PLAYLIST: BEST TAMIL SONGS RELEASED IN JAN 2021 - WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE?

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Alangalankuruvi

This movie got released directly on TV and OTT recently and was much appreciated by reviewers for some fine twists and gripping screenplay. It deficiently seems to be matched by some splendid music , as NR Raghunathan gives a couple of delightful numbers in the album and this being the best. It typically has the rural and rustic feel thanks to the choice of local percussions(thaarai thapattai) , and the tune somehow reminded me of "Adiye Manam Nilluna". We are welcomed with a beautiful humming by Vandana Srinivasan and the Nadaswaram. The stanza is loaded with some great acoustic guitar accompaniment along with string vocals by Vandana and Lijeesh Kumar.

Alli Pookal

This guy must be one of the busiest in the circuit as he seems to be releasing a couple of songs every month under the Naam project. I have featured two of his earlier tracks as well and he seems to be consistently creating good music. Stephen has composed and arranged this track called Alli Pookal, which gives the feeling of a Harris Jayaraj number. There are some amazing stalwarts involved as well like Embar Kannan on the violin, Keba Jeremiah on the guitars, bass and charango and Finny David on the flute. Kannan's violin solo sets things off to a great start as Stepehen and Priyanka use their vocals to carry forward the melody inherent the track. The track reminds us of some tracks like "chella chella kiliye" from Kanethire Thondrinal and "Vennilave vennilave" from Minsara Kanavu. The stanza is well structured with very enjoyable variations ending in Finny's solo. Arjun Vasanthan and Raghu Natesh have done the programming.

Enil Paindhidum

Shabir produces some excellent indie music and has had a very fruitful 2020 but he has also scored some memorable songs in Tamil movies as well. So here he returns to score for a movie called Sinam and the first single was released. Karky is the lyricist and Shabir ropes in Jonita Gandhi to sing the female lead. The song has fragments of Reetigowlai and Abheri raagas. Keba Jeremiah is on the acoustic guitars and Solomon William is playing the electric guitars while Naveen Napier is on the bass. The strings are beautifully arranged by Shabir and ANupam Roy and played by the Chennai Strings Orchestra. Shabir amazingly introduces a whistle element done by Victoria Wymark. Ashish V plays the solo flute like a the breeze in the interlude. Seenu has played the Mandolin, Santoor and Dulcimer. The track is mixed and mastered by Anup Pereira.

Eppidi Manasukkul

It begins with one superlative solo on the violin, and you are sold then and there and now invested to listen to this amazing melody scored by Aruldev who has been in the music scene for sometime now and has scored in a few movies in south Indian languages. ARP Jayaram is the lyricist. Haripriya has been on a roll singing a lot in telugu and tamil and here too she just sings its with total grace. The strings are also arranged in the second layer behind the vocals and one needs to apreciate Vishwanathan for being the Orchestra in charge. Aruldev himself plays the keys and has also done the mixing and mastering, and Sasikumar is on the wind instruments which starts accompanying throughout the stanza. The stanza is well composed as well with some delightful variations in notes and sung quite well in the higher scales. Feji Ashwin and Kamalaja Rajagopal back up Haripriya on the vocals and Venkatesh Patwari plays the rhythm guitar. Anthony is the recording engineer.

Gimme a chance

This is another track coming from a composer I haven't heard before and hence the joy was even more considering the track had some very nice elements especially the melody conveyed through the flute solo by Natraj, accompanied by the keys. I also loved the structure of the stanza sung quite well by Srivijay Ragavan. Sagishna Xavier must be complimented for the way the track has turned out. SN Sujeev is the lyricist and Prajeev V has mixed and mastered the track.

Kaalai Adhikaalai

Dharan Kumar seems to be very comfortable with Sid Sriram as a vocalist and that is why this as well the last hit from him had the same singer and why not! Sid is outstanding as usual singing the lyrics written by Karky in the track from the movie Naduvan. Mixing is done by Visakh NB and mastered by Steve Corrao. All vocal harmonies are arranged and sung by Santhosh Jayakaran. The stanza has a lot of harmonies which sound brilliant in fact.

