Oru Naal Oru Kanavu Audio

Apart from Balu Mahendra, Fazil is the only other director(as far as I can remember) who has stuck with Ilaiyaraja for all his movies. The maestro has responded in kind to this loyalty and all Fazil movies have been talked about for their music. Some of the popular songs to come out of their combination are Poove Poochoodavaa..., Siru Kiligal..., Pooppookkum Maasam..., Roja Poonthottam... and ofcourse, Ennai Thaalaatta Varuvaalaa....

Oru Naal Oru Kanavu, their latest project, has an equal mix of slow, melodious songs and faster, peppier numbers. IR proves he is still the master of melody with the 3 slow songs but the faster numbers are nothing to write home about.

1. Enna Paattu...
When a director-MD duo come together, atleast one song seems to remind me of their previous offerings. The Hey Hey... at the start of this song took me back to the Pazhamudhircholai... song in Varusham 16. The stanzas here don't seem to follow any set pattern as the first ends with a fast Maaya Maaya... bit while the second ends with a Carnatic touch(again kinda like Pazhamudhircholai...). But Sonu Nigam's pronounciation doesn't betray his unfamiliarity with Tamil.

2. Ponnukitta Mappillai...
The lyrics and beats make this a fun song along the lines of the group songs sung by college students.There is a sudden change of pace in the middle with some slow lines that had me thinking on the first listen that it was the next song. The smooth way this slow section leads back to the faster beats and tune of the main song is vintage IR though.

3. Khajuraho...
After two average songs, this is the one that proves IR still has it in him to come up with a winner. A wonderfully melodious and catchy number that captivated me on the first listen itself. The song has also made me a real Shreya Ghosal fan. She really has a fabulous voice and great pronounciation(except for the inexplicable Ghajuraho!). Just hear the way she sings dhirana dheemthana....

4. Ilamaikkor Vegam...
An average solo number by Sonu Nigam. There are a lot of places with a high pitch and I got the sense that he was trying real hard but still couldn't sing the high pitch full-heartedly. This is the kind of song that IMO only SPB can do full justice to.

5. Konjam Thira...
A slow, soothing number that once again sees Shreya in fine form. The gentle instrumentation and soft beats are real quiet in the background. Sonu is comfortable without any high pitches but I'm no fan of his voice and kept wishing thewhole song were sung by Shreya! Would be a nice lullaby to fall asleep to.

6. Kaatril Varum...
A Carnatic-sounding song with the minimum instrumentation focussing our full attention on the mellifluous voices of the singers, especially Hariharan and Shreya. Its good to listen to but is a bit too slow for me. Its almost like it doesn't have a set tune and so I never found myself humming it when I was not listening to it.