Will there ever be another Ilayaraja?

The answer to this question is obvious, given that I am raising this in a Raja forum. However, the idea is not to discuss the answer but why such an event is improbable in the next few decades.

The digital music revolution that is underway has changed the rules of the game significantly that music directors/composers have to now play to a different set of rules. I plan to go into detail with some of my thinking on the reasons contributing to this improbability. At a high level, here are some topics I plan to explore:

1. Music apprenticeship and preparation
2. Learning and understanding different musical systems
3. Commitment of promoters of a music composer
4. Ability to risk and experiment
5. Playing by the rules that suit one's best musical beliefs
6. Ability to span multiple languages
7. Ability to hone and develop instrument and singing talent
8. Ability to compose music to fit the emotional requirements of the medium


In short, the environment has changed significantly, that none of the above is entirely possible. Even if we have musical talent that is better than Raja (in theory), there is no way the musician can shine given the environmental factors. All the above factors have contributed to Raja's towering personality and the environment allowed him to shine over the past 5 decades.  There is no composer who can score on all the above factors today and in the immediate future, no matter what their commercial success is.

In a way, we have been lucky to listen to the 'last' (in a way, first) composer who could span five decades and excel in a number of creative areas. Our future generations (at least a few) do not have a shot at this.

I will explore each of these topics with some examples from Raja's long 5 decades of work and methods. Feel free to comment and perhaps add anything I may have missed.

You will notice that I have not included the usual attributes such as speed of composing, number of films composed, or any such obvious items. The environment simply does not lend itself to such things, even if there is such talent.

Nice thread. Waiting for your thoughts. I feel this is an important criteria and incidentally this is being beaten about over the last couple of days for the nth time. Qualifying as a composer ticking every box (tune creation, orchestration, arrangement, recording, mixing and re-recording). Like Plum mentioned in the other thread, all Indhiya level la in the history of IFM'laye only Salil da and IR tick this box.

#1 Music apprenticeship and preparation

Raja did about 150 films working as an assistant to GKV. The fact was, GKV had a big orchestra to manage and he required an able assistant to conduct and work through the details. That was the trend with most composers from MSV to ARR. Raja continued that tradition and perhaps ARR and a few others are still holding on to that tradition.  Those 150 films, gave him the clear understanding of what not to do and how to change the paradigm of film music. How many new composers get those opportunities in the digital age? Most of today's composers go from playing on TV to films directly. The TV experience is useless as they never create new tunes. They play other composer's compositions. Improvisation is what they learn, not creativity.

Also, the small composers who do music today do all on their own - no assistants. At best, computer software serves as their assistant. There is simply no scope for a long apprenticeship. Today's digital environment creates a bunch of lone wolves who have flashes of brilliance and disappear like mayflies. They neither have the luxury of long apprenticeship, nor do they have the ability to explore music creation under several genres for different film situations. They also do not have the luxury of first hand observation of how new music is created. There is also pressure to perform on their own very early in life. With the exception of folks such as Bharadwaj or Deva (even they are from the 90s) , most of the recent composers are in their teens. Can you ever imagine a fully prepared music composer who will be able to productively compose from age 33 today? Not a chance. Even Bharadwaj and Deva were not wildly successful, though Deva had a run for sometime. Today, the rule is to get out early, prepared or otherwise. Raja went to learn WCM from a formal setting, understand music arrangement from GKV and was fully operational when he sought out to be independent. I doubt even in the case of YSR - he was and is still not fully prepared and he is pushing his luck. It is like computer software, 'working is good enough' - the bugs can be sorted out later...

Raja, not only was single mindedly focused, he was arming himself for the long run for 8 years before throwing himself into the race. Do not expect another Raja who will have such a luxury in the near future...

ravinat wrote:Raja, not only was single mindedly focused, he was arming himself for the long run for 8 years before throwing himself into the race.

And he didn't stop with the 8 after entering the industry. He continued going for CCM classes under TV Gopalakrishnan even after becoming a film composer and continued for a few more years. Like Kamal said, "indha peru vaaganathukku namakku theriyAma fuel avar pOttukittu irundhurukkAr. adhunAla dhAn inni varaikkum vandi odikittu irukku."

Great thread!  This reminds me of IR's own song from "Guru Ramana Geetham"  -  "Indroru Naal kazhindhadhu en vaazhnaazhil".

