Top Tamil Songs of September 2023

Here are the best Tamil songs released for the month of September 2023. 

If you are a musician submit your new music here.

1. Unakku Thaan

Music: Santhosh Narayanan

Singers: Santhosh Narayanan, Dhvani Kailas

Lyrics: Vivek

Harmony Vocals: Aditya Ravindran

Language: Tamil

Genre: Light Music/ Lullaby

Even as Bollywood struggles to get its musicians to score decent music, they have come to a model where a single movie album has multiple composers. It is in a state of shambles, while industries like Kollywood still keep outclassing with single composer-focussed albums. Here is something new though with "Chithha" having its first single by Dhibu Ninan Thomas and then it was Santhosh Narayanan with the next. If the first song was one of the most melodious of 2023, this special song by Santhosh will touch your heart and grab your attention with a symphony of phenomenal violins and heartwarming lyrics. 

The unbelievable layers of Violin are thanks to the performance of Anupam Roy with Karthik Manickavasakam's arrangements, and Vivek is the man behind those touching words. Santhosh composes, produces and sings this melody. Santhosh burdens you with his voice and delivery and the mild sadness of the song will get to you thanks to him. The Piano starts flowing like a stream of water that you feel like getting your feet into. It is tempting to focus, but then the focus once again shifts to Anupam's violins when the anupallavi goes " En paarvai unnodu, un bommai kannodu, pesamal vinnodu, naam midhanthu povom, kaathoram adi aalolam". 

The interlude is enhanced by the Violins and the amazing accompanying vocals of Aditya Ravindran. The layers of vocal harmonies singing the humming are phenomenal and it gets better with the Clarinet joining in and Santhosh singing " pa pa , pa pa pa pa paa". The pause is welcome and sets the tone for the more cheerful and playful stanza. This is thanks to the amazing live rhythms by Karthik Vamsi and Dhvani Kailas' cute vocals reminding me of "Vaa rayil vida polam va" from 'Pariyerum Perumal', also by Santhosh. Santhosh delivers an emotionally apt vocal performance and the outro is fitting and beautiful with the humming, Violins and rhythms coming together. 

Rupendar Venkatesh, Pranav Muniraj and Santhosh are the recording engineers, with Ruoendar on mixing and mastering and Meenakshi Santhosh functioning as the musicians' co-ordinator. 

@musicsanthosh @adityaravindran95 @pranavbalu @worldofsiddharth_ @deerajvaidy @meenakshi_santhoshnarayanan @rupendar_venkatesh @thinkmusicofficial @karthikmanickavasakam @_anupamroy 

2. Kadhal Payanam

Performed by Atulya Karalil, Pradeep Kumar, Vaishakh Jyothis

Written by Kablian Shankar, Vaishakh Jyothis

Language: Tamil

Genre: Pop

The voice of Pradeep Kumar resonates the moment he utters the first notes and there are not many like him to sing with such deep emotions in the Tamil space at least. We have the composition by Vaisakh Jyothis and the lyrics by Kabilan Shankar, with Atulya Karalil as the other lead vocalist. I am featuring these artists for the very first time and they sure have impressed me immensely. Josy plays the flute solo, and the acoustic, and electric guitars are played by Anandu Gopal. 

Atulya holds herself with great style and that is tough to do next to a performer like Pradeep. Atulya's voice is as sweet as they get and she does these brilliant ghamakas with her lines "maamalai mele payanam thodarvene". The electric guitars, bass guitars, and flute solo all make for some fantastic instrumental support. The song keeps getting better with the anupallavi lines like "percentile naam moozhkalaam". The Veena intervention creates moments of ecstasy. Alan Santhosh is the bassist and all the additional vocals we hear belong to Aravind Murali. 

When I hear the tone of the song, especially the intermittent swaras I am reminded of AR Rahman's "Anarkali" from 'Kangalal Kaidhu Sei' and "Kannalane" from 'Bombay'. Viasakh makes it interesting with a Lo-fi tone and style. I do hear some influences of Raag Abheri, especially with the Veena interludes by Rakshita Ramesh and swaras sung by Atulya. The stanza builds beautifully with even more melodious richness. This is a fantastic and creative production. Ashbin Paulson is the mix/master engineer. 

