Megha / மேகா

fring151 wrote:Welcome to the forum, crimson king!

Precisely! It doesn't make sense to replace the vocals with instruments if the music was not conceived as such. The way I look at it, and as others on this forum have said before, for Raja, the voice is another instrument. So the parts he writes for the human voice are designed to, and sound best when sung. I don't think vocal music is in any way inferior to pure instrumental music (I am of course talking only about the music and not lyrics) .It comes down to the fact that Indian classical music is best suited for singing and Raja's music, for all the advanced western idioms it incorporates is still largely rooted in tradition. That is what gives his music such a unique identity. One could also perhaps argue that he had to compromise because of the medium (film), but that is debatable. Raja is definitely a big fan of the human voice!

Regarding jazz, I agree that only Kalvane really has definite jazz elements to it. Also perhaps, some parts of Chellam konjum?

Yes, that is very well expressed.  I would put it this way: he combines the best of both traditions - Indian and Western.  He has come up with so many lovely chord progressions over the years.  It's one thing to write great parts for violin or brass in the interludes but not many people in Indian film music come up with complex chords, while IR does.  In any case, vocals are important in many Western traditions too like folk, soul, country, just not so much in complex Western music barring opera.  IR even records the vocals first - at least that's what GVM told BR in that interview - rather than recording the music first.  

And thanks all for the welcome.

kiru wrote:

fring151 wrote:
Regarding jazz, I agree that only Kalvane really has definite jazz elements to it. Also perhaps, some parts of Chellam konjum?

There are a little bit of piano runs along with charanam lines in mugilO and jeevanO. Maybe, this is jazzy. I dont know, but it does not sound like IR's usual well-planned , tight harmony either.

Yes, not as tight as is usually the case but both songs reminded me more of soul/R&B music.

Raaga_Suresh wrote:
When the cloud partially block the sun, you get a lovely light and shade effect on the ground below. Raja gives the same light and shade effect in the album ‘Megha’. The light being music and the shade being silence. Like an impressionist painting, Raja dabs the light and shades in such a way as to create a superb musical painting.


Raja is always known for the density of his music and the multitude of ideas almost every phrase of his contain. Raja fills the space of his music with backing bass chords, with the harmony of the strings, with contrapuntal melody and other techniques. The ideas flow from one phrase to another leaving the listener breathless. In this album he leaves the breathless not just through his music but also through the silence. There is silence in Raja’s music but no single album of his can claim that he has accentuated the silent parts so much. In ‘Megha’ time and again he draws out attention to silence.


I am not going to do song analysis but rather try and express the pattern of light and shade that I found in the songs. So the focus on all songs is going to be about this dynamic relationship between sound and silence.


Let’s start with the first song, ‘mugilo’ which sort of sets the keynote for all the songs that follow. The prelude is an excellent example of accentuating the silence with a melody. The initial piano chords and the way the strings come in and dissolve almost keep the silence intact. Then the humming done after the drumming starts. Here too the voice never raises above certain volume as if scared of breaking the silence. The first interlude start once again is a contrast to the pallavi and again you have the play of softness of the piano later joined by others. Even though the charanam is fully backed by instruments, the charanam tune has so many fade outs that you can feel the silence even when instruments are going on in the background. The second interlude also follows this pattern of light and shade. If you hear the Raja version, this becomes even more clear.


Now lets take ‘Chellam Konjum’. The guitar and bass guitar provide the needed silence. Observe how softly they play initially and how they stop suddenly when Yuvan is singing and that accentuates the silence. Same happens when Ramya starts singing. The second interlude has wonderful pauses throughout. 
It is the same in case of ‘enna vendum’ as well with instruments pausing and starting. The bass for example pauses and never plays continuously and almost everything other than the drums stop towards end of first interlude.


Nothing highlights this light and shade aspect better than ‘kalvane kalvane’. The song starts as if it will go the ‘niram piriththu parthen’ way but suddenly the piano joins in with the rock chords. Then throughout the song it is a lovely interplay between sound and silence. In the first interlude especially, the strings suddenly stop when the drummer joins in and start when he goes away !! And the charanam has so many pauses. In the whole song you have no clue who will join when and who will leave when. Just try following the piano during the pallavi. He comes with a flourish and suddenly vanishes only to reappear in the background again. This is an amazing song full of unexpected things. This is a song of a man having fun confusing the hell out of us.

