SOTD #700: chinna chinna kaNNaNukku from vaazhkkai padagu

[bb]

Song of the Day: chinna chinna kaNNaNukku from vaazhkkai padagu.

http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/700.html

- 700 and counting! Thanks to all of you for your kind responses, encouragement and discussions that help keep SOTD series going. It's been 3 1/2 years, and we've covered several outstanding songs in this period. Hope to keep this going. Please write to us, your responses, song writeups and suggestions are make this series interesting.

- Sriram Lakshman writes:

The song starts with Gemini Ganesan’s ‘adEdE sirikkiriyE’ to a boy who is actually his son and continues with a request placed to the boy for atleast him to continue smiling his way through life. Smile had bidden goodbye to Gemini primarily owing to his suspicious mind that suspects his wife Devika of infidelity. Gemini wanders his way through ‘kaNgaLE kAthal seivathai vittu vidungaL’ and ends up bumping into his own son whom ofcourse, he does not recognize. Gemini’s new found sense of boyish joy is reflected in this song, but Kannadasan was burdened with the additional responsibility of expressing the predicament of Gemini as well.

Sung by ‘Subtle’ Srinivas, music score composed by Viswanathan-Ramamurthy. The song has a marvelous melody line with appropriate interludes. The ‘punch’ line is ‘kaNNireNdum thAmarayO’ that links each of the stanzas to the pallavi. The tune effectively expresses all that Kannadasan's lyrics have to convey and more !!! The curve placed at ‘enna than punnagayO’ is an example enough !!!

The first stanza penned by Kannadasan, is all about Gemini’s recollection of his childhood past. The second stanza is a general reflection of the class of
Oruvarin thudippinilE viLaivathu kavithayadA
Iruvarin thudippinilE viLaivathu mazhalayadA
and so on.

eerEzhu mozhigaLilE enna mozhi piLLai mozhi has PBS’ elusive sangathis heightening the beauty of the tune. Oh ! how savoury the tune is and what flow of music !!! In the last stanza, it is as if Gemini gets reminded of his sorry state and this seems to have brought him down to the misery laden terra firma.

poo pOndra nenjinilum muLLirukkum boomiyadA
pollAtha kaNgaLadA punnagayum vEshamadA
nandri ketta mAntharadA nAnarintha pAdamadA
piLLayAi piranthu vittal illai oru thunbamadA

The last line makes you sit up to take notice of the weight and agony behind it and renders a feel for the sheer helplessness one experiences at times when confronted with one’s own mind created negativity. Exactly my feelings Kannadasan! The tempo is reduced here somewhat and the second line is repeated twice with sangathis in the original. Pity the folks who missed out on the PBS’ improvs. This is where PBS scores. Even great improvisers like SPB and Asha Bhonsle are predictable…well somewhat !!! You could guess when the next variation is coming through. PBS differs here, the line ‘kaNNireNdum thAmarayO’ gets put through without any variation till it reaches the song reaches the third stanza. There is just this subtle dip that PBS pulls off, that creates a lump in your throat almost as swiftly as PBS’ sangathis.

A great song, the life force induced in the pallavi is taken through till the end of the song much like MSV’s compositions during his halcyon days.

- KMW_Shoe posted the lyrics for the song here: http://www.dhool.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=512

- SOTD #600: pOtri paadadi poNNE from Devar Magan.
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/600.html

- SOTD #500 : uLLamellaam thaLLaadudhE from dhoorathu idi muzhakkam.
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/500.html

- SOTD #400 : paadum pOthu naan thendral kaaRRu from nEtru indru naaLai, madai thirandhu from nizhalgaL.
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/400.html

- SOTD #300 : chinna chinna aasai from Roja.
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/300.html

- SOTD # 200 : thendral vandhu theeNdum pOdhu from avathaaram.
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/200.html

SOTD # 100 went unnoticed :)

[Udhaya]

Sriram Lakshman writing about PBS is like Kannadhasan writing about Kannan. appErpatta anbum abimAnamum UtReduthu veLivaruthu. idhupOla rasaigargaL pallakku thookkigaLAga irukkirappo, uNmaiyAna kalai, mei gnyAnam enRum vizhAk kOlaththudan vAzhum. enna orE AdhangamnA, indha pAzhap pOna Sriram innoru 700 pAttu mudinja piRagudhAn ezhutha muRpaduvAr. en vAkku pala muRai poikka vENdum!

dhooL innum pala ezhunURugaL petRu
irumAppAi vAzha vENdum
innum maRakkappatta mAnikkangaL pala
maRuvAzhvu petRu nammai magizhvikka vENdum

[Saravanan]

Great going, bb! And a worthy song to celebrate!