@vaisakhvj @pradeepkumar1123 @atulya_music @shreyasundar @josyflute @rakshitaramesh @ashbin.paulson

3. Thaavi Oduthey En Manam

Male Vocals: Sathyaprakash 

Female Vocals: Maalavika Sundar 

Produced by Karthick Iyer

Lyricist: PA Hariharan

Language: Tamil

Genre: Carnatic Pop/Folk fusion

When Hariharan reached out to me, I was neither hopeful nor dismissive, but just eager and open. It was a cracker of a song with Indosoul's Karthik Iyer composing and producing this pristine single. It has two excellent vocalists in the lead and D Sathyaprakash starts things in a terrific style, I am finding similarities to Maestro Ilaiyaraja's "Kootathile Koyil Pura", and that is why maybe there is a Raag Khamaj influence. Sathyaprakash makes it a delightful experience with his ghamakas. 

Ramkumar Nakankarajan is a star on drums, and we have some excellent support on Mridangam and percussion as well through Venkat Subramanian. The interlude has Karthik dominating with the Violin solo, but the background is filled with some subtle Morsing and stylish bass guitars by Reshwin Nishith. Vikram Vivekanand and Akshay Yesodharan amp up the energy with the electric guitars and the interlude is a folkish extravaganza with fast-paced percussions and Maalavika Sundar on lead vocals. 

The famous Elfe Choir is in full flow singing the chorus humming and we have Biju James as the mixing and mastering engineer. The video is directed by Sainath Ponna & Viishhnu. Akshay's stunning acoustic guitar comes to the limelight during the intro and outro.

@karthick_iyer @reshwin_nishy_nishith @dsathyaprakash @sundarmaalavika @aberaam @sainathponna @mr.mridangam @monica_tavanam @akshay.yesodharan_ @ramkuu @sidharthitis @the.gooey.kablooey @viishhnuvardhanababu @hariharann__

4. Ammamma

A DEYO Musical 

Composed by Sahi Siva 

Vocals - Sahi Siva, Nithyashree Venkataramanan 

Music & Mixing - DEYO

Language: Tamil

Genre: Dance Pop

This according to me is one of the best dance-pop numbers of Tamil this year, and would put songs like " Kaavaalaa" to shame. The secret lies in the fact that even a dance number needs to have a nice underlying melody, and just some banger beats won't make it. People in TN have learnt over decades that Ilaiyaraja and then Deva produced fabulous dance numbers because the songs sounded great to sing as well. 

Just take the line "muthalmura parthathum manathil idiyum minnalum idikkuthe" which oozes of quality. The amazing vocals of Nithyashree Venkataramanan are another root cause for the likability of this number. The song is produced by Deluxshion Rajendran a.k.a. DEYO and he gets all the fantastic arrangements and programming elements right. Sahi Siva is the man behind the wonderful tune and he is also the male lead vocalist. An unforgettable highlight of the song is the live percussions played by Krishna Kishor. The song has numerous segments which just fill the heart with joy like this title line " unga ammamma ammamma petha maganin marumagal naan". 

The interlude has this Violin solo by Lavanya Logan, played playfully and the humming by Nithyashree takes it up a notch. Ramesh plays the flute in the second interlude, and Sahi Siva needs a pat for a nice bridge section as well. Sagishna Xavier, another talented musician plays the keys here and MJ Melodies is the mixing and mastering engineer. The BGM female vocals belong to Magisha Baheerathan

@sahisiva_official @deyomusic @_maenusha @_nithyashree @kishorbeatz @sagishnaxavier @lavanya_logan @fluteramesh @mj.melodies @aarani.22 @aartiii_s @swextha @magiishamusiic

5. Theera

Composed, Arranged and Produced by: JOSEPH VIJAY 

Vocals: Ravi G 

Lyrics: Srikanth Varadhan 

Language: Tamil

Genre: Light Music/Pop

Joseph Vijay is an ace guitarist and one of the most sought-after in Kollywood, and he is now composing and producing his debut single. Wouldn't you expect then to see some fabulous guitar notes being written for this song? It starts on a high note as Joseph bamboozles us with acoustic and electric guitars to give a super intro section. Amidst all this Naveen Napier is on point with his bass guitars and the percussions by Vikram Rozarion make the heads sway and feet tap. 