Kaathirunden

This is the second track from Maara this month and it is another gem by Ghibran and sung by Anathu and Srisha Vijayasekar. The track is set under the influences of the raaga Charukesi and one can immediately hear resemblances to that song "Engenge" from the movie Nerukku Ner. The composition's greatness lies in the melancholy that the movie at this juncture demands and it is provided by the raaga and Anathu's deep vocals.

Kadavalum Nanum

I would have never expected that Ill listen, let alone review a song composed and sung by the director Rajiv Menon. He has pleasantly surprised me with both the score and singing, as the track set in Kambhoji raaga is definitely creatively composed fusing traditional styles with some modern keys in accompaniment. Karky has written the lyrics, and Simon King has produced the track. Keshav Ram's mandolin and Godfray Immanuel's guitars are great and solid accompaniments, with Keshav playing a solo in the first interlude. Raghav Manian's saxophone comes and goes in the background and Haritha Raj's excellent veena solo forms the second interlude. Its a very delighful track overall and I look forward to what else Rajiv has in store. Balu Thankachan has done the mixing and mastering, and Vasanth David is on the drums.

Kanne Kanmaniye

Paava Kadhaigal was a fantastic anthology of 4 stories of sin, and they were all thankfully supported by some effective music. The part directed by Vetrimaran has Gaana Girl ( R. Sivatmikha) composing the song and BGM. She has also sung it along with Ananthu with the lyrics being written by Yugabharathi. The presence of strings in the second layer adds to the grim scenario of the story and there are slight modifications to the tempo here and there and that to me sounded creative. The flute and the strong strumming of the guitars also enhanced the impact of the track.

MGR song

This is magic, to hear the great man's voice after his demise, probably the last time for a new song and who knows how many more will be unearthed from shelved projects. It is even better to hear him sing for a great musician who is making a comeback in Vidyasagar. The song is full-on retro and it is not surprising to see the quality of the product coming from Vidyasagar. The percussions are spot-on along with the use of strings, flute and trumpets which all take us down the memory lane of those old songs. Pa Vijay has written the wonderful lyrics and you will just love hearing this track and appreciate what great talents we have had.

Parakkirene

This is a fun track with a lot of EDM sounds suiting modern tastes but still retains a lot of melody in many parts. Vijai Bulganin scores the music with Roshan Sebastian on the male vocals and Reshma Shyam on the female vocals. Tamil mani is the lyricist. Roshan stands out with some excellent rendition as he breezes with his falsetto and the emotion he depicts in the voice is exemplary. Onasis Mohan is on the keyboards. The flue solo is another excellent highlight both in the second interlude as well as accompaniment along with Reshma's vocals who smartly drops down in the octave in just when the higher scales are about to appear. Kevin Jason provides some ecstasy through his guitars and Roshan also does the mixing and mastering for the track.

Puli Manga

This is the greatness of Santhosh Narayanan, who is in my view the most talented musician in producing diverse musical styles. This is said to be Tamil cinema's first out and out gaana album and this track is the best among 4 tracks. Rokesh and Asal Kolar have written some really funny words here, and there is huge list of musicians who have made this one helluva track and just get your dancing shoes on and have a blast. Bass Dhol - Aarumugam, Side Drum - Sarath, Bass Drum - Thanigavel, Devangu, Satti - Sarath, Katte Mollom - Goutham, Bhuvanesh, Vallarasu, Tapes,S Jayaram, Yuvaraj, Kamal, Dinesh, Additional Percussions: RK Sundar. The vocalists on the Chorus are Victor, Britto, Chinna, Yogi Sekar, Santhosh Narayanan, Sukumar. Santhosh has done the programming and arrangement. Sai Sraravanam has done the mastering.