#2 Learning and understanding different musical systems
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Most of the young composers today have some training on western music basics. Training is different from mastery. All of them go through the cram like the kids trying to get their MCSE not having seen a real network in their life   This type of keyboard based training gets them to play the keyboard well and understand basic scales and I am sure, some site reading. Several years ago, when I visited Chennai, I was trying to get a book of Indian songs to be played on a piano. When I brought that book home, I realized that all the notations were done for single handed playing - in other words, harmonium notes. I am sure, a number of folks get misguided in India and most of the young musicians get their initial euphoria when they are able to play a popular tune with their new toy (with one hand!). Now, that's how Western music get introduced, in my view, to most beginners. This is no doubt an exaggeration, but my point is, getting to understand western classical music is very different from going to just keyboard classes. I doubt how many such keyboard shops teach real western music theory. Like it or not, one has to know western music theory if you want to call yourself a composer of some kind.


Contrast this with a young man from a village, who struggles and understands western music theory the hard way though his English is challenged. (I love his quote from one of his books - 'I am glad most of the WCM terms are in Italian'). To ensure that his friends are not disturbed at night, he learns to write sheet music to the level that he can do it faster than his pace with his native language.   And he does not stop there - he learns to write counterpoints, intricate harmonies staying up all night. It is this solid grounding on music theory that has kept him not just going, but constantly experimenting.


Most young musicians who are keyboard centric are very skilled at that. However, internalizing western music theory is beyond just being skilled. I am sure there is a parallel to all this with CCM as well. As I am no expert in that, I will stay away from it. Internalizing CCM is one thing, but moving to the next level of harmonizing ICM is another. Raja's music theory grounding and his CCM understanding is so strong that he is able to harmonize ICM very casually. He had shown this from the early 80s and has now become  second nature to him. He is a master tunesmith and so are several others. Tune is not the big deal, but just the foundation. When it came to orchestration, this huge mastery over both these systems is what separates him from the boys. Needless to say, he has extended this to folk as well.


Recently, I heard the song, Azhagu by GVP - he stays careful in not navigating to the WCM world. So does AR and all the new composers. A few dare to experiment. I would like to single out Sharath among the younger composers in this regard. Unfortunately, he does not have other things going. His songs in 180 and Meghadootham are a testimony to his understanding of both the systems.


Even if we find someone like a Sharath or Ramesh Vinayagam, how many opportunities do they get to do a song that showcases their skill? They are forced to get into the 'kuthu' song mold.  Soon these guys are tempted to believe that this would take them somewhere.


Most of them try to focus on non Indian music genres, as a result as their keyboard skills that easily lend them to learning genres such as R & B, retro or Latino music. Unfortunately, these genres have short shelf life, especially in India. You can't blame these guys. If the theme is very classical, chances are, the director will try to rope Raja or Vidyasagar and not Vijay Antony or Raghunathan. Vidyasagar has Swarabishekam, Raja has several and even Ousepachchan has 'Ore Kadal'. What do these young composers have for someone to risk them on a musical subject? It is a vicious circle where there are no opportunities and whatever little opportunities exist go to the one that have proved it already.


CCM is TFM will be used less and less in the coming years, as a result. Young composers will unfortunately not have the freedom that Raja had. They will have to go with what they have heard in some samples and be happy when some minor tweaks succeed commercially.

#4 Ability to experiment and take risks

 

Most of today’s young composers talk about genres and very rarely about any experiment. Even Raja has never spoken about his ‘experiments’. I do not think even Raja approaches music as a way to ‘experiment’ his ideas. He merely reacts to a film situation and finds a solution that best meets the need of the scene and the story. It is listeners like us, who call these things as ‘experiments’. To him, it is a non-standard application of his toolset. In my view, his tool bag is so deep, that the situations have not fully exhausted his options. For the most part, the job gets done with the tools in his top two or three draws.

A CCM enthusiast may speak at length about the choice of Raja’s notes in a ragam; a WCM enthusiast may look at his choice of modulation within scales, or his counter points and so on. What we consider as non-standard application of his toolset may very well be standard application for him. At the end of the day, ‘experiments’ such as what we talk about requires a very deep tool bag that is accumulated with years of hard work and intuition.

The young composers who work on movies today, do not have that depth, hard work or innovative ability. ‘Genres’ is just exposure to other musical types. Doing a composition of music in another genre is just the tip of the iceberg. Raja has always maintained that he wants to add his contribution to any area of music he touches. ‘Contribution’ is something big. Put simply, what the young composers are doing are like talking a course in physics in a university. You will be taught magnetism, optics, motion, electricity and topics such as these.  Now, if your favorite topic in physics is ‘optics’ (a.k.a. genre in music) – it is no big deal. What Raja does is akin to not only doing a PhD in optics, but going on writing his own research publication.

