Tamil music industry despite a pandemic stricken 2021 seems to stay immune without any significant effects or changes. In the past years, we had done a few significant analyses of the Tamil music industry. Tamil music/film industry plays a key role in India’s music scene, mainly because many world-renowned music directors like Illayaraja and ARR work in this Industry. Here are a few links for our past in-depth analysis of the Tamil movie music industry.
Tamil Music Top 20 – June 2020, a look at the economics behind June 21, 2020
Tamil Movie Songs -top 20 May 26 2019May 26, 2019
Elevated interest in this region and its music is paramount due to the highly boasted rich heritage of traditional music. The music scene of this state evolves very quick with music watchers who are crazy about their film heroes and adore them like Gods. The heart of a Tamilian is pure and lies where there is good music.
In the last year, there is a flood of new faces of singers in Tamil films. Yet, some of the outstanding songs of this year are made by established music directors. In 2019 and mid-2020 we saw that Anirudh Ravichandar took over this music and film industry by storm. This music director/singer remained the strongest presence in the year 2021 as well.
The current top position is taken by remade/remixed beautiful song from the past. A remix of an Illayaraja song done by his son Yuvan Shankar Raja from the movie Dikkiloona (OTP) is making history in the media circles; This song again reiterates the fact that Illayaraja’s music is timeless. ‘Per Vachaalum Vaikkama‘ is a classic song from Kamal Haasan’s ‘Michael Madana Kama Rajan‘. Ilayaraja composed this song in the 90s, when its remix version is released in 2021, Yuan posted this story to go with it. As the story told here by Illayaraja himself about how the idea of this tune came to exist from the Thirukural “Thuppaarkku Thuppaaya” written by Valluvar. These are poetic seven words couplets, very interestingly displaying the uniqueness of the Tamil language to form easy two-syllable words that make this language easy to form music.
The profound thought process that goes behind many of the songs of this composer is a sheer mark of his genius. Yuan kept the original track and as he is known for his remixing abilities this song in 2021 is a refreshing change.
Here is a top 1 from Tamil as of the end of 2021.
The second place is for Anirudh Ravichandran. All it is a very catchy tune and nothing more to it except the awesome voices of Sunidhi and Sanjana.
Song: Two Two Two
Artists: Anirudh Ravichander, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sanjana Kalmanje
A third place is taken by amazingly talented Dhee and Arivu’s absolutely bold ‘Enjoy Enjami‘. There is so much to talk about in a five-minute video of this song. The critical acclaim of this incredibly intelligent music production by Santhosh Narayan deserves more attention internationally. The credits Artist: Dhee ft. Arivu Producer: Santhosh Narayanan Director: Amith Krishnan (Studio MOCA) Produced by: Majja. This ~5min song video according to critiques is a revolutionary music-making in the history of Indian music. Arivu gave an insight into this song. Quote, “The mainstream ‘Indian’ music scene is, Brahmanical and patriarchal, and is hostile to subaltern artists – incredibly notorious for its objectification of fair and lovely women and men who ride expensive cars. So, when the video of Enjoy Enjaami opens with the lush green forest views and drumbeats that are loud enough to shake the earth below, it is a sense of revolutionary times that engulfs the minds of the viewers.” Must say there is no other music ever made that captured beautifully a story of sons and daughters of the soil as in this short music video. Scenes like where Dhee’s hand that wearing an expensive ornament grabbing the hard-working hand of older folk, is a typical example of such strong imagery and messages that producers want to convey. More than its political statements, the genius of the production of this short sequence that stands out in India’s current music scene is absolutely commendable. In the opening of the song the beautiful beats of the drum that produced the trembling vibrations of the earth indicate the changing times and are here to stay. Every bit of this 5-minute song is amazingly is a world classic, deserve an Oscar award at least. The message is simple, let us unite as one, no separations.
