Anything about IR found on the net - Vol 3

answers.com

The funny part is "19 people found this answer useful"


BTW, I edited the answer which initially said somethiing like "IR could not complete within the deadline given by KB". Nonsense. I changed it to IR informing his non-availability

Malayalis love for Raja keeps increasing by the day. Here is one girl sing the classical song from 'Ivan' and then hear M G Sreekumar and Anuradha Sriram's comments about Raja. The song starts a little after 17mins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwB4kAPWBa0#!

Raaga_Suresh wrote:Malayalis love for Raja keeps increasing by the day. Here is one girl sing the classical song from 'Ivan' and then hear M G Sreekumar and Anuradha Sriram's comments about Raja. The song starts a little after 17mins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwB4kAPWBa0#!

Thanks Suresh, you made my day. That girl was fabulous.

Such songs are sung on stage only in the Malayalam competitions, as their standard is far higher than Tamil.

indha vaaram.. from VV..... Oruvar Vaazhum Aalayam... Theme......

Ivaruku matum... IR's compositiion ellam...... paadamaga kaekum pola iruku..............

I have always highlighted Maestro Illaiyaraaja's understanding of toying around with a Major key and its relative minor seamlessly. Usually if the Pallavi is in Major the Charanam switches to relative minor and vice versa. 


This music sounds incredibly simple. But its the vision of charting the trajectory of a piece of music first and then setting all other tracks according to it, which makes me go 'Wow'. Not a single note that you hear in this bit is composed independently. They are well conceived knowing what their place in the whole 4 bars. This school of thought in composing is simply not to be found anymore.. 


Simple madhiri irukum Great..........  Ezhuthil...   Padichavangalukkaga....


Piano vil.. kaetu purindhu kolla.. (ennai pola padikathavangalukaga..)  


Violin Vicky.... Ivarudaiya puridhalum.. IR madhiiri periya vishayam... Avarai polave.. Ivarum.. Simple aga solli puriya vaikirar......Thanks to God.....




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akYB8Zp2S1g

rAsA speech in PA function

சினிமாவில் வாய்ப்புகள் தேடி அலைந்தபோது, இசைக்கருவிகளுடன் இசைத்து காட்டியபோதும் எங்களுக்கு யாரும் வாய்ப்பு தரவில்லை. ஆனால் மேஜையில் தாளம் போட்டு பாட்டுப்பாடி காட்டியபோது, பஞ்சு அருணாசலம் அன்னக்கிளி படத்துக்கு வாய்ப்பு கொடுத்தார். பஞ்சு அருணாசலம் எந்தக் கணக்கில் என்னை அறிமுகப்படுத்தினார் எனத் தெரியாது.

This actually belongs to ROTFL threads

இளையராஜாவை சீண்டினாரா அனிருத்?

Avoidable issue

This link is related to the court order against agi music / echo etc

Unfortunate incidents...

rAsA with students

சென்னை பிரசாத் ஸ்டுடியோவில் உள்ள எல்.வி.பிரசாத் பிலிம் அன்ட் டெலிவிஷன் பயிற்சி அகாடமி மாணவர்களுக்காக இசைஞானி இளையராஜா திரைப்படத்தின் பின்னணி இசை குறித்து விரிவான உரையாடல் ஒன்றை நிகழ்த்தினார். இந்த உரையாடலின் போது இயக்குனர் பாலாவும் உடனிருந்தார்.

rAsA on the news

சீஷெல்ஸ் நாட்டு சுற்றுலாத் துறை தூதராக இளையராஜா நியமனம்!

There is a twitter conversation going on about Viji Manuel claiming IR didn't have a clue of what chords VM played for en vAnilE of Johny.

If someone can lay hands on that magazine article, please share here

https://t.co/eZv4WRhhJE

En Vaanile kooda nambalaam (with a pinch of salt; IR'ku edhuvum purila is a little far fetched but him approving Viji's chords is not inconceivable) but Nee Paartha Paarvaikkoru Nandri is fluff from Viji (and I am an admirer of Viji). IR gave tune by humming to a pianist (not believable since he deals with written notations for musicians) and even considering that's true, how does Viji playing it on the piano make it his composition unless IR gave the lead melody and Viji conceived the chords?! We have IR's interview with SB where he says with pride of how "every note is his." Viji solradhu nambara maari illa. I do however feel this is a backlash for Karthikeyan taking on Viji in the Ilayathalam's FB page.

