Music Directors in some sense, supersede the Directors of the movie. The reason being, (at least in the context of Indian Cinema) Songs are first recorded and then the scenes are shot. So where the scenes need to convey something visually, it often needs a base.
So the Art of Composing for Movies, often require enormous amount of visualization..
Its not about just a melody/ rhythm arrangement that flows to a composer (which I suspect is how music is made now a days).. But its about conveying a scene, an emotion or even a message through the abstract medium of Music, even without the visuals..
Consider this:
A Bunch of highly energetic jobless guys whiling away their time by jamming around:
Potta Padiyudhu
Now en route their 'vetti' voyage, their voices are interrupted by noises.. Noises from Flights and Trains.. So do they stop singing..? No.. They simply shift the scale of their song to the new dynamic shruthi provided by the noise and go on from there.. Now the director would have explained the rough feel of this song to Raaja.. but how (the hell) was it possible for Raaja to visualize such seemingly impossible screenplay and come up with this blinder..?
Potta (Modified Shruti)
(Actually the Sadjam is shifted to 'Madhyamam' here and thanks to Kamal's capability of singing high pitches the transpose is seamless);
Now, How about an Ornithologist researching about the musical elements hidden in nature and in the bird's chirping and koo-kooing..
Edalo Laya
(Note the bird's sound is always repetitive here much like how a bird would usually do when it has to respond to a call and Janaki just builds up with that as the base)
Same goes for a hero who is always lost in thoughts celebrating an enchanting evening..
Pon Maalai Pozhudhu
If you set about solving the riddle, Thankfully we are also offered a small window in to Raaja's mind while composing.. through the recording sessions made available in the cassettes of Guna, Oru Naal Oru Kanavu etc.. I would like to share with you a particular case in point.. In Guna composing discussions, the Director (Santhana Bharathi) explains that the song is by the hero's friend who is a mystic godly philosopher kind of a person ("Sithar" is the term used); The very next second Raaja presses a chord in his Harmonium - in the "Maya Malava Gowlai" scale. The Notes are Sa+Ri+Pa and then he addess ma to these 3 notes and later replaces Ma with Ga. It exactly evokes that mystic, devotional, serious feel crystallizing the situation.. Its like a memory map in his mind that "sithar" feeling == Sa + Ri + Ma +Pa of Maya Malava Gowlai !! (I later looked up what chord it was anyways.. it came out as: D#M7(b5).. i.e., D sharp major 7th added flat 5th)
Guna Composing Session
Now for some crazy situations that only Cinema can offer...
Picture this:
Q: How can you express the scene through music, where the shots fired by a (pretty pathetic) sniper miss the hero.. ?
A: By a single stroke of strings at the end of the bar...
Vanitha Mani
Now picture this.. Heroine is dreaming about, how her wedding should be and is coming up with all crazy ideas such as - "I want the wedding done on a running train.. I want to have the Pandiths rendering the Mantra in a new foriegn style..!!!!!!!" etc..
To me, composing music to this situation sounds like Goundamani in 'Indian' asking the righteous citizens to put "pathinonnu" (eleven) in order to get a license without bribing.. But Raaja does manage the 'pathinonnu' .. see how..
Kalyanam Ennai
The mild train sound becomes the background Rhythm and "Mangalyam Thanthunane" verse is set to a western 4 part harmony.. much like a church choir...
This is raw imagination... an imagination that could convert the blank, plain textual ideas of the director into something he could picturize upon.. Think about the level at which Raaja visions this song and delivers the music.
In my view, this is what "Composing" is all about..
With Love
Vicky
Nice interesting post Vicky !
ReplyDeleteRegarding the scale shift according to the aeroplane sound in sathya, I wanted to blog about it too. Now that you have mentioned it, I will post it as a comment here. I think it is more of Kamal's idea. I have noticed such things in other Kamal films too.
Panchathanthiram: In the "vandhen vandhen" song, a telephone ring will sound in the same note where the song will be abruptly stopped in the middle.
Dhasavatharam: Asin will sing a small sloka with the idol of lord permual underneath a railway bridge. A train will pass by and she will have that sound as the bass shruthi and sing the sloka.
An insightful post Vicky. Maestro has time and again proved that the songs are closely tied to the script and if the Director can give vital inputs, he can extract the best music.
ReplyDeleteIn the One Man Show program, Raja explained about Lakshmikant Pyarelal's composing technique. L-P used to ask 10s of questions to director, for even a simple duet song like heroine's dress (sari or churidhar), jewels and knick-knacks worn, etc. and brought all those effects in a particular song. Even recently, Mishkin mentioned in an interview that Maestro asked same questions while composing for Nandhalala. He is a master mood creator. Raja's adherence to the script should be an inspiration for the new MDs.
Another point to be noted is Raja passes on ALL the inputs he received from the director regarding the situation / picturization to the lyricist, while explaining the situation to him (e.g. His chat with Vaali for ONOK song – Katril varum geethame), and the end result is amazing.
Some of the songs falling under this category could be:
Naduchamam poyachu (Archanai Pookkal) - see how creates the wee hours effect (2-3 AM) in a song. He uses the sounds of dog barking, a sleepless child crying for food and a forlorn lover.