‘Mannile erramundu‘ from the movie Jai Bhim (OTP release) is a song that is drenched in the pain of an entire tribal people of Irula from Tamil Nadu. The brutality portrayed in the movie against humanity that happens every day in India’s small hamlets is shocking to watch. This movie is an eye-opener to India’s audience in a country that claims human rights are a priority of its government. The music from this movie especially ‘Mannile erramundu‘ sung by Vaikom Vijayalakshmi and ‘Pollatha Ulagathile‘ sung by the music director Sean Roldan are amazingly beautiful songs that captured the essence of its story. The acting by Liji Mol Jose and Manikandan is world-class that needs world recognition. This court drama brought to life from a real-life story of a lawyer is an amazingly beautiful movie. The brutality of the upper cast against the tribals still goes unchecked in India and this bold movie produced by actors Surya and Jyothika deserve a big applause for their efforts.
Movie – JAI BHIM
Song – Manniley Eeramundu
Music – Sean Roldan
Singer – Vaikom Vijayalakshmi
Lyrics – Yugabharathi
Position 5 is for Music composed, Produced & Arranged by Karthik
Lyrics – Madhan Karky
Vocals – Karthik
Guitar – Joseph Vijay
Veena – Rajesh Vaidhya
The Thooriga from the amazingly beautiful TV series from genius Gautham Menon (OTP release) is a fresh breath of music directed and sung by Karthik.
Position 6 goes to a song from superbly talented actor Nayanthara‘s movie of hope Netrikaan. Idhuvum Kandandhu Pogum sung by Bombay Jayashri and backed by Amrit Ramnath. The male version is also a beautiful one sung by Sid Sriram. Jayashri’s son Amrit’s small beginnings in movie playback are especially very noticeable. Jayashri’s excellent vocals are refreshing and magical in one’s ears.
Song – Idhuvum Kadandhu Pogum Reprise
Composed, Arranged and Produced by Girish Gopalakrishnan
Lyrics – Karthik Netha
Singers – Bombay Jayashri Ramnath, Amrit Ramnath
7. Music director Ghirban found and presented this new talent Sundar Narayana Rao in the year 2013-2015. His song Kanna Kanna and many other solos for his movie Vathikichi were amazingly very beautiful with a very unique approach to singing. This song even it is released in 2013 still in the top 20 on Amazon and Spotify music streaming services. There are many reasons for this singer being noticed now in 2021. Sundar Narayana’s approach to songs and the feel he brings to the song is very similar to SPB’s singing, but he maintains his identity. This singer single-handed stands out in the Tamil playback with a lot of promise to grab the opportunities that SPB left open.
8. Sai Shirdi Sai from 99songs is an outstanding song that stood out from the entire movie in the beautiful voice of Bela Shende. She sang this song for all three languages this movie was made. ARR’s genius was mesmerizing and makes all songs from this movie such a pleasure to finally hear and enjoy after a long-awaited release of this movie.
Credits: Song Composed Produced and Arranged by: A. R. Rahman Singer: Bela Shende, A. R. Rahman Lyrics: Munna Shaukat, Navneet Virk.
9. Kollywood’s most happening hero Ashwin Kumar’s movie and Vineeth Srinivasan’s non-Malayalam song that captured the attention of listeners take a note here. It is a great beginning for Vineeth who profusely sings in Malayalam.
Music and Directed by Siddhukumar
Lyrics: Vignesh Ramakrishna
Singers : Vineeth Sreenivasan & Sivaangi K
10. ARR’s Seemanthapoo and its intricate details of melody was an excellent example of ARR’s craftsmanship. Tamil versions of ARR’s songs from 99songs were relatively well made than any other language, both in its singing qualities and lyrics as well. This song’s credits are “Seemanthapoo” Kutti Revathi, Jonita Gandhi, Sharanya Srinivas, and Sireesha Bhagavatula.
END NOTES
A revolution is going on in the Tamil music industry. The biggest message many music makers convey very boldly is Music is for everybody. The music and its power to make changes in humans are amazing. As artists, we shy away from taking a stand for causes that matter. Some of the songs that were made last year proved that Artists can make changes in society. Let us hope that this is a great start in the right direction. Overall the Tamil music industry is strong with some world-class music and intelligent music that is refreshing to even write about. Happy happy times
