Incredible "connectors" of Ilayaraja

This post must go into the 'Connectors' thread. I searched for it and could not locate it. I may have discussed this song in that thread. Please point out if I did and I will remove this post.


Araicha Santhanam - Chinna Thambi - 1989 - Tamil


This is one of the tracks that has complete focus on the singing and not much on the orchestration. You can see that the charanam has absolutely no strings backing. Looks like one of those quickly created tunes of Raja. 

However, observe the two connectors between the 1st and 2nd interlude to the charanam 1 and charanam 2. Raja takes a typical Indian track and uses harmony of violins and flute as the connector.

Connector 1: 1:18 to 1:23
Connector 2 : 2:52 to 2:57

Both these 5 second connectors are similar and uses full 4 part harmony as connectors. Very unusual usage within a folk melody.

ravinat wrote:I was hearing the song 'Vilayaata Padagotti' from Dhoni (2013 - Tamil) and the tune is a good melody with some great lyrics by Na. Muthukumar.

More interesting is the short connector between the charanam and the pallavi using a simple flute. Simplicity is the true hallmark of a genius. Hear the connector in both the charanams - it is the same simple 1 second flute that only he can think of...



Listen to 2:32 to 2:33 and 3:57 to 3:58. Perhaps the smallest but most effective connector I have heard!

When it comes to his flute connectors, I always sensed (or it is just MY interpretation) his fondness for S.D.Burman in them. Many SD songs have those connectors (later carried by RD too). And Raaja too, used exactly similar flute connectors right from 80s. The charanams of O Priya Priya (Geetanjali - Telugu) had them and there are countless examples. This song particularly, including its main melody/tune, lands like Raaja's hat tip to S.D.Burman, particularly to songs rendered by SD himself. That 3rd line in the main pallavi is so "SD" in spirit. When I heard it first, I immediately felt like it was Raaja's tribute to SD and hence that flute connector in charanam didn't come across as surprise to me. It was so obvious. It was so SD. It was so Raaja.

kamalaakarsh wrote:

ravinat wrote:I was hearing the song 'Vilayaata Padagotti' from Dhoni (2013 - Tamil) and the tune is a good melody with some great lyrics by Na. Muthukumar.

More interesting is the short connector between the charanam and the pallavi using a simple flute. Simplicity is the true hallmark of a genius. Hear the connector in both the charanams - it is the same simple 1 second flute that only he can think of...



Listen to 2:32 to 2:33 and 3:57 to 3:58. Perhaps the smallest but most effective connector I have heard!

When it comes to his flute connectors, I always sensed (or it is just MY interpretation) his fondness for S.D.Burman in them. Many SD songs have those connectors (later carried by RD too). And Raaja too, used exactly similar flute connectors right from 80s. The charanams of O Priya Priya (Geetanjali - Telugu) had them and there are countless examples. This song particularly, including its main melody/tune, lands like Raaja's hat tip to S.D.Burman, particularly to songs rendered by SD himself. That 3rd line in the main pallavi is so "SD" in spirit. When I heard it first, I immediately felt like it was Raaja's tribute to SD and hence that flute connector in charanam didn't come across as surprise to me. It was so obvious. It was so SD. It was so Raaja.

I need to listen more closely to O Priya Priya. The connector from charanam to the pallavi is done with synthesizer. He uses flute only between the charanam lines, which are very typical of thousands of Raja compositions. I focus on the melody and not the orchestration of SD - I need to get a bit more deeper with SD. 

I heard the Jewel Thief song (1967) and you are right about SD's use of flute as a connector. Good observation.



Both the interludes connect to the charanam with a brilliant flute connector. Maybe, this is a SD influence on Raja - agreed!