rahman favourites

A post guaranteed to crack a smile on JR's e-face. Here are a few old and new reasons to find A R Rahman's "engineered" music interesting.

* Roja, Pudhiya Mugham, Thiruda Thiruda, Duet, May Madham, Gentleman, Kaadhalan, Muthu, Iruvar, Minassara Kannavu, Rangeela, 1947:Earth, Taal, Vande Mataram, Bombay (the Tamil version, simply because the Hindi lyrics changed concepts and ideas and also because I don't like Remo's patented over-tired yaa-baa-Duu-Daa anymore), Alai Payuthe (the Hindi remake Saathiya was a disappointment in comparison, despite ARR's interesting experiment in North-Indian singing)

* Athisaya Thirumanam Anandha Thirumanam from Parthale Paravasam, simply for its switching beat cycles and RDBurman-esque use of myriad instruments.

* Kaamosh raat dhiim taa daa re, and buu.Ndo.n se baate.n from Thakshak. ra.ng de becomes horrifying when you see Tabu dance to an aging Asha's voice (or should that be Asha's aging voice?).

* Parts of Kannathil Muthamittal, Kaadhal Virus, Vandicholai Chinraasu, Karuthamma, Sangamam, Kandukondain Kandukondain, some of the creditable effort in The Legend of Bhagat Singh

* Kay Sera Sera from Pukar (some cool instruments there too) was a good reworking of kaadhal nayagaraa from En Swasa Kaatre (which also had the original Jumbalikaa). The other songs were interesting too (was it coincidence that one of the interludes for kisamat se tum hamako mile ho was the same as the key riff in Seal's Kiss from a Rose?), although seeing Lata sing her song on screen (which was a reworking of a Malay song ARR had done for a Bosnia Relief concert) was a little too dyspeptic.

* Lagaan would have been on my list a few months ago, but all its appeal is lost now, especially because Asha and Lata sound too tired to merit repeat playing, I hate Udit Narayan, and the songs seem too synthesized, despite all the attempts at staying close to sounding native and rural (this is not to discount ARR's hard work in the area, mind you, just personal reactions).

Although I had amassed a sizeable collection of ARR tapes back home, I'd have to go back (miles away), replay them and append to this rather predictable list. But, for the record, most of his mainstream stuff is beginning to suffer from the tab-completion syndrome. Hopefully, there are more songs coming up like Athisaya Thirumanam

* Then there's the interesting Andhi Maalai aka Fantasy (perhaps aka Vaishnavar).. {more}