Features in Raja's music that attract you

Ravinat,
Thanks for the response. wait panren. Neenga solra vishayam elllathukum... Head phone la kandipa kaekanam...............
apo dhan neenga sonnadha feel panna mudiyum...........

oh. Great. unga post... ipo dhan parthen. parkalai.padikaren Ravinat. Hearty Thanks for your contribution...........

ravinat wrote:
master blender

Nice description

(Hope the TF fellows don't read this post, next movie title-card'la pOttAlum pOttruvAnga )

Chella thathae  Manasinakkare

enna oru paatu........ enna oru interludes............. Mood and  Reflection.... Interludes matum thaniyaga kaetalum feel
panna mudiyum.......

Interludes.....  padum podhu varum Beats.....  very catchy......... adhanudan varum matra instruments. ethanai vidham........ 
super one.........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVEWemUK3ac

I was listening to O Vasantha Raja a few days back and was astounded that I had missed such an "obvious" experiment in this song. In the first charanam, he has used only the mridangam apart from the voice. Now what does he do in the second charanam? Well, hear it for yourself. Do you call this fusion or what?

fring151 wrote:I was listening to O Vasantha Raja a few days back and was astounded that I had missed such an "obvious" experiment in this song. In the first charanam, he has used only the mridangam apart from the voice. Now what does he do in the second charanam? Well, hear it for yourself. Do you call this fusion or what?

actually I think I can hear some chords in between mridangam and vocal, and also a layer of strings (just after Sevvanam pol aachu), in the first charanam.. its just that the audio quality is slightly bad 

indha video clip. audio nalla iruku........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYXN_BBvVac

vicks wrote:

fring151 wrote:I was listening to O Vasantha Raja a few days back and was astounded that I had missed such an "obvious" experiment in this song. In the first charanam, he has used only the mridangam apart from the voice. Now what does he do in the second charanam? Well, hear it for yourself. Do you call this fusion or what?

actually I think I can hear some chords in between mridangam and vocal, and also a layer of strings (just after Sevvanam pol aachu), in the first charanam.. its just that the audio quality is slightly bad 

You're right. Thanks for pointing out. I missed it due to the poor audio quality. Nevertheless remarkable turnaround in the second charanam to drums-bass guitar.

As I mentioned in some other thread, I was basically an ARR fan in my schooldays and also listened to old Hindi film music which my father had introduced me to (I know, strange combination).  I was very much familiar with IR.  In fact, the first soundtrack of which I have vivid memories is Singaravelan which I heard as a 6 year old in theater.  But as the 90s progressed and the no. of IR projects dwindled, I lost touch with his new work though I did hear his older songs from time to time on Sun TV.   

When I was 14 or so, it suddenly began to click for me.  My parents had an old tape compilation with some of his masterworks like Mandram Vandha, Pani Vizhum, Neethane, Sangeetha Meham.  I began to play it on loop, tape tenju pogaravarikum.   Then, internet and raaga.com happened and I could access much more of his music.  After I finished college (er, rather than during it, you could say), I got interested in rock, later jazz but I have never at any point been able to stay away from IR's music, whether the classics or his new work.  

I think what makes his music so compelling for me is he gets the SOUL of both Indian and Western music.  People talk about how he can combine Indian melody with Western harmony like practically nobody else before.  But that's still just the technical part of it.  The thing is there are songs that are completely tranquil and calm without any hint of dissonance like Kaalai Nera Poonguyil or Vandhadhey and also songs with lots of tension like Rojavai Thalatum Thendral or Raja Raja Cholan or the brand new Sattru Munbu.   It is unthinkable to me that the same composer can straddle both emotional spheres.  I can understand his adherence to Indian musical traditions but how he also gets not only Western musical concepts but the emotional crux of Western music itself is beyond me.  I have felt hints of the same in Madan Mohan's music, whom IR admired, but Madan Mohan was also heavily partial to pathos.  IR is incredibly versatile not only in terms of genres and styles but in the terms of the emotions he can evoke with his music.   That being the case, you almost don't need to listen to anybody else's work to get your fix (though that's not what I do).

ck, Excellent post and very well put  Yes, once you love and tuned to yesteryear hindi songs (mostly upto 70s), your senses always tend to keep that as benchmark (especially in tune creation) and will alway try to compare with whatever you hear nowadays and will bound to be disappointed. Only Raja's music can throw that disappointment quotient out of the window and draw us into endless musical stratosphere that even those yesteryear music directors would be so proud of, as he still keeps our tradition intact while invading alien genres and making his own.

crimson king,

I grew up in the 90s too, the difference being that quite a few of those years were outside India. My initial exposure to IR was due to parents who had several tapes of IR and used to play these quite frequently at home - so there was a lot of casual listening. Johnny was the first full album that I heard and looped non-stop on my walkman, back when I was in 11th std. Not a bad album to get started with IR huh - recording quality be damned.   I explored his music further in college, by which time I had started playing the guitar, and like you was also into classic rock besides IR and others in TFM. It is a different matter that rock has somehow lost its charm for me now, except for a few albums of bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zep and Dire straits, and certainly no more than a handful of songs of most other bands. Incidentally, on your mentioning King crimson in the other thread, I did listen to some of their work on youtube and was almost instantly impressed with their style and sound and amazed that they aren't more famous - quite different from mainstream prog rock of the time like the Floyd, Yes and the like! I loved 'starless', 'epitaph' and 'devil's triangle' and plan to explore more soon  - maybe we can discuss their music on another thread later.