Srikanth Varadhan is a lyricist and a fine vocalist in the form of Ravi G makes his foray. I have always liked his voice and wondered why he doesn't sing more as a playback artist. Ravi can shift between sounding mild, mellifluous and very classically oriented as well. The rhythms and guitars act as perfect agents to get the song moving along with its main vehicle being Ravi's vocals. Naveen is in his amazing world playing the notes on the bass guitars. The stanza is an extension of the well-written melody, and the overall tonality is something Tamil music fans would have enjoyed over the years from Harris Jayaraj's repertoire. The recording engineers are Joseph and Divine with Roshan Sebastian on mixing and mastering duties

@supervijayoffl @varadansrikanth @ravig_official @prasadsnmusic @napier_naveen @vikramrozariopercussion @ofrooooo @roshansebastian @_chags_ @swipeupproductions 

6. Maaya Manam

Music composed and programmed by Santhosh Balaji

Vocals- Sam Vishal

Lyrics- Vignesh Senthivel

Language: Tamil

Genre: Indie Pop

We have another indie song from MM Originals, which has been doing a fine job of ideating and promoting good original and independent music. Santhosh Balaji is the composer and he is also the man on the Keys programming. He wastes no time in weaving a nice melody and within seconds Sam Vishal serenades you, delivering the delicate notes. 

Santhosh must be credited for not creating a run-of-the-mill score and Sam grabs the opportunity to perform with utmost style and sincerity. Dev's bass guitars and Keys make this song as much about the instrumentals as much as the tune and vocals. Sam explores the higher end of his vocal range quite well in the lines " aagayam vaadiduthe, varthai indri padiduthe". Vignesh Senthivel writes the beautiful lyrics. 

The humming that goes " ooh ooooh ooho ooohoooo" is a standout segment and Aniirudh Kasyap hits you harder with the Violin solo. The notes written here for the Violin are quite creative in that, the trajectory took me by surprise. We get some funky guitars, sober Piano and background strings as well. The stanza is an exhibition of Sam's vocal prowess. The tracks are mixed and mastered by Midhun Manoj. The humming becomes the outro and there couldn't have been a better end to this song. 

@samvishal0928 @santhoshmusical @mmoriginals_ @akshaya_hariharan_ @aravindcc @vigneshsenthivel @dilux5han @mithusha_13 @charlescarys @aniirudh_kasyap @midhunmanojj

7. Mudhal Kaadhal

Singer - Yuvan Shankar Raja

Lyrics - Bagavathy PK

Song Composed and Arranged by Justin Prabhakaran

Language: Tamil

Genre: Light Music

Justin Prabhakaran continues to impress, and after I reviewed the album and gave it a 3.5/5 rating, here comes another song from his "Adiyae". I think Justin has a special place in his heart for Yuvan Shankar Raja, because the latter has been singing for Justin recently. Joshua Mark Raj plays the mild acoustic guitar alongside Yuvan's vocals. I am impressed with Bagavathy PK's like the opening line " Kaatrinil ival kural, idhazadum orr ghazal". 

The strings section is mighty and magnificent with Imam, Sebastian, Babji and Sasi on Violins, Gopi, Murali, Chandru and Mohan on Violas, Seenu on the Cello and Bidyut on the Double Bass. Akkarsh Kasyap plays the lone electric violin and Mastan is responsible for the String's Orchestration. When the chorus lines hit , "enn pene unna nenachen, unn kalloorum kannasaivil , enna tholanchen" we have Shibi Srinivasan, Balaji Sri, Aravind Annest and Sugandh Shekar on backing vocals. 

