THIS LOCKDOWN, DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS LIST OF 15 OF BEST TAMIL SONGS - MAY 2021 EDITION!

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Ennodu Vaa

Prateek Gandhi is a producer who has this lofted aim of creating music in all of the official Indian languages, and that would be a great idea for sure. This one was a Tamil single is a very heartening composition by him and it brings in Madhav Krishna as the lead vocalist. I am hearing his vocals for the first time, but was very pleasantly surprised with all that he had to offer. The interlude on the guitar is a nice bridge to the stanza, where Madhav goes on to make it even more pleasant. Prateek keeps the score simple yet never short of substance. The song talks about the amazing bond between humans and dogs and the track is very fresh to listen to as well. The lyrics are penned by Jayashree L Narayanan and credit to her for communicating the love between these two species. Animation in the video is done by Aiswarya Keyan.

Ethu Unathu

This is a short and sweet track composed by Deepak Chander and has some excellent singing which is what actually puts this among the best of the month. Sabari Darshan is the vocalist and his high-scaled singing is pitch perfect. The instrumental arrangements are excellent as well, with the keys and flute along with the acoustic guitar helping things along. Deepak nicely brings in the Mridangam and Ganjira which combine well with the guitar.

Ival Peyar Iyarkai

This is like the previous track also has a new musician with a very pleasant track. Jak Sundar is the composer as well as the lyricist for the track. AK Sasidharan is the man behind this very likable vocals. All the instruments are programmed and the end product comes out well thanks to mixing and mastering of Ramesh. The stanza has an added element of melody and right through it is the lovely voice of Sasidharan that adds beauty to the track.

Kadhal Theeye

Steve Cliff has produced and composed an album called “High on Music” that is distributed on maajja platform. There are more than a couple of tracks that are worth listening to in this album and I would also have to appreciate the musician for exploring different styles and genres as well. He has sung himself and also penned the lyrics in the 8 tracks and I definitely wanted to pick this one as the best of the album. Steve ropes in Vandana Srinivasan for the female vocal lead and the duo certainly does well. The style and attitude of Steve is matched by the stability and suave of Vandana. The track sounds like a very peppy track from the repertoire of Harris Jayaraj. The track is mastered by Deyo in Singapore and mixing is at Fourteen Studio (Canada).

Konjum Tamil Penne

MOZ is the musician who has composed and sung this track which is sure to pique the interests of the younger generation. Its fast, and peppy with some nice lyrics written by Akhilan. It is a pleasant surprise to hear that the stanza has enough variations and kind of keeps you interested with just the same lines being rehashed.

Lockdown song

This is one fun and funky song and that is why you can never discount Simon King’s work. I have been impressed always with what he has to offer as a composer. Krishnan Maheson sings it excellently like a rap-styled number sounding like Yogi the singer. The highlight of the song is the female harmony comprising of Padmaja, Triya Sushma, Lavita Lobo and Sushmitha who just do a fabulously glamorous job of singing in unison and making that segment stand out from the rest of the track. There are 3 lyricists in Madhan Karky, Ku Karthik and Krishan himself who have written the very catchy and relevant words. The track is programmed and arranged wonderfully by Godfray Immanuel.

Mazhai Varum Neram

The track came and total surprise for me as it was  from an aalbum/movie I wasn’t aware of and had releases earlier this year and I am so thankful I came across this wonderful melody. The track is the best in the album and it is composed by Kavin-Aditya and they have also arranged it. It starts off with a string section in the background and a very enticing flute solo by Ashish Venkateshwaran. Vasudev Krishna’s calm singing is the followed by low-scaled singing of Janani Rajan who displays some oomph in her vocals. Ashish’s flute is weaving more magic in the background while the singers carry out the wonderful lyrics by Rahul Bharathi. It is creative that the composers use the Tabla and Kanjira when the rest of the track sounds more western and Sarvajit Krishna M does a fabulous job on them both, playing with an intent to hold the tempo and at the same time not be lost in the background. The interlude also has a nice violin solo bit played by Kevin Bruno. There is some nice male harmony from Akshay Govind, Aditya Jeganath and Kavin Raj, and the melody is enhanced thanks to stanzas structure. Sankrith Sowmya has played the guitar and Rupendar Venkatesh has mixed and mastered the track. Vykunth is the associate producer.

Nee Aruge

A slow melody that you can play in the evening watching the sun go down on you. That is how I would define this track or rather listen to it as my ideal setting. Ashwin Vinayahamoorthy is rising as an indie musician and I believe this track would give him and his listeners more belief in his abilities. Kausthub Ravi is the male lead who does a commendable job in keeping the emotion of a love track in-tact. Kamalaja is the female lead vocalist and she does justice to the cameo role offered to her. Suthan Bala is the lyricist.

