As they always say, you carry your father’s genes, but not his success. The two sons of the maestro Ilayaraja have always lived under a huge weight of expectations piled upon by their father’s genius.
Yuvan has really carried that weight well. I was a great admirer of this guy until one unfortunate day someone told me a reference web site, which listed tunes lift off.
Needless to say, I was shocked to find Yuvan prominently figure among the Devas and Bappi Laharis. Even more shocking was the extent of the liftoffs. I heard ARR’s and Ilayaraaja’s liftoffs and could clearly see them as inspirations. But Yuvan, well, cant say much.
So with this image of yuvan shattered, especially after seeing that his best work by far (kadhal Konden) contains direct lift off, I set off to hear this album and write a review with as much neutral mind as my conscience would allow me to.
Hence I have added another rating aspect for originality. This factor, not only takes into factor lift off and influences, but also takes into consideration resemblance to his earlier works and innovative nature of the tunes.
Now the songs
Konjam Konjam: Salsa, Madrid, Espanol, country. Words that will almost instantly flow out of you on first hearing the song. Though a song with a distinct Spanish feel to it with harmonica running right through, quite a good adaptation to the Indian world. A very nice regge.
The best aspect about this song is that it is easily humble, at least the first 2 lines and that is a huge plus for a hit song. Mahima kamath, the new singer has a sweet voice but as MD, yuvan could have given more emphasis on pronouncing the words crisply rather than floating through it. The chorus portion ’’ye penne’’ is very humble.
Rating 4/5 for classes, 3.5/5 for masses and 2/5 for originality
Sil Sil: A very ordinary rain song with very ordinary tune. Yuvan has desperately tried to lift it using high octaves, but has fallen flat. The chorus in the interludes remind you of brother karthik raja’s usage in the film ’’Dum Dum Dum’’.
Chinmaye!!!!!! Was that the beautiful voice heared in kanathil muthamittal and kalgalaal kaidhu sei ???? What on earth happened to her voice or is it a typo?
Rating 1/5 for classes, 2/5 for masses and 2/5 for originality
TheepidikaWith all the hype surrounding the MKT sound alike song being the highlight of the album, this is a damp squib.
First of all, I would consider this to be a disgrace to such a genius voice like MKT. For many of the non tamils who do not know who this MKT is, M.K.Thyaraaja Bhagavathar was the first superstar of Tamil Films. His voice comparable to any classical music giants of any era. He could easily compare as much to a MS.Subhalakshmi or a Bhim Singh Joshi.
He was not only a great singer and cine super star, but such a fantastic human being that he gave away his last gold plate (100 sovereigns), on which he used to eat, for a person who came by hi door asking for a film chance. So to use such a person’s song as a mere mockery, to fill in a DJ’s lust, with scant disregard for a music lover’s sentiment is rudeness.
Otherwise Yuvan has done a good job in this party type, groovy remix. The old songs mix in modern beat gels really well and if combined with good visuals should prove a great delight to moviegoers. But horrible tamil pronunciation from the singers. Pathetic.
But honestly, after experimenting with music editing software and loops generators, I would say that this kind of remix song is very very easy to produce. We would expect a little bit more from Yuvan, at least for the maestro gene that he so fortunately carries.
Rating 2.5/5 for classes, 3.5/5 for masses and 3/5 for originality
yella yella A typical run-of-the-mill Yuvan song. Some of his songs are exactly the same rhythm as American rap singers. You can always hear a snoopy dog like groove in the song. The lyrics, though very ordinary, are in Tamil and not the usual English word fills. Commendable work.
Ranjith & Sujatha have good language pronunciation and they seem to be good singers who can tackle tougher songs. The second interlude reminds of ’’7G rainbow colony’’ theme music.
Rating 2/5 for classes, 2/5 for masses and 2/5 for originality
En kannoduSung by Yuvan Shankar Raja and Nithis Gopalan, easily the best tune of the album. A very catchy Arabian feel. Both the song tune and the interlude has a clear Midwest flavor.
Good instrument arrangement. The violin bits on the second interludes somehow remind me of a poor man’s dalapathi version. A very short and sweet song. Will certainly add more flavor if it was an original tune.
Rating 4/5 for classes , 3.5/5 for masses and ???/5 for originality
On the whole a decent work but nothing extraordinary.