I am discovering so many nuances in the song which were hidden to me till now. Thanks, SL :)

[Srik]

Chinna chinna kaNNanukku is like Johnson's Baby Powder. Avlavu mirudhuvAna song. Ilavam panju kooda thOrkkum.

yeLimai + menmai + kuLumai = PBS' voice

SL, kalakkitteenga. uNarvu poorvamAga ezhudhi uLLeer. nandrigaL pala kOdi :-)

Udhaya, unnudaiya 4 lines are crisp and tasty :-)

bb, vazhthukkaL. seekiram Ayiraththai etti vidu :-)

[Guest]

sriks, glad to see you back here. Hope you do more than replying to SOTD posts - like, presenting your own choices for a beginning :-)

I to wish the SOTD collection grows fast, but it is going to take nearly a year more to reach 1000 anyway!

[Guest]

A great song and a great write up as well.

'Subtle' Srinivas ! NIce one :)

Somehow, I have always thought 'piLLaiyAi irunthuvittAl thollaigaLE illaiyadA...', though I have heard the song once in a while !

A great song which moved one both by the lyrics and the tune. Another similar moving song (on an optimistic mood, though) I can think of would be TMS's 'chella kiLLigaLAm paLLiyile'.

[_Da Vinci]

It is my turn to say that the last posting was mine :(

[SP]

It will go on 7000 and beyond. Keep going :)

[vijay]

Classy song indeed to celebrate the milestone, with SL's writeup underlining the emotional depth. (bb, I notice the number of registered users too creeping up its way to 1000). I guess most of us have the liberty to click and play this song in our mind any time of the day as it is strongly imbibed.

[Guest]

SL:

Wonderful! An immortal song for the 700th SOTD.

When you have time please present
nee oru rAga mAligai, un nenjam en kAdhal mALigai
with all the detailed comments on the ragas used etc.

sk

[rajaG]

bb: indha paattukku video expression kudikkira maadhiru unakku therinja yEdhaavadhu oru azhagaana chinna paiyanOda Krishnar vEsham pOttindirukkira picture aiyum attach paNNi irukkaNum. appO thaan indha paattukku kaLai kattum. :-)

[sathyakabali]

rajaG

inthAnga namma Gemini padamE pOttAchchU!!!
pAdinavar, nadiththavar reNdu padamum sErnthu, ippO intha 700th pAttukku oru kaLai vanthuduchchu!!!





SL

very apt 700th song!!!

evergreen classic by PBS

[Kupps]

Superb song, fitting writeup. Thanks SL.

this reminds me of 1990 when the movie was "released" in a theatre near to my house. We had gone to this movie on a Friday evening and to my astonishment the theatre was packed full.

crowd started whistling for each and every song (especially aayiram peNmai malarattumE). but it was the "chinna chinna kaNNanukku" song that got whistle as well as claps at the end for a complete two minutes. Such a patronage for a movie that was originally released twenty to twenty-five years before surprised me.

the violins blar after the stanza "poo pOndra nenjinilum muLLirukkum boomiyadA" immediately takes us from the joyful mood to melancholic mood.

Somehow, I have always thought 'piLLaiyAi irunthuvittAl thollaigaLE illaiyadA...', though I have heard the song once in a while !

oh! i know _Da Vinci why you felt so. It is because you were suffering from chronic, acute, dimund-O-mania. :)

If it were 'that' kavingar you can even expect the line to be

piLLaiyaai illai enRaal thollayO koLLayadaa


Congrats bb for the 700...way to go.

[GK]

bb,
Thanks to you for hosting this site for 3.5 years through the .com bust and all. It has been a continuous source of joy for me.
Hopefully on behalf of fellow dhoolers: Congratulations on this achievement.