Nethu

Santhosh Narayanan is unstoppable and he works with actor Dhanush again after the roaring success of the movie "Karnan" which was a hit both as a movie and as a musically uplifting experience. Santhosh has now used Dhanush himself as the lead vocalist for 3 tracks and probably after the massively popular "Thattan Thattan" this was bound to happen. Nethu is the 3rd single from the upcoming movie  on June 18th and this one is the diametrically opposite from the earlier 2 singles in style and genre. You could call this a romantic track but Santhosh goes for minimalism with just some whistling, humming, guitars, keys and trumpets  and heavily depending on the tune's structure itself to do the magic. Dhanush impressed in his earlier track and now he's gonna make many top-notch singers uncomfortable about their careers. He is certainly walking down the path of Kamal Hassan with not just his acting but also singing and he has also written the lyrics for the track. Joseph Vijay's guitars are constantly strumming giving the perfect aura for the track. Santhosh has done the whistles and provide backing vocals and they sound amazing especially when he sings "Nethu Nethu" in the background. The stanza starts off with simple notes but the variations and structure only show the potential and the growing desire of the composer to standout from the crowd. Sai Shravanam has done the mixing and mastering while Meenakshi Santhosh is the Musicians co-ordinator.

Ondrallo

The platform maajja continues to distribute more fantastic music in the last couple of months and here we have another set of  indie artists exhibiting quality. Tha Mystro as he calls himself has written the lyrics and sung this single which is in the pop/EDM genre but the violin played live by Athisaiyan right from the beginning is what differentiates the track from any other dull song. Tha Mystro has previously sung for D. Imman in the Tamil movie Jeeva. The track however is composed by Vernon G Segaram who has also done the mixing and mastering for the track. There is a small rap bit as well, but after that the stanza sounds even better with singing also getting elevated and being aided by Athisaiyan’s violin. Overall it is a very good number that can slowly grow on you.

One Side Kadhal

Kevin Shaji is a talented musician who goes by the name “Pinacolada Blues” and he is beena very busy and consistently good music producer. He just came up with his full-length album with Malayalam and Tamil songs, but this one stood out for me in Tamil. The lyrics are written by Meenakshi.K and Sai Krishnan. The flute we hear is played by Manushankar, but Kevin uses much more than just the flute, as he gets creative with some wind instruments and the bass guitars in the programming stage. The mastering is done by Harirag M Warrier. Sai Zakaz has done a fantastic job in his vocal delivery and the Tamil rap is done by Mk Muzik.

Pottum Pogattume

There seems to be enough hype of this movie, having to down with a futuristic scenario and doomsday and so on. The music also created a certain amount of hype and the first single that came out was well received. Sathyajit Ravi and Jen Martin are the composers and it feels and sounds like a grand work with some very impressive string sections thanks to Rithu Vysakh in charge. There is a bit with a splendid flute solo played  by Nathan and some improvisation by Szintra from Hungary. Nathan has also played the Saxophone. The composing duo have taken a tremendous effort in arranging and programming this song with additional programming by Santhu Omkar. Stanley Xavier has produced the music with Sathya Narayanan on the role of music adviser. Sathyajit-Jen have also sung the track with backing vocal support from Sathya, Shyam Sasikumar and harmony from Levita Lobo, Aishwarya Ravichandran, Madhumitha and Triya Sushma.

Pyscho raja

It starts off with a very classical Carnatic song set probably in Hindolam raagam, sung by Suchithra Balasubramanian and Bharath Narayan. There is the wonderful Veena played by Haritha Raj and vocal support provided by Feji, Kamalaja and Ala. The percussion on the traditional style is played by Ganapathy (Mridangam) and Hari Sharma (Kanjira). Then a massive transformation happens in the track when you least explain it with Karthikvamsi KVR notching it up with his drums and world percussions. GV Prakash Kumar becomes the lead singer from this portion onwards and who else but Mangli to deliver with this attitude and gusto. The track once again has a more classical outro with the Konnakol performed by VVS Mani. The male backing vocalists are Yogi Sekar and Ganesan Sekar himself who is the composer and he has also arranged and produced the track. The arrangements on the strings are by Ramshanker Sathyanarayanan and Anjana Rajagopalan. The Orchestral music is by Prague Symphony Orchestra with a well-known face from Bollywood doing the supervision i.e. Samarth Srinivasan. Another young taented musician Girishh Gopalakrishnan who scored last year for “Mookkuthi Amman” is the music advisor for this track. Ganesan himself has also don eths synth and rhythm programming. Pa. Vijay does a fabulous job of showing versatility in writing lyrics for both portions of the song.