Ponnuthaayi

Ponnuthaayi is an excellent composition and probably the best track from Karthik's scores in recent times. It involves some excellent singing which is not a surprise, and I was impressed that he stopped short of doing too much. His composition is simply brilliant with strings and flutes and sounding like a perfect orchestral set up. Karky has written the lyrics and for his immense contribution in varied tracks this month, he is the lyricist of the month.

Pudhidhai

Yes, the track straightaway takes us to the Carribean Islands with some calypso music playing in the background. Darbuka Siva has not looked back since his uber-famous debut. The track in-fact has quite a lot of similarities with another famous track a couple of years ago called "Kannale Kannale Kadhal" by Simon King. Jonita sings this one amazingly bringing in an element of teenage innocence, with lyrics written by Keerthi. The track is intended to provide some nostalgia to listeners and viewers especially with the song being shot in Spencer Plaza, and Music World and so on. The arrangements of all live instruments are also fantastic

Sago

Vinaita Sivakumar is a singer and composer who has collaborated with many musicians, and infact she has her name mentioned here more than once working with Shabir. In this melody that Vinaita has composed herself, it is Saindhavi who lends her voice. The track has traces of Yaman and Nalinakanthi in the stanza. The flute solo goes well with the constant drums especially in the interlude where there are two layers of the flute intertwining.

Sengaatula

This track took me by surprise as it came from someone I hadn't heard of before this track, and all credit goes to AT Ram the composer whic has also sung as backing vocalist and written by him and Soundaram. Brindha Sivakumar's vocals are the highlight of the track as the title lines are way too catchy. Raaga Varshini intervenes with her rap bits which is quite an unexpected but pleasant variation in the track. Vijay Priyan. V plays the Cajon and thavil to great effect and the violin is played by Giridharan V. RK Sundar is the sound engineer.

Thanimai

Shabir is a regular on my list thanks to his skills in composition and Thanimai is certainly one of the best to come from him. The strong keys and arrangements (done by Shabir and Buvaneswaran Ganesan) of the flute and the wind instruments (played by Naveen Kumar) go exceedingly well wit the women harmony involving Roe Marie Vincent. He even shows his skills at singing some tongue-twisters in between, but the meatiness of the composition is what stands out . Solomon William is on the guitars while mixing is done by Buvaneswaran Ganesan and mastering is done by Anup Pereira. Vinaita Sivakumar and Darshna Mahadevan are the managers of Shabir's Asian music brand.

Theeranadhi

This is the 4th track to make it to our list and rankings of best songs, as Ghibran steadily moves into stardom and some unbelievable consistency has made him one of the most dependable and talented musicians in India itself. The song is written by Thamarai and one has to give him credit for these amazing lyrics. The track begins with a wonderful harmony bit with male and female bits though in Hindi, maybe to signify that "Maara" is a traveller/explorer. Padmalatha is simply superb in her delivery as she reaches for the higher scales with absolute ease. Ghibran spends a lot of effort in making a complete song with enough variations even in the stanza and that holds true here itself. The second interlude on the mandolin (one of my favourite instruments) is so charming and it gave me clues that the track has influences of the Kapi raaga in carnatic music. One can hear similarities with that super hit number "Alanguyil" from the movie Parthiban Kanavu.

Velli Nilavae

S. Thaman comes up with some splendid music from time to time without sounding repetitive and this is definitely one of them. This has influences of the carnatic raaga Darbari, and it is sung effectively by ML Gayatri. The use of flute and strings section is adding great value to the track. Yugabharathi is the lyricist.

Yammadiyamma

This is the second track from Pulikuthi Pandi scored by NR Raghunathan and quite deservingly this finds a mention here. Yammadiyamma is sung with awesome passion and diction by Jagadeesh Kumar, and here too Raghunathan employs the Nadaswaram and flute and percussions especially to great effect. The whole album reminds me of Kizhakku Cheemayile by AR Rahman.

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