Slices of Raja - 9&10

50th Post and a tag I self imposed. How fitting that it is on Raja.

1. The moment that introduced you to Him.
You remember that girl in pigtails and a printed cotton school uniform who you were indifferent to in middle school but found ravishing at a later instance, for me that was Raja's music. I was a flavor of the month kind of guy - still am sometimes, much to my own disgust, but Raja has become a linchpin. It was a bout of nostalgia in grad school that resulted in me listening to the Sathya album on repeat. And even in that unclear, poor quality online stream of vaLaiyOsai I thought I heard something I had not uncovered before. That started the online hunt for the mp3 version of the song and before long I was cupping my hands to my headphones and concentrating on the bass guitar pulse of that song. It was sort of a wake up call. I chided myself on the tip of the iceberg type listening I had accorded Raja until then and it prompted a revisiting of all his classics. So in a sense, it was a reintroduction of "if you love something let it go..." proportions.

2. Name one occasion where His music directly/ indirectly influenced your life.
There is a particular instant where Raja's BGM and the scene had a very profound impact on my life, but I will withhold mentioning the resultant effect as it might affect a current situation. I will, however, take this opportunity to present an anecdote. I have in my extended family a relative, through marriage, whose predecessors were active in the Communist party of India. Based out of Trichy, I believe at some point the party decided to make a thamizh movie with music by Raja's older brother pAvalar VaradarAjan. This relative was apparently witness to the pAvalar brothers (Raja included) rendering a tune for lyrics that went "segappu kallu mookkuththi" (note the communist innuendo). So I have in my family someone who witnessed live, Raja composing a song on his storied harmonium. Now the movie never got made, so it is quite possible that he is one of the few people in the world who has heard this tune, unless Raja reused it at a later time.

3. Lets take Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi into account. Assuming that one of this is either your mother tongue or native language, name a favorite song in each of the other 4 languages that immediately comes to your mind.
In theory MalayALam is my native language, but being the Madras denizen that I am I will stick to listing songs in MalayALam, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada. My knowledge is not as extensive in Telugu and Kannada but I since I have heard more than one song I will mention the first thing that pops into my mind.
Telugu: RangulalO kaLavO from Abhinandana - Vintage Raja orchestration with the intoxicating bass line, Mridangam/Tabla and the flute finishing the bar in the charaNam's . Balu and Janaki are at their saccharine best. I first heard this song in a roommate's mix CD of Raja's Telugu hits and thought it encapsulated the joy of listening to Raja neatly. All in all a can't-go-wrong number.
Kannada: Oh Premi Oh Premi from Pallavi Anupallavi - For the first 30 seconds of this song one wonders where Raja is going with this. After the intimidating prelude I thought the song was settling into a night club number because of Balu's rendition, the jazzy influence of the trumpets, the guitar work in the first interlude and the strong drumming. Just as I was reinforcing my initial opinion, the second interlude comes along with an almost 10 second Tabla Thani Avarthanam and completely blows my preconceptions out of the water. I would recommend this song to all those who claim that the man is predictable.
Hindi: Dheemi Dheemi from Shiva - I really only need to offer two reasons for listing this song: Raja and Shreya Goshal. A simple song but it reminds of me Milan Kundera everytime, because the only words that I can find to describe this song are "The Unbearable lightness of Being".
MalayALam: KulirAdunnu mAnaththu from Olangal - I know Thumbi vA gets all the love from this album, even from Raja himself. But Jesudas' singing (a style he carries over from En Iniya pon nilAvE), the guitar work and the Santoorish riff in the second lude make this song very special to me. In particular, the guitar work is a source of unending joy in my life. When Jesudas intones "thaLir nuLLi, thaLir nuLLi, thaLarum nin viral muththAi" I often lose track of where I am.

4. One song of His that you consider rare and think a song that many people should have known but don't.
After much thought, I have decided to go with thEnmozhi enthan thEnmozhi from Solla thudikkuthu Manasu. Again, poovE sempoovE gets all the love, but this is my favorite song in that album. It doesn't help, of course, that the visuals are butchered. I fell head-over-heels in love when I heard the violins jousting in the first interlude and then the trumpets and drums before returning to the charaNam. I hope this rights in small measure the wrongs done to that song.

5. His number that you are hearing right now/ most recently heard..?
Vaalittezhuthiya neelakkadakkaNil meenO from onnANu nammaL. Pristine Hamsadhwani. I believe this song was remade as thEr kondu vanthavan yArendru solladi thOzhi in enakkuL oruvan.

I tag anyone who reads. Go ahead and abuse the comments section (as long its not me you are abusing). Many thanks to Zero.