Ene kelu koduve (Geetha) – I think the director would have told this is a love duet happening in Ooty. So, immediately after the lovers put down the phone receiver, the scene is cut to the hill train. One can immediately imagine the picturization in Ooty.
Ghanashyama (Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal) – director has briefed the nature of the characters here. He uses the tabla and drum kit alternately in the charanams. There would be 2 ladies dancing for this song. One would be a professional dancer (classical – tabla) and another, a housewife (modern – drum kit).
Regarding the usage of natural sounds like birds, etc – Raja has done this in umpteen number of songs, like Malargalil aadum ilamai, Uchi malai megangal and the recent Kandu kandu kakkakkuyile. Talking of Sathya songs, he even used the sound of toilet flushing in the song Nagaru nagaru. You need to see the film to know the song background :)
Dear Vicky,
ReplyDeleteAs usual nice thoughts ...
pl continue more...
Ilamai ullam isaiyil thullum -
Full song kum neenga ezhudhina
nalla irukum.. Ezhudhuveengala???
With Love,
Usha Sankar.
Vicky,
ReplyDeleteI have been silent reader of you post. Let me tell you its amazing man, you transport to actual world of Raja. Thanks.
BTW from which movie and song is that you have posted with train sound.........thanks a ton
@ Ramesh.. Nice observations..
ReplyDelete@ CRV.. as usual.. your contribution to Raaja diaspora in bringing out the rare songs with relevant to any context under discussion is phenomenal.
@ Usha: Thanks a lot.. Ilamai ullam is too much an experiment.. Its too many things in one song.. Thats the reason I stopped with only a short clip from it.. Definitely I would love to write about whenever time provides me with an opportunity..
@ Vinod.. Thanks.. the song is, 'Kalyanam ennai mudikka' from Metti
With Love
Vicky
Dear Vignesh,
ReplyDeleteGood post.I have imagined the whole scene what it would be from outside the theatre in our village listening to the re-recording;similarly the songs I have heard so for where I havent seen the film I still have vivid imagination of what it should be and hence I have resisted seeing the film to preserve the memory.(A bit like refusing to see a film made from a book so that 'your' version is still 'alive').
One such song is 'konji konji' from Veera.The female version of the song esp the 'anbil vandha gaaname, annai thantha geethame'which repeats again- so four similar lines but the chord progression varies from happy to sombre to sad.I have imagined the story line from this. Can you kindly listen to these four lines and educate me on the chord progression-it may well be a very simple idea consistent with the scale of the song, but to me it epitomises the film.Like 'chinna thaayaval' for Dhalapathi.
Dhileep.. Superb observation there.. Yet to sit on the Keys.. but here is what I hear right now..
ReplyDeleteThose 4 chords that you asked are:
(assuming a Root of F)
Anbil vandha Ragame (F major)
Annai thantha geethame (D Minor)
Anbil vandha Ragame (A# major)
Annai thantha geethame (F minor)
The somber/ sad effect is nailed down by the last minor chord of the same root that opened as major.. Actually the postulate should be other way around.. i.e., If you look closely, its mostly a sad sounding song with a window of happiness opened during the first line of "Anbil vandha Raagame"..
Because the normal scale of the song is a minor and its here it shifts to the same root note's Major ... (i.e., F minor to F Major)
And those 4 chords.. wow.. Very simple chords.. but extremely powerful and are the defining the moments of the situation as you said..
the moment I heard this one, I could figure out the Same technique in few other places.. The routine ones that are no brainer to find are,
1.) Ooru Sanam Thoongiruchu (in the 'chu' of thoongiruchu, the chord shifts from Am to A Major)
2.) Inji Iduppazhaga (Annakilli Kaiya Thoda.. same transition from A Minor to A Major)
But not so obvious but absolute beauties of same type of application are in "Putham Pudhu Kaalai" .. In the pallavi lines
Thinandhorum (A# Major)
Thondrum (F Major)
Sugaraagam (A# minor)
Ketkum (F Major)
note the A# minor in the words sugaragam.. unimaginable and out of the world.. it creates a short moment of uneasiness (inba vali ..?)
BTW, pl. confirm the findings..
With Love
Vicky
Dear Vicky,
ReplyDeleteGreat post - as usual! I've a lot more to say: I'll do that soon!
Dear CRV,
Good comment! The only thing I would like to add is that the music director about whom Raaja was mentioning in the One Man Show programme was not Laxmikanth-Pyarelal but S D Burman.
Yours Always Musically,
Vijay.
Thanks Vicky,
ReplyDeleteThe song is in E minor as I hear it; but i get the drift.But could the chords be something more complicated like 4th or 7th etc.I will ask my son to play the broken chords in guitar and see.
Meanwhile, another song of my youth is this one from Kazhugu- I imagined a sphagetti western type thriller where a hero goes on a horse back lost in his memories of his love- sung by Kovai Murali?(who)-probably it has one of the best orchestrations for violin.
In those days the second bgm always wandered away from the general theme of the melody and explored- shruthi bedhams?.
Again if somebody could re- record this song with present day technology!!??.
link here if you dont have the song
'Kadhal ennum kovil' from kazhugu
http://www.musicplug.in/songs.php?movieid=1986&movietypeid=1&langid=8
Excellent post and more than that it's a service for Raaja veriyans like me.
ReplyDelete