Aayiratthil oruvan- Selvaraghavan's Magnum opus- Music out

The much hyped selvaraghavan film Aayiratthil oruvan’s music is out amidst huge expectations on his new partnership with G.V Prakash.

· Indha paadhai (G.V Prakash): Feel good number with interesting guitar interludes... G.V has lent his voice after a long time (remember the “chikku bukku” times???) and carried off the song quite well... very simple melody with minimum innovations.

· Celebration of Life: The Album’s theme music. G.V has used a new musical instrument (it might be “Yaazh”, an ancient sri lankan instrument) throughout the number and it gives a pleasant hearing when coupled with the rustic drum beats in the background... the piece grows on you once you hear it 2 or 3 times.

· Oh Eesa (Karthik, Andrea): A fusion of western classical and South Indian temple music. Karthik has given a peppy rendition with andrea taking over the western section and coming out with a show stealing performance, using her high octaves effectively. The song seems to be heavily inspired by the south Indian song chant “venkataramana govinda” which is very famous in tirupathi but it is a reasonable listen nevertheless.

· Un mela aasa (Dhanush, Mrs Dhanush, Andrea): Reminds you of the “pul paesum” number in “pudhupettai”. The song is right up dhanush’s alley as one does not need to be a trained singer in order to sing his portion; his diction and voice strength are added bonuses. Aishwarya and Andrea provide adequate support without much overdo.

· Maalai Neram ( Andrea): The Big let down of the album…except for Andrea’s exquisite vocals there is nothing above average in this song.

· Pennmaane (Bombay Jayashree, P.B. Srinivas): Jayashree’s haunting voice gives flair to this number. Again a unique instrument used at the start by G.V (something like a horn). To everyones’ surprise and a few peoples’ ecstasy, P.B.Srinivas- the famous yesteryear singer- makes a reappearance in the last part of this song…it’s a pleasure to hear his voice after a long time.

· Thaai Thindra manne (Cholan ecstasy, Classical version) (Nityashree, Vijay yesudas): clearly the pick of the album. Innovations in instruments, fusion, vocals and what not!! If nityashree takes us to the telugu classical world with her mesmerizing rendition, vijay yesudas is not far behind as he croons the tamil version with such emotion and class. Truly one of the best compositions of G.V.

· King Arrives (madras augustin choir): the start is very interesting. trumpets, drums and another ancient instrument blend to give a rouse, but once the guitar piece starts things go awry and the piece becomes very monotonous and predictable

The album has to be appreciated for its innovation and return to pure period classical form of music with appropriate vocal selection and exhilarating research into ancient musical instruments. But all said and done…something is missing in the album…maybe yuvan could have done the 4 modern numbers in the album and G.V could have carried out only the period portion, because that yuvan-selva combo’s flair seems to be a factor sorely missing from the tracks.