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Monday, March 27, 2006

Thaamasamendhe varuvaan - An eternal classic

Song: Thaamasamendhe varuvaan
Film : Bhargavi Nilayam
Composer: M. S. Baburaj
Singer: K. J. Yesudas
Performed by : Murali Venkatraman

A timeless song which because of its lyrical elegance and unrivalled compositional beauty, stands out as one of the greatest songs ever to grace Malayalam film songs. The composer Baburaj was a melody weaver (not a maker) of the highest calibre in my humble opinion. His songs like "thaLiritta kinaakkaL than" (S.Janaki) , "praNasakhi njaan verumoru" (KJY) are some which "ariyaadhE..en aathmaavil chiragu kudanjOr azagu" kaL (the beauties which titillate the aathma with a feather without we realizing it). For those who do not understand Malayalam let me write down the meaning of this splendiferous lyrics- you can pretty much sing these lyrics ini the original tune)

Pallavi:
=====

thaamadham Eno varavE
uyirththOZi endhan munnE
thaamadham Eno varavE
anburuvE endhan kaNNil

Charanam 2:
=========

thaLirudal iLagi undhan
thangavaLai kilungiyadhE
poonjOlai kaattil undhan
kaalkolusum kulungiyadhE

paaloLi chandiranil -un
punnagaiyum kaNdu nindrEn
paadhi raa thendralil un
pattudai vilagiyadhE

No wonder Prabha chEchi fell for DasEttan listening to such songs :) I don't think the way I have sung is anywhere near what Dasettan's style...hmm.. This was recorded 2 years back.

Let me know if you folks like it.

25 comments:

  1. wow..that was amazing....ur song selections are sooo good.. havent heard the song before but i can see the nuances of the song u put more emphasize on... sure thing to learn a lot from you murali :) kalakiteenga...

    an amazing melody...:) great work

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  2. Murali:
    Never heard of this song. I listened to KJJ and your version couple of times. Unbelievable composition. Not an easy song to try but you've tried and done it extremely well. I liked this song a lot and I will tell you about the differences after listening to it few more times. So far, pramadhavanam was my all-time favorite malayalam song and I think this song will give a good competition for the first place(in my head).

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  3. Murali,

    You sound your best in this! A very nice melody (Pilu raagam--same as Vannam konda!?) & your rendition is crisp. Think your voice suits the mood and tone of the song like a glove.

    My headphones is picking up each & every note in succession, bringing a big wide grin to my face(-:

    Very delectable... indeed.

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  4. well i enjoyed ur tamil ;-) version more than the one on blog....I was mesmerized hearin u sing :-)

    tata
    sukku

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  5. Amazing, Murali! The way you sung the song, the diction etc are superb man!!

    Baburaj indeed is a great talent. But only after his death people started appreciating more about him.

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  6. Hmm..never knew about Sri.Baburaj..and this song.!

    Very nice melody indeed.!! I wish I knew Malayalam.!

    -
    Was this recorded 2 years back?? Can you record it again...IMHO your voice is superb these days.!!!

    The link to KJY's song isn't working Sir!

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  7. Well done Murali, it is indeed a great song from a great composer!
    Jo, You dont realise the price when you own it..

    :-)

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  8. Beeeautiful Murali. soulful rendition. simply superbb

    "Baburaj indeed is a great talent. But only after his death people started appreciating more about him"

    people! sigh

    Malayalam cinema has some great music. High time it got nationwide recognition.

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  9. Good one Murali. Like you mentioned the original has a very free flowing style; adds quite a bit of drama to the rendition. KJY must be in his early twenties, when this was sung and is still singing ?!!.

    Bharat - Malayalam film music must have garnered more national awards than any other south Indian languages, but was a not popular choice among other language speakers. MSV, Ilayaraja and ARR made sure that tamil songs were also equally melodious and IMHO IIayaraja made sure there was lot more variety in the songs of that era than in Malayalam film music. Many a times I've felt, Malayalam songs have fallen into the melodic trap , one more reason why Tamil songs are very popular in Kerala. Jo - Comments. ?.

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  10. PA / Bharat.

    NakachathangaL - Won National Award
    Bharatham - Won National Award.
    Kaala Pani - Won National Award.

    I like the Classical touch in the Mal.songs.

    I was listening to a mal. song from the Film Vettam...! Please listen to the song 'Etha vunaraa'..! Its a Classic carnatic song..and the Music director has done superb job out of it... Please listen to it..!! I love it.!

