UNMISSABLE: A LIST OF SOME OF THE TOP TAMIL SONGS RELEASED LAST MONTH - TAKE A LOOK!

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Araadhadhaa

Composer, Music Producer and Arranger: Manoj Krishna

Lyrics: Tamil Mani

Vocals: Manoj Krishna, Sreekanth Hariharan, Haripriya, Sharanya Srinivas, Sireesha Bhagavatula.

I have heard some great things about Manoj Krishna from a few established singers in the Tamil music space, but I have witnessed for myself that he is a fantastic singer and his indie projects have ended up being featured on Behindwoods as well as my website for Indian music. The song is composed, produced and arranged by Manoj and has multiple artists performing vocally like Manoj Krishna, Sreekanth Hariharan, Haripriya, Sharanya Srinivas and Sireesha Bhagavatula. These wonderful vocalists combine effectively and deliver the melody. To me it starts with some influence of Ragam Saranga but Manoj tells me there is much more of a vibe of Ragam Dwijavanthi. The different textures of Manoj and Sreekanth's vocals are there for us to hear and that is essential to present a song. We have the Choir vocals as well involving Sushmitha Narasimhan, Nidhi Saraogi, Karthik Manickavasakam and Manoj Krishna with arrangements by Karthik. Laxman Arvind's bass guitars keep accompanying the track with great style and depth and the final output credits must also go to Sebastian Satish who is involved with additional music production. The stanza brings to light the female vocals, Sharanya and Sireesha, introduce some very likeable ghamakas as they perform. The keyboard and rhythm programming handles the layers of instrumentation like the sounds of strings and keys and percussion, but a constant layer of creativity comes from the harmonies thanks to the Choir team. The track is recorded by Anish Mohan and mixed and mastered by Sriram Ravi.

Alaikadal

Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman

Singer: Antara Nandy

Lyrics: Siva Ananth

AR Rahman is nowhere near his best but he can still come up with a solid number like this. In PS-1 as an album, Rahman barely gets a pass mark but in this song, he rises to his bring his game phase on. First of all Antara Nandy sings this complex song with adequate ease and if you pay attention to the way the notes have been written and structured, replicating them as a singer is quite a task. Nakul Abhyankar has supervised on this and this song is heavy on strings thanks to the Chennai Strings and Sunshine Orchestra. Being a period movie ARR brings in the use of the Harp played by Lydia Stankulova. You can just close your eyes and listen to the enthralling vocals by Antara and the detailed sounds by AR Rahman which take us back 1000 years. The opening lines show an influence of Ragam Sumanesa Ranjani, do you remember MSV's "oru Naal iravu pagal pol nilavu". Vignesh plays the solo violin in the first interlude and then Rahman does something we have longed to hear, i.e. not only 2 different interludes but 2 varied stanzas as well. If you thought the 1st stanza was melodious, listen to the 2nd and this is one of Rahman's best in the last few years. The combination of the Tabla, Strings and Antara's vocals is marvellous to state the least. Jerry Vincent conducts the Orchestra, and the sound engineers on the project are Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, TR Krishna Chetan, Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh AM Studios Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Aravind MS, Sathya, Ainul and Sathish V Saravanan. Nakul Bhyankar and Shubham Bhat have done all the additional programming, Pradvay Sivashankar is on mixing and Suresh Permal is on mastering.

Arugey Nee Pothumey

Singers: Pradeep Kumar, Akshaya Jayakumar

Rap Singer: Emcee D Music

Composed, Arranged and programmed by: Moz

Lyrics : Akilan

This September is a month of surprises I guess and Moz has composed, arranged and programmed this thunderous number that any established musician in Kollywood would have been proud of. Balaji Strings give us a layer of violins, viola and the cello and Manikandan bass guitar makes you stand up and take notice. Akshaya Jayakumar and Pradeep Kumar are the lead vocalists and it does feel like Akshaya is either at a very tender age or is just making a nervous beginning based on her vocals. Pradeep is in fine form but the song's heart and soul are Moz's composition and arrangement. The string arrangements are sensational and they don't stop and take any breather. The keyboard and rhythm programming towards the end of the first stanza is more like EDM dance song, but the highlight is the interlude with sounds that are similar to the Sarangi, kudos to Moz's programming. Arris Pronaw teases you with the flute solo in the second interlude and then Pradeep does what he does best with his stunning vocals. Visakh does the mixing for the track. The outro on instrumentals is a fitting end along with some male harmonies.

