BEST TAMIL SONGS COLLECTION FROM LAST MONTH - HAVE YOU PICKED YOUR FAVORITES?

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1.  Aagasam

This is a very famous track composed by the band "Thaikkudam Bridge" and GV Prakash has paid all credits and rights before borrowing the tune phrase alone from that song called "Urumbu", however he has created the pallavi and charanam on his own. The song is sung by Govind Vasantha and Christin Jos. This is a very catchy tune with some excellent lyrics written by Arunraja Kamaraj. The singing and guitars are prominent and attention-grabbing.

2.  Chellakuttiye

This is one surprise package and I was stunned by the quality of the music as I have never heard of this musician before. The lyrics are written by Pearl Maaney and teh sung is composed by and sung by Jecin George. The main instrumental piece which is a wood instrument with a slow-paced beat is loaded with quality and wait for the flute that floats in the second layer. The interlude is a mix of the flute and some nice keys. The stanza has some interesting variations. Krishnaraj of the band Masala Coffee ha splayed the violins.

3.  Kadai Kannale

The second single from the movie Bhoomi and it starts off with Shreya Ghoshal saying these lines in Tamizh that startles you. How can this Bengali speaking woman make perfect diction just like any native Tamizh speaker. Well it just goes to show how hardworking and committed this woman is. Imman strikes gold with this tune and do watch some videos of Imman and Shreya working on a song to understand how great and relentless their partnership is. The song then moves into some solid, funky and creative Sitar solo by Kishore.  The song shines even better thanks to the vocal genius of Shreya. This beautiful melody has influences in the Suddha Dhanyasi raaga and some traces of Dhanyasi as well. The interlude also is laden with the Sitar and  the stanzas are rich and diverse, just like something you would expect from Imman. The bass guitar is played by Keba Jeremiah

4.  Kadhalikkiren

We have another independent musician here called Dhinesh Nagarajan who has composed, written and sung this very interesting and catchy love track. He straightaway impresses with his composition loaded with the sound of the guitar and his falsetto. The variations in the notes when he sings the same lines "naan unnai kadhalikkiren " is creative and impressive. Jeeva Anand is the bassist, while Dhinesh himself plays the guitar. The mixing and mastering is done by Stanley Xavier.

5.  Kanna Thoodhu poda

Govind Vasantha shows what he's made of once again with the best track of this new release set in Madhuvanti raaga as it might remind of us this famous titular song "Kanda naal mudhalai" . Roping in Bombay Jayashree is one added benefit as it perfectly fits the storyline of the movie talking about a gifted voice. I wish i had the names of the musicians who played the flute and mrindangam in this track. The flute opens up and the mrindangam and ganjira provide great company to the irresistible vocal embellishment of the singer and the credits go to Shruthi. The flute solo by Vishnu Vijay in the interlude is brilliant as it effectively creates the desperation of the protagonist to meet his daughter. Madhan Karky is the lyricist.

6.  Kayalvizhiye

There is no stopping D Sathyaprakash  and this time he just lends his voice to his friends composition. MS Jones Rupert is a popular musician on the keys has composed this track and played the keys as well, and this sounds very much like a Harris Jayaraj melody which we all love to sing and listen on loop. The keys along with the acoustic guitar go exceedingly well with the humming before the interlude. We have only the piano on the first interlude while a female solo vocal fills the second interlude.

7.  Maraiyadha Kanneer illai

This track has quite a lot of variations and it is composed by Jen Martin. It starts of as a slow lullaby and gathers pace and becomes something else completely. The interlude sitar solo is worth all your time and the stanza is excellent sung by Srinisha Jayaseelan which has some interesting musical arrangements as well. Jen Martin and Sathya Narayanan are on the backing vocals, and the keys were played by K Suriaraj. Rio is the man behind the mixing and mastering of the track.

8.  Meendum Pirindheno

Just like Sathyaprakash one more musican who is absolutely killing it in 2020 is Sean Roldan who has released 2 other rocking singles this year. This falls in the electro-carnatic genre and the tune is set in Kalyani raagam. The song is sung brilliantly by both Lalitha Sudha and Sean Roldan and the overall feeling that the song creates more than makes up for the lack of variations (which we are used to in Sean Roldan musical). The track is mixed and mastered by Abin Paul.

9.  O Ragini

This is one straightforward melody and that is something of a rarity these days as musicians try desperately to delivery something modern and liable by the youth. Aarthi M Ashwin who is not new to the music scene simply sizzles with her beautiful vocals. She has been quite impressive this year and she combines with Sai Vignesh who also is quite popular after his stint in the Super Singer show. Mohiny Mridul is the composer who makes good instrumental arrangements as well. The stanzas are simple without too many variations but the overall melody still demands your time. 

10. Oru Manam

We welcome Harris Jeyaraj after a long gap and the song is exactly a reflection what you would expect from the composer. He uses the guitar as a strong presence in his compositions and this is no different. The interludes are well set with one on the guitar and the other with a nice harmony. Shashaa Tirupati sings excellently on the base scale and so does Karthik who Harris usually depends on for most of his love tracks.  Sanjay Das who has is a superstar and done some amazing work in Bollywood and other independent songs plays the guitar to scintillating effect in the track. The sitar is played by Kishore and flute by Kareem Kamalakar and both are used effectively as well in the second interlude.

