விண்ணைத்தாண்டி வருவாயா - Music Review

Expectations were sky high (at least for me) since this is Rahman's first tamil album since Oscar and he teams up with Gautham for the first time. There was some pre-release talks and interviews from Rahman on his unconventional approach to songs on this album and you will realize what he was talking about after hearing the album.

Omana Pennae - Benny Dayal excels and once again came up with nice variations within a song that has some interesting and subtle musical notes like the nathaswaram in the background that comes and goes right through the song. Kalyani Menon's malayalam portion is mixed well in this heavy instrument dominated song.

Anbil Avan - Heavy use of synthesizers in this joyful number sung by Devan and Chinmayi definitely creates the happy mood. Chinmayi's intentional nassaly rendition with thick accent to sound western gels well with Devan's voice. The highlight of the song is the intelligent use of "Anantham Anantham.." instrumentals in the middle to go with the mood of the song.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya - This song is unconventional and the use of electric guitars and keyboards make this song sound like an unplugged jazz. The music is quite loud in some places but Karthik's soulful singing with lots of expression is brilliant.

Hosanna - This is my favorite song of the album. Tune is so fresh and Vijay Prakash's voice blends very well with the orchestration that flows like a beautiful stream and Thamarai's lyrics is probably the best of the album. This song is one of those that you will remember and hum after hearing just once. A masterpiece that will become an instant hit with everyone.

Kannukul Kannai - This song starts of with a beautiful violin bit followed by Naresh Iyer 's beautiful voice. There are quite a few intelligent violin interludes right through this westernized song that has shades of Maramkothiye.

Mannipaaya - A melody rendered by Shreya Goshal and Rahman is very good to hear. The Thirukkural in christian style chorus is intelligent. Different styles and types of மன்னிப்பாயா sung by both singers gives you the real feel and mood of the song. This song brings காதல் ஒன்றல்லவா from Taj Anthem to my mind.

Aaromale - This is my another favorite from the album. This song starts slowly with a country style guitar music and hits you at full steam soon. The singer has typical mallu voice and accent and this song is a good fusion of western and south asian music and it is a very new style of song for Tamil films.

No set pallavi, charanam pattern for any of the songs, some interesting western/south asian and Tamil/Malayalam fusion, intelligent use of Thirukkural, marriage songs, nadhaswaram, guitar etc, this album has so many new and good things. It was a long wait to get a Rahman album in Tamil since Sakkarakatti, but it was worth a wait. Hope Gautham Menon does not disappoint with the movie.