Kaatril Aadum Deepam

Composed by N.R.Raghunanthan.

Sung by Ravi G.

Lyrics by Yugabharathi.

NR Raghunanthan is one of those rare breeds who never compromise on the quality of the song for fame. His music never always goes back to the basics of a nice tune and a proper full-fledged structure like the pallavi-anupallavi-charanam. Telfer Simeon impresses on the acoustic guitar and he also plays the bass and electric guitar for the number. I believe there is an influence of Ragam Keeravani in this number and all the great Ilaiyaraja numbers like "Povoma Urgolam" and "Keeravani" come to mind. Kiran Kumar plays the flute solo in the interlude along with the Penni whistle and other wind instruments. Just listen to the beautiful interjection during the stanza and this speaks volumes about Kiran on flute and Raghunanthan who handles all the arrangements. Ravi G is the vocalist and he brings a 90s flavour to the song I do rate him pretty high, especially with the recent numbers he has sung for Raghunanthan and Anirudh in "Naan Pizhai". Karthik Vamsi plays the Indian percussions and Aswin Sathya plays the Keys. We have Lijeshkumar on backing vocals

Karuppu Vellai

Music Director M.S.Jones Rupert

Lyric Writer Naveen Bharathi

This is probably one of the top 3 songs of the month and I am not surprised as MS Jones Rupert has been around for a while and has always been good with his compositions. This indie single is composed and performed by Jones with lyrics by Naveen Bharathi. The Keys are brilliant and impactful but Jones' vocals are extremely satisfying. He performs with such ease at the higher scales and makes you wonder why this guy as a vocalist isn't getting much more opportunity elsewhere. The bass and acoustic guitar sound accompany and the highlight of the song is the title line. We have a very inspiring interlude on the Violin solo and it goes to come in the background in the stanza adding gravitas to the song which has a serious and slight amount of pathos in its messaging talking about two lovers who are meeting and talking about past regrets and so on. The use of the strings in the background layers works quite well for this song.

Kylaa

Singers - Shreya Ghoshal, Yazin Nizar

Lyricist - Madan Karky

Music Production - Ranjan, D.Imman

Never write of D Imman, and he gives his everything irrespective of the project. Many have written reviews that don't make you want to see the movie 'Captain' but the songs in the movie certainly don't disappoint. I am so glad YAzin Nizar gets to showcase trade along with the Diva Shreya Ghoshal as this song gets both of the lead vocalists to bring their A-game on. I hear some influence of Ragam Chala Nattai or maybe just Naattai. Imman cherishes when he has to fuse modern tones with a Carnatic base and he does that with aplomb here. Kebe Jeremiah plays the acoustic Bass guitars. The moment Shreya's opening lines end, we have a sudden shift in the song's energy thanks to Yazin's vocals and notes that go "Kyla". There is a big team of vocalists singing the harmonies viz. Santosh Hariharan, Deepak, Shenbagaraj, Aravind Srinivas, Narayanan, Vignesh Narayanan, Veena Murali, Sowmya Mahadevan, Deepthi Suresh, Abinaya Shenbagaraj, Ala B Bala and Soundarya Nandakumar. Listen to Keba's thumping basslines when Shreya sings " Thogai thoza". Kishore plays the SItar solo in the interlude accompanied by Yazin's free-spirited aalap. Subhani plays the stringed instruments and Nathan is on the woodwinds. This is one of those rare songs where Shreya is involved but the other lead singer completely sizzles and dominates vocally, kudos Yazin. The Indian percussions are conducted by Kaviraj and Performed by Babu, Pradeep, Raja, Balu, Manoj, Saravanan, David, Chiranjeevi, Azhagiri. The Elfe Choir is involved in this number comprising Roe Vincent, Angelin Nisha, Sheryl Suraj, Deepa Shankar, Nisha Sharon, Krithika Konda, Sneha Sathya, Padmaja Sreenivasan, Snigdha Chandra, Anuj Mathew, Rohit Sridhar, Reshwin Nishith and Aneesh Solomon with Maria conducting. The recording engineer is Tanay S Gajjar and the track is mixed and mastered by Imman.

