The magic of Alaipayuthe

One might wonder, where or what is the limit of Rahman's creativity .....the answer to that probably doesn't exist .....

Hear Alaipayuthe and you will understand why .....its a journey - a magical journey each song weaving its own world of magic. When I first heard this album probably in my grad. days (guess 98 or 99), I was just stunned at what this man had created and whether it would be paralleled someday (almost at the same time though I was proved wrong - another magic was woven equally brilliant and stunning - Kandukondein Kandukondein it was - though I ain't writing about it now - another time probably :-) )

When I bought this album, it didn't have the Bike song - Endrundrum Punnagai but did I need it then ...to be awe struck by this album - no - because the album started with....

'Kaadhal Sadagudu' - which I am hearing right now - I must say, this still remains one of the best guitar based song I have heard ...both bass and the strings ....as my gal tells me (she understands the lyrics), it has amazing lyrics too.

The bike song as I refer to it and which I mentioned earlier - Endrundrum Punnagai - perfect ....everything about it ....absolutely everything is perfect :-)

'Snehidane' ...well this song has such beautiful vocal interludes ....a rahman speciality...besides the song itself that they take the song onto another dimension :-) it seems like a song within a song ....sadhna sargam ...a hindi singer in Tamil ...yes yes ..I know lot of people hate that ...but folks ....hear ths song once again ..do u think it really matters ......the music ...the melody ...I can't stop raving about it man !!!!!

'Yaro Yaarodi' .....a lovely marraige song with amazing drums beats and vocals ...a really fast number that maintains the melody and a playful youthfull atmosphere all at the same time ....hear it to believe it ....

Last but not least - 'Pachai Nirame', the song the describes love through colors ....the music and the format of the song are different ....very different from anything that I had heard ever ....the picturisation itself was amazing too ...the screen filling with the color being described and in slow motion .....O man ....and as I write this, the song is playing here ....

'Mangalyam' again - a song that was not there when I first bought this album but I certainly do have it now with me ....I wonder what was going in the mind of the man when he created such a wonderful number as this one .....a shloka to start with ...and then the main song breaking out ....a class apart ....

Two other songs in this album ....which though are not my favorites but still are a lot better than music by any other md ... :-) ...Am I biased towards Rahman ...oh yeah ..I am :-)

not a review in any sense ..but just wanted to write about this album .....and so thats it ....

-A

A Long Drive...

And if you are hearing Rahman booming on your car speakers all the way, there is nothing like it - right ?

A trip to San Luis Obispo - around 250 miles south of here - thats where we went this weekend , caught up wth some friends(some more rahmaniacs) - Life couldn't have been better :-)

The Pacific coast, the vineyards, wine tasting, driving on the country side - the music of Rahman on my gal's ipod, routed to the car-fm using a igriffin roadtrip (now thats a pretty neat gadget though sometimes tuning it can be a pain) - that was this weekend.

But then, am I here to write about just the trip - hmmm, well not everyone would be interested to read that in case they accidently visit this blog ....

The answer is NO

So why am I here ? well obviously, since all my posts have something or the other to do with Rahman :-)

Oasis - a small Mediterranean and Moroccon cuisine restaurant on Higera street - thats where we were one evening for our dinner - there were some dances being performed and boom - its the magic of the man - mediterranean dance on 'Chale Chalo' from Lagaan - and we were shocked - As much as it angered us that they were passing off Rahman's music as something else, seeing people enjoy the music and clapping along - made us kinda happy and proud.

Thats what Rahman wants too right ... make people happy and try to eradicate all hatred in this world. Well that evening, he certainly did make them and us - extremely happy.
I salute you, yet again Rahman and I yet again believe that I am blessed to be around at the same time as you and that in this life, I have been able to meet you too.

The place San luis obispo itself is a nice little place - California folks should try and go down there some time - quite expensive a place in comparsion to many places I have visited around but worth it nevertheless.

-A