FRESH TUNES: SOME OF THE BEST TAMIL SONGS RELEASED LAST MONTH! DON'T MISS!

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1. Aaraaro

The moment he begins to sing, it feels just like his mother Bombay Jayashri is singing. Amrit Ramnath her son is a rained musician, Composer and singer and he has been working with his father and mother creating some splendid tracks for the EP called “Moonchild”. The individual numbers in this EP are from different languages but they all have one thing in common – richness. Anyway this seems like a extension from that EP but Amrit sings and composes this mesmerizing lullaby. The minimalist approach to music always works and all we have here is Amrit’s vocals accompanied by Shallu Varun on the bass guitars providing indispensible support. The track is mixed and mastered by Saurabh Joshi. But it is Amrit’s fabulous singing with vibratos sung with ridiculous ease that take away the cake. The acoustic guitar and Melodica are also played by Amrit in this track.

2. Bodhai Kaname

Vishal Chandrasekhar is always in the game, and you can never count him out, when it comes to music composition. The first song from this album called “Oh Manapenne” was featured and reviewed on this page too a few months ago called “Lazy Song” and it was a fabulous hit, and Vishal has backed it up with another pleasing number which sounds like a rock fusion anthem. It would have sounded peculiar to pick Shashaa Tirupati for this track, but there are moments when the song stays feeble and romantic especially in the opening lines and this is where she rules even though Anirudh is less convincing here. Anirudh becomes an effective choice as the male lead singer when the singing scales rise and it becomes a rock number. The chorus plays a huge role in making this song delightful and we have to credit an array of singers like Pitty Vikram, Arvinc Annest, Balaji Sri, Shibi Srinivasan, Arvind K Sandhya, Padmaja Sreenivasan, Lavita Lobo, Triya Sushma, Sushmita Narasimhan , Akshaya Shivkumar, Bhuvana and Sanjana Mohandoss. Sindhuri Vishal does all the work on voice recording and co-ordination. The savvy solos on the violins, in the interlude are played by Sayee Rakshith and Balaji, with keys and rhythms handle by Vishal himself. Interestingly as the stanza plays, I am tempted to think there is some influence of Reethigowla ragam. Punya Srinivas plays the Veena to incredible effect at many junctures in the track. Chris Jason plays the guitars and you can hear him take control in the interlude just before the violins, and Napier Naveen provides the bass guitar support. Jai Ganesh mixes the track while it is mastered by AM Rahmathullah. The backing vocals are recorded by Avinash Sathish and Hari Haran

3. Hey Bro

The first single from the album “Lift” was a super hit that had a plethora of dance videos made after it. Now we have the second single composed by Britto Michael and written by Nishanth. The rap lyrics alone are written by Britto Michael. We have 3 singers on board here with Ben and Adheef Muhamed on the male vocals and Krithika Nelson on the female vocals. The guitars are a significant portion as they are strummed right through the track giving the track a texture of a romantic love song. Sagishna Xavier has done the excellent keyboard programming, and while Britto has mixed the track, Maniratnam has mastered it. We hear Krithika on a aalap adding a bit of a Carnatic element to this in the background, even as we get the rap portions sung and then followed by the mini-verse and that becomes the highlight of the track as both Krithika and Adheef excel in the delivery. This portion sounds very much like an AR Rahman track helped along by beats and keys.

4. Kadhal Aadhirai

Surya Srini composes, produces and sings this very melodious and touching number and it straightaway reminds me of that very famous AR Rahman number called “Thendrale” from the movie ‘Kadhal Desam’. The singing is heartfelt with Surya emoting pain through his delivery. The lyrics are written by Krithiga Seenuvasan and the track is mixed and mastered by Rupendar Venkatesh. The Piano is a constant support as are many of the programmed instruments like the violin that come and go at the right time. The introduction of the Mridangam in the later stages is a brilliant addition, making a good concoction with the violins and keys. The outro clearly is memorable and makes this track a worthy listen.

