Sometime ago, fellow Raaja affinicado Harikrishna sent me his video of Nenjathai Killathe's Title score. It was the dialog between lead guitar and the bass from the original score which he had played flamboyantly in his keyboard and sent me.
The title track has everything that Ilaiyaraaja stands for.
Surprise: Every time you listen to Raaja, you will end up discovering something new. For a long time I have looked closely to see if there are any 'Sankeernam' like applications (i.e., 9/8 time signature) from Raaja but to no avail. When I went back to hearing this score, I was treated with a sweet surprise. It's first 4 bars are set to a 9/8 time signature. Even though its occurrence is short, the deliberate placing of Church bells that fall at the first count of all the first 4 beat cycles, conform to a "1234 12 123" rhythm cycle (there by conforming to a Sankeerna Eka meter).
Innovation: The full length rhythm of this title score is conceived with the idea of a natural jogging rhythm. The initial 9 count oddity augurs well with a feel of uneven rhythm a jogger may follow. As we all know, Raaja chose this idea to signify the romance between the hero and the heroine which develops during their early morning jogs. The song "Paruvame" remains as one of the most adorable song in Tamil and Telugu Cinema to date. But not many are aware that this score already paves the way for it.
Structure: A classical humming evoking the fresh feel of dawn... What starts as a Sankeerna meter, becomes a regular 6/8 from the 5th bar... This jogging rhythm of "12 12 12" forms the base for a complimenting swing waltz played in an acoustic brush kit... With those days' 80s technology, you hear harmonic recorder embellishments and a bamboo flute played in Indian style responding to it in short but a powerful manner... Controlled strumming of a guitar together with a solid Bass track forms the backbone through out... And both of them break free with a chit chat of their own which is the further focus of this blog post... A complete string ensemble that concludes the affair in a grand style. The whole score is incredibly well structured. No inexplicable wandering of the melody... No waste notes... Its by no means a simple piece. But it sounds simple!
Lets now look a bit closely at that dual between both the guitars...
What is a counterpoint is a question nagging many of us. I view this bit as a good uncomplicated example of a basic counterpoint . I base my view on the following qualities: You can see two independent melody line that are in harmony but follow different rhythmic structure. They overlap each other and yet co-exist beautifully in the end.
Please refer the sheet music to feel this:
Please note the crucial areas where both the tracks overlap and the occurrences of dotted notations that differentiate each track's timing being different. (You can also download the sheet music here. Comments and reviews of the sheet music are welcome.)
(Headphones recommended!)
Imagine composing all these are for a time when we are fervently searching for our seats in the dark much to the chagrin of the voice behind: "சாவுகிராக்கி ..!! சீக்ரமா குந்துப்பா!!" ("You irritant.. ! don't hide me and get settled fast!!")
Just a small gift to the readers on the occasion of Raaja's B'day....
From the conception of this song to the final product on Tape, It would have probably taken Raaja and his team a couple of hours. It has taken me a few weeks...
Intro:
Song (Pattu Inge - Poovizhi Vaasalile):
Now you know why the title of this blog post is 'Araajagam' (அராஜகம் is a Tamil word - that can be translated as "Audacious").
Its not a co-incidence that 'Raaja' is a sub-string of that!
I wanted to post this article in March itself (to keep up my personal target of at least one post a month).. Because actually this article was written in March and hence technically I still met my target.. Posting it on April 1st is not to play a poor fools day joke! But, because it is part My latest article in Solvanam. So I decided to mention it here only after that.
The article is in Tamil. (It always feels nice to write in Tamil..) But non-Tamil readers please excuse me.. I will try to update this post with an English translation as soon as I can..
Basically I attempted playing the song in question to highlight the beauty of silence in this song. Though I did elaborate about it in the article, the best way to connect to my thoughts is through the video I guess.. Where ever there is silence in the original song, I tried to play it a bit spontaneous and not necessarily always sticking to the timing .. I thought the inherent feel of the song is best felt that way. Else I just played the melody with a mix of regular arpeggios and original bass track occasionally.