Fantastic perspective Sureshji . This album is definitely another deliberate experiment in dynamics. Mugilo is still my favourite song from the album, though it is somewhat familiar territory for Raja. Kalvane and Chellam konjum are new ventures in composition style, even by his standards. And to be honest, even after repeated hearings, I don't really like "Enna vendum". The lyrics are particularly anachronistic and jarring, and the tune and singing are rather generic.

crimson king wrote:Yes, that is very well expressed.  I would put it this way: he combines the best of both traditions - Indian and Western.  He has come up with so many lovely chord progressions over the years.  It's one thing to write great parts for violin or brass in the interludes but not many people in Indian film music come up with complex chords, while IR does.

Agreed. Sadly, there is not nearly enough analysis of his chord progressions on the internet.

crimson king wrote:

V_S wrote:Welcome crimsonking to the forum with a nice post.

crimson king wrote:If I am not mistaken, IR has used auto tune on his voice in the charanam.

IR and auto-tune NEVER, so far. I have listened to this song umpteen times already, I could not sense any auto-tune in it.

In the first line of the first charanam, there is a strange metallic quality in his voice, in fact just as he lands.  That does sound like autotune to me, or maybe it's some other recording technique.  But its intention seemed to be to mask Yuvan's vocal limitations, not really to add anything to the music because that metallic effect jars with the rest of the music.

Before engaging further on this debate, let me put forward some disclaimers: I am a category 1 hopeless fan of Raaja. By that App_Engine has put a definition - that I am one of those very few who believe bull headedly that Raaja can never err and his errors (even if any) add a certain bit of aesthetic flavor to the song. 
So having said that - I am not a big fan of U1 singing - among his many songs (that he has sung), I would rate Oru Naalil vaazhkai in pudhuppaettai, en kaadhal solla from paiyya to be the best - and closely observing these songs have every flaw that voice experts and purists scream about right from pitching problems to voice granularity. Yet there is a distinct character and soul - that of the character it is about that effortlessly seeps into the song. It might not be pretty to the western audience or to sabha loyalists- but it is very hard to bring in - primarily because it requires some understanding of the character in that song - Many leading singers these days hardly get any background on the situation and character of the song - so they do the generic takes hardly stepping inside the shoes of the character - U1 - much maligned his voice may be - gets the soul aspect of the song perfect - what appears 'flat' in a section that a trained singer puts details (sangadhis) - in U1 version might be the place that has no need for details and where required - he injects that soul in into it which a trained singer is more often than not is not able to impart - BTW i am not talking of an SPB here. Yes - his thamizh diction sucks - but so do the characters whom he lends his voice to - none of them speak in chaste thamizh that adorns a Sivaji or a Gemini - they speak burger thamizh that his voice quite certainly fits well.

kiru's point being people can be cross at u1's voice - but in the grand scheme of things - it neither mars - nor elevates the overall musical colossus that Megha really is. It is , well, Infinity -1 or Infinity + 1. To be obsessed with the small ant in the corner of the dining table and refusing to relish that splendid treat on the offing is a symptom of some serious OCD.

mythila wrote:

kiru wrote: While the 80s tunes is driven by bassline, the new tune is almost incomplete in the vocal part of the tune. I dont think, mugilO megamO sol vERu veRu irandum iradO is a complete melody. The charanam are a bit more independent, relatively speaking. Without the strings, the pallavi will have no melodic value in my books. Since the singers are not singing the full tune, it does not matter to me who is singing it. Yuvan sounds stylish, IR is better in the diction depart (aRaigaLil by IR, aRagaLil or something by yuvan) . Lyrics are good to excellent. In my ears and mind, it is mainly the strings that keep playing back again and again. It is possible, if you do not give enough weightage to the orchestration, the song will not have much value for you.

Kiru,
My view on "MugilO" was more directed towards choice of singers rather than paying much thought to the way melody is constructed . But now I agree with your observation that the 80's melodyhad more flourish and a completeness when compared with the current which has denser orch. At the same time I also tend to think Raja's hands are tied when it comes to composing melody lines for limited to poor singers like Yuvan , which he cleverly covers up with his orchestral opulence. Dead simple tunes like "sAindhu sAindhu" or "chellam konjum" and now to add, "mugilO",seem to point to that. May be that is the reason why one segment of his fans prefer strong melodies with good singing like "viLaiyAttA padagOtti" Dhoni or "kAlaiyile mAlai vandhadhu" of CNC, inspite of minimal instruments. Well, if you ask me, the greedy me would like to have both.