Nenjai Kelu

Music Composed and Arranged by Karthik Raja

Singer – Priyanka NK

Lyrics – Kabilan

This is a comeback out of the ordinary for Karthik Raja who completely vanished from the music scene for a couple of decades if I am not wrong. It is a simple melody that is driven by acoustic guitars and Priyanka NK's serene vocals. The strings section starts making a foray into the song thanks to the Chennai Strings Orchestra and we have Karthik making the arrangements. The song reminds me of a few numbers of Maestro Ilaiyaraja himself and even Priyanka's sounds like Chinmayi. The interlude has the Violins, Viola and Cello in full flow showing Karthik's ability. The stanza is short but I love the line "thazuvuma nazhuvuma" which connects the charanam and pallavi. Tapas Nayak does the mixing and mastering, with Dwark Warrior on Dolby ATmos mastering and the recording engineer is Biju James. I can only hope that Karthik Raja makes an attempt to compose more music and we get to hear more from this uncelebrated genius. Even in this number, I hear some influence of Ragam Keeravani.

Poove

AH Kaashif Sam Vishal

The movie was dubbed in Tamil and released along with the Malayalam version and I was fond of this song more than the others. AH Kaashif is the producer, arranger and composer and this is a huge break for reality singing star Sam Vishal. Although AR Rahman has just made him sing in the Telugu version of the Simbu movie "VTK". I thought that maybe Sam Vishal tries to imitate Sid Sriram too much, but I have been proven wrong in this number. The song has a nice melody accompanied by outstanding guitars and rhythms that keep coming at you all through. Sam's vocals keep drifting and modulating wonderfully and he gets authoritative when saying a few words and he goes soft and tender as well. The way he executes the mild falsetto also is exemplary and he just about gives the right amount of ghamakas that will make you enjoy the number wholeheartedly.

Poovizhi Penne

Music Composed, Arranged and Programmed by Ashwin Hemanth

Vocals: Benny Dayal, Shweta Mohan

Lyrics: Vivega

One more surprise package like CB Karty, we have Ashwin Hemanth here who comes up with a beauty that can be played on a loop as many times as time permits. The song has one of those dance-pop styles going and Benny simply hammers this one vocally especially when he has to deliver that line " Thulikooda thoongamale". It feels a lot like a Harris Jeyaraj song during his heydays. Ashwin really does impress with a fine choice of instrumentals here and he arranges them to perfection other than composing and programming this number. Joshua Satya's electric and acoustic guitars set the tone right in the interlude and what follows is a savvy solo on the saxophone which seems to be programmed. Napier Naveen Kumar plays the bass guitars and Benny must be one of those most trustworthy singers who can sizzle in the higher pitches. Strangely, Shweta Mohan who has a very comfortable high scale sings the stanza in the lower end, but I have no complaints as she delivers it perfectly. Anjana Balakrishnan and Namratha are the backing vocalists with Vignesh Pai doing the vocal production. The second interlude is the electric guitar and trumpet sounds in a duel. Shweta sings the stanza with such elan and style. Abhishek Dharshan mixes and Kiran Lal masters the track.

Rubáiyát Kavithai

Composer, lyricist, vocalist - Shabir

Produced - Shabir, Buvan

Shabir is a spirited musician, who always finds a purpose behind every project. If it has been re-creating some of the great poems of Mahakvi Bharathi in his earlier projects, it is now Shabir's dream of taking an Omar Khayyám poem and bring in elements of Sufism and other modern elements of music together. Shabir wants to convey the message that love transcends all kinds of borders and demarcations and he has composed, written, performed and produced the single. Buvan has arranged and also co-produced the track, along with synth & rhythm programming duties shared with Shabir. The sounds of the Harmonium, Tabla and the words "Maula" take us to the world of Sufi music, and very soon it treads into the world of Indie pop. Shabir's distinctive voice can be heard and there is some influence of Ragam Abheri or maybe Reethogowla, as much as I understand. We have Vinaita Sivakumar & Lakshmi Cs as the female backup vocalists. other than the heavy synth programming we also have some live instrumentalists like Solomon William on guitars, Saroja on Dilruba, Louis Keys as the bassist, Aasish on Flute solo and Shehroze Hussain on the Sitar. This semi-classical, Sufi fusion number is pure genius and we have Solomon assisting with the music, Utkersh Arora mixing and mastering ( Satwik Sinha as mix assistant). BUvaneswaran Ganesan is the Executive Music Producer.