5. Konjam Pesu

The track starts of with the strumming of guitars by none other than Keba Jeremiah, and then gifted voice of Pradeep Kumar strikes like an iron on the anvil. The violins and violas play in the second layer with Chandrasekar Dhayalan, Samson David and Raghu Ravi taking credit for this from the Sunshine Orchestra. The Bass Cello is played by Aneesh and the Double Bass Cello is played by Balaji. Nithyashree Venkatramanan of Indian Idol fame is the female lead vocalist who provides adequate support and compliments Pradeep’s vocals. The part where the singers unite in harmony stands apart. The interlude is well arranged with Nathan playing the flute and Clarinet and the strings section used to the fullest. Narean has done a fabulous job in the composition and arrangements especially with his choice of percussion ranging from rhythm to the Kanjira played by Vikram. The track is programmed by Narean, with Sujith doing the mixing and mastering. Yugabharathi writes the lovely emotionally charged lyrics.

6. Mandhiruchu

I bumped into this song suddenly as a recommendation, and I have been thoroughly impressed from the first time I heard it itself. It has this group of girls singing and they call themselves 5 Beatz and considering these are just girls probably who have not even hit their teens, the singing needs a definite round of appreciation. We have Daya Saravanan, Sadhana Maddineni, Samhita Jayachandran, Sahana Vasanth, and Nakshatra Pradeep forming the band and what is unique about these girls is that all of them not only can sing pretty damn well, they also can each play at least 2 different instruments. You are reminded of some of the terrific songs that Maestro Ilaiyaraja composed for the album ‘Anjali’ with young boys and girls singing. This Dallas based composer Vasanth Vaseegaran should be credited for also making it a wonderful and enjoyable tune, and that is the reason it sticks to your head. Also we have to mention that the lyrics are super funny and relevant thanks to Manikandan Anandraj’s thoughtfulness. The director and choreographer role is donned by Thulasiram and I recommend you all to watch the video and enjoy the dance and drama. Sukanya Chandrasekhar has done all the Mandala art works and Kuppuraj Krishnamurthy handles the videography. Vasanth takes care of the video and audio production.

7. Melae Selvoma

This young artist called Hari Kishore has written, produced and performed the track and it has some very interesting and well-composed bits to the tune. The voice of Hari Kishore invited you to the track but the super star of the track has to be Matt Bacon with his funky bass guitars. The main tune is very hummable and with the guitars in the background, this can easily be treated like one of those anthems that become a super hit. The programmed percussion also shifts and provides some oomph. The use of the harmonies and the wind instrument programmed into the track’s layers go well. The pause in the beats where the song shifts to a Jazz-styled Piano is supported by some Scat singing by Hari. The additional vocals are by Tulasi, Madhu, Aravind Karneeswaran, Balaji and Hari Krishanth. The track is mixed and mastered by Aritra Das while all the additional artwork is by Harshita Tophakhane

8. Muthazhagi

Manoj Chinnaswamy has been making some good music in the indie space and this track is one more proof that he stands his ground in a very competitive space. He has written and composed the track, which is extremely catchy and is bound to be played by many on a loop. Manoj also has sung the track along with Sudharshan Ashok. The bass guitar and flute provide support at necessary places and a lot of Lo-Fi style music keeps it trendy and relevant to today’s times.