BTW, "Chellam konjum" has fabulous drumming like "kAtrai konjam" of NEPV and a very brisk, captivating first interlude.
Ramya NSK in her elements once again 

I think you are stretching when u said is saaindhu saaindhu is a dead simple tune - the charanam portions which u1 and nsk render in their own unique ways has some knife walking portions - did you see what a sopper singer contestant did to saaindhu saaindhu? he mauled it because he approached it as a dead simple tune. It appears that way - but it is not. please listen closely (it must be so difficult for you given the dislike for u1's voice).

kiru wrote:

fring151 wrote:....I don't think vocal music is in any way inferior to pure instrumental music (I am of course talking only about the music and not lyrics) .It comes down to the fact that Indian classical music is best suited for singing and Raja's music, for all the advanced western idioms it incorporates is still largely rooted in tradition. ...
Regarding jazz, I agree that only Kalvane really has definite jazz elements to it. Also perhaps, some parts of Chellam konjum?

Very good points, I think Indian thinking is - the voice is the best instrument. Control the vocal chords from the mind. No mechanical or electronic :-)  translation in between. Yes, my amateur theory is the language itself is broken up phonetically and they are able to write lyrics much easier for the notes. We can easily identify the meter using tha na na etc (sa ri ga ma pa da ni is a latter day nomenclature). So music and language have much integration in our culture.
Another amateur theory of mine is - IR is doing ICM in a "parallelized" format, which makes it sound like WCM. Easy but not perfect example is brighas. The singer may not end the line, the instruments do. Some of these techniques have been there before IR. That is the reason my tweet for Megha was - Indian Film music as a genre reaches its zenith. Note, IR is the kind of composer, who just not "adorns" the tune, in his own words "orchestravukku pirichchu kodutha ippadi irukkum" (in the context of the 3 note composition in Italy).

You nailed it - Bear in mind that we fans are being treated to a dichotomy of sorts - 
class A projects where Raaja has the approval and freedom to go to London/Budapest for recording
class B projects where he has to do locally.
in Class A projects he records voice and other portions that dont have to wait for studio booking and plane ticket. then he constructs the WCM melody like an opera composer and gets off to rehearse and record with the abroad orchestra.
class B projects - everything is done and delivered at once - more close to 80s style.
I would rate Naadi thudukkudhadi one above CNC in this regards for the chord progressions and orchestral layering(VeLi naattu grama puraththil is outstanding). CNC owing to its subject has a more soul in its tunes which makes it dearer to more folks.

Jai,

Superb arguments. I am fully with you in this regard.

And I also agree that 'velli naatu gramam' is a monster. What outstanding arrangements !!!

mythila wrote:...
Raja's hands are tied when it comes to composing melody lines for limited to poor singers like Yuvan , which he cleverly covers up with his orchestral opulence.

.. prefer strong melodies with good singing like "viLaiyAttA padagOtti" Dhoni or "kAlaiyile mAlai vandhadhu" of CNC, inspite of minimal instruments. Well, if you ask me, the greedy me would like to have both.

Mythila,
I think IR does not compose for singers. He comes up with a composition and finds singers who can do justice. Some are tune heavy, some are a mixture of tunes + orchestration. In those days, MV did quite a bit of these less challenging ones, which were supported by orchestration, SPB and KJY took the higher end. While MV exceled in bhavam, Yuvan is now being used for the "stylish" singing (even though the old trio also has some credit doing such things).
Re: strong melodies - I understand the enthusiasm. That is our tradition/base and it is natural to expect such things. But I think, IR knows the history and heights to which tunes have been taken by past masters. Even though he competes in that space, I think he likes to make a mark in the new space. This space is all about integrating the main melody with orchestration.
My friends here would have noticed by now, that I have not posted this much for a single album. Let me clarify that this is not necessarily about Megha. It is about IR reaching a phase in his career, where he seems to be achieving the goals he set out when he started in TFM. In nuclear physics, there is something called a 'critical' state. A state where nuclear fission can be sustained without support. If I am not mistaken, IR is now in that state - Guru, TIS, NEPV and Megha are all my evidences.
(I hope I am not boring people too much with this enthusiasm for orchestration and such.)

