Anything about IR found on the net - Vol 1

app_engine wrote:

isaifan wrote: 'sadistic happiness'

There's a funny thing in a recent SS4 episode.

The kaLLa gumbal wants to praise sky-high the northie "sArangi" player (who in association with a flautist  butchered some rAsA songs, esp sangeetha jAthi mullai), thus hoping to get their "improvised" versions praised as way better than rAsA originals. (TV fellows do this from time to time).

They were praising the instrumentalists sky high.

At one point, the sArangi player same side goal pOttArE pakkalAm!

Watch between 24:30 and 25:00 of the following youtube:


You should see the crowd instantly breaking into applause when the magical name is spelt!

So, there are always lot of enemy-acclaimed instrumental players who love a sadist composer

this week Rajesh vaidhya was praised by 'you know who' as someone who 'Raaja saar' is a fan of. modhara kaiyyaala kuttu padalai gumbalaa sendhu odhai patrukkaanga poala. avlo bleddu.

Based on a twitter conversation, found that even after saNdai with rAsA and efforts to introduce alternative / competition - which they successfully did with rOjA, KB's production house resumed using rAsA version of 'அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம்' as the "opening song" of their later-day movies.

Even some with ARR music had that kuRaL opening it seems (muthu / pArthAlE paravasam)!

I verified 'sAmy' (2003) myself with youtube - that it DID have rAsA version of the kuRaL in the beginning!

First I thought it was cine-sentiment (rAsi business that cine field is notorious of). Interestingly, rOjA didn't have it - which was a big success - so, that theory is ruled out.

Because KB's prod house continued to have rAsA song as some sort of prayer song for their movies, even as late as 2003, but MR forced the same production house to take that out for rOjA makes MR a bigger anti-IR person than KB

The two pictures in this blog are getting highlighted in a number of places on the net...

Joe sir had posted them in the hub's KH-RK threads, triggering some usual style posts. Here in this blog too there're some paridhAbamAna comments.

However, one comment definitely kept me amused :

தமிழன் என்று சொல்லடா தலை நிமிர்ந்து நில்லடா

 

Article on pallavi anupalavi and MR in general

மணிரத்னத்தின் முதல் படமான ‘பல்லவி அனுபல்லவி’யும் கன்னட மொழியில்தான் உருவாக்கப்பட்டது. ‘கோகிலா’ வெளியாகி நான்கு ஆண்டுகளின் பின் 1983 ஆம் ஆண்டு ‘பல்லவி அனுபல்லவி’ வெளியானது. பாலுமகேந்திரா ‘பல்லவி அனுபல்லவி’யின் ஒளிப்பதிவாளராகப் பணியாற்றினார். இளையராஜா இசையமைத்தார். பி.லெனின் படத் தொகுப்பாளர். ‘பல்லவி அனுபல்லவி’யை மணிரத்னம் கன்னடத்தில் எடுக்கக் காரணமாக அமைந்தது, அவரது படம் குறைந்த பட்ஜெட் படமாக இருந்தது என்பதுதான். இளையராஜா அன்று வாங்குகிற ஊதியத்தில் மிகக் குறைந்த அளவே தன்னால் தர முடிந்ததாக மணிரத்னம் பதிவு செய்திருக்கிறார்.

I've posted the youtube on rAsA concerts thread.

However, this kind of news article has a place in thread too, for ref. :
Suhasini says she's rAsA devotee

Suhasini Maniratnam, who is also a part of the show as the chief guest, went emotional while speaking about the musical genius. She reveals, “I am a big fan of Raja sir. I can even call myself as a bhakta or devotee of Raja sir. His songs have always served as a big boost and motivated me all along my life whenever I was down. His songs on ‘mother’ are truly inspirational. I have seen him when I was in school at the age of 12 as a young energetic man with a guitar in his hand.”