The interludes are loaded with the electronic violin and flute, with Naveen Napier on bass guitars. Justin scores a beautiful stanza as well with some very melodious lines in the form of "naliravin nilavum nee enil, un theriya mughamum naan adhil". The line is wholesome thanks to the excellent lyrics as well. Balaji Sri does the whistle sounds, and Sebastian Sathish does all the additional programming with Justin composing, producing, programming and arranging for the song. 

The recording engineers are Sujith Sreedhar and Biju James, Balu Thankachan is the mixing engineer, assisted by Hariharan, Paul Daniel and Don Whelan is the mastering engineer. 

@prabhakaranjustin @sugandhmusic @bala_musician @shibisrinivasan @velssing @napier_naveen @itsyuvan @bagavathypk @maali_and_manvi @akkarshkasyap @thebaluthankachan @sujithsreedhar

8. Thoongum Podhu Un Nyabagam

Singers: Kapil Kapilan, Aparna Rajeev

Music Composed & Arranged: Sreejith Edavana

Lyrics: Navin Kannan

Language: Tamil

Genre: Light Music/ Pop

The song begins and my mind wonders if there is the beautiful Abheri Ragam involved here. Evergreen hits like "Poomalaiyil Or Malligai" by MSV come to mind. Sreejith Edavana is the composer and I remember featuring him a couple of years ago for another melody. We have one of India's finest vocalists Kapil Kapilian playing the lead here along with Aparna Rajeev as the female lead vocalist. She opens the account singing the title line.

Sumesh Parameswar is another hero on guitars along with Kapil's unmistakable voice. Navin Kannan writes the lyrics. The beautiful interplay between the guitars, catchy rhythms, vocal harmonies and the electronic veena are all thanks to Sreejith's arrangements. Semhes alters between slow and pacy guitar strokes in the interludes and during the stanza. The stanza is an excellent composition which just builds up on the melodic value consistently right from the pallavi and anupallavi. Adeline Simon Chittilappilly is the mixing/mastering engineer. 

This song is from an upcoming thriller called "Cicada" which will be released across the 4 South Indian languages. Sreejith is the composer for all, but he valiantly composes a different melody for each language- what a feat to compose 24 songs for a single story! I must appreciate Vandana Menon the co-producer and the Project Designer for bringing me this song to notice. 

@menonvandana @sreejithedavana_official @kapilkapilanmusic @aparnarajeev_official @navinkannan 

9. Yedhudaan Inga Sandhosham

Singer : Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Lyricist: Balaji Venugopal

Music, Produced, Arranged and Composed by Sean Roldan

Language: Tamil

Genre: Folk

The Tamil movie 'Lucky Man' already had one mindblowing track that I featured last month called "Thottu Thazhuvum Thendrale". After an unforgettable collaborative performance by Sanjay Subramanyan with Sean Roldan for the Coke Studio Tamil song 'Urudhi', the ace Carnatic Vocalist gives another remarkable show here, only this time it is not leaning towards classical music.

The song is funny thanks to the lyrics by Balaji Venugopal but Sanjay too piles it on with his tone and style of delivery. The song reminds me of AR Rahman's "Senthamzih Naatu Thamizhachiye" thanks to the tone, tune and rhythms. Ashwin Suresh plays a huge role with his Acoustic/Nylon Guitars and other Plucked instruments. Sean Roldan is the composer, and he also arranged and produced this, my favourite line is "otturadha vittuputtu, oyvedutha laabam illa". 

The mild Harmonica also can be heard in the background and it is played by Sean. The talented Manoj Krishna is heard doing the beatboxing, and the recording engineers are Aswin George Sounds Right and Manoj at Roldan Records. The tracks are mixed and mastered by Sai Shravanam at Resound India. 