Viji's narration about Nee paartha paarvai isn't very credible at all - IR hummed tune, left for some function with Kamal, Viji finished composing the song by the time IR got back. nambarA mAthiriyE illa. OTOH, IF this is true, it is very disappointing as Viji most certainly deserved co-composer credits for the song (which he didn't get). Also, I'm afraid that for en vaanilE, this time I have to go by the "where there's smoke there is fire" principle. If Eddie, Violin Vicky (citing a reliable source) and Viji have all indicated on one occasion or other that IR, at times, went along with Viji's ideas for the basslines or chords, I'm going to have to take their word for it, unless IR himself categorically denies it (I can't take KR or Ilayathalam or the official FB page seriously) This is my considered opinion.

Should perhaps add a cautionary note -there is an added difficulty in unearthing the truth of not knowing Viji's exact words, but rather having to read them through the semi-literate words of an idiot Tamil magazine intermediary. So andha additional factor to be kept in mind. Note he has transcribed it as chords in charanam of en vaanile when there is in fact hardly any piano to be heard in the charanams. I'm guessing Viji probably meant (and said) 1st nterlude, but the idiot didn't know what an interlude is and by the time he sat down to transcribe the interview, forgot the word and just filled in charanam instead. idha mAthiri vEra enna sodhappalO....

It's not only Viji or Eddie.  Even Prasanna, who is a well respected musician in his own right and has worked with no less than Victor Wooten, also said he had given inputs for some guitar passages he played in Mumbai Express and praised Raja for being open minded in taking those suggestions on board.  If Prasanna is also supposed to be a gumbal-conspirator, then this is where I get off.

CK,

I agree IR is open about receiving inputs when it comes from qualified sources like Viji, Karthik Raja or Prasanna. Heck, even he himself has acknowledged Noel Grant in Oru Naal Unnodu Oru Naal. What it does is disprove the IR is a dictator/sadist theory; which now is admittedly a self goal

However, one interesting twistu:

Viji is now in ARR's payroll at the KM Music Conservatory: http://m.newindianexpress.com/chennai/378456  not that it alters his motives significantly but I presume he is bitter about no support for 7 yrs when he had 2 surgeries.

I want to bring in another wrinkle to this.  The 'members' of Steely Dan, namely the autocratic duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, used to work out of a studio and avoided touring, instead relying on any and every sessions musician their producer/label could afford.  They got complete compositional credit.  But this does not mean every note was in fact theirs.  Those accomplished musicians were often given liberty to work out their solos/parts within the parameters of the expectations of Fagen and Becker.  I think that is what would have happened in IR's case also.  I don't believe IR would accept anything in his composition that does not fit into his own vision of it, first and foremost.  Now, what did Steely Dan do to get around the possible resentment of musicians?  They simply gave performing credits to each and every sessions musician, that's all.  And that's what IR also should have done, if it was not done.  I can understand that it may not be possible to print all the names on a tiny audiotape as opposed to a LP or CD but it should be there on record somewhere.  If it is not, the belated outpouring of vayatherichal is not surprising and not entirely unreasonable either. A performing credit does not equal a compositional credit but the catch is that musicians in their enthusiasm will usually be satisfied once they get a performing credit.  

It has to also be said that IR was not alone in this anyway.  There is no proper documentation of what musicians worked with RDB and from the stories I have come across, the collaboration often reached Rahmanesque levels in his compositions.  Far from complaining, that trombone player who played in RDB's troupe actually seemed to appreciate that collaborative approach as opposed to IR's autocracy.  One can at the most hold IR guilty of not trying to reform the structure in a way that would be more equitable to the musicians but that's about it.  Unfortunately for the gumbal, even Rahman's beloved guru MSV did not do anything different from IR's approach in that regard and it can at least be said with certainty that IR did not hog the limelight away from a compositional partner.  I've heard it from a reasonable source that Sukhwinder fell out with ARR because he wanted compositional credits.  Rahman himself has acknowledged that Chaiyya Chaiyya was basically a jam session consisting of himself and Sukhwinder.