9. Neeye Oli

The trumpets start blowing and you need nothing more to announce the arrival of a smashing track. In the olden days they used such wind instruments to let the people know that the King is coming, and that is exactly how this one feels too. I have been making this claim based on all my experience that Santhosh Narayanan a.k.a. SaNa is undoubtedly the best Indian composer today and with every new release he only reinforces that belief. This is the second track produced by him under the maajja platform after the uber-hit "Enjoy Enjaami". In "Neeye Oli" SaNa collaborates with global stars like Shan Vincent De Paul (SVDP) and Navz-47 a.k.a. Naveeni Philip. SVDP is a Canadian-Sri Lankan musician who migrated from Jaffna and Naveeni to is a Tamil singer/composer who migrated from Sri Lanka to Canada. The lines say that " You cant clip wings made of fire, thats God's work", and you are motivated at every second as the track progresses with Navz-47 singing in Tamil and SVDP in English. The rapping is phenomenal by both performers with SaNa's exquisite layered music in the background. He uses the trumpets predominantly along with the Synth programming. The lyrics even mention Muhammad Ali's famous line "Float like a butterfly, sting like a killer bee", and it is because this track is also used in the OST of the recently released Tamil OTT film "Sarpatta Parambarai" which deals with the boxing traditions of North Madras in the 1970s. While SVDP writes his own lyrics, Arivu pens the Tamil words. It is next to impossible to not fall in love and get engrossed with this track and you can imagine the splendid impact it is going to create as an inspirational anthem in a sports movie. SaNa has been gifted with an ability to compose music along varying genres and styles and here he brings the thara thappattai percussion into this rap track in way only he can do. Navz-47 performs with immense energy and there comes a point where SVDP raps and feels like you are listening to Shankar Mahadevans "Breathless". One of the many highlights of this track when lines sing "vavavvvaaa vavvva". SaNa truly brings global music home! SVDP and Kalainathan Kalaichelvan are the directors of this video which acts as a perfect compliment to the track. SVDP dresses as a boxer and the clothing used in the video is unique and oozes style. The choreography is quite impressive with some Bharatanatyam moves as well.

10. Osara Parandhu Vaa

The movie could have mixed reviews but one thing that cannot have any debates about is that quality of music in “Navarasa”. KS Sundaramurthy is very talented as a composer and for those who don’t know him, check out his music for movies like Jiivi, 8 Thottakkal, and especially Airaa, which had this phenomenal number called “Meghathoodham”. Anyway here to he stamps his authority with an engaging track and what I love is that he ropes in a new singer for this. Vrusha Balu is known to many in TN today thanks to her tremendous potential she displayed in the Super Singer show of Season 8. The way she sings, it almost feels like you are listening to the legendary Sujatha. The vocal arrangements need a special mention thanks to Padmapriya as we can here some very enticing humming at the beginning and end of the track going ‘hhmmmmm tha”. Overall KS Sundaramurthy has composed, arranged and programmed the track and the way the instrumentals play in the layers below the vocals is very classy. Listen to the strings in the verse, which are all arranged by Pranav Muniraj. The guitars in the end play the perfect outro for the track and are played by Vijay Krishnan who also plays the mandolin. Balu Thankachan mixes and masters the track while Soundararajan is the lyricist.

11. Payanam

I have been saying for a while now that Abhay Jodhpurkar is truly a Pan-India singer and he shows why every month if not week, with super hit songs in various languages. Here he is again with a stellar singing show for “FIR” the album and this is the second single released. Ashwath Naganathan is in terrific form here composing, programming and arranging this track with some wonderful words of love by Bagavathy. The strings open up the curtains on this track and they are all arranged by Ramshanker Sathyanarayanan, who works with some amazing composers like Girishh G. The song other than its superior singing and musical quality also boasts of some A-grade musicians working like D Sathyaprakash has done the vocal production, and Vishnu Vijay is on the flute. The guitars are so perfectly arranged and they make you fall in love, and we have Navin Samson Benjamin who plays both the acoustic and electric guitars. Jagadish K plays the electric guitar also additionally in this track. The first interlude has a flute solo by Vishnu and a humming by Abhay, and what follows is an elaborate stanza which itself is hard to come by these days. The backing vocals, comprising of a large list of singers in Deepak Blue, Narayanan, Sowmya Mahadevan, Veena Murali and Ashwath himself, is well positioned adds to the flavor of the song. Watch out for brilliant interventions on the strings at the end of verse and the flute in many distinct places in the secondary layers. Balaji and his team play the violins, while Ramachandran is on his Cello. The track vocals were performed by Aravind Karneeeswaran of Super Singer fame recorded by Isis John, Sidharth and Mani Ratnam, and Deepak Blue arranged the backup vocals. Anu Koshy did all additional programming with assistance from Anto Jones, KL Revanth. The additional Indian percussion is by Barath Dhanasekar, and mixing and mastering by Saurabh Krishna.

