Loved the brilliant painting on the sky, by nature! A part of the fort can be seen as silhouette on the left.

This is a masterpiece composed by A.R.Rahman, for the Chinese movie "Warriors of Heaven and Earth" (Tian di ying xiong). There are 3 versions - the English version sung by Sunita Sarathy, hindi version sung by Sadhna Sargam and the Chinese version sung by Jolin Tsai (known as the Madonna of China).

I just love Sunitha's rendition of the song. Blaaze has done a great job with the lyrics. Few of my fav lines from the song:

Call me when you need a friend
To be with you until the end
As the mountains crumble to the sea
Share your loneliness with me
Trouble always finds a way
To keep you further everyday
if only the end justified the means

For the complete lyrics, go here (this is a blog of a foreigner who has fallen in love with A.R.Rahman's music after listening to WOHE.)

Listen to the english version here.


Upload music at Bolt.

For the hindi version, click here.
It's a pity that this album which won the hearts of many worldwide is hardly known to people in India! However, many might have heard the tracks of this album because these tracks have been copied by many Indian composers including Yuvan (Oru Kallooriyin Kadhai), Vidyasagar (HulChul, Maja) , Niru (kalaaba kaadhalan) and are also being used as BGMs in many TV serials, as title music for many game shows - none of them credit the tracks to A.R.Rahman!

The album came out after a long wait. There was lot of hype surrounding it. The producers of the film kept attaching lots of importance to the music and to ARR. So, lot of expectations on this album!
Does it live up to the expectations? Well, more than just meeting the expectations - it truly rocks and might well be the album of the year... err.... probably not... Guru is releasing in October!

Kummi Adi (or Ammi Midhichaachu):
An energetic folk number with fast beats.
Naresh rocks... Had a discussion with Deepak, about Naresh's voice in this song - he was wondering if it was Naresh in this song!! I felt Naresh's voice has so many dimensions. He sounded so soft in Tu bin bataaye (RDB) and Myiliragey (Ah Aah), sounded very different in Roobaroo and Paathshaala (RDB), and had that rustic feel in Kammaaa karaiyile (Godfather). His voice sounds so different in each one, and in this song, it is the "kamma karaiyile" dimension!! It was great listening to Swarnalatha, Seergaazhi Sivachidambaram and Theni Kunjaramma!
Already a chart buster.

Sillunu Oru Kaadhal:
Typical jazz song of 1970-80s. The beats, bass guitar arrangements, sax interludes, instrumentation - everything give us that retro-jazz feel. ARR proves once again that he can give a master any genre! Total fun song. Tanvi's voice is so fresh and apt for the mood, and the cat mewing sounds are so enjoyable.

Munbey vaa:
A soothing melody by Shreya Ghoshal and Naresh. The string arrangements are brilliant through out the song, especially during Shreya's humming after the first "rangoli" chorus. The starting instrumental and the BGMs (is it santoor?) are so cute. Highlight is the Rangoli part.

Maaricham:
Rahman loves to experiment a lot and break all rules. And he has gone totally unconventional in this song . This song doesn't follow the usual routine of pallavi-interludes-2 similar saranams.
The song starts of in a slow, high pitched opera-song-kinda mode and then the fast beats take over. Carolissa handles the high pitch portions throughout the song with ease.
The song shifts to a totally different mood after about 3 mins, when she says "Gautam" (it does sound like a mohini pisasu, as Harish pointed out !!) and Aslam takes over. Aslam's portion is melodious and is backed by fast percussion and wonderful string arrangements. The "tejo mayam " ending is good.

Machakkaari:
A peppy number. Shankar Mahadevan and Vasundara Das create magic. Loved the part when shankar sings "Thaangadhe Machakkaari" -starting from a low note for "thaangaadhe" and dragging on the "machakkaari" part to a high pitch and then goes "ohhh"... lovely! And, the bass guitar peice at the end of the stanza is mind-blowing! Potential chart-topper.

Mazaa Mazaa:
Shreya Ghoshal sung Thazhuvudhu Nazhuvudhu (Ah Aah) with SPB. This time, she pairs up with SPB Charan for a similar kind of song. Charan has tried to sound like his dad and succeeded in many places!
Just loved the percussion arrangements and the transistion from one mode to another! Very light percussion in the starting, and then some very heavy percussion at 1:07 - u keep listening and never know then shift in beats happened - so smooth! The starting ("mm mm hmm") is so addictive. Highlight of the song is the point (4:13) when all percussions stop, Shreya sarts to sing "Jillunu oar...", stops, giggles and then SPB Charan completes "Jillunu oar Ginger beeru thaan"... Awesommme!
Also love the part when both sing "kandaal Paavam unda....." (3:07-3:13) - SPBC sings that line from high to low pitch and Shreya goes from low to high... brilliant!

New York:
Definitely the pick of the album. A guy-misses- his-gal song - a very common theme, but the song is so fresh. Everything about this song is so different. The tune is very unusual and unpredictable and makes you keep guessing all the time.
This is second song in this theme in Rahman's voice, the first being "Mera yaar milaa de" from Saathiya. I dont think anyone else could have done justice to this song other than Rahman - wowwww - he just takes u in to that mood.
I was spellbound by the starting of the song itself, when i heard it for the first time. The "hmmm hmmm" (which keeps continuing to about 1 min) starting is so innovative. After some heavy acoustic guitar strumming in Roobaroo and Luka Chupi, Rahman continues that trend again and it adds to the mood. The lyrics by vaali are just awesome.

Best album in recent times.... Haven't got the album yet? What are u waiting for?

One of my long term chinna aasai-s was fulfilled yesterday! Ya... finally got the A.R.Rahman T-shirt on independence day.



Thanks to rahmantimes team for the brilliant work!

Now, for the movie release/audio release, huge hoardings have been put up in Chennai, which have just ARR's foto covering the entire hoarding!!! I just love the importance the producers are attaching to the music! Audio is expected to release tomorrow or day-after!Till then, you can listen to the samples in Raaga! Here's the complete track list! (from Ferrari's blog)
More fotos here.

Update: One more SOK hoarding featuring ARR, has been put up near Central Station. This is the pic that is used in the hoarding, couldn't get a pic of the actual hoarding, though.