Prelude of Maalai Yen Vedhanai from Sethu

Recently I noticed and tried to understand the composition of the piano prelude of the song Maalai Yen Vedhanai Koottudhadi from Sethu. The song is in D Major scale (shankarabharanam) and the notes of the pallavi go like:

GaMaGa  GaMaGa  GaPaSaNi.
maalaiyen  vedhanai  koottudhadi

So Ilayaraja has tried to play on the GaMaGa (F#GF#) tune for the prelude. The piano piece opening is similar to the 'maalai yen vedhanai' tune. But since it talks about the pain of love and also because of the scene before this song, he brings in a melancholic and contemplative mood in the prelude. He does this by employing different chords that predominantly seem to be in its relative minor scale (B minor scale) and doesn't uses the tonic chord of the D Major scale at all. He also uses the Dha1 note (A# accidental note in D major scale) in some of the chords to bring in a little melancholic feel. Towards the end of the piano prelude (0:13 to 0:15 secs in this video), he creates a small break and the chord used there creates a certain tension. And then he releases the tension by leading up to the tonic chord (DMaj7th i think) using it for the first time for the GaMaGa tune (at 0:16). Building up this tension and releasing it is my favorite portion of the prelude. I used to keep repeating this prelude alone to listen to it again and again. From a composition point of view, this was really interesting to me.

Listen to this prelude in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkbU5NfxXrg

Chords used in the prelude below. I got this by loading the song in a mac based software called Capo 3.

Bm7 Bm7 | Em7 Em7 | GMaj7 GMaj7 |
A#aug Gm | GMaj7 Em7 | F#7- F#7 |
DMaj7

It showed A#7 at one place which I thought was wrong and change to A#aug above.
It aslo showed F#m7 at the end for the chord which creates that tension. This again I think is wrong. I changed that to F#7, but then I am not sure if that chord is correct.

My thoughts on Megha and Kalvane analysis

I was eagerly awaiting Ilaiyaraaja's 'Megha' album the moment I saw the recording clips posted on YouTube much before the release of the audio. I had good expectation of the album based on the melodies I heard and also because of the fact that IR was collaborating with the Hungary musicians after Neethane En Ponvasantham. Here are my rough thoughts on the album:

Mugilo Megamo:
I loved this song when I watched the recordings on youtube. The melody was really nice with the typical Ilaiyaraaja touch (esp the pallavi end and charanam end). The start of the charanam is also really good. I loved Ilaiyaraaja's rendering more than Yuvan's as IR gives more soul to the song in his singing. I guess it is always the original composer who can give the right feel to a song as per his original intent.

Chellam Konjam:
This is a very peppy song with some good drumming. As Rajiv mentioned, the bass lines ascending on the first line and descending on the second line is the first thing that caused my attention. And that too the timing of the bass in the 2nd line seemed tough to grasp. The chords backing the lines "vinmeen keten vaanam thanthai" in the pallavi sounds really nice and typical of Raja. And when the song breaks into "megam megathodu konji", you invariably swing your heads, in sync of the song's rhythm. A peppy song.

Enna Vendum:
This song has very good drumming. It sounds a little old style though, probably due to the tune and priyadarshini's voice. Neverthless, enjoyable. The 4 bars of just the beats before the 1st charanam is my favorite portion. It is not a regular pattern I believe.

Jeevane Jeevane:
To me, this didn't appeal me yet. May be it is lengthy and a bit monotonous.

Putham Puthu Kaalai:
This is a re-recorded version of the popular Puthu Puthu Kaalai song sung previously by S Janaki. This version is sung by Anitha. Though it is good overall, I felt Chitra or Shreya Ghosal would have done better justice to the song in today's times. Also I felt the song could have been sung in a more relaxed pace. There was some variation in the manner the 1st interlude ended (bass+epiano) and the 1st charanam started. The timing was a little different than the original one, but still in time, unlike the timing confusion in the prelude strings.

