Evergreen collection
Fond memories.
This collection of five CDs will undoubtedly nurture fond memories of a bygone musical era dominated by Toguluvu Meenakshi Aiyangar Soundararajan. They are a wide representation of Tamil films and music directors from K.V. Mahadevan to Shankar Ganesh, and make this set a good buy. This is the seventh album in the series named Legends: Maestro Melodies in a Milestone Collection. Yet even though it is touted as a collector's item, the CDs do not exhaust the best of the playback singer's numbers in over three decades. Then, there is an obvious lack of thematic content, basic for a compilation in any of the volumes, either in terms of the chronology of songs or the portrayal of myriad human emotions.
Classical ragas
With at least 10 tracks based on classical ragas, it is perhaps easiest to assign a definite character to Volume One. You have `Maasila Nilave Nam,' `Vasanthamullai Pole Vandu' and `Yerikkaraiyin Maele Poravale.' These are but a small sample of TMS's command over any tune he lent his honeyed voice to as also of the stupendous success of the music directors. With P. Susheela in a duet, `Paesuvadu Kiliya,' `Kodi Asaindhadum' and `Malargalaippol Thangai,' in Volume Two are a joyous throwback to an age that saw the supremacy of two lead singers. TMS was no less a master when it came to depicting riveting audio images of anguish and pathos in such songs as `Enge Nimmadhi' and `Sodhanaimael Sodhanai,' in Volume Four
Any one who sees value in this compilation will also not fail to notice important omissions. `Malarndhum Malaradha,' (`Paasamalar') is just one instance. Possibly, this and many other songs have been featured in the Kannadasan, Sivaji Ganesan and P. Susheela albums in the Legends series. But that isn't much of an explanation.
GARIMELLA SUBRAMANIAM
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