Raaja Paarvai - A Perspective on Raaja

Life can be defined biologically by those who understand its science. We call them the Doctors.

It can be (self) realized by those who walk the path. We call them the Philosophers.

But it can be expressed only as an art by those who interpret it. We call them Artists.

The movie Geetanjali is all about the concept of life and it is difficult to imagine this movie without Raaja's interpretation of Life through music.

First comes the intro song where the hero is playing life hard as if there is no tomorrow. Then comes the title sequence where that happens to be true. As the music unfolds, you realize its a different interpretation of the same melodic theme. Here is an artist of true class, expressing absolute worth of a human life in its good times and its struggle for existence.

Former, where Life is celebrated intensely with Sindhu Bhairavi
Latter, where Life is hanging on the strands of Sindhu Bhairavi..

With Love
Vicky

Labels: My Attempts

posted by Vicky @ Sunday, June 24, 2012 Comments: 7

A recent article I wrote/ recorded is published in Solvanam. You can read it here.

Videos I made for this article are here:


I linked about 17 odd songs of Raaja in the article.. A sample of what I attempted to say is here:


Couple of my personal jazz waltz favorites which I also linked in the article is given below for your listening/ learning experience.

Coltrane the King:


Composer who dreamed of massive orchestration in films and executed them with panache..
The great Burt Bacharach:

(Don't miss his Raindrops keep falling from the same movie. It can lift you regardless of how gloomy a day you may have had)

Showman thy name is Sammy Davis Jr:


I first time I heard this song was on a local French radio while driving along coastal route with the early morning son beating down the lovely pink granite rocks of a postcard village called Perros-Guirec. A new place with arresting scenery that I am seeing for the first time resonating with the lyrics of a new song I was listening for the first time - "Golden Brown , texture like sun" .. Its a moment that will stay with me forever..


Sunday Driver of relatively unknown Limp Twins fare high in my list too..


As usual, my apologies for non-tamil friends. I made it a point to recorded the video in English so that you can appreciate this as well. I promise that you can expect the English version of the post soon..

With Love
Vicky

Labels: My Attempts, Orchestration

posted by Vicky @ Saturday, February 18, 2012 Comments: 8

Continuing a bit on my previous post..

All of Raaja's evergreen and ever greatest hits have one thing in common. i.e., besides their mass appeal they are worth in gold from the eyes of an instrumentalist. The singers, as blessed souls as always, invariably take away the lion's share of a song's success. For instance a "Ilaiyanila Pozhigiradhu" or a "Mandram vantha Thendralukku" are "SPB hits" first of all. "Mohan hits" perhaps takes away the second best honor. But they never will be classified under: "Chandrasekhar hits" (the lead guitarist of Ilaiyanila) or "Frank Dubier Hits" - the Trumpeter of Mandram Vandha.. (for that matter we don't even know for a fact who played the trumpet in this song. Frank is an educated guess at best. Speaks for the level of appreciation we tend to show on the people behind the scenes.)

Usually the instrument tracks behind such songs are so challenging, that it takes some effort to play them. Take "Poove Sempoove" for example. For the abilities of Padma shri & Padma Bhushan KJ Y, this song is a piece of cake. But look at the instrument tracks in the song. Be it the Gowrimanohari dished out in Hindustani arrangement in the first interlude or the most unorthodox jugalbandhi of Tabla Vs Drums in the second BGM, the instrumentalists need to be on high alert here. One count that you miss and the whole BGM is gone.. !

Speaking further of the second interlude, If an orchestra is playing it live on stage, you can judge their quality just by this interlude. Its the toughest test for a team not on the scale of individual brilliance of artists, but how well they fare collectively. The constant tracks formed by the bass and hi-hat are quite convoluted in itself. Ironically that's the only reprieve which the keyboardists and the percussionists can latch on to and find out when to start and when to finish their bit. And speed of this interlude is an element to factor in as well. Ask the strings ensemble towards the end and they will vouch for that certainly. Its like a tight rope walk on top of a moat with hungry crocodiles waiting to gobble you if you fall.. But still, the appreciation at our level stops with "some serious sounding" music that matched the visual tension and turmoil the Hero is going through on screen.

