Re: Anything about IR found on the net - Vol 2

ravinat Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:32 pm

Sorry about a little self-plug

This blogger has been asking me to comment on his blog (my namesake) and he writes about film music. His interest seems predominantly Hindi and he seems to like Raja. He is a regular reader of my blog and has been asking me to comment on his IR articles. As usual, the blog posts are quite superficial and there were some 'expert' comments about why IR does not cut it, by his readers. So, I decided to heed to his request:

http://rsbaab.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/hits-of-ilayaraja-innovation/#comments

Not sure, if I did the right thing.

Usha Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:54 pm

Ravi,
comment kaetavaruku.... konjam strict a comment solli irukeenga.. anal.. correct dhan........

Rajavai.. konjam paatula .. konjam style il...... nirutha mudiyadhudhan..............

app_engine Fri Oct 25, 2013 8:33 pm

Gowri Manohari

Ilaiyaraaja has composed several enchanting pieces in Gowrimanohari.

In ‘Adhikaalai Nilave’ (Uruthi Mozhi), the " nishada and the rishaba are emphasised, and the dhaivata is avoided. ‘Boopalam Isaikkum’ from Thooral Ninnu Pochu in the same scale is mellow and symphonic, while ‘Kannan Naalai’ from Ilamai Kolam begins with a solemn alapana before taking on a jolly, Westernised feel.

‘Solai Poovil’ in Vellai Roja, sees the charanam culminate in a complete sweep over the octave.

Ilayaraja surpasses himself in ‘Muthamizh Kaviye Varuga’from Dharmathin Thalaivan. The fragrance of Gowrimanohari wafts by unassumingly at first, but as the song progresses, it entrances us.

‘Doorathil Naan Kanda’ from Nizhalgal in S.Janaki’s honeyed voice is a different depiction of the raga. In the phrase ‘Venguzhal Nadamum Geethamum’, the sweep across the octaves is stunning.

rajaclan Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:10 pm

KR presents Ilayaraja Concert in Malaysia

Songs which are favorites to raja's family people will be performed.

**V_S** Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:33 pm

Welcome to our forum rajaclan Smile

rajaclan Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:38 pm

V_S wrote:Welcome to our forum rajaclan

Thanks V_S.

A big hii to all the members here

app_engine Wed Oct 30, 2013 5:17 pm

Kovai Muthusamy DTS "renovation" of IR songs

This was the person who got featured on The Hindu sometime back...seems to be quite busy releasing a lot of IR songs Smile

Wizzy Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:01 pm

app_engine wrote: Kovai Muthusamy DTS "renovation" of IR songs

This was the person who got featured on The Hindu sometime back...seems to be quite busy releasing a lot of IR songs

heard the DTS ones, romba narasama eruthathu Embarassed

even the much maligned AGI have done a commendable job in their latest 'Love series'/Endrum Iniyavai' ones

**V_S** Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:15 pm

I too bought 4 CDs each (DTS+HiFi), but not overwhelmed. DTS split sound in each speaker works well but when the singing starts the volume is so low compared to the instruments. Hi-Fi version is good in cars, but expected much better quality. Nothing to match fire star CD quality so far. One thing to remember he sells these CDS for a mere Rs. 125 which itself needs to be appreciated, while AGI music sells 15-20 songs in mp3 for $10. I even heard sometimes he gives it for free.

Wizzy Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:30 am

V_S, give AGI cds a shot(very difficult to procure) do you have any cds by Ramiy records?

**V_S** Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:40 pm

Wizzy,
I initially purchased some CDs from AGI (Soul core, NBW, HTNI, TIS, Italy Concert etc) , but I think they stopped CDs for overseas buyers. No, I don't have ramiy records cds. Are they by AGI?

app_engine Fri Nov 01, 2013 6:22 pm

Karthik Raja interview

He constantly drives home the point that Ilaiyaraaja worked hard for what he is today. It just didn’t happen all of a sudden. “My father worked hard towards it. He learnt Western and Indian classical over a period of time. It is often projected as if everything just came to him.”

baroque Fri Nov 01, 2013 6:38 pm

yeah.... sure, Raja must have learnt WCM, ICM, Jazz etc... & worked hard for the opportunities, tolerated unjust things for the love of his work etc... but
music happens to him naturally.
It takes imagination & free spirit to come up with what he is making for decades +

Raaga_Suresh Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:12 pm

Violin Vicky explaining some aspects of the song 'Nil Nil Nil'. Technical folks will love this.

https://soundcloud.com/vicky/nil-nil-nil

via SKV on twitter

fring151 Tue Nov 05, 2013 4:25 am

Thanks for the link Suresh saar Smile

Enjoyed his explanation. He summed up nicely - "He is the only composer for the common man and rasika alike".

