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It has been a long time desire to dedicate a blog to Ilayaraaja and share a song a day, for at least a month, and if possible, for a year. Thanks to @_viju’s encouragement and continuous prodding over the past few months, I am starting here. The general idea is to share a song I like which hopefully you folks who read will also enjoy, trusting my taste, and I shall try to make sure it is not a very widely heard song. What is the thrill in simply sharing a popular song which the world has heard? For a blog where I aim to make the song do the ironical talking for a better part, I guess this would make sense. If the song is a popular one, I shall discuss at length on what I feel makes the song special and share the little I know and take you along with me and if possible, open to you his world as I see it. So even if you disagree with me, you can see where I come from. Regardless of whether this effort becomes popular or not, I aim to take this further and complete at least a month with a song a day and provided I find the motivation, carry on as long as I can, for not more than a year. I shall try to cover the languages and non-filmy songs/tracks as this blog rolls along, but for a primary part, the songs will be in Tamil, fairly corresponding to the 600+ Tamil films Raaja has done from his oeuvre of 950 odd films. So like the squirrel in Ramayana, I feel this is my mite to Raaja who has woven himself into my life. A fanboy’s ode is this blog. Like @mayil_SK often says, என் கடமை, என் உரிமை.

With that bit of introduction, I shall start this blog with my all my favorite song of Raaja. A favorite song for everyone is subjective. With that disclaimer, I will say that this song has few parallels in Tamil film music. The song is Kanavil Midhakkum, from the film Eera Vizhi Kaviyangal, circa 1981. It has a dreamy flow and invokes that Pink Floyd feel we possibly get while listening to a Brain Damage and keeps floating. KJ Yesudas is effortless, as he always is, and takes us floating with this song. The charanams are knock-out stuff from the Maestro. The flute that follows the tune like a snake following its charmer Raaja has us spell bound and as it gives way to the strings which blend in as KJY soars and remains there at pitch with the bass for a few seconds, the song orgasms. The final whistle, that incomparable postlude which he often dishes out, is the final cherry. Whistling the pallavi as the postlude can be quite heady when it’s a vintage Raaja tune. This song feels like a cocktail of Kodai Kaala Katre, En Iniya Pon Nilaave and Uravugal Thodarkadhai. What. A. Concoction! This song is also special because when I heard it 2 years back, it got me digging more into Raaja and what was an admiration till then became a craze and devotion after this song. This song was written by Gangai Amaran and the remaining songs in this album were written by a then greenhorn Vairamuthu. The album is criminally underrated and each of the 5 songs, with 2 thukkudaas, is a mini epic. In my humble opinion, this album was Raaja at his finest best incorporating blues, jazz and rock into a primarily Tamil sensibility. Genius oozing out of every pore! Do check the album out. I guarantee you will be gob smacked.