Songs and full credits at the end of the review.
Most of the songs of Rajamma @ Yahoo are set to a dance-y, celebratory mood. In Meghamani, composer Bijibal follows a maappilappaattu type format that engages, courtesy also Najeem Arshad and co’s singing and Santhosh Varma’s nicely worded lines that make a couple of well-placed references to Calicut’s famous landmarks. Ullathu Chonnal works better, despite a definite familiarity in the sound, the liveliness of the arrangement (Manoj Sasi’s naadaswaram in the second interlude, one of my favourite elements) and the superb singing by Vineeth Sreenivasan and Sangeetha Sreekanth make up sufficiently for that.
Bijibal gets Alphonse Joseph to lead the qawwali-ish Maanaanivalude and the man aces it with some good support from the chorus. The arrangement is entertaining as such songs come by, highlighted unsurprisingly by the percussion and harmonium (in this case on keyboard by Vipin Lal). It is the final fast track that doesn’t quite hit the mark; Olivile Kalikal is average in its tune and even the arrangement is just occasionally interesting. The composer himself handles the vocals on this one. It is on digressing from the dance-orientation that Bijibal creates the song of the soundtrack though, in Ottathooval. The tune is dark, haunting (panthuvarali raga-based, I think) and beautifully sung by Ganesh Sundaram and Roopa Revathi. Roopa also doubles up as solo violinist for the song.
Bijibal’s fine run in 2015 continues with Rajamma @ Yahoo.
Music Aloud Rating: 7.5/10
Top Recos: Ottathooval, Maanaanivalude, Ullathu Chonnal
Full Credits
1.Meghamani
Lyrics – Santhosh Varma
Singer – Najeem Arshad
Keyboard-Justin Varghese
Shehnai-O K Gopi
2. Ullathu Chonnal :
Lyrics – Anil Panachooran
Singers-Vineeth Sreenivasan, Sangeetha Sreekanth
Keyboard-Sarathchandran
Nadaswaram-Manoj Sasi
3.Ottathooval :
Lyrics-Ajith Kumar
Singers-Ganesh Sundaram, Roopa Revathi
Keyboard-Jibin Gopal
Solo Violin-Roopa Revathi
4.Maanaanivalude :
Lyrics-Rafeeq Ahammed
Singer-Alphons Joseph
Keyboard-Vipinlal
5.Olivile kalikal:
Lyrics-Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma
Singer-Bijibal
Keyboard-Vysakh Bejoy
Additional Vocals-
Jibin Gopal and Vysakh Bejoy
All songs mixed and mastered by Bijibal @ BODHI