-GK

[rajeshkrv]

PBS song by SL .. Idhuvallavo combination...

SL is a regular chatterbox with PBS in Woodlands Drive in @ cathedral road. I joined the chat few times and the discussion was always about the hidden nuances.

Sara, from then i also used to pay attention to what SL was saying ..

Chinna chinna is a b'ful song by PBS with all subtle emotions brought out by Gemini in the screen PBS brings in his vocal chords..


Great Lyrics by Kannadasan - Great is not the Word.. It's more than that

Vaazhkai padagu - great performance by Devika,Gemini & M.V.Rajamma

thanks for the song

raj

[_Da Vinci]

Kupps,

Man, I liked the way you twisted that lyric :)

'dimund-O-mania' ? 'Mandu' me , it took a while for me to decode it :) I have long forgotten Andhumani since the initial years of 'vAramalar'.

[Saravanan]

Kupps, vaazhkai padagu is one film I've always wanted to see, but never got the chance :(

Sathyakka, thanks for the pictures!

raj, I know..I know...remember, I too joined that chat once, just once :)

[rajaG]

Kupps,

If it was "dEi mandu" then the lines would have been

piLLaiyE piLLai illaiyEl,
thoillaikkum thollaiyO......Oh vErvai jeevanE!

[rajaG]

Sathyakabali,

Thanks for the pics. However, naan bb idam kEttadhu oru "kutti kaNNanin padam". He knows what I mean and I am hoping that he will put it here :-)

[Guest]

Thank You bb_seenu,Saravanan and others for all the wonderful cream of the crop tamil film music.

- Vassan

[vinatha]

Congrats BB and the dhool-team!! Thanks a lot for the wonderful song selections each day!! Loving it here.. :)

[Guest]

ayyo seenivaasu, eppadidaa ivvalavu inimaiyaa paadurey? enna inimai ... enna kulumai... dei nee paadagandaa!

[Anniyan]

I congratulate dhool team for reaching the milestone 700th song. A memorable song and SL is certainly great. But one should also listen to PBS songs viz. Poonthendral isai paada (Thaayin Karunai/GKV) and Paada paada thaen paagaai inikkum (Bhaktha Sabhari/Pendyala) for his charming sangatis.

[Ramesh.P]

All time hit. Emotions of Devika &gemini quite natural. Wondering how come we miss this song in SOTD, that too till 700 :(

Another melodious number from MSV&TMS combination .CHELLA KILAIKALAM& CHELLA KELLIEA MELLA PESU(FILM PETRALTHAN PILLIYA).

regards
ramesh

[vengayam]

Kudos and thanks!

[thops]

bb and co...congrats on the 700...a super song to celebrate the milestone...

[Glad]

Very glad to see the reach of 700 miles. Not too far to touch the golden line of 1K.

SL, please do continue with your interesting prefaces. I am expecting one more from you. Poovaraiyum poonkondiye poo maalai pOdavaa, pon magaLe vazhgavendru paamaalai paadavaa. Such a gem it is, illaiyaa?

Not only SL, why rajaG does not come out with a muscial analysis of melodies. Next it should be rajaG's.

:D

[Udhaya]

Glad,

RajaG contribution pathi nallA kEttinga pOnga! Sriram Lakshman oru kumbakarnan-nu sonnA, RajaG oru Rip Van Winkle.

[Guest]

bb and the SOTD team:

Congratulations for reaching the milestone...and thanks a million for all the hard work, time and effort (all of)you put into this venture. Rest assured that the songs are (much) enjoyed and the effort (greatly) appreciated! :D

-yaarO

[Guest]

Dear bb,
Beautiful groupaga kondu selvadharku oru special thanks!!! You are a GOOD MAN!!! Adhanal dhan Best writers elam unga kitae irukanga!!! Keep it up!!!!
Sriram Lakshman, miga nanraga ezhudhi, songin mel spl interest vara panniteengae!!!

Sakthi kabali,
Beautiful photos!!! Eppadi ungalal ippadi clarityoda poda mudiyaradhu?
Enaku PBS and A.M.Raja voice romba pidikum.Edho oru topic solli, avangaloda rare songs pottal nanraga irukum.
Enna oru softness voice il.
With Love,
Usha Sankar.