Anything about IR found on the net - Vol 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C87Sg177OJc
the key word he uses is 'melodical' - to sound melodic without all the orchestral layer - doing justice to the raaga.
Raaja's wares, tools and techniques are open to everyone. Just that one has to grow musically to re create in the same approach.
But underlying all that is this tremendous learning effort. And he is still at it..

kiru wrote:its that, even after 2 decades of being a 'composer' he simply does not comprehend WCM and IR's music".

Agree. A fair assessment. He is entitled to do as he pleases. But it opens his POV to criticisms which are valid.

crimson king wrote:Interesting that ARR sounds confused about whether he is more of a composer or more of a singer.  Even if he is not actually confused, he doesn't want to give a straight answer EVEN to that question.

Interesting that the interviewer had to prod him to answer to the "not got his due?"  He was answering in unrelated platitudes and backhanded compliments (which I did not see through initially since I didn't see the full interview and only took the portions as quoted from someone). It is only after he was prodded did he answer the question directly

It's funny to see some HCARRFs recalling IR's 1995 vikatan interview to counter the latest ARR attack on "sadistic" composers

fring151 wrote:

ravinat wrote:Most average musicians are like ARR and they improvise to death till they think they have got the tune and orchestration right. I have no qualms about such gibberish...

However when AR says that Raja is from a village and he picked up English and western music, I am pissed. He has no business talking about that. He is not an expert in WCM to comment about Raja like that. Even the BSO or any Western philharmonic orchestra guys do not deride Raja like that. On the contrary, they adore and respect him. If Raja says that AR has done a couple of good folk numbers despite growing up in a city, it has a different connotation as Raja is truly an expert in folk and a senior in the industry.

Screw the humility, he is making statements like what some very successful companies do before they die. I am reminded of Sun Microsystems - "the network is the computer", or Kodak- "You press the button, we do the rest". Who ever thought such bombastic claims will go nowhere.

Marketing has its limits...

Ravinat saar,

Absolutely! That statement is condescending on so many levels. Where is the need to bring in his English skills? Secondly, he definitely comes across as judging IR's English and WCM skills. The problem is that, thanks to marketing and media propaganda after Oscar and Grammies, ARR has been crowned the Mozart of Madras, WCM maestro etc. This naturally carries with it an implication of wcm mastery. The average person in the English media thinks ARR is the wcm maestro and IR was some villager who also composed good music in TFM before ARR's arrival. Amazing what marketing can achieve!!

One of the easiest ways to get me ticked off is this 'Mozart of Madras'. It is an insult not just to Mozart but to Madras also.

That stupid Time reporter was looking for a catchphrase and AR happens to be born in Madras. What would the reporter possibly do if AR happens to be born elsewhere. Here are some possibilities:

Location              Article title
Vathlakundu        Vivaldi of Vathalakundu
Palayamkottai      Pagnini of Palayamkottai
Basin Bridge        Beethoven of Basin Bridge
Warangal             Wagner of Warangal

  You see, any of this is possible. What did Mozart do to deserve this? The insult to WCM started with this stupid Time reporter and it continues. I do not blame him entirely as media folks want to sell their story whether they understand the true content or not.

  Why am I getting so outraged? Imagine a reporter from North India who interviews Abhishek Raghuram and declares that he is the Thyagaraja of T Nagar. It is as silly as that :-) No offence to the bright young Carnatic singer.

Ravinat,

 

Kamal had a fine answer for that when an NDTV interviewee asked him the question on what he feels about the Mozart of Madras getting the award. Kamal said Mozart of Vienna is long dead. Let's call him Rahman of Madras. I'm happy with that

Actually, Mozart was fast and prolific...i.e. not a whole lot like ARR and a lot more like IR in that regard.

Drunkenmunk wrote:

crimson king wrote:Interesting that ARR sounds confused about whether he is more of a composer or more of a singer.  Even if he is not actually confused, he doesn't want to give a straight answer EVEN to that question.

Interesting that the interviewer had to prod him to answer to the "not got his due?"  He was answering in unrelated platitudes and backhanded compliments (which I did not see through initially since I didn't see the full interview and only took the portions as quoted from someone). It is only after he was prodded did he answer the question directly

He basically didn't want to admit that IR hasn't got his due.  Of course his perspective would be different because he would have seen and worked with IR in the 80s.  But he is not even able to simply say that....something like that, "I don't know, when I grew up IR was by far the most popular composer in TN..."  Neither this way nor that.

crimson king wrote:Actually, Mozart was fast and prolific...i.e. not a whole lot like ARR and a lot more like IR in that regard.

Let's please leave WAM alone. After watching 'Amadeus' at least 4 times, I have grown so intolerant to such rubbish.

ravinat wrote:

crimson king wrote:Actually, Mozart was fast and prolific...i.e. not a whole lot like ARR and a lot more like IR in that regard.

Let's please leave WAM alone. After watching 'Amadeus' at least 4 times, I have grown so intolerant to such rubbish.

Er, that's exactly my point.  Mozart of Madras is a nonsensical media invention.  And it's not exclusive to India. Think Seattle Four.  Media always wants to contextualise and hype up music in any which way (and usually ridiculous ways).

crimson king wrote:I was just telling my father today that IR explained why Bach is his favourite WCM composer in a manner almost like explaining a mathematical equation.  Other counterpoints = 4 minutes for IR, invertible counterpoint = 1 hour, hence proved that Bach is the best.      It's a stark contrast to the vague tone that ARR seems to (intentionally?) strike in interviews.