Kalvane:
This is a very Jazzy number and I loved the Strings section in it. It sounds so nice, especially the Strings backings in the pallavi and the first interlude. This has something different going on in the charanam. The song seems to change color in the charanam and so I wanted to understand what happens there. Here is my observation:

The song is predominantly set in E minor scale. When the charanam starts, the song is still in E minor in the first few lines. Then you can notice that it totally changes color. That is because, the scale changes from E minor to C minor. That is, the Dhaivatham of E minor becomes the Shadjamam and the scale now is C minor. The melody goes like SS, gRS ,P in C minor.

Then in the last line of the charanam, the song again changes scale to G minor scale I believe. The notes are almost same as that as pallavi (SRg SRg SRg mPmR), but in a different scale, G minor.

IR has used this technique in many of his songs. The technique is that of ending the charanam with same tune as pallavi, but in a different scale or starting from a different note/octave in the same scale. Example of same technique used in other songs:

• Kodai Kala Kaatre, 
• Poova Eduthu Oru, 
• Satru Munbu, 
• Vaanaville, 
• Nee Thoongum Nerathil, 
• Kalvane,
  ...and there could be many more such songs. 

Coming back to the Kalvane song, after the last line of charanam, the song comes back to the original E minor scale. Same notes (SRg SRg SRg mPmg) but this time in E minor scale. So I think there is atleast 1 scale change and may be even 2 scale changes in this awesome song. And I haven't gone into identifying the time signature of this song yet. I am guessing it could either be 4/4 swing or 6/8.

Here is my rough try just for demonstration and understanding purpose. Please ignore all the imperfections of my playing.

Overall:
Overall, I liked the album. It uses the same sound palette as that of Neethane En Ponvasantham (because of the same hungary musicians) and it is good to listen to full acoustic music. It doesn't reach the heights of Neethane En Ponvasantham, but neverthless it is a very likeable album.

Neethane En Ponvasantham - Discovery

While listening to the awesome songs of Neethane En Ponvasantham (CD | mp3) by Ilaiyaraaja, I made an interesting discovery. To me, it looks all the songs end in the Panchamam (Pa note).  Not sure if it is intentional or if it is coincidental. Songs ending with Shadjamam (Sa note) is very common. But all 8 songs (actually 9) from the album ending in Panchamam was interesting. I will list how each song ends below. Please correct me if I am wrong.

1. Saindhu Saindhu - This song is in D major. The strings seem to play the Pa note (the note A in western) at the end.
   P P P , P P P ,
   
2. Kaatrai Konjam - This song is set in E major. Both the melody and the strings+sax end in the Pa note (B in western) in lower octave.
   Melody: G,m G,R S,N D,P P,
   Sax+Strings: S N n D d P P,PP,PP
   
3. Mudhal Murai - This is in B minor. The string hit at the end seems to be the note Pa (F# in western).
   
4. Vaanam Mella - This song is set in F minor. The melody at the end, ends in Pa (C in western) in the lower octave.
   SRSnR SRSnR SRSnP
   
5. a) Pudikkila Maamu - This is again in E major. The "alarudhu teenage hey" line ends in the Pa note (B in western).
   GGGG G,m, ,,,, P,,,,,,,,
   
   b) Veedhi Patthade - This is in the scale of Madhyamavathi with A# as the tonic. The short guitar postlude at the end, ends in Pa (F in western).
   nSR S,n R,n,R, PP, P,P,,,
   
6. Yennodu Vaa Vaa - This is in E minor. The melody at the end, ends in Pa (B in western) in the lower octave.
   gg,S gggS ggRS R,-- | nSR, R,n, nSR, R,n, | g,S, n,d, P
   
7. Pengal Endraal - This is again in B minor. The melody at the end, ends in Pa (F# in western).
   PDNS RgmP P
   
8. Satru Munbu - This song is set in D minor. The melody at the end, ends in Pa (A in western) in lower octave.
   PSRg g,,g g,,g g,,S R,,P ,,,,

What do you think?