@Jai - very good articulation by you. I think I am too excited and my communication skills desert me :-)
Spot on with Naadi thudikkuthadi - after I got over the 'grama purathil' phrase I am able to enjoy that song immensely.

Kiru - keep on writing. you are spot on.
This guy is on a different layer and usual rants in name of criticism do him little justice.
Naadi thudikkudhadi is so whacky and velinaattu is just one example. Even the much maligned 
afro caribbean song - oo lalla has cool backing rhythms that are so experimental. Kathaley illaadha 
has a new age Raaja Rocking and is a rhythmic delight too.. @Crimson Did you listen to NT and CNC? what do you make of it?

Since I don't think I will ever be qualified to provide a 'review' to Maestro's creations, I shall only share my impressions.

Megha is quickly becoming my most favorite album of the last 10 years (excluding Thiruvasagam as it is unfair qualifying Thiruvasagam as anything other than pure spiritual energy).
 Mugilo and Jeevane, in my opinion, are the best songs of the album in terms of overall orchestration, depth and emotional impact, while Kalvane has the most potential for repeat listening due to its sheer experimental brilliance!
 I don't have any issues with Yuvan's singing as it provides just another facet to the song - I only seem to have issues with singers when they mispronounce words or hit the wrong notes on more than one occasion. Like Raaja often says 'YEVAN paadinalum nalla irukanum...adhu dhaan nalla paattu' (In other words, Yuvan paadinalum nalla irukanum)
 Comparison with NEPV, although quite natural, is not justified in my opinion. They both do justice to their 'contexts'. I think NEPV songs had a 'look at me', 'acting out' emotional expression common with teenagers these days whereas Megha fills the landscape of introverted emotions commonly seen with mature individuals (not older, necessarily).

1.  The prelude of Mugilo is at once mystical and dreamy - easily the best I've heard in a long time. The back-up violins in pallavi almost has a gentle whirlpool effect of lifting you up in the air...and keeping you there for the remainder of the song - just other-worldly! While the first interlude is brilliant, the second interlude has some truly 'Mei silirkkum' moments (Yes, I am referring to the Harp piece) that shut your eyes automatically.
   
2.  I have already shared my impressions regarding how devastating a cry of internal anguish and loss of peace 'Jeevane' unleashes. If the chorus in the second interlude immediately followed my Raaja's rendition of the lines 'Kadavul vandhu.......unnai thara maatten' doesn't break you at some point, then you must have a mechanical heart.
   
3.  Kalvane kalvane is so devastatingly brilliant I had to listen to it 5 times in a row just to grasp the various aspects of the song even at a surface level. Raaja should use Haricharan for 75% of his songs. He is equally brilliant in classical-based and 'light' songs, equally comfortable in high and low notes but more importantly he can express emotions - that cannot be said of other front-line singers of today. The supreme sound quality also surprised me in this track - It sounded so clean!! I have always felt that Raaja's 1st interludes inform and educate the listeners of the Raaga, merely preparing them for the 'take-off' into the spiritual plane in the 2nd interlude. There are many, many, many examples of this [Aagaya gangai, Pon Maalai pozhudhu, En Vaanile, Neelakuyile unnodu naan, Andhi mazhai just to name a few] and Kalvane is no exception. Whereas the first interlude is brilliant and keeps us hooked like a thriller, the second interlude takes us to a place we haven't experienced before - a spiritual crime thriller!!! I would challenge the screen-writers of the world to come up with a story to match the music of the 2nd interlude in this song! The song also reminded me a bit of some other songs: 'So happy together' and 'Sugam sugam' song from Vandicholai chinnarasu for its piano patterns that accompany the pallavi.
   
4. Chellam Konjam - I really loved the rhythm pattern, the guitar solos, both the first and the second interludes. I will come back often just for these elements. The middle part of charam, in my view, was a let down. There was some scope to go even further, given how the charam begins. The drummer, as noted by others, is just fantastic!
   