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  11. Folks - thanks for listening. Jo - I think I have made a couple of errors in the diction. Over a period of 2 years, my diction in mallu seems to have imporoved.

    NV:

    romba naive voice aaga theriyudha ? :) May be I will sing it later sometime and send you.

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  12. MuraLi,
    attagaasamdaa kaNNaa. I detect some bayam + bakthi in handling a revered work. Sounds wonderful to my ears as your voice usually does.

    -Udhaya

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  13. I am digressing here, but it's worth it i guess.

    @ NV - Thanks for the info. But, i'm not sure how indicative that is of the scope of "listenership" of mallu music.

    @ prem

    True that only Indian idols and remixes sell. Good work must be recognised irrespective of the language it's been made in. Exposure is the key. IMVHO Rahman put tamil music on the Indian map when he started composing for hindi films.(am not discounting MSV and IR. They are doyens and will be celebrated to eternity). Malayalam music starts and ends in Kerala. Before SS music, I had not heard many malayalam songs.

    Lack of variety might be the major pitfall of malayalam music. I have heard some odd ones that try to break free from the melodic monotony. Not long before it gets there.

    and again, Murali, terrific job :)

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  14. Very well rendered Murali.. :) Enjoyed it.. was so peaceful and calming.. It was much needed. Thank you for making this morning musical and wonderful.

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  15. Hi Murali, That was a beautiful song. Very well sung. Never heard this song before. Thanks for introducing such wonderful songs.

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  16. Bharat:

    Feel free to discuss.

    vijay :)

    nEyar viruppam - definitely paNNalaam off and on basis. I have been terribly busy in acads and also composing. So making a karaoke seems very difficult these days. If I have the karaoke track, already for the song I will definitely make an effort to sing and put it up.

    Nyns: - Thanks. I will be attempting another song - "PraaNasakhi njaan verumoru" -another number made immortal by the Baburaj-KJY combo soon.

    Poorni - Malayalam film music is replete with such amazing melodies. I am happy that I am doing my little part to get muscially inclined people like you familiar with some timeless classics.

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  17. Dearest Murali,

    beautiful.Just beautiful.Wish daskumar could listen to this and stop making a mess of it at every concert. A pity that a song could be so badly rendered by someone who has inspired many a fresh singer ( and marred a few of them also in the meanwhile,by making copycats of them ). Its as though he is doing a post doctoral study on how to mutilate a beautiful song in 1001 different ways!

    Could you give a "now" version as well?
    Love and peace

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  18. Maaya,
    It is paayumoLi nee enakku
    paarkkum vizhi naan unakku

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  19. Maaya:

    I will try that song sometime. It is a beautiful composition by L.Vaidyanathan.

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  20. Anonymous4:33 AM

    Murali,
    Awesome singing. I am an amateur singer as well. One request, if you have some karaoke tracks, is it possible for you to share it with me. I host my songs at http://www.soundclick.com/updateband/SongInfo.cfm?BandID=512443

    check them out when you find time.

    Thanks man. Hope to hear more from you. Keep them coming.

    Krishna
    http://courtesycall.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hello. I listened to the Sangeetha Megam karaoke of yours on which Bluebyrd and Anand had sung. Can you just give me your email address?... I have done a version of that too. I just want you to have a look at it and tell me how it sounds. It was actually my first attempt at sequencing! I shall send you the midi file if you can give me your email address.
    Thank you
    Ajit

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  22. Krishna:

    Send an e-mail to me with your mail id

    Ajit:

    I did NOT make that track. It is a commercially available track. I do not know how much I will be of help to you. If u are still interested, pls send an e-mail.

    cfdmodeler-dhool@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous8:20 PM

    Murali, I just dropped here to listen some music. This is the type of song that sounds natural for you and shows the best. You have sung this one very beautifully. If you want to discover what i meant being natural...try learning this song and publish in the blog to check out the results...

    http://www.raaga.com/channels/telugu/movie/A0000335.html

    pick up the songs, sigalo avi and Priye Chaaruseele...

    All the best...

    ReplyDelete
  24. aditya:

    thanks for stopping by and passing comments. I am familiar with all the songs of Mega Sandhesham. I was just thinking of attempting them one by one and here are you are..suggesting what I had been thinking. I think I agree with your observation. Though I started my self-teaching course with fast semi-classicals of KJY, of late I find that it is the emotive numbers that I really feel myself enjoying while singing. I will definitely attempt this suggestion of yours.

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  25. Thamasamende---fantastic rendition
    full marks to you--keep up
    vaidyanathan

    ReplyDelete