Oru Murai Vanthu Paarthayaa - Kuntalavaraali

You know Google, right?  The famous Search Engine...Like an Engine, when you search for "something",  it will first take you to that "something" and then take you to various places.  I was traveling in that engine, searching for a recipe on my phone.  I was reading how to make that recipe...when I was transferred to YouTube.  I was thinking I'm going to see the making of the recipe, but all I saw was Jyothika dancing as Chandramukhi.  I had no idea then/I have no idea now, how I landed on Chandramukhi.  While Jyothika was dancing, I scrolled down the screen(just like that).  I saw the thumbnail of Shobana, (dazzlingly dressed as Chandramukhi in the Malayalam Version - "Manichitrathazhu"). I clicked Shobana's Thumbnail....and...and...I saw some ads....followed by a beautiful composition....most beautiful composition...and a classic rendition of Bharatnatyam by Shobana.  It was a treat to eyes and ears, in spite of the videos poor quality.

The moment I heard the song, I felt the raga was so familiar. The beginning of the song resembled like "Mounathil Vilayadum Manasatchiye".   I had no patience to wait for my mind to find out the raga from its storage.  I was about to use the search engine when my mind presented to me "Maale Mani vanna " song from Thiruppavai, which is set to Kuntalavaraali raga.  I thanked my mind for its hard work.  

By the way, "Oru Murai Paarthayaa" is the most beautiful Kuntalavaraali I have heard.  It's like kind of Thillana towards the end.  I'm at a loss to explain the beauty of this song.  The song has anger, frustration, happiness everything.  You get to hear Andholika in the interlude.  Towards the end, it changes to another raga, which I'm not able to identify.  The raga resembles Nithyasri's Telugu bit from Aayirathil Oruvan Tamil movie.  

I have downloaded the song to my phone and FYI, it is in repeat mode.

Naa rumba busy - Punnagavarali???

I like all things, Mirchi Shiva.  I am a big follower of him.  I follow all his programs - programs that he hosts.  I like his deadpan/situational/standup humor.  Really speaking, just his sight make me smile from ear to ear.  Oh...fine!!Enough of Mirchi Shiva.  We were watching a cine award function hosted by Mirchi Shiva and Venkat Prabhu.  Along came Tamana's dance performance.  She along with her ensemble started dancing to a Tamil song.  I was about to forward when the song captured my attention.  The song was upbeat, refreshing,reverberating and mind blowing.  I  have never heard that song before.  With the help of google, I discovered that the song is featured in the movie "Vaasum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga".  I didn't see the movie for the very reason that it had so many drinking scenes.  (The movie should have been named "Vaasum Saravananum onna Kudichavanga"!!)   I got hooked on to the song and listened over and over and over and over again.   I was sure the song was tuned to some Carnatic raga, but I was not able to figure it out.  Finally, the interlude(or whatever) before the final charanam  helped me arrive at the raga.  The interlude has the shade of the yesteryear  popular devotional Amman song "Chellatha, Chella Mariyatha".  Again google figured out that the raga for the Amman song is Punnagavarali.  Therefore I have come to the conclusion "Naan Romba busy" is Punnagavarali.  I am not sure though.

Yaaro Ival Yaaro Ival - Sarasangi?

Some movies fill your heart with a classy subject line.  Others touch your heart with scintillating songs.  "Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah" belongs to "touch your heart with scintillating songs" category.  The movie is below average.  But the songs…all of them…..are captivating/mesmerizing/enthralling.  While "Kannukul pothi vaipen" and "Chillendra Chillendra" topped the chart, "Yaaro Ival Yaaro Ival" topped my heart.

I had no intention finding the raga of this song.  But when I listened to this song couple of times and couple of times more and couple of times more, the little spider in my brain became restless and started crawling my memory nerves.  First it landed on the song "Meenama Meenama" from Rajaathi Raja.  As I was finding similarities between "Meenama Meenama" and "Yaaro Ival", the spider further crawled and landed on  the song"Tha thanthana gummy kotti" from Athisiya Piravi.   Both are Sarasangi. When I was about to conclude "Yaaro Ival" is Sarasangi, the spider crawled rapidly fast and landed on the song "Thaiyathaa Thaiyathaa" from Thiruttupayale.  This song was set to Charukesi.  "Yaaro Aval" may be Sarasangi or not, but I firmly believed it could not be Charukesi.  Now, I crawled the world wide web to find more about Sarasangi and Charukesi.  I discovered…sorry..I found out that only subtle difference exists between them.

Sarasangi : S R2 G3 M1 P D1 N3 S                         Charukesi:   S R2 G3 M1 P D1 N2 S
                  S N3 D1 P M1 G3 R2 S                                              S N2 D1 P M1 G3 R2 S

Can you spot the difference?!!

There is a saying you know, when you have positive feelings, positive things happen, when you have negative feelings negative things happen.  Similarly, I had "Sarasangi" feelings and Sarasangi happened.  When I was listening to Carnatic Radio one fine morning, came the song "Narayanam Bhaje" in Sarasangi.   After hearing that song, I concluded "Yaaro Ival" should be Sarasangi only.  I may be wrong too.

Now, coming to the song, all elements ( instruments, vocal, lyrics) are classic.  The interlude before last Charanam is mind blowing.  Hearing is believing.