Anyway, coming to your point about IR capturing not just the technical, but also emotional crux of western music, I fully agree.  In addition, I find it fascinating how he can make the same melody depict diametrically opposite emotions by subtle variations in instrumentation, dynamics and use of counterpoint. He almost never goes the easy route of modulating to a different key, only to repeat the melody in the higher key to achieve a cliched melodramatic effect that appeals to many . As an example, listen to the Unnal mudiyum thambi theme below. It is amazing how the same melody goes from exuberant in the first 25 seconds to melancholy in the last 35 seconds of this clip. 

On a happy occasion, he chooses flute with percussion. This is not just to signify the mood, also to highlight the place where the lovers are meeting. It is on the banks of a river with old temple remains. If you hear the flute, it will take us the stream automatically. When the situation slightly changes when her lover is waiting, but she could not make it, Maestro does not alter anything, but just substitute violins instead of flute which tells the seriousness of the situation. Still he keeps the percussion intact to show the situation is not still not that worse, just that they could not meet; a disappointment. When he slaps her lover, Maestro plays the same melody again with violins to show the extreme seriousness of the situation by cutting down on the percussion alone and plays the melody in legato mode instead of staccato.  Just the presence or absence of percussion determines everything from just serious to extremity. On top of it, he punctuates violins with piano chords to address the underlying emotional chord between the two. If this isn't genius, what else?

Thanks V_Sji  . Aan paavam is another great example of his mastery of emotional expression through music. In UMT, I think besides the tempo, the synth counterpoint also adds an extra dimension to the melancholy. Given a melody, he seems to have this ability to present it so that it can depict any number of different shades of emotions.

fring151 wrote:He almost never goes the easy route of modulating to a different key, only to repeat the melody in the higher key to achieve a cliched melodramatic effect that appeals to many . 

I take it that you mean the cliched money note and ARR has used it in a few songs, I think.  It is not even used much in a lot of Western music contrary to the impression a lot of people in India have, just usually the pop hits.   Yes, IR avoids it but then he has such an amazing grip of melody he doesn't need to resort to cliched techniques. I will listen to the Unnal Mudiyum example a bit later in the day, Vinayaka Chaturthi poojai about to start at home.  
I hope you will enjoy King Crimson.  Starless especially is an incredible track, just check out the whole Red album.  But I do still like lots and lots of rock.  I would describe myself as more of a Western music listener today...except for IR.

V_S wrote:ck, Excellent post and very well put  Yes, once you love and tuned to yesteryear hindi songs (mostly upto 70s), your senses always tend to keep that as benchmark (especially in tune creation) and will alway try to compare with whatever you hear nowadays and will bound to be disappointed. Only Raja's music can throw that disappointment quotient out of the window and draw us into endless musical stratosphere that even those yesteryear music directors would be so proud of, as he still keeps our tradition intact while invading alien genres and making his own.

The tunes, the tastefulness and also the singers.  In the 90s even when there was the odd reasonably memorable tune, the singers didn't really do justice to it.  IR does seem to be the last link to the old Indian film music tradition.

fring151 wrote: As an example, listen to the Unnal mudiyum thambi theme below. It is amazing how the same melody goes from exuberant in the first 25 seconds to melancholy in the last 35 seconds of this clip. 

OK, I remember this.  And he's done something similar with the Mouna Raagam theme as well...in fact both the Karthik as well as Mohan themes.

Aan paavam is also a great example of his complete mastery of arrangements.  It's like he can add and subtract an instrumental layer here or there and alter the mood.

crimson king wrote:

fring151 wrote:He almost never goes the easy route of modulating to a different key, only to repeat the melody in the higher key to achieve a cliched melodramatic effect that appeals to many . 

I take it that you mean the cliched money note and ARR has used it in a few songs, I think.  It is not even used much in a lot of Western music contrary to the impression a lot of people in India have, just usually the pop hits.   Yes, IR avoids it but then he has such an amazing grip of melody he doesn't need to resort to cliched techniques. I will listen to the Unnal Mudiyum example a bit later in the day, Vinayaka Chaturthi poojai about to start at home.  
I hope you will enjoy King Crimson.  Starless especially is an incredible track, just check out the whole Red album.  But I do still like lots and lots of rock.  I would describe myself as more of a Western music listener today...except for IR.

Yes, it is mostly used in pop, not so much in rock. But even so, IR's avoidance of it is noteworthy considering very few people at the time would have taken notice.