I do not consider his work on disco music in the 80s as a risk as this was the music of those times. However, he had the right tools to do that 'experiment' as he always had an additional Indian musical touch to whatever he did. His experiment with voices in Geetha (Kalade Nimageega) went unnoticed and the common listener took the Jyotheyale song more seriously.

The kid composers have only the ability to brag about their ‘optics’ lessons. It does not sound like good optics to seasoned music listeners, unfortunately. As they are not fully prepared, they can only do as much.

I also talk about ‘risks’ along with experimentation. Music making has little risks, according to Raja. It is the directors, producers, who run the risk of losing money and not him. Having said that,  Raja is always looking for the odd opportunity to use something from draw 5 and use it, as it may rust when not used. Let’s think of a song such as ‘Eriyile Elantha Maram’ from Karaiyellam Shenbagapoo in 1981. The setting that is given to him is a rural setting with kids dancing around someone who shows up from a city. The requirement is just a folk tune. Raja throws his deep WCM, choir, CCM, folk tools from draw 5 with a nice sugar coated melody to deliver what the director wants. All the director heard was the initial pallavi’s tune. This song was hardly appreciated for its genius for decades after that. Raja does not care.  What we say as risk translates to use of his tools from the bottom draws of his tool bag.  The tune will carry it through – the rest is ornamentation that Raja wants to use his deep knowledge. Similarly, ‘Manjal Veyyil’ from Nandu would have got the approval from the director based on the tune – the ornamentation goes back to Bach, which few people notice. Those are risks that Raja boldly takes, though it has the least impact on the general listener.

 It took him years to find a place for an acapella in Indian film music. He used his connection with Panchu to push such an idea (consider it as risky in the Indian context) with his Maya Bazaar song.

Most of his ragam based songs are ones that he floats through several directors (example, Raathiriyil Poothirukkum) and manages to find a taker at last. I am not sure, how many such great rejected tunes he has created. As he says, he has no problem giving as he has an infinite supply of tunes. Imagine a young composer today pushing a raga based composition to a director where he has dancers and main characters jerking around. That’s not going to cut it. Even if they have the ability to mix things that they know very well, say, a jazz and a R&B mix, it is a hard sell. These young composers will be relegated to ‘kuthu’ songs only, as a result.

A case in point is the dance video industry of Mumbai (also called BollywoodJ). A very talented artiste such as Shankar Mahadevan works there. Shantanu Moitra has a decent understanding of Bengali folk and classical music. The best we can get is when Sanjay Leela Bhansali decides to do music for his own home grown production (Ram Leela). The rest of them are relegated to dance video music. There is simply no scope for innovation in music. Unfortunately, the casualty in all this development of digital music is Indian and Western classical music. Bollywood is just a precursor to the state of South Indian Film music in the years to come...

Ravinat, great job. It's clear a lot of thought and work has gone into this series of posts. I might quibble about a few points here and there, but mostly agree, especially with the premise and (expected) conclusion of the thesis. So all's well that ends well 

Ravi,

Super. Posted the link on twitter.

I thought I will see a succession of posts in this thread with a single word update, "NO"  Instead you have given an elaborate justification. Great work as usual.

Great posts, sir.  One point I want to mention w.r.t experimentation is that IR himself has said he tries to come up with something new every time because, even if the director wants more of the same, he feels a song with a fresh flavour stands a better chance of becoming a habit.  So it may not be a very conscious attitude of 'experimenting' (besides which, he is compelled to fit his experiments to the requirements of film music) but he does have a yearning to explore different creative directions all the time.  He has never been content to settle down.  He made references to that even recently in the King of Kings show during the discussions; he said he has to keep the fire burning within and the day it's gone, he will retire.  I think that aspect makes him very different from most Indian film music directors who ultimately favoured a comfort zone.

Thanks Suresh, DM, CK for your comments. I am sure I have left a few topics in this series of posts.

I am not gifted to write HTNI or NBW  during lunch breaks - just these posts   

I will definitely write the concluding part of this series, as it is just not a 'NO', but a lot of things that need to be summarized.

Excellent posts, ravinat sir!





Somewhat related interview by KR here:
http://www.dinamalar.com/news_detail.asp?id=971297

உங்கள் தந்தையைப் போல சாதிக்கும் எண்ணம் உள்ளதா?