12. Pona Thozhi

Josh Vivian is the composer of this spell-binding track which probably can boast of the best instrumental arrangements in this week's list. You would have heard the quality straight away off the bat with Maarten Visser's saxophone and Keba Jeremiah's acoustic guitars. The first interlude also has this extended piece on the saxophone with support by Living Ston Amul John on the drums. Maarten gets the creative freedom to intervene with his sax and he does that brilliantly. Josh sings about this lover who had to leave him and his singing is apt with sadness almost feeling like its hurting his throat. The gospel-like backing vocal support is provided by Maria Roe Vincent, Angelin Nisha Rani and Sheryl Suraj who are part of this vocal band called "El Fe". The bass guitar is a constant presence in the background and Napier Peter Naveenkumar offers the track a lot of funk trough his performance. Josh must also be complimented for some excellent lines like " nee thantha kadhal nirantharam illaye, nee thantha vali mattum nirantharam aanathe" meaning that the love of his girlfriend wasn't permanent but the pain of her leaving seems ever-lasting. As we approach the later stages of the track listen to some even better instrumentals with the Viloin/Viola played by Mohan, Girijan and Gopi and Sekar plays the Cello. The strings are conducted by Yensone Bagyanathan, and they are composed and arranged by B.Prasanna. We have Godfray Immanuel on the electric guitar and the track is mixed and mastered by Rupendar Venkatesh with the role of recording engineers being played by Abin Pushpakaran, Balu Thankachan, Sean Bout, Mervin T Thomas and Rupendar. Josh Vivian gets a perfect score for his singing and composition especially we hope there is more to come from this musician in this year.

13. Puthu Vitha Anubhavam

Well the title means, a new type of feeling or experience, and that is precisely what you get when you hear this outstanding track and to me this is the best of the week. Pradeep Kumar and Kalyani Nair are the lead vocalists and it makes you wonder why the latter has so few opportunities to sing these days! Pradeep is thw composer of his fabulous Tamil movie album called "Vaazhl", and fr anyone out there who is interested in music as a purist, I recommend hat you listen to the whole album. The track is somehow a cross-breed of an Ilaiyaraja and AR Rahman creation with the opening lines definitely sounding like the formers work. The guitars are strong yet soothing and remind me of “Poove Sempoove” and we have some absolute stalwarts playing them like MS Krsna, Pradeep, Susha and Gowrishankar. Nikhilram plays the flute solo at the interlude and there are more instruments accompanying from the brass section of the Cincinnati Orchestra. The stanza is short and when the midway mark is reached, the flute solo has elements sounding like the Mozart of Madras would have arranged say from the songs of ‘Rangeela’ like “Tanha Tanha”. This is in no way taking any credit away from Pradeep Kumar who is a rare gem in the Indian music space today and such work can only come from his repertoire. A vast group comprising of Ganapathi, Venkat, Kiran and Sruthi once again plays the Tabla. Muthamil and Arun Prabhu Purushotaman have combined to pen the lyrics for the track.

14. Rangarattinam

This is Yuvan back to his very best, and we have been waiting for so long for something of this magnitude. He also gets the ideal singer to deliver this track in Anthony Daasan who simply bashes it for a six. If you want to get impressed in a few second move to the first stanza and the notes remind you that this guy is the son of a Genius. Anthony sings it with impeccable ease and gusto in the higher scale and Yugabharathi’s lyrics are sensational. The Shehnai is a wonderful accompaniment played by Balesh and the vocals are conducted by Senthil Dass. The track is mixed and mastered by M Kumaraguruparan.

