Brindavana Saranga by various Film Composers

In my last post, I mentioned about the Raag Brindavana Saranga. In this post, I am going to list down the film songs composed in this raag by various music directors. Many music directors have used this raag in their compositions. Here is the list grouped by the composer.

Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy
Ponn Ondru Kanden - Padithaal Mattum Podhuma
(listen to this rendition by Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan. The song starts at 0:50 secs in the video.)

Ilaiyaraaja
Aathaadi Paavada Kaathaada - Poovilangu
Intha Jilla Muzhukka Nalla Theriyum - Priyanka
Maadathile Kanni Maadathile - Veera

A R Rahman
Konjum Mainakkale - Kandukonden Kandukonden
Adadadada Muthu Muthu - Mr. Romeo

Vidyasagar
Radhai Mandhil - Snehidhiye
Chella Nam Veetukkul - Poovellam Un Vaasam
Kanden Kanden - Madurai

Bharadwaj
Ye Samba Ye Samba - Pandavar Bhoomi

Vijay Antony
Ninjakootil Neeye Nirkiraai - Dishyum

Hariharan-Leslie
Paadhi Kaadhal - Modhi Vilayadu

Deva
Kookoo Kookoo Kuyil Paatu - Vaaymaye Vellum
(Pallavi lifted from the Colonial cousins song, Indian Rain, which is also in Brindavana Saranga).

If you need to add any other song to this list, kindly leave your comment below.

I have also updated this list in my Wiki website for Ragas in film songs. Let me know if you are willing to contribute to the wiki site.

Recent Raga Sightings

I noticed some raga usages in recent tamil film songs. Here are the songs and the ragas.

Song	Movie	Composer	Raag
Paadhi Kadhal	Modhi Vilayadu	Hariharan-Leslie	Brindavan Saranga
Unnai Enakku	Azhagar Malai	Ilaiyaraaja	Hamsadhwani
Enna Senjalum	Azhagar Malai	Ilaiyaraaja	Mayamalavagowlai

Paadhi Kadhal is a nice song from Modhi Vilayaadu. It is set in the Brindavan Saranga raga. You will find similarities between this song and the "Indian Rain" song from Colonial Cousins in the usage of the raga and the instruments (guitar and trumpet). Interesting aspect about this song is the contrast between the 2 lead vocals. Bombay Jayashree sings in the indian classical style while Sunitha Sarathy sings almost the same tune in western style.

Unnai Enakku from Azhagar Malai is set in Raag Hansdhwani/Hamsadhwani. Ilaiyaraaja has composed only a handful of songs in Hamsadhwani when compared with other raagas that he has used. There is lot of classical touches in the way this song has been sung. In recent times, he has composed another song in Hamsadhwani from the film "Oru Naal Oru Kanavu". It is called "Enna paatu vennum unakku" sung by Sonu Nigam. That is yet another good song. Refer this wiki page for some songs in this raga.

Enna Senjalum from Azhagar Malai is set in Raag Mayamalavagowlai. Ilayaraaja has done lot of classic songs in this Raga. But somehow this song doesn't impress.

Re-Recording Raaja Contest

Suresh Kumar who writes about background scores (http://backgroundscore.blogspot.com) is conducting a contest titled 'Re-Recording Raaja Contest'. Basically if you are able to recreate raaja's re-recording works, you can participate in the contest and get a chance to win Rs.10,000.

 

More details on this contest available at the below link:

 

http://backgroundscore.blogspot.com/2009/06/re-recording-raaja-contest.html

Rajapaarvai background piece - shruthibedam again

Talking about Rajapaarvai, listen to the following background music (re-recording) from the same film. It is a very nice piece.



Hope you enjoyed it. Here is a comment by an user on that video:

i'm an atheist...but this music makes me think twice. Divine!

Now for the technically inclined:

While listening to it I realized that this piece starts in raag Jog in 1.5 kattai (C#) and at 00:26 secs it shifts to raag Subhapantuvaraali in 4 kattai (F) - basically the Ga of Jog becomes the Sa of Subhapantuvaraali with the same notes. It again comes back to Jog later. Kindly correct me if I am wrong.

Raaja has done this kind of shruthibedam / tonal shifts lot of times. This same Jog-Subhapantuvaraali shruthibedam was done in the album "How to name it" too.

I had earlier written about some songs were shruthibedam was used in tamil film songs. Here are the links to those posts:

BGM piece - Alaigal Oyvadhillai

Kavithai Kelungal - Punnagai Mannan

Raa Raa - Chandramukhi

Rajapaarvai Violin Concerto

Listen to this wonderful Violin Concerto composed by Ilaiyaraaja for the film "Raja Paarvai". Nice blend of Carnatic and Western styles (typical ilaiyaraaja). This composition is in raag Pantuvaraali. Sit back and enjoy.



Some observations:

1. Till 1:35 secs in the video, it is carnatic style. You will notice that Kamal sits and plays the violin as in carnatic style. At 1:36 it changes to western classical style and you will notice Kamal standing and playing the violin.

2. From around 2:04 to 2:24, for about 20 secs the Sa and Pa notes are not at all played. This song is in 2 kattai (D) and in this Pantuvaraali scale in D, except Sa and Pa all others are half notes - either sharp/flat (black keys on the keyboard). So for these 20 seconds, there are no natural notes played. i.e. only black keys while playing on the keyboard. And at 2:24 after heightening the tension, it lands at Shadjamam and then from there, the drums take off. The violins, lead guitar and bass guitar go in a frenzy along with the drums. Finally it comes to a finish with the main theme played in unison.

I tried re-creating this number on my computer few years back by doing some basic midi sequencing. Here is the midi file in case you are interested on the notes of the song. By the way, I have omitted a few lines and I think there are some wrong notes in the midi file that I created.