ஏன், இல்லை. சாதனை புரிவதற்கான வெறியே உள்ளது. ஆனால், அப்பா மாதிரி சாதிப்பது என்பது நடக்காத காரியம். பல ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு ஒருவர் தான் அப்பா போல பிறப்பர். இருந்தாலும் எனக்குள் ஆர்வம் இருக்கிறது. நீங்கள் கூறுவதுபோல, இப்படி எத்தனை பேர்தான் சாதித்து இருப்பார்கள்?
...
...
உங்கள் தந்தையின் இசையில், பாடல்கள் என்றும் ரசிக்கும்படி உள்ளது. இன்று இசையின் ஆதிக்கத்தால் பாடலும் புரியாததோடு, நிலைத்து நிற்பதுமில்லையே?

எனது தந்தையின் இசையில் கிராமியம், வெஸ்டர்ன் கிளாசிக்கல், ஜாஸ் என பலவும் இருந்தது. இப்போது கம்ப்யூட்டர் வந்துவிட்டதால், நான் உட்பட அனைவரிடமும், இசையின் பரிமாணம் மாறிவிட்டது எனலாம். அதாவது 'பாஸ்ட்புட்' மாதிரி.

Conclusion

   Are these just the 8 major reasons why Ilayaraja, the phenomenon is not repeatable? Perhaps, there are a few more. However, what is important is not the number of reasons, but to understand that Ilayaraja is not just a film musician who can be compared with any other. He is an institution. To put it in other words, he is a musical ecosystem. All the 8 factors we talked about are characteristics of that ecosystem.

   There are millions of lakes in the world, but none like the great lakes. As one of the largest fresh water bodies in the world, it is a natural wonder. However, it has an interconnected ecosystem that has no parallel. Most musical arguments about Indian composers end up in bun fights on any one characteristic of the ecosystem, not the entire one. The great lakes is a system of thousands of feeder streams, rivers which feed into the lakes apart from the snow melt. It has been there for millions of years and has never dried up. It has been exploited for commercial shipping. Yes, during the cold Canadian winters, the St. Lawrence seaway is closed. However, you cannot start comparing this to Panama Canal and state that Panama is better as it operates all year around and it can even allow large oil tankers to navigate. Beyond commercial navigation, the Panama canal to great lakes is a silly comparison. Commerce is one small part of the great lakes. Close to 150 million people's livelihood in Canada and the US are dependent one way or the other on the Great Lakes. The endless fertile terrains that it creates, the beautiful vineyards, orchards, countless waterfalls, streams, and parkland around the feeder system is something no other water system in the world can come close.

  Raja is a similar musical ecosystem, that goes beyond commercial success, obvious factors such as speed of composition or creation of great melodies. He has created an ecosystem that has allowed him to perform for five decades when the components of his ecosystem, continued to evolve. Like all ecosystems, even his, has its shortcomings, but has stood the test for 5 decades.

  In my view, this is the key to Raja's continued success in the last 5 decades. New composers must not be contend with a few commercial hits and rewards they win. They need to spend time in creating a musical ecosystem around them, involving factors that can best address their longevity. Until then, there is no question of another Ilayaraja!

Ravi,
This is awesome.     One of the best threads in our forum. Enlightening write-ups and accurate analysis with utmost value. Thank you so much for enlightening us with brilliant insights. The conclusion! You touched me deeply by your conclusion as I too live around Great Lakes and know the value  Would like to read more and more of yours.

Thanks V_S for your kind words.

I am not sure if this is the right place to include one more thing about Raja that other new composers have to bear in mind.

We all know of 'poetic freedom', a leading lyricist enjoys with their choice of words. Kannadasan enjoyed such a freedom for many years when he was the leading lyricist. The lay man assumed that Kannadasan would take care of simplifying complex literary works and use his power of words to simplify this. I am sure, such freedom has been enjoyed by poets from other languages too. The layperson does not validate if the leading lyricist is truly capable of carrying that weight on his shoulders. However, the lyricist has that responsibility.

With music, Raja earned one of 'musical freedom' that is a rare distinction. The average music listener does not know the technicalities of music making. But, he/she trusted that Raja will navigate all those intricacies of musical systems, orchestration and deliver music that honors the rules of the component systems. When Raja did harmony and managed to interweave Indian classical music into it, the ordinary listener heard a few pundits telling him/her that Raja has navigated complex systems to deliver the soothing melody that was presented to them in 4 minutes. However, the ordinary listener got to somehow know about the mastery of Raja over these various systems and trusted him to take care of the rules. Raja took this responsibility seriously that many Carnatic pundits have validated his work in films.

Every new composer who emerges as a lead in the race in the future, must assume this 'musical freedom' seriously. Otherwise, the scenario will be like the wilderbeast scene of Lion King!