Laya Raaja

Flutist/ Singer Nepolean a.k.a Arunmozhi sir, rated the song 'Ila nenje vaa' as one of the memorable songs where he played flute. The peculiar thing is, this is one of those rare Raaja song where there is not much work for a melody instrument in the interludes. Its percussion show all the way. And yet, the scope for flute is tremendous yet novel. In between every line in both Pallavi and Charanam there are crisp flute bits that demands an extremely sharp flautist to play.

The visuals of this song with an young Prashant dancing around the country side is a disaster, however the frames composed for those flute bits prove why Balu Mahendra is such a highly rated camera man in this country. A hunter carrying his booty of two rabbits by the ear, bird's nest, earth worm, Sitting monkey, praying mantises in tandem even a dung-beatle - These are some of the shots that are edited for the flute bits. A complete visual treat. His recent demise, is a great loss to that fresh feel he brings out in his nature photography.

அங்கே நாரை கூட்டம்
செம்மீன் தேடுதே.. !

These are words which anyone who listened this song for just once will remember. And the way how the 7/8 is handled in this song is damning !!
3 + 4 = 7
4 + 3 = 7
2 + 2 +2 + 1 = 7

Pardon me for stating the obvious, but there are more ways arrive at this equation in this song, that I haven't understood yet fully !!

This grip on laya and fire to innovate is the reason why he is E-Laya-Raja !
A song in Sudha Dhanyasi raga set to Misra Chapu tala sounds like a kriti fit enough to have been composed by any of the saints and gurus of Carnatic classical music.
But 'Ila nenje vaa' happens to be by Ilaiyaraaja.

With Love
Vicky

posted by Vicky @ Saturday, April 05, 2014 Comments: 1