Since mayamalavagowlai is relatively very flexible, you can distinctly show the colour of the raga just by traversing its notes alone. Not much of gamakam is needed. You can use this for all kinds of situation like sadness, happiness etc. Ilaiyaraaja has completely exploited this ragam to the point of its fullest use, so that no other music director can bring out any better than him from this raga.

His first song in this scale probably came in ponnu ooruku pudhusu (enna paatu paada enna thalam poada!). His other mayamalavagowlai are manjal nilavuku inru (pagalil oru nilavu), anthi varum neram (munthanai mudichu), madhurai mari kozhundu (enga oru paatukaaran), uyirae uyirae urugadhae (oruvar vaazhum aalayam), illam kaadal veenai (vellai pura onru), rama naamam oru vedamae (ragavendrar), maasaru ponnae varuga (thevarmagan), en thayaenum koyilai (aranmanai killi), kottu kali kottu (chinnavar), poova eduthu vachu (amman koil kizhakaalae) There are so many songs, that quoting all would be cumbersome. Some of them have actually been tuned in tappanguthu situations. In Bharathiraja's ennuyir thozhan, there is a song 'machchi en mannaru'. It is a pukka Mayamalavagowlai (even though it is tappanguthu).