Anniyan Audio Rockz

WARNING: This is yet another Anniyan Audio Review like the many reviews you will read in the Blogosphere. If you are looking for something unique then you may not find it here. This is a long posting.

HJ Repeattu!

Harris Jeyaraj has been in a shell for the last nine months composing music for the most important project in the career (so far). HJ’s last release was Chellame. I was happy to see Harini making a comeback, Leslie Lewis (of Colonial Cousins fame) singing in Tamil for the first time and also the voice of Jassie Gift. No other album has played host so many big-ticket names like Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, Kay Kay, Shreya Ghoshal.

Although some of the tunes resemble previous compositions by Harris Jeyaraj, I’m quite confident this music album will be a bigger hit than the songs of the Tamil New Year Releases. Shankar booked Harris Jeyaraj bcoz ARR was busy. Harris Jeyaraj doesn’t come cheap though. He does only 4 projects per year and he charges upwards of INR 1 Crore for each of them. Although initial reactions are going to be mixed, all said and done Shankar milks all his Music Directors. Anniyan Audio Rockz for sure but it may not recreate the “Shankar-ARR” magic which has captivated us in earlier flicks like Indian, Kadhalan, Mudhalvan, Jeans & Boys.

The album has a nice blend of Carnatic based songs (2), trendy dance numbers (2) and a folk song. Given the grand picturization that Shankar goes for, all songs will be played over and over again in TV and FM and hence it is bound to captivate the audience. Iyengaaru Veetu Azhagae, Oh Sukumari and Andankaka Kondaikari are sure runaway hits. The other songs will also attain this status after we hear it a few more times.


Oh Sukumari by Shankar Mahadevan and Harini

A pleasant relief to hear Shankar Mahadevan singing a melodious tune, the audience gets a respite from the usual fast songs which he sings for Vijay films. Harini also makes a comeback. The mandolin piece in the 1st BGM and the sax piece in the 2nd BGM are quite soothing. Some part of the charanam resembles the song “Baba Kichu Kichu thaa” from the movie Baba and also the “Breathless” song. More than all these, the orchestration of this song resembles “En Uyir Thozhiye” from Kangalal Kaidhu Sei.

I suggest that you listen to “En Uyir Thozhiye”, “Charanam of Baba Kichu Kichu Tha” and “Oh Sukumari” and judge for yourself. The rendition of the word “KoomAri” by Shankar Mahadevan reminds me of Playback Singer C S Jayaraman’s voice. Overall, a very nice composition for a duet song.

Kaadhal Yaanai by Nakul (of BOYS fame), Nelwyn (or is it Melwyn?) & G V Prakash (of Chikku bukku Rayilu fame)

The prelude reminded me of Vathikuchi Pathikichi Sattunutham ….Oyilu Oyilu (music by Aadithyan). The lyrics are typical Shankar style with a free flow of English words (often more than 50% of the whole song). The charanam looks like a rehash of the song Sariya Thavara from 12B (Harris Jeyaraj had scored the music for this movie as well). Some discussion forums say that the tune has been inspired by “The Ketchup Song”

In spite of all the above drawbacks, this song is sure to be a chart topper as Harris has a stronghold over peppy numbers. BTW why have they used the words “Yeh Dil Maange More” in the song when we all know that Vikram has signed up as Brand Ambassador for Coke.

I understand that Yana Gupta might be dancing for this song. The flight sound in the BGM gives me a feeling that this is the song that has been shot in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Malaysia. Shankar got special permissions to shoot the song in KLIA. Earlier, Sarath kumar has shot one of his songs in KLIA.

Kannum Kannum Nokia by Leslie Lewis a.k.a Lezz (of Colonial Cousins fame), Andreas and Vasundhara Das

Nice choices of voices. If I hadn’t read the name of singers I would have mistaken the male voice for Adnan Sami’s voice. Nice work on the guitar and drums. Any Shankar / Harris Jeyaraj foot tapping number has to have an overdose of English words and this song (like the earlier one) is no exception. BTW I didn’t influence them to add the words MAFIA extensively in this song. Ideal track for dances and also for future remixes. The song has a techno feel written all over it (A R Rahman influence?). HJ is bang on yet again


Iyengaaru Veetu Azhagae by Hariharan and Harini

The setting is the Thiruvaiyaaru Aaradhanai. I believe Shankar got leading Carnatic musicians (1000 musicians including the top ones) to be part of the video shoot. Nobody other than Hariharan could have done justice to this song. The modulations by Hariharan are out of the world. I wanted to write that this tune looks original and fresh. However something inside me tells me that this song has been inspired by “Narumugaiye Narumugaiye” from Iruvar. Still this song might turn out to be the best song in this album.


Andan Kaka Kondaikaari by Jassie Gift, Kay Kay, Shreya Ghoshal & Saindhavi

All the vocals rock. Jassie Gift adds that extra little “punch” to this song. The words “Randaka Randaka” keep on reverberating throughout the song. The beats are akin to “Gopala Gopala” kind of beats in the movie Kadhalan. This is a different breed of folk song when compared to other songs that are churned out these days. This might turn out to be the second best song in this album.

Very often we don’t like ARR / Harris Jeyaraj songs when we listen to them for the first time. Although I wanted to post the review yesterday, I took time to listen all the songs atleast 5 to 10 times so that I get over the first time blues.

Request to Harris Jeyaraj

Some of the best songs of Harish Raghavendra have come under the music of Harris Jeyaraj. Some of them being Poove Vai Paesum (12B), Mughalai Mughalai (Arasaktchi), Mudhal Kanave (Majnu), Azhagiya Theeye (Minnale), Aagaya Suriyanai (Samurai). Although Harish Raghavendra is a good singer, it is quite strange to see him not geting good offers. Yuvan Shankar Raja also used Harish Raghavendra for movies like Kadhal Kondaen and 7/G Rainbow Colony. Please give more opportunity to Harish Raghavendra as I want to hear more of his mellifluous voice.