No Obvious Choices. Review on Ten Best Tamil Songs of 2004

The year 2004 has been good for Tamil film music fans though there was no any path breaking efforts or experiments in music. Every other composer of Tamil film music starting from veteran M.S.Vishwanathan to young prodigies like Yuvan, Joshua and Ramesh Vinayakam gave some immortal pleasant melodies in 2004. This article is going to be a discussion about various composers who made it quite big in delivering quality music in 2004 along with a mention of top 10 songs.

Illayaraja

Though there are no any massive hit numbers for Illayaraja. He truly is ruling the Tamil film industry even now. Illayaraja leads in the list by acquiring three positions among top ten. He has given some immortal melodies as always which went unnoticed by the ignorant people whose preference are now for more noisy songs which has nothing to do with what actually music is.

“Unna Vida” from “Virumandi” sung by Shreya Ghosal and Kamal is nothing but a slow, soft, folk love ballad with simple yet meaningful lyrics written by Kamal himself and is sure to linger in our minds for more decades to come. The Orchestrations and the flute usage are in typical Illayaraja style. Illayaraja and Kamal combination proves their combined artistic control and power over the art of music yet again.

“Unai Thedum” from “Pon Meghalai” is a pure classical number. IR proves again that no one can make so authentic yet simplified classical songs as good as him so that even a layman who doesn’t know anything about the carnatic music can understand and appreciate. Bombay Jayshree’s expressive rendition and her complex ghamukkas are truly haunting and mesmerizing. I think most of them would not have even heard about such album but those who haven’t heard it yet are in a big loss.

“En Manamae” from “Vishwa Thulasi” sung by Tippu and Poornima is again a very simple, breezy love duet. I still admire how IR is able to get such simple yet haunting tunes. True, simplicity has its own grand sound. Added to it, it sounds more beautiful with deft usage of flute and Veena. The lyric by IR himself is down to earth and blends well with the tune and the mood of the song.

A.R.Rahman

Next comes A.R.Rahman, who was absent in Tamil films because of his Hindi and international projects but yet he managed to come up with three albums Ayutha Ezuthu, New and Kangalal Kaithi Sei. Though Ayutha Ezuthu and New were massive hits, it is the less noticed music in Kangala Kaithi Sei which is truly long standing, melodious and mesmerizing. And the pick of the lot is

“Ennuyir Thozhiyae” sung by Unni Menon and Chinmayee. The song reminds us the old vintage melodies of Rahman like that in “Pudhiya Mugam”. The melodious tune, excellent usage of piano, magnetic voice of Unnimenon, innocent sweet rendition of Chinmayee and mild rhythms and beats in the background together makes this a pleasant song that you might not stop listening to it only once.

“Kalayil Thinamum” from “New” sung by Unnikrishnan and Sadhana Sargam is another soulful melody and a sweet lullaby from him which has got similar piano usage and arrangements as the previous song. The mellifluous voice and expressive rendition of Unnikrishnan uplifts the song. The starting humming of Sadhana exposes the unique sweetness in her voice. This is indeed a great song amidst other average numbers from this album.

Yuvan Shankar Raja

He can be called as the most truly successful composer of year 2004 whose music satisfies classes and also masses, the feature which has become a rarity in songs these days. None of his albums were bad last year. “7G Rainbow Colony” was his best and though “Manmadhan” music was a big hit, it is only an average effort from him. And a couple of number from “Bose” and “PK Saravanan” were also good.

Both “Kana Kannum Kalangal” and “Ninaithu” songs were equally good from “7GRBC” but I prefer the former one which has got more fusion elements, ethnic beats and yet a melodious tune. Madhumitha deserves a round of applause for her efforts in this song. She sounds prefect with her expression and rendition. Ustad Sultan Khan’s alap and Sarangi pieces gel well with the mood of the song. The other notable factor is the quality of lyrics by Na.Muthukumar delivering the right words which aptly substitutes the emotions of budding love between teenagers.

Karthik Raja

The most underestimated composer of our times and he is definitely a composer to look out for. I was really stunned by his background score at par with international standards for the movie “Kuddaikkul Mazhai”. And his “Kudaikkul Mazhai” is a true gem for those who like grand orchestrations in the songs. But his immediate “Neranja Manasu” album was a let down.

“Kudaikkul Mazhai” theme music is the next entry into the top ten lists. The melody is great and the tune is extremely catchy in this track. The multi layered orchestrations and the deft usage of various instruments are stunning in this track which runs only for two minutes plus. This theme is even much better than “7GRBC” theme and worth of keeping as a ring tone.

Vidhyasagar

Though he has lot of potential, he was not a consistent and a reliable composer. He suddenly goes high with an album and comes down with the other. Last year was pretty average for him. He scored many fast, dappanguthu numbers which were hits in 2004. His “Ghilli” album set a record by selling over 1 lakh copies in Tamilnadu. But I think his best effort in 2004 was for “Thendral” which was a total wash out.

“Putham Pudhu paattu vandha” from “Thendral”. For the first time like a western classical symphony orchestra Vidhyasagar formed a 50 piece orchestra for Tamil folk music which consist only Tamil instruments and predominantly an instrument called “Parai”. Even Illayaraja haven’t done this before. The song is full of energy with expressive and evocative singing of Kuppusamy along with thundering “Parai” beats. The sounds in the song are sure to kindle our nerves. The lyric by Vairamuthu which is like a poetic short story uplifts the song. The ending of the song is really touching both lyrically and musically.

Bharadwaj

Here is another unpredictable composer who is quite an expert in composing high tempo numbers and making it a big hit and he did it again with “Seena Thana” song. But his best composition ever happened to be for “Autograph” released in 2004.

“Nyabagam Varuthey song may be the first choice of everyone but it doesn’t deserve the place as the main tune of the song is a straight rip off from a devotional song. My choice is “Ovvoru Pookalumae” sung by Chitra which is an inspiring melody with optimistic words in the https://lyrics. The solo instrumental piece of flute, guitar and violins adds a pathos mood to the song. Chitra is a very special singer and you can clearly feel the pain in her voice in this song which sets the apt mood apart from the tune and instruments.

Continued in Comments.