5. Enna vendum - I intially just dismissed this song as I thought it was just 'Enoodu vaa vaa - part 2'. But I am finding portions of it that are very likeable and new! The 'sandhu pottu' lyrics is a put-off and the female singer's pronunciation leaves a lot to be desired but the song itself has elements that make you return to it - every other day The latter part of the prelude reminded me of 'Then madurai vaigai nadhi' and the pallavi itself reminded me of 'Oorai therinjikitten' but that only made me think about the vast potential to 're-make' 1000s of Raaja's songs in his newly acquired vocabulary. There are 10's of 1000's of songs to be created from just his existing creations!
   

 Hope Raaja stays alive and healthy to create many more gems in the coming years!

Marvelous posts everyone and it's a real pleasure to read your insights, makes me better appreciate this masterpiece album from the Maestro.

Have been looping through Jeevane and Kalvane in my recent listens. The way Jeevane conveys the feeling of loneliness, separation and finally the contentment of reuniting is incomparable   .

Kalvane is a total stunner both for the orchestral brilliance and the lovely renditions of Haricharan & Ramya. In the charanams, when Haricharan goes "Kaathalaagi Kaatrilaadum Megamaanene... Vinnodu", there is a backing instrument which sounded fabulous, it actually sounds more prominently after Vinnodu (at 2:20). Is that a bass guitar? If so, it sounds a lot different from IR's previous bass notes that I have heard? Can someone please enlighten me about this instrument? That part of the song sounds extra special to me and the sweeping strings that follow Ramya's vocals in the same charanam is god awesome.

jaiganesh wrote:Before engaging further on this debate, let me put forward some disclaimers: I am a category 1 hopeless fan of Raaja. By that App_Engine has put a definition - that I am one of those very few who believe bull headedly that Raaja can never err and his errors (even if any) add a certain bit of aesthetic flavor to the song. 
So having said that - I am not a big fan of U1 singing - among his many songs (that he has sung), I would rate Oru Naalil vaazhkai in pudhuppaettai, en kaadhal solla from paiyya to be the best - and closely observing these songs have every flaw that voice experts and purists scream about right from pitching problems to voice granularity. Yet there is a distinct character and soul - that of the character it is about that effortlessly seeps into the song. It might not be pretty to the western audience or to sabha loyalists- but it is very hard to bring in - primarily because it requires some understanding of the character in that song - Many leading singers these days hardly get any background on the situation and character of the song - so they do the generic takes hardly stepping inside the shoes of the character - U1 - much maligned his voice may be - gets the soul aspect of the song perfect - what appears 'flat' in a section that a trained singer puts details (sangadhis) - in U1 version might be the place that has no need for details and where required - he injects that soul in into it which a trained singer is more often than not is not able to impart - BTW i am not talking of an SPB here. Yes - his thamizh diction sucks - but so do the characters whom he lends his voice to - none of them speak in chaste thamizh that adorns a Sivaji or a Gemini - they speak burger thamizh that his voice quite certainly fits well.

kiru's point being people can be cross at u1's voice - but in the grand scheme of things - it neither mars - nor elevates the overall musical colossus that Megha really is. It is , well, Infinity -1 or Infinity + 1. To be obsessed with the small ant in the corner of the dining table and refusing to relish that splendid treat on the offing is a symptom of some serious OCD.

I really cannot comment on the soul aspect because I do not find any soul in his singing, neither in Mugilo nor in Sayndhu.  I am not even talking about sangidhis.  Kishore Kumar hardly used any sangidhis in his singing and he was not trained either but what he had was energy.  Yuvan's singing sorely lacks energy.   When he starts singing, it's like covering the song with a damp towel for me.  His main attraction is a kind of casual, laidback tone that is in sync with contemporary culture but if the point is to find singers who can get to the hear of the song, I am not convinced he gets any further in that regard than the other singers that IR uses these days. 

I have already stressed that I do like Mugilo very much in spite of Yuvan's vocals.  But in spite of, not even nearly because of.  Every time his voice cuts through the air, it is annoying and irritating to me and because it is a great IR composition, I have to endure it and focus on the parts I like, BLACKING out Yuvan's voice.  If say it was Yuvan's own composition, I wouldn't bother making that effort.  If an instrument used in an IR track was badly tuned and going off repeatedly, I do not think we would be inclined to cut the musician as much as slack as we do for Yuvan.

jaiganesh wrote:Kiru - keep on writing. you are spot on.
This guy is on a different layer and usual rants in name of criticism do him little justice.
Naadi thudikkudhadi is so whacky and velinaattu is just one example. Even the much maligned 
afro caribbean song - oo lalla has cool backing rhythms that are so experimental. Kathaley illaadha 
has a new age Raaja Rocking and is a rhythmic delight too.. @Crimson Did you listen to NT and CNC? what do you make of it?