Thalam Thattum

Music composed and produced by: Jakes Bejoy

Singer: Benny Dayal Lyrics: Kaber Vasuki

The movie is a production in 2 languages Tamil and Telugu, and the songs have been composed by the famous Mollywood composer Jakes Bejoy. he has been quite busy these days in the Tamil and Telugu movie industries, and he continues on that road scoring two amazing songs in this acclaimed movie. The fact that Jakes has picked 2 fantastic vocalists in benny Dayal and Kaber Vasuki makes this even more enjoyable. I have been a fan of Kaber of late thanks to his indie projects. Godfrey Immanuel is on fire playing the acoustic guitars and bass, and you can listen to him sizzle while strumming in the interlude. The attitude that both these leads carry is cool and they never make the song boring for one second. We also can hear harmonies in the background that has Amal Antony, Jakes along with Deepika Varadharajan. I just enjoy the part where the lines go "Aruginil nee irundhirundhal" and the backup goes" aa", and the vocal arrangements are done by Amal. The lead vocalists are never coy to reach the higher scales and that sounds fantastic as well. Nikhil Ram plays the flute, Sandeep plays the Tabla, and we have Haritha Raj on the Veena and Embar Kannan on the Violin. The song is produced by Jakes and Antony George, while it is Cochin Strings alluring us on the strings section. Midhun Manoj does the mixng and mastering.

Thandanaane

Artists: OXYGEN

Composed, Arranged & keys: C.GIRINANDH

Lyrics: Super Subu

Singer: Muthusirpi

I just recently found out about this fantastic Chennai band called "Oxygen" who completed 20 years and I featured a track called "Saraswathi" as one of the best instrumental pieces yet in 2022. This is a folkish fusion number that has singer Muthu Sirpi lending his voice. But one can hardly keep their focus on the vocals alone because there are so many amazing things happening around like the flute solo by Lalit Talluri, Violins, Violas and Cellos by the Tenor Strings. The violinists are Mohan Rao, Benver Phagen, Fritz Nicky Rozario, Shaktivel Bhagat, Sridhar Seenu Rhea Sebastian, and Ravi Rather Kumar. The musicians on Violas are Murali Krishna, Bhaskar Rao, Cyril Fernandez and Emilian Fernandez and we have Cellos by RK Vijendran, Kevin Rozario Stephen, David Rahul Rozario on Double Bass. The Tenor Strings is conducted by Francis Rozario. The way Tamil Folk has been incorporated together with Western Classical instruments is a testament to the work Oxygen has been doing especially in the album "Metagen". KS Ramana plays the Kanjira, Carl Fernandes is on the bass guitar and Tapass Naresh plays the drums. Vetri and Bharath play the Ethnic drums and percussions while Akshay Ganesh plays the solo Violin. Oxygen also has team member Vijay Ganesan on guitars and Prithvi Kumar plays all the additional guitars. The track is mixed by Tapas Nayak and recorded by Siddharth Das and Bob Phukan.