PS: Thanks to Rajiv Shankar for sharing the scales of the song which helped me to get started quickly.

Ilaiyaraaja's Cyclic Interludes

About 5 years back, I posted 6 of Ilaiyaraaja's cyclic interludes in this blog. By cyclic interlude, I am referring to an interlude (or prelude) which starts with a specific phrase, then meanders around and then returns to that same phrase before starting the charanam (or  pallavi).

I then noticed 7 other songs with similar pattern. So I compiled all 13 of them into a single track starting from the oldest (as per the release date). This technique/pattern has been used by Ilaiyaraaja even recently in a song from Dhoni. Go ahead and listen to the cyclic interludes below:

Here are the songs featured in the above track:

1. Idhazhil Kadhai from Unnal Mudiyum Thambi
2. Sivarathiri from Michael Madhana Kama Rajan
3. Kuyil Paatu (Happy) from En Raasavin Manasile
4. Kuyil Paatu (Sad) from En Raasavin Manasile
5. Povoma from Chinna Thambi
6. Oh Butterfly from Meera
7. Ellorum Sollum Paatu from Marubadiyum
8. Ennavendru Solvadhama from Raajakumaaran
9. Piraye from Pithamagan
10. Ilaimaikku Oru from Oru Naal Oru Kanavu
11. Malle Puvvu from Malle Puvvu
12. Yaarum Thodatha from Ajantha
13. Vaangum Panathukkum from Dhoni

And as an experiment, here is another version after excluding the music in between the repeating phrases. Even though the interlude is shortened, you won't find the flow missing. Listen to the first clip posted above and then listen to the one below.

There could be more such songs. If you come across any other song, leave a comment.

Oora Therinjukitten - Cover Version

Here is our cover version of the song Oora Therinjukitten, which was originally composed by Ilaiyaraaja for the film Padikkadhavan.

Singer: Srivatsan
Karaoke Track, Recording, Mixing: Sripathy Ramesh
Video, Editing: Anbu Chezhian
(Thanks to Aravindhan for some additional video clips)

Listen to it and let us know your feedback.



On a related note, don't miss our earlier cover of the song:
Andhi Mazhai from Raajapaarvai.

Nenjathai Killadhe

The song Paruvame Pudhiya Paadal from Nenjathai Killadhe was performed at the Ilaiyaraaja concert and it was so nice. SPB's voice, the jogging rhythm simulated by tapping on the thighs, the 1st interlude - Sada's classical guitar, the Strings section, harmonium, etc., were the highlights.

A few months back, Vicky had written about the title score of Nenjathai Killladhe. The title score was very good and quite interesting with the various mood changes. It starts with the same jogging rhythm used in the Paruvame song. Read more about this title score and listen to it on Vicky's blog.

Since it uses the same rhythm and the same relative scales - E Major and C# minor,  I thought it would have been even better if the orchestra had played the Nenjathai Killadhe Title score and then continued to the Paruvame song. That would have just been awesome. Here is a mix I tried with the title score and the original song. I had slowed down the tempo of the title score to suit the Paruvame song.

Nenjathai Killadhe - Title Music and Paruvame by sripathyramesh-1

Sundari Kannal Oru Seidhi - Strings section

When I went to the Ilaiyaraaja Live concert earlier this week, the orchestra was doing rehearsals / sound check of the 1st interlude of Sundari Kannal Oru Seidhi song. Each section was being played separately and I captured the audio of that rehearsal. I then listened to the individual sections and I tried recreating it using my keyboard and my computer. Here is the final version of the Strings section. I have skipped the chorus section and the horns section here.

Sundari Kannaal Oru by sripathyramesh

You can listen to the individual sections here:

Sundari Kannal Oru - Individual Sections by sripathyramesh

Let me know your feedback and drop in your comments. If you want to know the exact notes or want the midi file, let me know.