Raaga_Suresh Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:30 pm

Up on my blog: http://onlyraja.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/ennapol-oruthan-an-internal-journey/

Ennapol Oruthan: An Internal Journey
Anything about IR found on the net - Vol 2 - Page 3 Tandavakone

Anything about IR found on the net - Vol 2 - Page 3 Tandavakone

I had earlier written about two songs from ‘Thandavakone’. Today I will take up another song from this movie. This song (tune) has two versions. Each having different lyrics.
Raja has always been trying to reflect the mood of the characters through his tunes. Raja has been exploring multiple ways to capture the internal conflicts of the characters through sound and communicate the turmoil to us. The song that I am going to talk about today is a prime example of how Raja uses his music to dig deep into the heart of the character.

The character who sings this song has a past which he is not happy about and that past is haunting him. The journey he undertakes is as follows: initially he hates himself for what he has done in the past, later as it happens with many of us, he gets angry with himself and finally he resigns to his fate. The song has to reflect all these stages, the first stage of repulsion, followed by anger and finally resignation. Raja takes up this challenge and accurately reflects all these stages in his own inimitable fashion.

Here is the song: http://www.raaga.com/player4/?id=308613&mode=100&rand=0.358126268023625

Initially the voice is accompanied only by a synthesizer setting a somber mood. Snehan’s lyrics are very apt and very clearly inform us of the character’s state of mind. The echo effect and the orchestration keep up the somber mood. If you observe the interlude you can hear the cymbals and they are used with telling effect in the charanam. The charanam starts with only the tabla and the cymbals accompanying the singer. The tone is almost religious. The initial lines narrate the past of the character. After those four lines, the character gets angry with himself and the tune accordingly gets aggressive and so does the orchestra. Sriram does a good job at ‘paava kanakkodu’. Then the anger subsides with the singer asking as to who was around to reform him? The second charanam too follows the same pattern.

This is not a straightforward melody and if someone listens to this without understanding what is being done, he / she may feel that the tuning is strange in the charanam as the flow of the melody is not smooth. The idea is clearly not be just ‘attractive’. Rather the idea if to ensure that the listener goes along with the character in this internal journey of his and feels the pain and anguish that the character feels.

Here is another version of this song. This seems to be sung by the friend of the character we saw earlier: http://www.raaga.com/player4/?id=308615&mode=100&rand=0.23012311081402004

Here Tippu does the honors and he does a good job of it. His interpretation is more on the tragic side. There is a certain helplessness in his singing which fits perfectly with the lyrics of Snehan. The tune, lyrics and voice combine perfectly at ‘edhu irundhu enna manushan thani dhane’ (‘whatever it be, man is always alone’)
Raja, as can be expected, chooses a scale which reflects the mood perfectly. A scale which doesn’t allow you to ‘enjoy’ after a few listens. Rather, the song keeps disturbing you every time you hear it. This is a song which refuses to ease itself into a melancholic melody. Rather it keeps its dissonance intact over time. Hence, everytime you hear, ‘vaanam virindhirukku parappadhenge’, you can exactly feel the helplessness of the character. Therein lies Raja’s success.

The two versions of this song along with ‘neeraal udal kazhuvi’ and ‘katu vazhi’ are top class experiments in Indian Film Music. All three are ‘dark’ songs, each with a slightly different theme. All the three songs are set to be very dissonant and not allow the luxury of relief to the listener. All the three songs are very philosophical in nature and they way they deal with faith, redemption, philosophy and self-recrimination is very unique in the annals of Indian Film Music. To me, because of these three songs, ‘Thandavakone’ is one of the major albums in Indian Film Music for it shows how very serious subjects can be dealt with in a very serious manner, musically. I personally rate ‘Thandavakone’ as one of Raja’s major achievements.

app_engine Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:27 pm

Brilliant analysis, Sureshji!

உங்களுக்குத்தர வேண்டிய பட்டம் : "ராசா இசையின் கொள்கை பரப்புச் செயலாளர்" Smile

app_engine Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:42 pm

rAsA with a flag in his hand

சினிமா தொழிலாளர்கள் ஊர்வலத்தை இளையராஜா தொடங்கி வைத்தார்

Quite interesting...

Raaga_Suresh Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:06 pm

app_engine wrote:Brilliant analysis, Sureshji!

