highlight.

Yeno Yeno (Shail Hada, Sudha, Andrea)

“Yeno Yeno” , yet another “Blue” inspired number from Harris, has the perfect classic pop feel given by Andrea and the synchronization of her’s and Sudha’s voice, followed by the MJ inspired rap and backed by chorus towards the end has top notch sound editing.

Dammaku (Benny Dayal)

The beautiful mouth organ introducing us to this number and the protagonist in turn with this song breaks into a rhapsody, preaching us the MGR-Kanadhasan principles, but Benny with his joyous modulations, especially “rasa vantha lesa pada” makes you appreciate this number, a better attempt from Harris in terms of intro songs.

Varayo (Chinmayee, Unni Krishnan)

The melody of the Piano which broaches us into the world of tender love in the form of Chinmayee’s voice backed by guitar and piano, ‘Varayo’ flows blandly until Unni attempts at singing high notes in a whisper, introducing ‘r’ and ‘z’ to the words, especially during the crescendo. The cello which sweeps us off the feet with its tragic sound and then the increasingly intensified cry in the form of opera which falls sharp at the coda, all backed by the piano is very exhilarating.

Dekho Dekho (Suvi, Sandhya, Sri Charan)

An attempt at depicting the cultural differences, Dekho a reminiscent of Samurai, Arasatchi, Ghajini, is a cacophonous collection of rap, pop and Indian classical, which could have worked if not for the poorly written carnatic notes.

Maasi maasi (Mano, Mega)
The unbearable African sounds and arrhythmic two syllable note sung by Mano, concoct into ‘Maasi Maasi’ a reminiscent to his ‘Muquala Muquabula’ and also ‘aatama therotama’. This African style song does have great usage of drums.

Harris does have gone for innovative usage of instruments and also succeeded to a certain extent in fusion, the highlight of this album which has poor lyrics. The irritating two syllable alliteration (wannabe) still continues in this outing as well and yet the change from feminish male singers who sing only in one style is a relief and that does the trick.

Varanam Aayiram

Date: Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 11:18 PM
Varanam Aayiram

Music: Harris Jeyaraj

Adiye kolluthe(Krish,Beny,Sruthi)

Literally killer of a song to kick start the album. The powerful lyrics blending with different moods of the guitar makes the listeners shake their legs for the rocking tune. Krish with the feminine husky voice and Sruthi with full open throat are marvellous.

4/5 stars

Nenjukul peidhiudum(Hariharan,Devan,Prasanna)

No singer in the recent past has sung with so much passion and love as Hariharan does in this song. Thamarai is brilliant with the unusual and yet contemporary words. The soft flow provides a soothing feel throughout.

4/5 stars

Yethi yethi(Beny,Naresh,Solar Sai)

Muthukumar proves it's his forte with the line "Raja nan raja". This fun song having energetic vocals has an interesting flow in the instruments arrangement, with drums, guitar and clapping sounds taking turns to overwhelm us.

3.5/5 stars

Mundhinam(Naresh,Prasanthini)

A breezy romantic number rendered softly by the lead singers, "Mundhinam" is backed by beautiful lyrics. Naresh and Prashanthini's voices supported by the guitar gives a wonderful listening experience.

4/5 stars

Oh! Shanthi shanthi(Clinton,Charan)

The faster version of "Nenjukul peidhiudum", "Oh! Shanthi shanthi" has Clinton giving the song a classy touch. Charan does full justice to the tune. The guitar takes the center stage again here.

3/5 stars

Anjala(Karthick,Prasanna)

Though a very good attempt, the flat composition doesn't sound appealing. There seems to be a random shift in mood from fun to sorrow very often, which hampers the flow of the song.

2.5/5 stars

Annal mele(Sudha Ragunathan)

The song completely belongs to Sudha Ragunathan. Harris has opted for subtle sounds for the song completely letting the vocals take the center stage. The intelligent lyrics which carry with it an old flavor add to the USP of the song. This song is certainly a fitting way to end the album on a high note.

4/5 stars

Though most of the songs have guitar as the base, they represent various moods and situations, catering to different tastes. Harris scores full marks with his wonderful sound engineering skills. To sum up Varanam Ayiram is an album that should not be missed.

Verdict: 4/5 stars

Satyam

Satyam
Music: Harris Jeyaraj

Ada dada

Composed by reducing the tempo of the song “arakonathil arambam” of ‘Arasatchi’ and fusing it with rap, this song sung by premji has nothing new to offer.
Chellame
Can Bombay Jeyshri sing only in this style? Or is it Harris’ proven inability to extract talent? This song sounds every bit like “sakiye” of ‘Dhaam Dhoom’. The sadness in the song is so sober that, it irritates the listener at one point; so does the Chinese like humming.

En anbe

Just because Harris composed an original tune for the movie ‘Munna’, why are we given the same tune time and again? Sadana Sargam takes you to heaven the same way she did with “manasa” the original version. The fusion between guitar and piano and later with drums is gratifying to say the least.

Ivan udaiyum

Supposed to be the introduction number for the protagonist of the film, the song is similar to ‘oru mugamo’ of “Bheema”. Hariharan tries to save the below average composition at vain.

Pal papali

The song starts off like “vadiyama jakama” of ‘Thirumala’ and then shifts to “edhuku pondati” of ‘kizhuaku chemayile’ for the two saranams. It’s another ‘why should I listen to this song?’ number from Harris.


Harris Jeyaraj in his silver jubilee album has become nostalgic than usual, as a result keeps on revisiting his previous compositions often. Recording style and mixing has always been Harris’ forte and he proves that here too with soft sounds. But are they enough reasons to hear songs which come with a big question mark over their authenticity and some irritating tunes accompanied by sounds?

Verdict: 1 ½ stars.