As always, your opinion matter to me the most. So Good/Bad or Ugly I am curious to know what you think of it. I also notated the sheet music for the song, in case you are interested. And of course corrections are welcome !
There is a reason why Ilaiyaraaja is next to God for many, especially those who are musicians - Amateur or Professional. Playing any of the track in any given Raaja song is not only a very challenging and enjoyable experience, its also a very addictive one. One which would shift your allegiance to him for good.. Don't trust me? Try yourself at your risk..
So when I heard the new song "Mudhi Mudhi" from Paa, two things struck me at once. First is the simplicity of the tune.. Just with predominant usages of Poorvanga notes of Mohanam (i.e., D, E and F# in this case) how he repeatedly comes up with innovative tunes. Such varied syncopation with such limited resource is like trying to (successfully) create 80 combination with 3 inputs while mathematics claim only 8 is possible; Second is the arrangement that's behind this tune - which is a stark contrast to its simplicity.
"Mojo" of an average listener is so much high now a days that I am sure websites and reviews are already blaring with how "Jazz"-ish and "Cool" this song sounds. So I decided to take a shot at how Jazz it really is..
Although Jazz is not an alien in this part of the world, it has been mostly used in commonly appreciable Swing or Cool jazz styles. But without any shade of doubt, its not usual that you will find such high quality free flowing jazz chord progressions in regular Indian film music. The spontaneity is mind blowing that the tune is certain to motivate the keyboardist to cut loose and bring out his best. Not to scare you with the following chords, but the song's prelude in DM7th is an indication of what to come. GM7th, Bm6th, Bm (9th), A6th, D (9th), A (9th), F# sus (4th), an inversion of C#m 7th (without the perfect 5th note) are some of the chords used in this song !
To demonstrate these chords, I quickly threw in an inbuilt rhythm in my keyboard and arranged the accompaniment track first. Then I played the lead melody of the song. It was a cool tune to play because I haven't had the chance to use Pitch Bend so effectively in a while. The inherent melody of the song which toggles either side of E provided ample scope for this. Then I played the chords in yamaha DX Piano tone on top of this with a higher volume (So its heard better in isolation) and recorded it. Because in the original song even though you hear them, its still very easy to overlook them.
Actually I have taken a hybrid version of the chords from both Shilpa Rao's and Shaan's version. Hopefully (and rightfully) this would demonstrate the genius of Raaja for the new listeners who never heard him before.
Tired of writing lengthy blog posts (I can hear you saying the same thing !!);
When I was a kid, one of my favorite section in the local magazines was the one that had a series of pictures and let the reader assume the whole story for him/herself (படம் பார்த்து கதை சொல்க!). So this post is a similar attempt by me..
Watch (rather Listen to) the following videos in that order.. You should be able to get the same point that I wanted to convey through paragraphs after paragraph.
(Headphones recommended!)
(Credits to Tariq Masaudfor the above video; Al alternate youtube version is available here)
(Credits to ILAYARAJAfan1 for the above video; And an audio version of the song is also available here.)
This blog offers my perspective on Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, The soul who has undoubtedly been a great influence in my life. Its a sequel to
my older Website that I used to maintain for Ilaiyaraaja in '02. Apart from
giving my objective thoughts and subjective emotions on his songs, I hope to bring out some anonymous ultimates. Also a regular feature of this blog
would be 'Vicky's Virtual Playlists' .
I hope
to make this blog, home of my (and of course your) Ilaiyaraaja Experience
One of those run-of-the-mill Indian techie who thinks "I am different!”.
Apart from occasionally junking (I mean Writing), I also do a bit of Violin, Keyboards, sequencing in my PSR 730 and assorting albums.
I listen to a lot of Ilaiyaraaja (a South Indian Film Music Legend), Carntaic, Western classical, Country, Soft-Rock and Jazz.
Personal Finance, Traveling, History and Tamil Literature are my likes too. View My Complete Profile
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