11. SPB - A Tribute

I have been saying this quite often now, and D Sathyaprakash is becoming extremely dependable as a composer delivering his 4th straight smashing hit. The songs have also been featuring in the "best of the month " lists and this one too deserves its place. This is one tribute SPB himself would have been proud of listening and singing had he been with us, kudos to Sathyaprakash for getting this massive singers' ensemble and delivering a fitting melody in his memory. The pallavi is set in Charukesi raagam and it induces that sadness and longing for the  great man we lost, while the charanam is set in slightly more inspiring and cheerful Sindhubhairavi. The tune is so well created and backed up with some pretty creative lyrics which are all formed by "first lines" of SPB hit songs and Ahmad Shyam should be credited for that. The keys played by Bhuvanesh and flute by Lalit Talluri come in and tease you along with the singers singing their short lines. The interlude has some magic from Rajhesh Vaidya's veena and he takes the song into Sindhubhairavi mode. The stanza has more singers delivering with the bass guitar accompaniment by Aalap Raju. Rangapriya plays the violin while Abhinandan David is on the guitars and TS Hariprasad takes cares of percussions. The track is mixed and mastered by Ashwin George John and MT Aditya Srinivasan. The long list of singers includes Chithra KS, Mano,Shankar Mahadevan, Chinmayee, Srinivasan Doraisamy, Unnikrishnan Vijay Prakash, Blaaze, Anuradha Sriram, Naresh Iyer, Haricharan, Ranjith, Benny Dayal, Shasha Tirupathi, Saindhavi, Sriram Parthasarathy, Swetha Mohan, Vandana Srinivasan, Madhu S, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Karthika Vaidhyanathan, Priyanka NK ,Nithyashree, Maalavika Sundar, Sivaangi, Pravin Saivi, Aalaap Raju, Rahul Nambiyaar, Sreekanth Hariharan, Pooja AV, Varshan & Sathyaprakash Dharmar

12.  Va Kannamma

I cannot stop saying good things about Anuraag Saikia and he is clearly one of India's brightest young musicians. While so many greats are creating new independent music in their established languages and geographies, Anuraag takes it one step further and ventures away. 2 months ago he created an absolute beauty in Assamese( his mother tongue) called Kukuha, and now he makes Gowtham Bharadwaj croon in this most simple yet sizzling lullaby. The song just has some basic instrumental arrangement but Anuraag manages what most cannot with an expanded array of instruments. Tapas Roy plays the Ukulele, Dotara and Charango while the guitar is played by Prachotosh Bhomwick which becomes the hero in the interlude. Viji Vishwanathan writes the touching lyrics and this could easily be Gowtham's best performance in 2020. I am hoping for more gems from Anuraag in his "Collective" series and also waiting for him to create more magic in the South.

13. Vetrimunai Vel piditha

Santhosh Dayanidhi is brilliant in this very unique creation. He composes this devotional song but it has these elements which make it sound cool and funky. Bamba Bhagyaraj has the perfect delivery for this kind of a track and kudos to Padmanaban for his amazing Nadaswaram rendition and the chords along with the bass guitar arrangement is very well one as well. The track is set in Hindolam raagam.

14. Vidaigal thedu nee

Manoj Krishna is a young & bright talent  and this is the 3rd single that has impressed me in this year. Here he creates another beauty set in Aabheri raagam. Manoj has supreme singing skills and his vibrato and control are simply outstanding. He combines with Anirudh Subramanian to produce great vocals and the interlude is just an elaborate singing of swaras.  Vijay Ganesan is on the electric guitars while Fatin writes these inspiring words. The landing from the charanam to the pallavi is impressively structured and so is the abrupt outro

15. Yaar azhaippadhu

Ghibran in my opinion is an outstanding musician who has delivered consistently in Tamil movie music for a decade now and he has been very active in recent months in the independent music scene as well creating some fascinating devotional songs. Here he uses the trump card by making Sid Sriram sing this mesmerising tune. It starts off with the flute solo by Nadhan as he gently increases the tempo. The percussions are engaging and when Sid sings "Yar azahaippadhu" we feel like saying "Sid Azahaippadhu". Neil Joshua has played the guitars and one can hear it playing perfect second fiddle in various layers. Thamarai has written excellent lyrics. Gold Deveraj who has sung frequently for Ghibran has assisted in the composition along with Dr. V Sritharan.

16.  Yen azhaga

Ganesapuram already had a single released a month ago which made it to the this list of best songs. It was thada thada raila sung by Shakthisree Gopalan and composed by Raja Sai. This time a second single once again impresses but this is composed by Veerangan K. Sreekanth Hariharan is in the middle of one super purple patch singing amazing melodies in Tamil and Malayalam, and he once again vocally shines, and so does Madhura Dhara Talluri with her unbelievable vibrato in the pallavi when she sings "ennalum enna nee thanganum". Pa. Iniyavan is the lyricist . Veerangan K does a splendid job of composing this melody with impeccable instrumental arrangements. Kareem Kamalakar is constantly upping the melody with his flute accompaniments while Kevin Jason's guitar is solid in the second layer when Sreekanth sings. The song is programmed and arranged by Arjun Bharathy SK who is the associate music director. Akkarsh Kasyap plays the violin in the second layer when Madhura sings the opening lines and wish we knew who played the keys and the superb ghatam all through.

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