Incidentally, Suhasini’s debut film 'Nenjatthai Killadhe' had Raja’s musical score. “I still remember my first film where I had to walk and jog for Raja sir’s evergreen melody Paruvame Pudhiya Paadal Paadu. I think I am blessed,” she muses. Pointing out towards Ilayaraja, she adds, “You don’t know what kind of impact you have made in our lives with your soulful numbers.” Raja, in his signature style, replied in a lighter vein, “The moment I know about it, I would stop composing music.”

Actor Sri  Onaiyum aatu kuttiyum.  about IR.............  from 3.17 to  3.52


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqvtO_M-kac

Charulatha Mani's durbar

Yesudas’s rendition of Thyagaraja’s “Yochana kamalalochana” in Sindhubhairavi is also unforgettable.

In the movie, the singer protagonist barges into a concert-in-progress and chides the performer for his mediocre rendition of Durbar and proceeds to demonstrate the raga starting with swaras and finishing off at the pallavi. This scene is still remembered today – “Durbarnaa ippadi paadanum!” (Durbar should be sung like this!). In Nayaki, the characteristic inflections and exaggerations in the “DNS” and “RG,” regions make it unique. Thyagaraja’s kritis such as “Nee bhajana” and “Dayaleni” and Dikshitar’s “Ranganayakam” on Lord Sri Ranganatha of Srirangam are in Nayaki.

In the film Keladi Kanmani, the song “Varanam Ayiram” is a ragamalika that features Nayaki in the stanza beginning “Indiran...”. The pronounced gamaka in “RG,RS” is evident in “magal pesi…”, sung by S. Janaki in the music of Ilayaraja.

mukA in letter quoting mag reports wrote:
மேலும் நான்கு நாட்கள் நடைபெற்ற இந்த விழாவில் சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் ரஜினிகாந்த், கலைஞானி கமல்ஹாசன், இசைஞானி இளையராஜா, இலட்சிய நடிகர் எஸ்.எஸ்.ஆர். போன்ற மூத்த கலைஞர்களுக்கு முன் வரிசையிலே இடம் ஒதுக்கப்படவில்லை என்பது மாத்திரமல்ல, அவர்கள் முன் வரிசையில் சென்று அமர்ந்த பிறகு, அவர்களை இருந்த இடத்தி லிருந்து எழுப்பி பின் வரிசையில் அமரச் செய்தது, ஒட்டுமொத்த கலைஞர்களையும் அவமானப்படுத்திய அநாகரிகச் செயலாகும். அந்தச் சாதனைக் கலைஞர்களுக்கு முதல் வரிசையில் இடம் ஒதுக்காவிட்டால்கூட, அவர்கள் 3 வரும்போதே வரவேற்று, அவர்களுக்கெனத் திட்டமிட்டு ஒதுக்கீடு செய்யப்பட்ட இடத்தில் அமர வைத்திருக்க வேண்டும். மாறாக அவர்கள் அமர்ந்தவுடன் அங்கிருந்து அகற்றிப் பின் வரிசையில் அமர வைத்தது பண்பாடற்ற செயல் என்றே கூற வேண்டும்.
...
...
இந்நிகழ்ச்சியில் முதல்வர் அருகில் சினிமா தயாரிப்பாளர்களும், 2வது வரிசையில் நடிகைகள் மனோரமா, சரோஜாதேவி, எல்.ஆர். ஈஸ்வரி உட்பட பலரும், மூன்றாவது வரிசையில் நடிகர் ரஜினி, கமல் ஆகியோரும் அமர்ந்திருந்தனர். குரூப் போட்டோவுக்காக கமல், இளையராஜா ஆகியோர் 'சேரில்' உட்கார்ந்திருந்தனர். அவர்களை அரசு அதிகாரிகள் எழுந்து நிற்கச் சொன்னார்கள். குரூப் போட்டோவில் ரஜினி ஏனோ இடது ஓரம் ஒதுங்கிக் கொண்டார்'.