I haven't really warmed up to either.  I could not get to listen to CNC songs anyway except 2-3.   I will try later on, preferably once I have forgotten what they sounded like.

பழைய 'புத்தம் புதுக்காலை' விரும்பி

I plan to do a post comparing old and new, after the present euphoria on mEgha settles down

rajkumarc wrote:In the charanams, when Haricharan goes "Kaathalaagi Kaatrilaadum Megamaanene... Vinnodu", there is a backing instrument which sounded fabulous, it actually sounds more prominently after Vinnodu (at 2:20). Is that a bass guitar? If so, it sounds a lot different from IR's previous bass notes that I have heard? Can someone please enlighten me about this instrument? That part of the song sounds extra special to me and the sweeping strings that follow Ramya's vocals in the same charanam is god awesome.

Sounds like a vibe tone produced from a keyboard.  It doesn't sound like an actual vibraphone to me, but I might be wrong about that as I am not a musician.

Shankar, BRangan's blog wrote:
@vijay (vijayr of the hub) Kalvane from Megha is terrific. I know you haven’t been a fan of IR in the past few years, but this track is amazing with superb arrangement and thankfully, real singers crooning it

http://baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/thalaivaa-268345-83655-0978/#comment-32394

Did you people notice "chellam konjum" starting piece sounding like an 80's Raja number "mainA mainA maaman pudichha mainA"?
During my first time listen of MEgha,it was mostly a choice between "mugilO" or "chellam konjum".
The firist time I heard "kalvane", ofcourse the richly layered strings that reminded me of "niram pirithu pArthEn" , the interwoven jazz gave me a small high. But somehow my bird brain couldn't grasp the nonlinear tune . I was wondering why so much ado for this song. :embarrassed:
From second time listen, it has been such a wonderful unravelling experience, esp the way the tune progresses , the singers enjoy the journey. What a magical link to the charanam Raja establishes in the 2nd BGM !!!Need I say this is the pick of MEgha?
This is such a priceless addition to Raja's innovation collection of 2013 along with " en devadhai", "veLinAttu grAmapurathil" of NT.

app,

Shank had commented on my blog about 'Megha' and was wondering why I wasn't posting in the old forum. I told him about this forum and asked him to join here. Hope he does so soon. We need inputs from people like him.

mythila,

How can we escape  That is a fantabulous song. As I was Jai on twitter, the fun quotient is amazingly high in that. Take the first interlude. The strings play and when the drummer comes in, they stop. And then when the strings stop, one wind comes in as if to tell the drummer not to worry and he has company. Reminded of kids who will stop playing when a new kid enters  As @arulselvan told on twitter you can't listen to this song without a smile on your lips.

RajaDivine,

Super post. I am not trying to arrange the songs in any order but enjoying every one of them. 

I too would agree that this album of Raja is special. So much peace in it and so much innovation. This too at 70yrs of age and after having done more than 900 films. As SPB says, this man is a raksasha.

Bear in mind while he experiments along - the words, and the phrases are not 'chopped' - oru sedhaaramum illai  it is wholesome
and the singer has full freedom to express himself/herself - no other engineering tricks.
As far as En Jeevane - which is the defining song of the album - it is a twin flame of that wonderful sober melody 'Mauni naanu' from Surya kanthi 
sung by Karthik - In fact the whole album is a twin soul of Surya kanthi - where the experiments of that earlier album find their culmination in full
 orchestral form in Megha.

I have been pondering over the popular notion that Raja's post early 90s musical output is inferior to the earlier period. Why do even many hardcore 80s fans approach his current works with skepticism, if not not outright dismissiveness? I believe that, besides the usual nostalogy (coinage-Kobi of Vijay tv fame) issue for 80s fans, there is another subtle reason for this.