Vis a Vis Sukhwinder, Anuradha Sriram also fell out because she wasn't given composition credits. As for crediting every musician, again like you rightly point out, one CD'la 75-100 man orchestra pEr ellAm print seyya mudiyAdhu. And with IR, Napoleon recently shared on FB that he entertained that inputs only from Viji and Napoleon other than his son (and on the rare occasion from a Prasanna or a Noel Grant over time). Also, I do have How To Name It's LP cover where every musician who worked is credited, including Viji and IR in an interview around 1986 has said he is the best pianist in India that IR knows of. So IR is autocratic w.r.t music is hard to buy (because there are other perspectives that paint a contrary picture) though he has fallen off spectacularly with his musicians over payment issues.

I mean autocratic in the sense of the composer-is-supreme approach, vis a vis the collaborative/band approach.  He was not alone there, again.  SJ, MM, Naushad, OP Nayyar were also autocratic from whatever I've read.  If gumbal resents IR for that reason, then that's basically the legacy, for better or worse, of much of old HFM and TFM.

How To Name It's LP cover (for posterity's sake ). app_engine will be able to recount other albums where IR has credited wherever he could in the 80s.

Further, if he did properly credit the musicians and just could not get their names printed on a cassette cover and the vayatherichal is over payment issues, then I would blame the musicians for trying to misrepresent facts and deliberately tarnish IR's image.

crimson king wrote:I mean autocratic in the sense of the composer-is-supreme approach, vis a vis the collaborative/band approach.  He was not alone there, again.  SJ, MM, Naushad, OP Nayyar were also autocratic from whatever I've read.  If gumbal resents IR for that reason, then that's basically the legacy, for better or worse, of much of old HFM and TFM.

Again, OP Nayyar, Naushad, RDB have had multiple arrangers for multiple genres. Where has IR had an arranger? Legacy right, but IR with Salil da did not have to credit anyone with them being bitter about not being credited imho. Inputs into a particular song is understandable. But overall legacy wise, IR and Salilda are alone in being complete.

Actually these kind of issues/rumblings over credits are very common in all bands that do not indiscriminately credit every composition to all members of the band.  The Fab Four began to crumble because Lennon and McCartney got all the credits, to cite just one example.  It is very normal, nothing much to see here, except squabbling perhaps between people who don't share the equations they once used to. Of course, it disturbs the mythical image of IR built up over the years and the other hand is fodder for the gumbal's efforts to paint him as a megalomaniac.

Drunkenmunk wrote:

crimson king wrote:I mean autocratic in the sense of the composer-is-supreme approach, vis a vis the collaborative/band approach.  He was not alone there, again.  SJ, MM, Naushad, OP Nayyar were also autocratic from whatever I've read.  If gumbal resents IR for that reason, then that's basically the legacy, for better or worse, of much of old HFM and TFM.

Again, OP Nayyar, Naushad, RDB have had multiple arrangers for multiple genres. Where has IR had an arranger? Legacy right, but IR with Salil da did not have to credit anyone with them being bitter about not being credited imho. Inputs into a particular song is understandable. But overall legacy wise, IR and Salilda are alone in being complete.

Not only they had arrangers, often the interludes followed the template of the arrangers and not necessarily what the composers themselves conceived.  It is questionable if they were at all times concerned about the shape and form of the interludes.  In spite of this, the compositions including background score are always credited entirely to the music director and not split with the arrangers.  As I said, there's nothing new here.  It's just something the gumbal picked up on and has continued to do so to this day to paint IR as a cruel Nero kind of figure.

Apart from what I said earlier, another point is that IR always writes down the score on paper notating not just the melody line, but also chords and instruments. Like CK said, IR has a very clear overall vision of his music, but not just that, he also writes it all down note for note. So the logical part of my brain insists that any improvisation or addition would have to be over what has already been composed and transcribed into western notation. And this, IR approves if he feels it fits in with the overall theme and atmosphere of the song or piece. Further these are occasional instances, not the norm. I am ok with all of this, except the Nee paartha paarvai story, IF it is true.

Actually I seem to remember reading that the chords for Nee Partha Paarvai were already written by LS and since the visuals with piano keys being played (?) were already shot, it was decided not to change the chords and simply work around it to come up with a new composition.  Now which of these is true.