How not to conduct a vizhA, says mukA

IR never scolded me, says Shreya Goshal

Speaking on an Occasion she said “Working with Illayaraja sir is the most unforgettable experience. Most of the people said to me that Raja sir never praises anybody and loses his temper easily. But luckily he never scolded me and I take it as a biggest compliment. I feel honoured whenever I get a call from Raja sir to sing for him and if at all there is a music school he is the principal of that school.”

 

(So, BEWARE before calling a composer "sadistic")

It also says something about Shreya Ghoshal's equation with IR.  We know she named him when IBN asked her who was the one composer she would work with for free so she seems to revere him.   In the 2005 show, she had sung Kaatril Endhan Geetham and repeatedly mispronounced Thedhuthe as Thoduthe.  IR pointed it out after the song and then asked the crowd to forgive her because she didn't know Tamil.  She could have taken it the wrong way and felt offended but she hasn't, it seems.   Somebody who thinks much of himself/herself might have considered that 'scolding'.

A designer clothes video using Raja's music. (via twitter @ilaiyaraajaFans )

https://twitter.com/alexsabot/status/383623797288759299

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y4_ay1jRvo#t=35

Scale chainges in kalvanae....always smooth and soft. like a ghee sweet............. or ghee alwa........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn-lBCgAKeo

kanaprabha lists 50 movies with IR's music as good-to-watch ones:

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1ro9d4t

I'm surprised that I've watched most of them!
 
 
 

Of course, not 100% - I haven't watched the following : வருஷம் 16, கிழக்கு வாசல், நினைவே ஒரு சங்கீதம், தர்ம துரை, சத்திரியன், பிரம்மா, நடிகன், இதயம், செம்பருத்தி...(may be for next summer)...

A lovely article in Tamil on how Raja's music personally affected this person:

http://ilavanji.blogspot.in/2013/10/blog-post.html

Wow! very moving article. Thanks Suresh ji. Loved the paadi parantha kiLi reference and the impact.

//ஆனா உணர்தல்னா அது இளையராஜாவுக்குன்னு மட்டுமே இருக்கு முடியும்னு தோணுது.//
//இளையாராஜாவா மத்தவங்களாங்கற பேச்சையெல்லாம் ஒரு சிறு புன்னகையால் புறந்தள்ளிப்போக மட்டுமே முடிகிறது.//

Well said and true words. Especially the second one about any comparison, will have to learn to ignore.

Someone sent me this link:
https://twitter.com/msnarain/status/385004038552436736

Why would someone want to advertise their extremely lame sense of humour on twitter? Well I can understand it might help score brownie points with chicks who read their timeline etc...but still... I don't mind humour at the expense of Raja fans at all, but while you're at it why not make an attempt at some genuinely mordant humour which might really sting rather than 9th std level flowcharts relying on cliched, infantile exaggeration templates. All this did was to reinforce a certain sense of intellectual superiority in me, which I suspect is the last thing a satirist wants from his target.

Fring,

Unfunny piece that. Best is to ignore. He based this on some IR veriyar's reaction on milliblog's review of Megha. Agreed a few of the tards are unbearable. But that's the case everywhere. P_R countered it quite ably: https://twitter.com/dagalti/status/385031317328375808 idhukku mEla solla oNNum illa.

And he was disappointed that IR fans didn't outrage. Attention seeking as I see it. Wanted to say try to be funny and we might outrage. But not worth it. Also, did you see the low budget snipe in that so-called funny flow chart? idhellAm glory hunting gumbal. pAthAlE paththiNdu varum nEkku.

Munk, Fring: as two of the very few youngsters I respect, you should just ignore these chaps. One of these days, I intend to showcase you two as what an youngster can become when they appreciate Raja - again I could be reversing the causality here  - versus what kind of youngsters ARRtardness produces. Enough examples of retarded cases, and zero examples of enlightened youngsters following ARR's music.