உங்களுக்குத்தர வேண்டிய பட்டம் : "ராசா இசையின் கொள்கை பரப்புச் செயலாளர்"

LOL

பட்டம்லா வேண்டாங்க. ஏதோ எழுதினத நாலு பேர் படிச்சா போதும் Smile

rajaclan Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:24 am

Raja and viji Manuel (Courtesy Eddie Dinesh)

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

maestro at work... i'm not sure if the person in blue tshirt in the middle is ARR.

app_engine Wed Nov 06, 2013 8:01 pm

rAsA reference in a blog post regarding 'thAnglish'

மெல்லத் தமிழினிச் சாகும் என்றக் கூற்றைப் பொய்ப்பிக்க திராவிட இயக்கங்கள், அதைத் தொடர்ந்து இளையராஜா, தமிழ்த் தொலைக் காட்சி ஊடகங்கள் தொடர்ந்து மறுமலர்ச்சிகள் ஏற்பட்டுக் கொண்டேதான் இருக்கின்றன. யுனிகோட் சாத்தியத்திற்குப் பின்னர் கன்னித் தமிழ் கணினித் தமிழாகவும் உருவெடுத்து உள்ளது.

**V_S** Wed Nov 06, 2013 8:09 pm

Suresh ji,
kalakkittenga! the clap

Very well explained on the two versions. Deeply analysed. Thanks a lot. Really loved the way you explained the Sriram's version of why the song starts in such a fashion and how it carries it to charanam. Now I can enjoy the song more than I was doing earlier. Yes as you explained, Snehan colloquial lyrics adds to the mood of the song suberbly. Sriram has done a fantastic job. As you explained, how he used the same tune for Tippu's version. Normally there would be happy version and sad versions, mostly in love situations sung first by a male and later by a female or vice versa. Here one version depicts a person's (his) depression/curse and other version his deceived friend's emotions, totally devoid of love which has been a cliche always. Tippu nailed it perfectly. Only Maestro gets these kind of never before kind of situations and mainly because of the belief they have on Maestro that only he can pull of these deeply bonded emotions which is the way our land has been built for centuries.

Definitely as you explained very well that this is not a fun song and might not attract every one w.r.t the tune as it has not a specific conventional structure, but as you listen, you will surrender yourself to it, such is the depth in this composition. Another thing to note here is he has mostly used synthesizers only to complement the main melody which is staggering to even think. Not just this song, every composition in this soundtrack was mainly arranged using synthesizers, yet the impact is more than the effect of live instruments just because Maestro uses it. Yes, this soundtrack is one of the biggest milestone not just in Maestro's musical career, but also in film music's career. It is a pity that this film didn't see the light (I think) and not many know about this soundtrack, but I am quite happy about it that only gifted ones get to hear such type of compositions. Thanks a lot Suresh ji again for bringing up these two marvels.

app_engine Wed Nov 06, 2013 8:13 pm

அர்த்தம் புரியாமல் எழுதுவது

What Asha told simply meant great (mahAn) music director.

These fellows interpret that as Asha calling IR "mahAn" (as in "mahAn, Gandhi mahAn") Laughing

mythila Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:06 pm

Thank you app for this very rare video - Raja with Viji Manuel. This should be preserved for posterity sake . The warm bonhomie Raja shares with his boys [ I mean his saga orch crew] indha sandal scent a swaasichapparam kooda eppidi ippidi .... !!!

app_engine Thu Nov 07, 2013 11:36 pm

mythila madam,
rajaclan posted that youtube link Smile

Accordingly, me redirecting your appreciation Smile

======

The Hindu reporter properly recognizes rAsA's role in yesteryear deepAvaLi releases and contrasts with current :
http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/usual-film-but-in-control/article5325462.ece?homepage=true

Deepavali used to be a time for wild celebrations, especially for film fans in Tamil Nadu in the eighties. There would be at least ten releases starting from Rajni and Kamal starrers to Prabhu, Karthik and ‘Kokila’ Mohan down to Murali. Films were planned with the festival of lights as the deadline for release. There was no talk of too many releases and very few screens. Stars considerd competitors as box-office rivals rather than born enemies. There would always be a dark horse that would outrun a film starring a marquee name. The busiest man would be Ilaiyaraja. He would have churned out chartbusting songs for most of the releases but producers would wait patiently for him to allot dates for the background score. The prolific maestro would not take more than a couple of days for each film but his score would enhance the most mundane of sequences. The films were mostly about romance or revenge and both were lapped up with equal fervour.

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Anything about IR found on the net - Vol 2