15. Return

Chai Lenin or Chaitanyasre Lenin is one talented musician and she comes up with some astounding fusion work and being trained in Carnatic music she engages in bringing in those flavors to the mix as well. It is not easy to do that, and much more difficult to make it sound awesome, but she tends to achieve both. This track is composed, produced and sung by Chai, and she has also written the lyrics in English and Tamil. Nihil Jimmy has arranged and programmed so you know that he is the root cause for how terrific the track sounds when heard collectively. The track is mixed by Harishankar V and Chrish Gehringer masters it. When you hear the opening stages of this track you are bound to think that this is a synth pop track and Chai vocally experiments across the range and then suddenly you hear swaras being sung. I believe the raaga that comes closes to what we hear is Aabheri and when I had a discussion with Chai, she believes though that was the origin, she wanted to experiment with “Anya” swaras and the beauty and magigcal sounds they produced when not sticking with just a particular raaga.

16. Slum Anthem

Welcome to the 3rd single from this album “Kodiyul Oruvan”, and we have one of the most talented young musicians, Nivas K Prasanna, composing this total whacky track, which you just cannot categorize into any one specific genre. We have rap, kuthu, rock, pop all styles being touched upon and it is not a mish-mash but a beautiful and seamless fusion of all these styles. Even the vocalists will never be ones that you expect to be coming together to sing, as Nivas once again shows his liking for GVM as a singer. He is joined by musician and hero of the film, Vijay Anthony, and Premji Amaren. Nivas himself joins the party late into the stanza where the higher scales are encroached. Drums Sivamani gets the stage all charged up and we have some crazy yet witty lyrics written by Super Subu. The portion that starts off as “Nee Yaaru” and then follows is the highlight for me. Joseph Vijay is on the guitars and we have MT Aditya Sreenivasan doing the recording with Vinay Sridhar mixing and mastering. Enjoy this “slum anthem” on full blast.

17. Thappu Pannitten

AK Priyan has composed this very enjoyable and breezy single. Yuvan has turned a music producing, helping some new indie music gain recognition and that is a fine service other than just composing music alone. U1 Records and sounds like “Yuvan” when you say it has produced this very catchy track sung by STR. Vignesh Ramakrishna has penned the lyrics. Balaji Teki plays the violin, and Prasanna Suresh handles all the additional programming. The song treads into the synth-pop/ EDM genre and is quite hummable as well especially the title lines. STR probably shows here that he is under-utilized as a singer and ends up doing a good job with hi vocals. The track is mixed by Abin Pushpakaran and mastered by Balu Thankachan who are stalwarts in the business and are responsible for the output quality. Abin and Nalini Vittobane are the vocal engineers and Rupendar Venkatesh does the mastering of the track for Youtube.

18. Ulaa Pogiren

Simeon Telfer is a known name in the music circles as some one is super proficient with a guitar in his hands. He has worked with the best composers in the industry today and now he has his own indie composition and this is worthy of a place in your playlist. Simeon is joined b Adithya RK as the lead vocalist while Santhosh Jerald is the lyricist. The lyrical video has some interesting animation work and the song is intended to address issues like child labour and just asking the public to extend a helping hand to those in need. The singing is emotive and heartfelt and when the two singers combine, the harmony is tranquil and inspiring ate the same time. There is a place in the stanza “Kuzhaludhum vayadhiniley”, where you kind of are reminded of AR Rahman’s “Netru illatha maatram ennathu”. Overall I would give Simon an A for this effort and outcome and I wish we hear more from him as a composer in the coming days.