As for that flowchart, I liked how all those who got burnt by a stinging expose of their stupidity viz a viz Raja - milli, kudhish etc - congregated in this conversation, like a  bunch of roadside romeos, put in their place by an intelligent girl, congregating to bitch on her. 

More I see the youngsters who like ARR, and more I see you, I feel more and more confident that it is Raja who will survive centuries; discerning youngsters - and it is not just about Raja that you are discerning, your all-round discernment is clearly on view - are moving to Raja. Suresh always used to say this. I always used to  believe this. It is coming true right before my eyes. I thank God for youngsters like you. He sure knows what he does I guess. God Sees The Truth But Waits, wrote Tolstoy...

@plum - in the grand scheme of things .. there is room for Rahman too :-) actually more room for him than IR !!!. If you listened to the promo of Australian concert, IR almost said his music is classical music :-) Lots of people buy Toyota's. But Toyota also makes a Lexus. Our man is the Lexus of film music :-) as simple as that :-)

Sorry to play devil's advocate (maybe I am incurable cynic?) but I have interacted with amateur singers for a cultural community in my area and to a man/woman, they were singularly indifferent to Ilayaraja's music.  And they were all much better singers than me and could name notes, etc. I think the ABILITY to discern is not enough; it requires a certain mindset that is not influenced only by sound and production and listens to the granular details of the music.   Only a small minority of people generally look at music that way; it IS the sound that is most important for the majority.  And ARR has a big edge over IR there because he did come up with a big new sound.  Forget listeners, musicians working in the industry at that time were blown away by what he did in his early films.  Anyhow, I am personally not much interested in knowing what people will be listening to 50 years hence.  If I am (hopefully) still alive then, I will still be listening to my favourite IR songs, that's for sure.  Those who don't, it's their loss, not IR's.  IR has achieved the things people dream of; that is all that matters.

crimson king wrote:Sorry to play devil's advocate (maybe I am incurable cynic?) but I have interacted with amateur singers for a cultural community in my area and to a man/woman, they were singularly indifferent to Ilayaraja's music.  And they were all much better singers than me and could name notes, etc. I think the ABILITY to discern is not enough; it requires a certain mindset that is not influenced only by sound and production and listens to the granular details of the music.   Only a small minority of people generally look at music that way; it IS the sound that is most important for the majority.  And ARR has a big edge over IR there because he did come up with a big new sound.  Forget listeners, musicians working in the industry at that time were blown away by what he did in his early films.  Anyhow, I am personally not much interested in knowing what people will be listening to 50 years hence.  If I am (hopefully) still alive then, I will still be listening to my favourite IR songs, that's for sure.  Those who don't, it's their loss, not IR's.  IR has achieved the things people dream of; that is all that matters.

CR,

You are right that sound attracts a lot of youngsters and many are not keyed into Raja's music. At the same time, it is also true that good sound / loops can be easily replicated. This is what is happening. I follow quite a few youngsters on twitter as well as in real life and what I see is that Rahman's music is not held up the same way it was in the early years. Now the youngsters in Tamil are onto Harris, Yuvan, Anirudh etc while there are enough MDs in Hindi whose music is hit and Rahman has just become one more MD there. I listen to the FM Radio (Hindi) regularly and for the couple of hours that I listen, there will atmost be one Rahman song if you are lucky. Else every hit the past 5 yrs is by some other MD. All of them have the 'sound'.

The other part is about where these youngsters are from. If there are urban based or outside of India, Raja will take some time to grow. But as P_R mentioned once on twitter, Raja's music is still part of all youngsters in Tamilnadu towns. The number of youngsters that turn up whenever Raja visits any other town is phenomenal. So depending on the demographics we may come to a conclusion as to whether Raja is popular or not.