Endrendrum Raja - My experience at the concert

I attended the "Endrendrum Raja" live concert by Ilaiyaraaja earlier this week. It was a great experience similar to the previous Ilaiyaraaja live concert which happened in chennai around 6 years back. I absolutely loved the 34 piece Strings section. The sound of the violins was magical and they played it to near perfection. The numbers I enjoyed the most were Schubert Symphony No. 8 along with Idhayam Pogudhey, Paruvame, Chinna Kannan Azhaikiran, Poove Sempoove, Edho Mogam, Madai Thiranthu, Ayiram Thamarai, Sundari Kannal Oru, and Title music of Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai. The others were good too. As I left before the show ended, I missed out on classics like Idhu Oru Nila Kaalam, Ilamai Idho Idho.

This concert was not as perfect as the last Raja concert in Chennai held 6 years back. There were a few issues with sound balance, certain singers did not prepare enough, etc. The previous concert was much better to me in terms of near perfect performances, even better selection of songs, lot of singers, less errors, etc. But above all, this concert was still worthwhile and there were enough magical moments. Expecting more such concerts.

This concert will be telecast on Jaya TV during the Pongal holidays. The making, rehearsals, etc will be telecast on Jan 14th and the concert itself on 15th and 16th. Don't miss it!

Before winding off, here is the video of a small demo of a 2-note composition by Ilaiyaraaja - just 2 lines.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=348203421872881

Raja uses only the notes Sa and Ri in the scale of Dm. He sings Sa Ri Ri Ri | Ri Sa Sa Sa | Sa Ri Ri Ri | Ri Sa Sa Sa | Sa Ri Ri Ri | Ri Sa Sa Sa | Sa - - - | with the note D as the Shadjamam. So he basically sings D E E E | E D D D | .... Then he asks to give the chords A and Dm to give a color to the song and sings it again. Then he changes shruthi and asks to give chords F#7 and Bm alternatively while continuing to sing the same notes D E E E | E D D D || In effect the notes in the new shruthi become Ga Ma Ma Ma | Ma Ga Ga Ga || Interesting to note this!

Endrendrum Raja - Live Concert by Ilaiyaraaja in Chennai on Dec 28

I attended the previous Ilaiyaraaja Live Concert in Chennai in the year 2005 and it was just great. Around 5 hours of pure awesomeness. All songs performed were 100% pure live orchestration with absolutely no minus-one or sequenced tracks. This time again Ilaiyaraaja is performing with his orchestra live in Chennai on Dec 28 2011, Wednesday 6 pm onwards. The venue is the same Nehru Indoor Stadium.

Get ready for the show! Tickets are priced at Rs. 500/- and Rs. 750/- per head.

Book your tickets now at http://www.jayanetwork.in/.

Here is a video of a rehearsal session. In this video, the orchestra is rehearsing the 1st interlude of 'En Iniya Pon Nilave' song from 'Moodupani' - one of my favorite songs.



Eagerly awaiting the concert!

Endrendrum Anandhame - Ilaiyaraaja

Rajiv Shankar introduced me to the song "Endrendrum Anandhame". It is a funky song by Ilaiyaraaja and is set in Sarasaangi raagam!

Listen to this song here:



Another intersting thing Rajiv pointed me out was the play in the time signature. The pallavi and rest of the song seemed to be in 3/4 except for the anupallavi - 'vaalibathin rasanai..." in 4/4. The beat seems to be similar for both portions. That is because for first 2 lines the beat plays 4 bars of 3 counts each and for the next 2 lines (vaalibathin..), it plays 3 bars of 4 count each. Very interesting to note this.

What I later noticed is that the melody (mainly charanam and 1st 2 lines of pallavi) seems to be in 6/8 time signature rather than 3/4. But the beat and bass follow 3/4 time signature. I don't know how to explain and so I added a tabla rhythm over the song to try to demonstrate that. Here is that version:

Endrendrum Anandhame by sripathyramesh

Beat   : 1 2 | 3 4 | 5 6
Melody : 1 2 3  |  4 5 6

I may be wrong too. So please correct and educate me if I am wrong. What do you think?