That is one of the most insightful interviews of IR I have read. It takes a man of some depth to get IR to open his mind. He doesn't suffer fools. Not the idiotic reporter who asked him about ARR's Padma Bhushan or the FM chap who innocently and with a big smile on his face asked him in the Megha promo interview  'what is music?'. He doesn't suffer fools and it is noteworthy that even in a promo interview, he can't be bothered to appear polite or interested in marketing the music. He is just totally badass that way..

Actually the most insightful interview I have read from any Tamil or Hindi film music personality.  I haven't read anybody else articulate their concepts and process so clearly as IR did in that interview.  Credit to the interviewer, yes, for asking the right questions.

crimson king wrote:Actually the most insightful interview I have read from any Tamil or Hindi film music personality.  I haven't read anybody else articulate their concepts and process so clearly as IR did in that interview.  Credit to the interviewer, yes, for asking the right questions.

link undhi?

Um, it's the same interview we were both talking about.  I meant that one is the most insightful...blah blah blah

crimson king wrote:Um, it's the same interview we were both talking about.  I meant that one is the most insightful...blah blah blah

adhukku dhaan saar. Link irukkA? Or was it shared in the same thread? Not able to find it 

Drunkenmunk wrote:

crimson king wrote:Um, it's the same interview we were both talking about.  I meant that one is the most insightful...blah blah blah

adhukku dhaan saar. Link irukkA? Or was it shared in the same thread? Not able to find it 

Do you people mean this one:
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rjfgmo

Yes! Priceless interview. Look out for the answers which clearly reveal that Raja is quite aware of the quality of the movies he composes for and knows what good cinema is. He is not naive as some might think.

Oh yes. Read this. Terrific interview.

surprising that AR's team let this ndtv interview slip through, always maintained his interviews gets blue penciled by his team so that they could maintain his sanctimonious state wrt his competitors, no wonder most of his interviews are homogeneous/banal with scripted replies since the qs are sent much in advance so he could be better prepared. In this interview he was clearly caught off-guard and for once his answers were blunt/candid.

That statement that ARR made on 'letting the singers form their own tune' is condescending at so many levels and reflective of the kind of poor quality singers we have in this generation

OTOH ARtards got a new tactical vest for his lack of complex tunes, blame it on AR's trait to keep
the 'performers' happy now imagine if all the creators in other fields think alike and were to work with the sole purpose of keeping the 'performers' happy by giving them cushy jobs, how much junk we may have to devour.

However when AR says that Raja is from a village and he picked up English and western music, I am pissed. He has no business talking about that. He is not an expert in WCM to comment about Raja like that.

this was a low blow. Evar mattum enna London'la business class'la MBA mudichitu vandhara? ellam athay Musee Musicals thaane??

for all the sermons ushered in praise of AR starting a school to bring back the orchestra music they seldom quiz him on why/how the void was
created in the firstplace..Dhoda, ivanga mathram vedam saathan odharavanga 

Is English speaking such a big deal ? Heard Pranav Mistry's speech releasing Samsung Smart Gear ? Our CEO at my past workplace (Sybase) could not speak english properly. None of the SAP execs do either. And IR learnt other  south indian languages and sanskrit too. Never mind, he knows tamil better than ARR. 
Anyways, it is too silly to belabor this.. Rahman does not think highly of IR .. that is all. He has won Oscars and gets nice paychecks. He has to be right and smart ,Lets wish him good luck and continue to enjoy our man's music.

My attitude is who cares about what Rehman thinks....

To me popoularity has nothing to do with talent.  MGR was so popular in TN and even CM - seriously?  so are so many other buffoons.....

Rehman - as IR puts it is beneficiary of good karma by his dad - right place at the right time - promoted by the right people.

He doesnt have the same level of knowledge, same level of genius that IR has....

We as IR fans should have the same attitud as IR as .... dont care.

Hope that Rehman understands his limitations someday...

kiru wrote:Is English speaking such a big deal ? Heard Pranav Mistry's speech releasing Samsung Smart Gear ? Our CEO at my past workplace (Sybase) could not speak english properly. None of the SAP execs do either. And IR learnt other  south indian languages and sanskrit too. Never mind, he knows tamil better than ARR. 
Anyways, it is too silly to belabor this.. Rahman does not think highly of IR .. that is all. He has won Oscars and gets nice paychecks. He has to be right and smart ,Lets wish him good luck and continue to enjoy our man's music.

He is no genius - he was a school dropout also ... they also paint this picture that somehow everyone in the US knows him because he won the Oscars - its only the Indian Janta - the common American doesnt know anything about him - its bs

Serves Manirathnam right - sine he introduced this guy he has had more failures - Karma is great

Wish him luck?  I hope he bites dust -   his actual content has never matched the hype

Check this out. Very illuminating article on how music is "produced" these days - essentially a team of people almost implementing an assembly line for putting together a song or background score. Our "Mozart" ARR is mentioned. Contrast to how IR creates/composes his music.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/the-perfect-arrangement/article4564366.ece

Today's entertainment (twitter / FB ubayam):

milli adichchittu oruththar video pArththu kudhichcha kadhai:
https://www.facebook.com/milliblog/posts/10151694378129615

mabbu theLinju 'mApLE, nAn appidi senjirukkapdAdhu' nilai:
https://www.facebook.com/milliblog/posts/10151694641014615

Hindu paper reports Karur composing show

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The huge gathering adored his speech and music composition style though only a bit of that was on show. Mr. Ilayaraja said many fans used to talk about alliances that could make a film click at the box office. Rubbishing such notions he said: “I give a damn to those concepts of winning alliances… Neither have I any alliances nor some oil cakes.’’

Mr. Ilayaraja said this was the first time he or perhaps any music director had composed music for a film song in public. “Usually only two persons – the director and lyricist – will be allowed when I compose music,” he said and pointed to the significance of the occasion.
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