Take the innocuous sounding guitar during the prelude for instance. It demonstrates nothing but Raaja's ingenious creativity. D6th Added 9th followed by G6th followed by E minor 7th. Killer arpeggios which is actually a melodic track in itself as opposed to a straight forward side track that such strumming usually is.. The way how the distinct variation from D to G to E comes out despite G6th and Em7th being exactly the same set of notes underlines what improvisation is (i.e., the base arpeggio and the chord transition are perhaps decided upfront and how these two should compliment each other w.r.t right inversions etc., are chosen on the fly based on the most efficient finger traversal). Sada sir who played these arpeggios effortlessly has certainly done a noteworthy job here, but the question is have we noted it before ..? :-)

(Headphones recommended for the below video)



The problem with these musical phrases are that, half of the time they are so nuanced and its unfair to expect a listener to appreciate this. But even those who can, usually does not look beyond how it 'sounds'. The fact though remains that, its indeed a big deal to record such songs of rich content as a team in a live environment. Even if one musician fails, the whole recording has to be repeated. (Remember SPB's famous trivia that it took them 16 takes to record Ilaiyanila due to the guitarist and the results are here to be seen today 25 years since). I was told that the unbelievably orchestrated song of "Idhu oru Nila kaalam" was completed on the first take. And this may not have been the only such wonder.. So next time when you listen to a "nice sounding" instrumental bit from a "popular song", I hope you will try to visualize what it takes to record such complex musical collaborations and give these unsung heroes their credit..

With Love
Vicky

Labels: Guitar, My Attempts, Orchestration

posted by Vicky @ Monday, December 06, 2010 Comments: 16

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!!")

With Love
Vicky

Labels: Keyboard, My Attempts, Sheet Music

posted by Vicky @ Thursday, July 15, 2010 Comments: 19

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!

With Love
Vicky

Labels: Hero'sglyphics, Keyboard, My Attempts, Orchestration

posted by Vicky @ Wednesday, June 02, 2010 Comments: 30

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 !

Enjoy the Sindhu Bhairavi in D Minor..

With Love
Vicky

(Headphones recommended)

Labels: Carnatic, Keyboard, My Attempts, Sheet Music

posted by Vicky @ Thursday, April 01, 2010 Comments: 11

Having extensively covered Raaja's application of Chords, one particular aspect which I would like to highlight is the density of chords in his arrangements. Let me patent a term for this:

Chord + Density = Chordensity

At constant Temperature, c = n/t
Where c= Chordensity
n = number of chords
t = time (lets say, no. of beats)

(Ok.. the constant temperature part was rubbish in case you are wondering!! :-))

This not to say Raaja's chordensity is always high. Its absolutely dependent on the melody at any given point of time. Most of the time the chords are Walking behind the melody dutifully or walking hand in hand like an able accomplice. The Chordensity here is usually low to moderate. This is how most of the composers compose..

But then suddenly Raaja would go into this Turbo mode, typically overwhelming the melody (and the listener) and pack the punches. Chordensity is at the highest here..

I thought I will demo this with a song..



Now if you see the first two lines of the stanza, It starts with DM7th..

i.e.,
Thedinen = DM7th

He hangs on to this chord for 2 bars, rather unusually long for Raaja's standards.. But all he is doing is going into the stealth mode to come out firing all cylinders.. See this:

Thendralile = DM7th Gmin
Midhandhu Varum = F# Bm
Then malare = E A
Aeee = F#

The Chordensity leaps from zero to 100 in less than 4 seconds.. Better than a Ferrari F40 !

And yet not one chord is mistimed.. Not one chord is out of place. The Chord arrangement fits the melody to the T. Overall aesthetic beauty is stunning.. That is Ilaiyaraaja !

Phrases like this is all too common in Raaja's songs. What is not so common is finding another composer who can do the same.

With Love
Vicky

Disclaimer:
I am not a Guitarist ! I am not a Guitarist ! I am not a Guitarist !
(Sorry if I reminded you of a court season !!)

See this scene from the classic "Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu"



The reason why I can strum some basic guitar is very similar to why Kamal knows Malayalam and Gujarathi...

About 10 years ago, when the over-payed-under-efficient-managers (is there another kind?) of my would be employer decided that they have recruited one too many, they conveniently asked all we green beans, not to join them immediately but to take a stroll and come back 3 months later. I happen to spend those 3 months with a guitarist friend and got mutually inducted.. He has since become a professional guitarist/ composer while what I am doing is pretty obvious to you... Vetti blogging of course :-)

Therefore please don't blame my beautiful guitar for the part that sounds like I am plucking a rubber band wrapped around the lunch box. Its the guitarist :-)

(I am personally cross with the word "Deiveegam" in the end of the pallavi which is D --> F# --> Bm. I did this correctly while plucking (relatively tougher to do) while screwed it up doing the rhythm guitar on both times.. too lazy to redo and left it as such)

And finally, this one is dedicated to Ved, the guy who taught me to guitar !!

Labels: Guitar, My Attempts, Orchestration

posted by Vicky @ Monday, November 30, 2009 Comments: 18

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.



You can watch it in Youtube here.

With Love
Vicky

Labels: Keyboard, My Attempts, Orchestration

posted by Vicky @ Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Comments: 22

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.)





With Love
Vicky

Labels: Keyboard, My Attempts, Orchestration, Raaja's Inspirations

posted by Vicky @ Sunday, October 25, 2009 Comments: 9