Neeraaduvaan - a mallu song from NakakshathangaL

It has been quite sometime since I sang a mallu song. So, when I got the karaoke of Neeraaduvaan from NakakshathangaL, I coudl not resist myself. This simple, but extremely soulful melody of Ravi rendered so romantically by DasEttan ranks as one of the finest examples in melody making. Ravi's trademark is in making a simple but unforgettable soulful melody. He loved the raga mohanam so much that he had the temerity to score three songs in the same ragam in the movie NakakshathangaL one of which won the second National award also for Chitra. He is a true priest of melody.

This song has a long aalaap by KJY which is a little tough to sing. I have tried my level best to do justice to the song. Please let me know how you like it.

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Ding Dong Kovil Mani- A duet with Srividya

Song: Ding dong
Singers : Madhu Balakrishnan, Madhushree
Composer : Vidyasagar
Movie : Ji

Performed by : Murali, Vidya

http://srividyas-blog.blogspot.com/2006/09/three-more-duets.html



Vidyasagar and Ramesh Vinayagam are the only composers in TFM (barring Rehman) who have a strong sense of melody. Vidyasagar is credited with some breathtaking melodies like malare mounama, nee kaatru, poo vaasam, pinneyum pinneyum etc. I have not been hearing a lot of new songs lately since most of them sound very much devoid of melody. Hence, when Vidya came up with the idea of singing this song, I was very skeptical looking at the first line of lyrics which comes with the English words "ding dong". I am generally not a great fan of lyrics that do not have life in them. But surprisingly, this song's tune and the rest of the lyrics were neat. Then I was wondering what scale this song was in and I found an article on it. Ramesh on music notes:

Have you heard "Ding Dong Kovil Mani" song from "Ji"? It is a beautiful composition by Vidyasagar. In this song, almost all the instruments seem to have a longer sustain, giving a sort of eerie effect. In the charanam an extra percussion layer of Dhols is added over the western drums giving a nice sound. This beat is similar to "Kurukku Siruthavalae" from Muthalvan.

Interestingly, this is set in a not-so-common rasikapriya raaga, which is the 72nd melakartha ragam, which is why I thought of blogging this. Arohanam is S R3 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S and avaraohanam is S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R3 S.

That caught my interest. And since the tune was already lilting with Madhu-Vidyasagar combo usually coming up with great numbers, I was more than eager to sing it with Vidya. Also, I had do some decoding of what both madhus had sung for aalaaps since this is a rare raga. This is our second duet and thanks to Vidya for asking me to sing a lovely song which would have gone unnoticed from my radar due to the self-imposed apathy towards the new film songs.

Please leave you comments after you listen.


http://srividyas-blog.blogspot.com/2006/09/three-more-duets.html