The bottomline according to me is this; While other producing great sounding 'sound' Raja produces great sounding music. That is the difference and that is why Raja's music will be (and is being) embraced by the discerning youth of every generation.

fring: As Plum says that guy is an attention seeker and as you rightly pointed out wants to see if he can impress the ladies this way. So freeya vidu is the best option with such fellows.

plum wrote:Munk, Fring: as two of the very few youngsters I respect, you should just ignore these chaps. One of these days, I intend to showcase you two as what an youngster can become when they appreciate Raja - again I could be reversing the causality here  - versus what kind of youngsters ARRtardness produces. Enough examples of retarded cases, and zero examples of enlightened youngsters following ARR's music.

More I see the youngsters who like ARR, and more I see you, I feel more and more confident that it is Raja who will survive centuries; discerning youngsters - and it is not just about Raja that you are discerning, your all-round discernment is clearly on view - are moving to Raja. Suresh always used to say this. I always used to  believe this. It is coming true right before my eyes. I thank God for youngsters like you. He sure knows what he does I guess. God Sees The Truth But Waits, wrote Tolstoy...

Haha Plum saar, Statutory warning: It is easy to appear smarter than one actually is on the internet. But it is hard to appear more stupid than one actually is, so I will take the above as a compliment .

plum wrote:As for that flowchart, I liked how all those who got burnt by a stinging expose of their stupidity viz a viz Raja - milli, kudhish etc - congregated in this conversation, like a  bunch of roadside romeos, put in their place by an intelligent girl, congregating to bitch on her. 

I don't know who those characters you refer to are but that was 

crimson king wrote:Sorry to play devil's advocate (maybe I am incurable cynic?) but I have interacted with amateur singers for a cultural community in my area and to a man/woman, they were singularly indifferent to Ilayaraja's music.  And they were all much better singers than me and could name notes, etc. I think the ABILITY to discern is not enough; it requires a certain mindset that is not influenced only by sound and production and listens to the granular details of the music.   Only a small minority of people generally look at music that way; it IS the sound that is most important for the majority.  And ARR has a big edge over IR there because he did come up with a big new sound.  Forget listeners, musicians working in the industry at that time were blown away by what he did in his early films.  Anyhow, I am personally not much interested in knowing what people will be listening to 50 years hence.  If I am (hopefully) still alive then, I will still be listening to my favourite IR songs, that's for sure.  Those who don't, it's their loss, not IR's.  IR has achieved the things people dream of; that is all that matters.

Interesting that you bring this up. To look at it from another milieu, I have also known and interacted with a lot of classic rock and metal fans who play the guitar much better than me and I have seen very very few who like Bach or Beethoven or even jazz for that matter. They might not actively dislike, but indifferent is probably the right word. Why is this? I don't have an answer.

But I think you underestimate IR's popularity among singers. By several accounts, he is held in very high regard by classical and playback singers and musicians even in places like Bengal and Bombay. I doubt if ARR commands that sort of awe and respect from classical musicians -admiration, yes, respect, doubtful. Another thing to bear in mind is that ARR's music (or any of the present day youth MDs) music is relatively easy to reproduce on stage for an amateur or semi-pro band of 5 or 6. IR's music on the other hand is not that way and just does not sound the same without the original instrumentation - this is another reason amateurs are hesitant to attempt his music on stage...which could lead to indifference...just guessing.

raaga_suresh wrote:The other part is about where these youngsters are from. If there are urban based or outside of India, Raja will take some time to grow. But as P_R mentioned once on twitter, Raja's music is still part of all youngsters in Tamilnadu towns. The number of youngsters that turn up whenever Raja visits any other town is phenomenal. So depending on the demographics we may come to a conclusion as to whether Raja is popular or not.

Another thing- silly perhaps, but worth noting. Look at the number of youtube hits Raja songs have. There are literally dozens of songs which have a million+ views and hundreds which have half a million+ or thereabouts. This is significant, IMO, particularly since youtube views in India represent only a small fraction of the people who like or listen to something and most of them who do go on youtube to listen to music in India are in the 20s-30s age group...so maybe oldies actually somewhat underestimate the discerning ability of youths? 

Another thing, crimson king, don't you think melody is more important than the sound for the average listener or does sound override everything else?