Jotheyali / Vizhiyile / Jaane Do Na on the Harmonium

This song, Jotheyali, was originally composed by Ilaiyaraaja for a Kannada film and that was a huge hit. This song was later reused as Vizhiyile Mani Vizhiyil in a Tamil film, Nooravudhu Naal. More recently, Ilaiyaraaja reused this again as Jaane Do Na in the Hindi film, Cheeni Kum, with a totally different arrangement.

This song has got wonderful melody and chord sequences. I wanted to try it out and so I set the basic arrangement for this song and created the Karaoke track. I then played the harmonium on top of the track and recorded it. Let me know your feedback.



Microphone used: Tascam DR-07mkII digital audio recorder

Notes: http://www.tfmpage.com/notes/ir/viz2.txt
Chords: http://indiankeyboards.11.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=613#613

Andhi Mazhai - our cover version

Here is a cover version of the wonderful song 'Andhi Mazhai Pozhiguradhu' from the film 'Rajapaarvai'. It was originally composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

We thought of performing this song for a band competition and that is when I started to take the notes and chords of the song and then created a karaoke track just for reference. But then for different reasons, we dropped this song. Recently I recorded the vocals for this song with my colleagues Srivatsan, Vijayalakshmi, Baranidharan and another colleague Anbu Chezhian captured it on Video. He did the editing of the video as well.

Presenting Andhi Mazhai:



Singers: Srivatsan, Vijayalakshmi, Baranidharan
Music track, Recording, Mixing: Sripathy Ramesh (Original music: Ilaiyaraaja)
Video Shot and Edited by: Anbu Chezhian

Do let us know your feedback in the comments section.

Thenpandi Seemayile - Strings Section

About a month back, I wanted to decipher the Strings section of Thenpandi Seemayile song from Nayagan. The lead melody was easy. And with some equalization of the original track I was able to find out the notes for the rest of the orchestra. It was fun deciphering this and understanding the harmonies involved.

I sequenced the same piece on my computer. Here is the violin section, followed by the viola section, the cello and double bass section and finally all of them playing together. I am not really good at listening to a piece and reproducing it perfectly on keyboard. So if there are any wrong notes, please let me know so that I can correct them.

Thenpandi Seemayile - Strings Section Details by sripathyramesh


My next target is the opening strings section of the 'Singing Self' piece from Nothing but Wind. The good part is that I chanced upon the practice session of the orchestra at the venue for the 'Nothing But Wind' concert held at Chennai. And I recorded a small section on my mobile. Sorry for the poor audio quality. Here, you can listen to the individual sections doing the mic check and then all of them playing together. Refer the link below for the recording.

http://soundcloud.com/sripathyramesh-1/nothing-but-wind-concert-rehearsals

Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

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.

BGM piece from Alaigal Oyvathillai

Here is a BGM piece from Alaigal Oyvathillai with music by Ilaiyaraaja. This piece comes when Karthik runs behind Radha on the beach and holds her hand. The piece was so good when watched along with the visuals. This is in Raag Hindolam, conveying the same mood as in "Dharisanam kidaikaadha" song which appears earlier in the film. Towards the end of the piece you will notice a mood change with an emotional male humming. Now listen to the piece and then read further.


As I said earlier, this piece is in Hindolam. But when the male humming starts, it changes to Srothaswani raga (Ni3 counterpart of Sudhdha dhanyasi) in a different shruthi. The madhyamam of hindolam becomes the shadjamam of srothaswani. And that is why the female humming ends at Sa ma ga ma, Sa ma ga ma, Sa ma ga ma, Sa ma ga ma, and the shruthi changes and the male humming starts at the upper Sa which is equivalent to the ma of hindolam. This technique of changing the shruthi is being called as shruthibedam. Lets look at the notes of the scales and see how the transformation was done and why it didn't sound odd when both the ragam and shruthi changes.

