Music in Tamil cinema was used to be dominated by a few – one or two - until some years ago. Till the dominance of Illayaraja was in the forefront there were not many new music directors. Then A R Rahman entered on the early nineties and it was his rule.

Now that the numbers of productions have many folded and it is inevitable for producers to look for new music talents. In the last one decade there were many young new music directors who broke on the scene and interestingly many of them were successful. Of late with almost 10-15 new films releasing every month there are still more new names tossed up.

A R Rehana, Aslam Musthafa, D. Imman, Devi Sri Prasad, Dheena, GV. Prakash, Joshua Sridhar, Ramesh Vinayagam, Thaman. S, Vijay Antony and there are many other notable names in the young brigade who promise a lot for the 2010s.

Of the promising lot three people whose music was released all in the last week have taken the music lovers by surprise with their excellent scores and the sheer variety they have shown in their songs.

D. Imman with ‘Mynaa’, Mariya Manohar with ‘Aanmai Thavarel’ and Sri Vijay with ‘Tha’ have brought in new hope to film music. The most heartening thing in that they all have experimented in small films that grew up in stature after their music.

In ‘Mynaa’, D. Imman contradicts his popular image of kuthu songs specialist. Imman had spent a decade in Tamil film industry and delivered some reasonably hit numbers in films like Whistle, Thamizhan, Thiruvilayadal Aarambam and Naan Avanillai 2. Though these films helped him to cement his place in the industry that one film which will make people sit up and notice him seriously wasn’t forthcoming until ‘Mynaa’ happened.

With an intense film like Mynaa, D. Imman has come out with songs which stand out. The plot of the film is jungle journey and tribal love and that situation has given enough scope to experiment. The songs of Mynaa are filled a mood and relevant passion. D. Imman is sure to move up to the next league above.

‘Aanmai Thavarel’ Maria Manohar is a popular name in Telugu already. But in Tamil his big time has come in ‘Aanmai Thavarel’. The mellifluous songs with unusual melody and the superb choice of singers make ‘Aanmai Thavarel’ a refreshing treat. The film has five songs and they transport you the best of your times.

‘Tha’ is the third film which is making waves. The debutante music director Sri Vijay has done a tremendous job in this film. Though Sri Vijay played safely taking traditional route for his first film his music is a paradigm shift. All the six songs in the film are different from each other and the fell of the soil is felt in heart.

Watch out for these three fabulous young music directors who have said it loud. Tamil film music is alive and robust.