19. Un kannanguzhiyil

Let us not get into how the movie was, because that I not what I do. We will focus on the music alone and I have absolutely no complaints and so will you when you hear this track. Satish Raghunathan is a good musician who comes u with some excellent album scores from time to time, and this one track speaks volumes about his abilities. Karthika Vaidyanathan puts on an excellent show as the lead singer with Joy Sengupta’s acoustic guitars playing to keep you hooked with all focus. When she sings “Pathikannl naan pakkuren”, I am reminded of that great number by Ilaiyaraaja called “ Kodai kaala kaatre”. Satish has done a noteworthy job in arranging and programming and you will appreciate the strings in the second layer as Karthika sings the opening line the second time around. We have some beautiful words of love being written by Mohan Rajan. The bass guitars are played by Napier Peter Naveen while Sayee Rakshith takes control of the Violins. Chandrajith is on the rhythm arrangements while award winning Sai Shravanm has done the mixing and mastering. Listn to the lovely interlude on whistle by Satish himself and that is nostalgic like listening to “Vandha naal muthal”.

20. Un Kural Ketkave

The sound of the flute among the chirping of birds, and yes there is nothing to quite match the impact it has on the ears and mind. This is what Syam Das, the composer does to you right from the moment the seconds start ticking. Nikhil Ram brings in the desired effect by playing his flute solo and we are ken and invested even before Shweta Mohan utters a note. Then from that moment on we just fall in love with what she does with her amazing vocal gifts. The melody is entrenched here in this track thanks to Syam’s score and Nikhil intervenes with improvisations on his flute that just glorify the opening lines. Venki writes apt lyrics saying “Un kural ketkave, en uyir thedum”. Shiyan Shaji accompanies with his acoustic guitar with perfect resonance. The interlude is all Nikhil displaying his range with support on the bass guitars by Santhosh. Whether it is the opening lines or some parts of the stanza, tey bear some similarity to that terrific number “ Then Poove poove vaa” from ‘Anbulla Rajnikanth’ except that this track has a much slower tempo to it. Ajmal Hasbulla does the programming while Shiju Ediyatheril has done the mixing and mastering. Mahendranath plays the solo violin and Syam Das give us a wholesome, melody that you can listen multiple times.

21. Unakkaga

Keethan Sivananthan is a musician you should keep your eyes on, and he has the knack of creating spectacular sounds that also fuse multiple styles. He also always releases a single in multiple languages , and I came across this wonderful new track sung by Pavithra Krishnan. Keethan composes and produces this number written in Tamil by Santhana Bharathy. To the keen listener, this track has influences of Nalinakanti raaga and the closest track you can think of is Ilaiyaraaja’s “Enthan nenjil neengatha”. Pavithra invokes mystery when she sings and the flute by Sarath is so enticing as a combination with the mastery on the violin by Shravan Sridhar. Akhilesh plays the bass guitar and Abel Libisch is on the Cello.

22. Vaanavil

This is definitely one of the best tracks of July, composed, produced and arranged by Sanjay Manickam. Yugadarrshini Singun ad Sanjay take the stage for lead vocals and they do a very impressive job. Sanjay has got a very pleasing voice and Yuga’s sweet tenor keep the songs freshness alive. The track is mixed and mastered by Sree Sai Dev.V and the lyrics are written by Naga Masi. Yugadarrshini is fantastic when she reaches for the higher scales. The interludes are dealt with the sounds of a violin and they work well. There are moments I feel like I am listening to a track that resembles “Azhagooril poothavale” by Vidyasagar but that can only be a fabulous compliment to a young composer. The way Sanjay introduces the Mridangam and then the male humming followed by the harmony all works quite well.

23. Yaadho

This is another splendid track from Navarasa, and Govind Vasantha lived up to the reputation that precedes him. He also is one composer who provides Chinmayi Sripada the deserving opportunities to perform while some other just shy away. She is simply mesmerizing in this track and all you can do is to close your eyes, open up your ears and take in whatever flows towards you. The song has a resemblance to another recent one composed by Govind but sung by Bombay Jayashri in the anthology movie called “Putham Pudhu Kalai” and that was called “Kanna Thoodhu poda”. These both have strong influences of the Madhuvanti raaga. It is just the keys and Chinmayi’s voice that keep hitting you with musical richness. The violin played by Govind is used as a bridge to connect the pallavi and charanam, and it just adds to all the pathos already created by the raaga and Chinmayi’s emotive singing.