When some fans or critics complain that the songs of NEPV or Megha don't sound like the 80s Raja, they are projecting their own inability to come out of their comfort zone onto the composer. They refuse to acknowledge that for a composer of his caliber, it is only natural that style and philosophy evolve with time. Anyone who approaches these albums as an "80s Raja fan" is bound to be somewhat disappointed or underwhelmed and you cannot entirely blame them. Confession- I was an "80s fan" till a year ago - that is, till NEPV came out. In fact, I would not have been that excited about the album had it not been for the media hype around it and it actually took a few listenings for the songs to grown on me. That album and the write-ups of Sureshji, V_Sji and others were what led me to actively seek out later works. So, in hindsight, and having "been there", I can say that the "80s only syndrome" is merely reflective of one's own mental lethargy and/or indifference. Of course, the gutter press and popular culture of TN also play their due part in this.

The real worth of some of these albums can only be assessed with the benefit of perspective - i.e after another 30 years, when, hopefully not too many people will have the pre-conceived notions about Raja that plague this and earlier generations. In my opinion, Kalvane is a new peak for Raja and will acquire classic status in the future.

Nice post. But the guy said it in 96 itself that 
He has always been there all along while ppl havent bothered to listen. No hard feelings, true art and artist 
Will always find their audience.

fring151 wrote:I have been pondering over the popular notion that Raja's post early 90s musical output is inferior to the earlier period. Why do even many hardcore 80s fans approach his current works with skepticism, if not not outright dismissiveness? I believe that, besides the usual nostalogy (coinage-Kobi of Vijay tv fame) issue for 80s fans, there is another subtle reason for this.

When some fans or critics complain that the songs of NEPV or Megha don't sound like the 80s Raja, they are projecting their own inability to come out of their comfort zone onto the composer. They refuse to acknowledge that for a composer of his caliber, it is only natural that style and philosophy evolve with time. Anyone who approaches these albums as an "80s Raja fan" is bound to be somewhat disappointed or underwhelmed and you cannot entirely blame them. Confession- I was an "80s fan" till a year ago - that is, till NEPV came out. In fact, I would not have been that excited about the album had it not been for the media hype around it and it actually took a few listenings for the songs to grown on me. That album and the write-ups of Sureshji, V_Sji and others were what led me to actively seek out later works. So, in hindsight, and having "been there", I can say that the "80s only syndrome" is merely reflective of one's own mental lethargy and/or indifference. Of course, the gutter press and popular culture of TN also play their due part in this.

The real worth of some of these albums can only be assessed with the benefit of perspective - i.e after another 30 years, when, hopefully not too many people will have the pre-conceived notions about Raja that plague this and earlier generations. In my opinion, Kalvane is a new peak for Raja and will acquire classic status in the future.

I was in the same boat till a couple of years back too when I actually started to dig. Another reason as to why his post 80s songs are not viewed favorably is because Raaja in the 80s with his live orchestra was every bit a beast and time and lack of money in the the mainstream films stripped him of the live orchestra in the mid 90s and I do feel he had to adapt to the changes and he still was going like a Gun across the times from say a '94 and in Suresh's words, him musically keeping up even as the world moved past him has made him turn eyebrows with a new age monster called NEPV. Sure, the sound suffered in more than a few films. But it would have easy to throw your hands and give up but he is still here. He hasn't come back from some vanavaasam like people claim after every outstanding album releases (saw it during NEPV and seeing it now with Megha. Won't be surprised with such statements during an Onaayum Attukuttiyum either). I can quote more than 20 films from Mahanadhi, Veera, Raasaiyya, Avatharam, Siraichaalai,Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (re-recording), Guru, Anthappuram, Sethu on to Hey Ram, Bharathi, Lajja (that title BGM makes me levitate), Nizhalkuthu, Pithamagan, Virumaandi, Mumbai Express, Naan Kadavul, Nandalala, Pazhassi Raja and down to an NEPV and Megha where he has touched several musical peaks. Thiruvasagam, which I rate as a culmination of his genius, came in 2005. Whenever Raaja gets a full scale orchestra/symphony orchestra now, I can see his mind voice smirking with glee. Yet, we will see uninformed statements like avuru dokkaaitaaru, he has finally come back with all his might after each album.

This song came in 1994 when such talk was starting. It is not his 80s kind of song. It is very much a 90s Raaja song. Yet, it is only Raaja possible: VandhaaL VandhaaL Rajakumaari

Set aside all the obvious musical output.
His music for Nizhalkuththu is worth millions and millions. A haunting masterpiece which is still
An example of how minimalistic a score for an 
Arthouse flick should be.