Thani Maramai

Music: Santhosh Narayanan

Singers: Pavithra Ramesh, Aditya Ravindran

Lyrics: Uma Devi

Here we are with the best Tamil song of September in my opinion and it is none other than India's finest Santhosh Narayanan. In the last couple of months despite coming up with really whacky tracks for 'Gulu' and 'Buffoon', he has stunned us with songs like "Mittai Mittai", " Anbarey" and now this wonder. His most trusted associate Aditya Ravindran gets the male lead opportunity along with Carnatic classical vocalist Pavithra Ramesh who I later found out is Sanjay Subramania's cousin. A very distinct voice she possesses and I would have never known that it is the female lead, but as we hear it a few times you will fall in love with her voice and delivery. The Pianica which Santhosh uses a lot these days makes way for the opening lines. Aditya not only is the singer, but he is also the one playing the tender acoustic guitars right from the start. Joseph Vijay plays the electric guitars and Naveen is the bassist. All that aside when we keep hearing this number, the true genius of Santhosh comes when he introduces the humming " oo oo oooo oo" at the end of the line "Kaiyoodu kai serka". We all can to a certain extent guess the trajectory of notes when we hear a song, but the mastery of a composer is when he stuns you with an unexpected twist like this. Santhosh Narayanan, Take a bow! He is one of those rare geniuses who also uses the bass guitars exclusively even for interludes and we can witness that here by Naveen after a segment on Keys. The string section can be heard in grandeur in the background right behind Pavithra's vocals. It is The FAME's Skopje Studio Orchestra (Macedonia) conducted by Oleg Kondratenko. Karthik Manickavasakam handles the strings' arrangements and he has been doing wonders of late with Santhosh and many indie projects with other talented musicians. The stanza is another work of art with Aditya's solid vocals almost making you think it is Pradeep Kumar. The stanza reminds me of "Mannil indha kathalindri" where SPB sings it breathless. The stanza is like a gradient with multiple steps as Aditya climbs up reaching a higher scale till the climax and finally connecting with the Pallavi with that marvellous humming segment again. Two more important details that deserve attention and praise are the harmonies singing " Adi en Haikuve", and the wonderful rhythm programming. Santhosh has composed, arranged and programmed with Rupendar Venkatesh and Pranav Muniraj as recording engineers. Rupendar handles the mixing and mastering. The song has some fantastic words written by Uma Devi which add immensely to the feeling of love especially lines like " Annai Pol anbinai varpathai pole verenna verenna vaazhdal anbae, Ennai naan unnidam thorpathai poale, verenna verenna kaadhal anbae".

Vaa Maa Thendral

COMPOSER - Rajkumar Amal

LYRICS - Karky

SINGER - G.V. Prakash Kumar

The talent is unbelievable as another new composer I have heard of makes it to the best Tamil songs of the month. The song from is the upcoming album 'Parole' and the title is a funny reference to a famous Vadivelu comedy sequence. Rajkumar Amal is the composer and Madhan Karky is the lyricist. GV Prakash Kumar is the singer, and he does well even in scores he is not involved in. The song is good enough to be a GV Prakash composition, and that is a valid compliment for Rajkumar who has also done quite well in the arrangements and synth programming. I have reviewed Santhosh Jayakarn before and he has done the vocal arrangements and production. The rhythm programming is quite good as well and the song despite its slower tempo keeps the energy quite high. We get a mouth trumpet in the interlude and some harmonies. The best line of the stanza or maybe even the song is "Ithana naal engirantha, en manasa yen thorandha" which has some excellent notes. Visakh NB does the mixing Steve Corrao does the mastering. Jehovahson Alghar is the recording engineer.

Yaar Solvaaro

Music Composed, arranged and produced by: C.B Karty

Singer: Santhosh Subramanian

Lyrics: Nagarajan Kannan

This song came as a very pleasant surprise and that is why this will stay a special number for me this month. CB Karty is an unknown entity to me and I have never listened to his work in the 3 years I have been reviewing music, but I certainly remember his name going forward. The song is a wonderful melody and it feels complete thanks to various elements. Karty has composed, arranged and produced the number with additional programming by Vijai Shankar. The song begins with a female chorus by Poornima, Sabitha & Ramya and it is aided by excellent chosen and executed live instruments as well. The acoustic guitar is played by Kabuli Rath and Sasikumar plays the flutes, which can be heard in the background. Santhosh Subramanian has a very Pradeep Kumar-esque voice and that makes the sound quite good. His baritone scale singing is very good which can be heard for most of the opening parts. The flute in the interlude probably is reflective of Hamsadhwani Ragam. The strings section is beautiful, especially in the very melodious stanza and we have a full-fledged team like Balaji, Mohan, Hemanth, Ramana, Baskar & Chandru on Violins, Murali, Balaji & Benver Fegani on Violas and finally Seenu on the Cello. Akshay is the recording engineer, and we have Ramesh Kidaambi on mixing and mastering. The song is one of the best I have heard last month and the song's core melody is the biggest contributor.