Whenever my friends talk about the strengths of ‘our legend’ over
others who travels in the same boat, my reply for them is always same:
‘Your points are illogical. Remember that you do compare God with
fellow humans’ :). Yes. I always address our legend as The God of
Music who is none other than Maestro Ilayaraja.
Forgetting his composing of music for few moments, I just thought
about his singing. Ilayaraja, the singer has been left unnoticed or
underrated in my opinion. The reason could be Singer Ilayaraja has
been over shadowed by the composer inside him. I would say that the
songs which have been sung by him reaches the depth of the song’s
emotion and would not be the same if sung by any other. His voice
gives that special and unique feeling in the listener’s mind making
him to drench into the mood of the song, especially the sad ones. I
even enjoy the vocal harmony by him which commences most of the songs
under this category.
In short, I would name that as Bio-magnetic Voice.
I heard from many stating that his voice is not a smoothest one. My
reply is just this: The same way, a good movie struggles to prove its
quality when competing with a commercial one, Ilayaraja’s voice need
good listeners to prove its quality and strengthJ. We must have come
across hundreds of sweet and soft voices, but according to me, this is
one voice which is Soul Stirring.
I find it very difficult to list out the best ones of his voice. I
would recommend you to listen to the below ones to know the strength
of his voice. I failed to restrict them to the count of 10…. What do
you feel on the below list of 20?
1. Then Pandi (Nayagan)
2. Thendral Vanthu (Avatharam)
3. Vaarthai Thavarivittai (Sethu)
4. Enge Sellum (Sethu)
5. Sorgame Endralum (Vooru vittu Vooru vanthu)
6. Engengo Kaagal Sellum (Nandha)
7. Naan thedum (Dharma pathini)
8. Thulli Ezhunthathu Paattu (Geethanjali)
9. Paravayin Kootil (Tamizh MA)
10. Ada Veetukku Veetukku (Kizhakku Vaasal)
11. Un Kuthama (Azhagi)
12. Ariyaatha Vayasu (Paruthi Veeran)
13. Janani Janani (Thaai Mugambigai)
14. Aaru Athu Aalam Illa (Muthal Vasantham)
15. Thediyathu (Mahanathi)
16. Raja Rajathi (Agni Natchatram)
17. Panam Mattum (Solla marantha kadhai)
18. Poo Malaye (Pagal Nilavu)
19. Appan Endrum (Guna)
20. Yaarathu (Pithamagan)