Hindolam (in 1/2 kattai)

Sa

Ga

Ma

Dha

Ni

Sa

Srothaswani (in 4 1/2 kattai)

Pa

Ni

Sa

Ga

Ma

Pa

Western Notes

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

So as you can see above, even though the scale changes, almost all the notes which will be played / sung are the same. It is only with the relative base shruthi that you identify with the swaras and the ragas.

Some of my earlier posts on Shruthibedam in film songs - Kavithai Kelungal and Raa Raa. Infact Raa Raa is also based on Srothaswani.

Swara Harmonies

I was listening to some of the BGMs of Ilaiyaraaja. Here is a short BGM bit from the film Sindhubhairavi. Listen to the harmonies and overlaps in the Shanmugapriya raga. The audio quality is poor, kindly bear with it.

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And here is a similar piece in Mayamalavagowlai raga from the film "Alaigal Oyvathillai"

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Ennai Thalaatta Varuvaalo

The song "Ennai Thalaatta Varuvaalo" from "Kadhalukku Mariyadhai" is a very popular song by Ilaiyaraaja. Recently there was a song "Oru porkaalam thodangum" from the film "Kasthurimaan" again by Ilaiyaraaja. I could sense a similarity in the opening lines between the two songs. The tune looks somewhat similar. However the similarity ends after the first 2 lines. So I mixed the 2 songs together. Listen to this below. In the middle, you will notice that both the songs are played simultaneously with one song on the left and the other song on the right.

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Speaking of "Ennai Thalaatta Varuvaalo", the other version of this song from the same film is "Idhu Sangeetha Thirunaalo". Both these songs are set in 4/4 adhi thalam. The song is predominantly in the scale of the keeravani ragam, I believe. Now listen to the prelude of the "Idhu Sangeetha Thirunaalo" song below.

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When I listened to the above prelude, it seemed that the timing was in 3/4, but again it was not matching completely in 3/4. Then I heard a few more times and found that the timing goes as follows:

1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 ||
1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 ||

tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ka thi mi ||
tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ka thi mi ||

Each cycle comes to a total of 16 counts there by effortlessly maintaining or switching to the 4/4 beat after this initial piece. Again the actual beat is predominantly 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 || which is 8 counts.

The 16 beat count above is also used in the song "Siriya paravai siragai virithu" from the film "Antha Oru Nimidam" however in a much faster tempo. You will notice that the tune also fits into this timing. This is however used only for the 1st 2 lines.

Speaking of the Siriya paravai song, refer this article to know how IR has used Shruthibedam in this song, where he changes to Charukesi in the 2nd interlude and the following stanza.

Some of my earlier posts on Shruthibedam in film songs - Kavithai Kelungal and Raa Raa.

Addictive Rhythm

I was hearing the "Anbe Nee Enna" song from Pandian on the radio. The rhythm pattern was captivating and I enjoyed every bit of the song mainly due to the beats. Ilaiyaraaja often experiments with different rhythm patterns in many of his songs and in some bgms too. Do you like this song too?

Poongathave - Remastered?

I heard the wonderful "Poongathave Thaazh Thiravai" song (based on the mayamalavagowlai scale) from Nizhalgal twice over the last week on FM. It seems someone has digitally remastered the song. I have heard the original song on my computer, but this one sounded different. The prelude strings are slightly different, the chords are very much audible through out the song, the thavil sound at the end of the prelude changed. Please note that the notes / orchestration hasn't changed, just that it sounds different. The voices and most of the instruments seems to be the same.

And again in the second interlude, when the solo violin is played, a guitar arpeggio is heard. And this one completely drowns the wonderful counter melody in flute which can be heard in the original song. Does anyone know what notes are played in the flute melody along with the solo violin. I am not able to match the ending notes with any particular note / key. It seems to be deliberately off key, but doesn't sound so.

Have you heard this new version of the song?