@rseanroldan @thinkstudiosind @saishravanam @thinkmusicofficial @balajesaar @suhasini_kumaran @sanjaysub @manojkrishna001 @aswin_george_john 

10. Railin Oligal

Singers: Pradeep Kumar, Shakthisree Gopalan

Lyrics: Uma Devi

Music Composed and Arranged by Govind Vasantha

Language: Tamil

Genre: Light Music/Pop

Govind Vasantha just gets it right, every time. His ability to compose a delectable tune is astonishingly high and consistent as well. Kudos to the man. The beginning is a guitar-led segment by the expert Durwin Dsouza on guitars and bass. It felt as good as the ride on a train, filling the heart with zeal and joy. The rhythms match the sound of a train, just like the title 'Railin Oligal'.

Pradeep raises the bar with his phenomenal vocals showing his wide vocal range all within a matter of seconds, between the pallavi and anupallabi. I love the line " Un kai veesidum poi jaadai ennai", sung with such zest by Pradeep. Uma Devi excels here as the lyricist. Hari is the recording engineer and Rajan KS is the mix/master engineer. 

Come the stanza, the song gets an uplift thanks to Shaktisree Gopalan's gifted voice. What she manages to do in the bass/baritone register is next to impossible for many. The outro with Pradeep humming does remind me of Govind's "Life of Ram" from his album '96'. The song also possesses a Middle Eastern flavour in its tone and that adds to its likability. 

@pradeep_kumar1123 @shakthisreegopalan @durwin_dsouza

11. Anbae Anbae

Singer – Adithya R.K 

Lyrics – Naveen

Composed and arranged by Edwin Louis Viswanath

Language: Tamil

Genre: Indie Pop

This young composer caught my attention during Covid, and from then on, Edwin Louis Viswanath has only gotten better. This is a beautiful song that grows on you with every note uttered, and when you have Adithya RK as the lead vocalist, you are bound to be blown away in the presence of some stunning performances. Adithya is blessed with an attractive singing voice and composers like Edwin earn credits for picking him for the right songs. 

Naveen is the lyricist and the opening lines by Adithya are followed by the same notes on Akkarsh Kasyap's Violin solo. Megnus plays the drums softly. The song feels like AR Rahman's "Unnodu Naan Irundhal" sung by Sid Sriram. The Piano and guitars become essential elements in the song with Josiah Williams on guitars. The interlude moves into a Carnatic-Rock style with the heavy electric guitars and drums followed by the scintillating Violin Solo. The drummer is just on point here shifting between the mild touches and the thumping interventions. The chorus consists of singers Pooja Venkatraman, Vrusha Balu, Anusha Gayathri, Geethu Nirmala, Yadu Krishnan K and Suganadh Shekar. 

The recording engineers are Prithvi Chandrasekhar, Merwin Santhosh, Epaeneth and Leroy C Jerson. Pradeep Menon is the mix/master engineer and Rajeev Anand is the music coordinator. 

@edwinoffl @adithyark.music @naveenkee @akkarshkasyap @joshthewill @_megnus_ @v___pooja @singer_vrusha__ @anushagaya3 @geethu_nirmala_ @yadu_music @sugandhmusic @leroyjerson @prithvi15 @merwin_santhosh @krimsonavenuestudios @lemusicstudio @pradeep_prady_ @amstudios.chennai

12. Pona Poraley

Performed by Rahul Sathu

Written by R Lavarathan, Rahul Sathu

Produced by Rahul Sathu

Language: Tamil

Genre: Indie Pop

The song is soaked in sadness, and that is true whether it is the lyrics by R Lavarathan, or the tune, production and singing by Rahul Sathu. It is amazing to see this Canadian Producer Rahul, work on a Tamil song and then deliver the goods brilliantly too. He owns Issa Vibe Records and has worked with some very popular musicians like Ikka, Ananya Birla, Raaftaar etc. 

Barring that mildly noticeable accent, the overall song scores quite highly for me. The Keys and Synths are impactful, and when the title line comes up, the rhythms are punchy. I loved teh lines " ava munnala thaan enna eriyavitta". The composition is quite good as well, with the bridge section sounding quite catchy and intense, like "azhage unnala, vizhundhe thannala, ennai vittu thooram pona kadhaley, unnai thottu manam aenguthey"

@rahulsathuofficial @lavarathan