Milliblog Weeklies, Week 127 – Sep.13, 2020

Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 127: On | On
12 songs, this week. YouTube has all 12, while JioSaavn is missing just one – Venmaniye Venmaniye, by Aadil Anzar.

Sang Rahiyo – Jasleen Royal (Indipop/Hindi): A pop song that also doubles up as an extended advertisement for Cadbury Silk, not just content showing the product, but also using the product’s current campaign theme’s in the lyrics (How far will you go for love?). Jasleen’s melody is easy on the ear, and that lilting rhythm helps keep the song consistently interesting. Her unusual voice/singing continues to be equally interesting, while Ujjwal Kashyap’s voice/singing roots the song in a more familiar setting.

Tamizhan Endru Sollada – Bhoomi (D.Imman) – Tamil: A pulse-pounding ode to Tamizh! Imman’s usually punchy music gets a significant fillip from Madhan Karky’s superb lyrics where he literally carves a colour out of Tamil (“Ulagathin Mudhal Niram Tamizh Niram Dhaan”). Also worth noting – the extra 0.5 Crore added to the population – from Vaali’s “Aarara Kodi PergaLil Oruvan, Adiyen Tamizhan…” from 2005’s Anbe Aaruyire… to “Yezhu Kodi Mugam Aanaal Orey Oru Peyar Dhaan”, in this song.

Azhagiya Sirukki – Ka Pae Ranasingam (Ghibran) – Tamil: In Gold Devaraj’s endearingly earthy vocals, and that lively rhythm, Ghibran has a superb winner. The melody is heady and the anupallavi is a lovely touch too. A thoroughly enjoyable song.

Aahaa – Vaazhl (Pradeep Kumar) – Tamil: WHAT. A. SONG! Pradeep writes, composes and sings the song himself. The lyrics seem to be loosely jumping out of a man’s discovery of how beautiful his surroundings are and as if on cue, he also exclaims musically, Aahaa in 3 different ways, before completely giving up all pretence of expressions and admits, “Mei Marandhen”! Phenomenal song! The music video is a tad jarring with the way it tries t airbrush parts of the scenery and forces us to watch on particular part.

PS 1: I have been making a list of songs where a lead character is singing about nature, life and related philosophy while soaked in it, and where the lyrics do not necessarily allude to the heroine’s/woman’s beauty but focus largely on nature’s beauty. So, I have songs like, Dheentanana from Rhythm, Moongil Kaadugale from Samurai, The Life of Ram from 96, Vaanam Arugil Oru Vaanam from Nyaya Tharasu, Dhooramai from Peranbu and Ithu Oru Pon Maalai Pozhuthu from Nizhalgal, so far. Aahaa from Vaazhl easily joins that list.

PS 2: I don’t know why they use the spelling “Vaazhl”. The word ends with ‘zh’, as in Tamizh. So why not leave it at Vaazh?

Alaya – Unarvugal Thodarkathai (Hari Dafusia) – Tamil: Hari Dafusia, who made his debut in Gangs of Madras, pitches in with a far better output that that soundtrack. The breezy sound is marred only by the fangled Tamil diction of the singers (Nikhita Gandhi, and Hari himself), who sing as if their tongue has been freshly frozen by Freez Zone ice cream. The song’s melody is lovely, though, with that “Fa la la la” line adding to the charm.

Venmaniye Venmaniye – Aadil Anzar (4 Musics) – Tamil: The song’s Saaranga raaga composition drew me in immediately, as much as Aadil’s brilliant singing, for his age! His child-like voice and singing hides a far more proficient and confident singer and his handling of the melody’s nuances are beautiful. TS Ayyappan’s lyrics speak about the object of affection being in the female gender and I wondered how it makes sense for such a young boy to sing those lines – thankfully, the makers have thought about this too and frame the video as Aadil singing about his little sister!

Choosale Kallaraa – SR Kalyanamandapam (Chaitan Bharadwaj) – Telugu: It looks like another Bharadwaj may become a lot more popular sooner, than the Bharadwaj I have been consistently rooting for forever, in vain, in Telugu film industry – I’m referring to Chaitan Bharadwaj and Shravan Bharadwaj. Chaitan has proven to be pretty good with films like RX100, 7 and Manmadhudu 2. In Choosale Kallaraa, he has Sid Sriram handling his delightfully catchy melody with Gautam Raj’s violin being a beautiful accompaniment.

Thora Mazhayilum – Saajan Bakery Since 1962 (Prashant Pillai) – Malayalam: After last week’s first single, Prashant hits it out of the park yet again, in the 2nd single! Unlike that song’s cool retro sound, this one derives its strength from the superb vocals – Vineeth Sreenivasan and Preeti Pillai. The melody is warm and pleasant, and peaks with that ‘Ee Thora Mazhayilum’ line that both singers sing together, along with that fantastic sax layer (by Josy) for company.

Ponnonam Varavayi – KS Harisankar (Joby PS) – Malayalam: A delightfully crafted Onam song using Aanandhabhairavi raaga, with the familiar Dhittitara Dhittitai peppered to lovely effect. This is the week’s second song featuring KS Harisankar, and Joby adorns the song with Haritha Raj’s veena and Sreeram’s flute, among others.

Aananda Sagaram – KS Harisankar (Ranjith Meleppatt) – Malayalam: Ranjith has proven himself to be a competent composer with past works like (Tamil, 2014) and Puzhikkadakan. In Aananda Sagaram, he composes a devotional song on Lord Krishna and coincidentally, this song too is set to Saaranga raaga, like the song above! KS Harisankar’s outstanding singing makes the song even more beautiful.

Maleye Maleye – Salaga (Charan Raj) – Kannada: The film’s first single, the wonderfully catchy ‘Suri Anna’, came out way back in January 2020 – seems like another lifetime, given how the world has completely changed since then. Charan’s 2nd song is a total contrast – a wonderfully sweeping melody that is powered by Sanjith Hegde’s Sid Sriram’ish singing, along with Aishwarya Rangarajan. Charan keeps the backgrounds calm, letting the soft melody shine. But that nadaswaram layer (by Adyar Bala Subramaniam) expanding on Aanandhabhairavi raaga stands out beautifully!

Ista Patta Devthe – Bhakshi Garden (Leander Lee Marty) – Kannada: A surprisingly catchy rock song with Benny Dayal’s voice leading the charge! There’s a nice jazz touch in the backgrounds, and particularly that 2nd interlude. The brass section is the soul of the background sound, significantly amping the song’s charm.

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