Rivers of India

This is a massive effort just to create a song in classical mode with just river names for lyrics and try sensationalise the importance of rivers and the abuse we as Indians have been doing to them. Kanniks Kannikeswaran has composed this A-lister of a track sung by two stalwarts in Bombay Jayashri and Kaushiki Chakraborty. They are accompanied by their sons Amrit Ramnath and Rishith Desikan. The singing by the quartet is exceptional, needless to say and the track is produced, arranged and directed by the exponent Sai Shravanam who has also played the Tabla here as well as mixed and mastered the track. In fact he also has played the keys, and the frame drum.  Anjana Rajagopalan, Mayur, Savitha Sai and Ved Vinayak provide additional vocals. The charanam is splendidly composed and sends you to an alternate universe. The track other than river names, has even a phrase from the Silapathikaram sung in the end by Amrit and Bombay Jayashri. Kishore Kumar plays the Sitar in the second interlude and Shreyas Murali plays the additional keys. Yamuna Kalyani  raagam is probably the main influence here in the track

Saalai Orathil

Sooriya Soe recently scored an impressive Malayalam Indie track and then I heard this one which is even better. He has also written the lyrics for this one along with Anbu Karan. Arjun Aravind’s guitars are constantly aiding in make the track sound even more melodious along with the bass guitars in the background. Varun Kumar’s flute makes an entry just after the opening lines and Manuvardhan does appreciably in his vocals as the lead singer. The interlude is also just more of magic from the flute. The track is mixed and mastered by Roshan Sebastian.

Un Tholil Naan Saaya

We know her as a singer par excellence, now she is here to prove her might in the composition space and this would be her second single. It is a beautiful simple melody but there is nothing simple about its influence on the ears and nerves. Keba Jeremiah’s guitars are a great companion for Shashaa Tirupati’s titillating voice. Keba plays as big a role as the vocalist itself here joining in with both the acoustic and bass guitars. The beautiful words written by Girish Kalayanaraman sound even better under the guise of such a tune. This too is distributed on the maajja platform. One can definitely understand the track’s influences from her mentor AR Rahman’s originals but Shashaa doesn’t make it sound like an imitation, I in-fact see originality in her work here. This is definitely one of the best tracks of not just month but one of the best melodies yet of 2021.

Unnai Arinthavar

The winning combination doesn’t have to change anything and that rule is probably doing wonders for Arrivan Isai, Udhaya.Kathiravan and D Sathyaprakash. This new single is another cracker set in the Madhuvanthi raagam, and has stalwarts like Lalit Talluri on the flute and Shahrukh Khan on the Sarangi. It begins with the Sarangi and then the flute and Lalit is simply cruising forward giving away glimpses of the raagam which reminds us of that amazing song title track called “Kanda Naal muthalai”. The first interlude brings in more pathos through the Sarangi and flute and if that is not enough, Sathyaprakash’s voice is so apt for delivering this emotional track. R Sanjay is the producer and plays the keys. This track composed and written by Udhaya.Kathiravan will leave you wanting more.

Unnai Kanave

If you notice my reviews and list of songs every month over the last 2years , you would have observed that D Sathyaprakash never just sings one random song a month. It is like when it rains D Sathyaprakash’s songs, it pours! Here he is again with a 90s type pop track with a great deal of funk and groove thanks to Rohit Sower’s composition and arrangements. The guitars, keys, beats and mainly Sathyaprakash’s casual way of singing this and yet sounding serious and emotive all come together as a great package in giving us a stunning number for this month. The harmony singing the opening lines is an added feature that sounds great. The second interlude with a humming and a table sound like an popular AR Rahman number from the movie Kangalal Kaidu Sei. The track is produced by Kiran Koyanna and Varsha Kiran. Muthamil RMS is the lyricist

Uruginen

Here comes one of my favourite young indie musicians in Tamil since 2020, and he is back again with his new single which is a semi-classical number set in a beautiful raagam called Sahana. Manoj Krishna has composed, produced and sung this fusion with some catchy techno-sounds. The depth of his voice and the technical quality of his singing sets him apart and makes even better at delivering classical set notes. Sayee Rakshit is rising like an unstoppable rocket in the indie/movie scene and his violin solo embellishes the interlude an he brings his A-game, and then it’s a Jugalbandi between him and Manoj as to who can out-do the other in some riveting vibrato. Manoj and Anirudh Subramanian provide the chorus element, while the duo combine with Tamil Mani for the lyrical writing. The track is mixed and mastered by another house-hold name these days in Sourabh Joshi. All vocals have been recorded by Anish Mohan.

Uyir Thedal

Sahi Siva writes, sings and composes this very catchy and likable number that boasts of a string guitar presence and feels so nice to hear a woman strum the guitar, which is for some reason dominated by men folk. Ashnaa Sasikaran displays flamboyance right through the track. There is a a secondary layer backup vocal mostly of Ashnaa herself, which sounds so nice to hear. The mixing and mastering is also done by Sahi. He did impress me last year with a super-fun track called “naan kudikka poren”.

Vitu Pogadhae

Vijai Bulganin was impressive the last time too with his single and here too, this is a very hummable and loop-worthy. He has sung himself other the composition with Tamil Mani writing the lyrics. Simeon Telfer’s guitars play a huge role in the likability of the track and give it the well-rounded melodic effect. Sindhuja Srinivasan is the female lead who hums her way through in the first interlude followed by Vanraj Shastri’s Sarangi solo. Roshan Sebastian does a fabulous job on his mixing, mastering and recording duties. The stanza gets even better than the opening lines making it one of my picks for May. Sindhuja later makes an entry and her low-scaled singing is quite eloquent. Lalit Talluri’s flute solo is probably the most fitting end to the track

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