Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum (The wolf and the lamb) - Mysskin

+1111....

From 1:05 to 2:42 in Walking through Life and Death (, chanceless  . For that alone I can contribute Rs. 10K for a start ;-) We know the entire musical score is priceless, but this is just for a start. Just tell me the address/info to transfer I say  


May be, Kamesh can help get enough people through his contacts. I know this is not about money, but this should not be for free..not such pure music.

The short tracks are bursts of raw tension under the garb of WCM. A Fairytale has me dumbfound. The 1st part ending, the silence and the music that follows. Goosebumps. The 3rd piece with its violin passages almost evoking a Satru Munbu from NEPV only for a solo violin to curve inside incredibly. The final part has me reminded of his Mozart I Love You from Nothing But Wind. All of this in one frikking track. Yappa Mysskin, nee deivam raasa.

Walking Through Life and Death is unpredictable like a precipice he suddenly opens as he did with Polla Vinayen. Ennavo laam seyyudhu uLLoora. Mudiyala. Today I learnt there could be so much of raw emotion packed under pure WCM. Fucking fantastic! The last 1 and a half minutes with its melody has me levitating in the higher heavens. The final bells provide something tender that I want to hug it and cry.

yOv Raaja, nee manushanE illa yA       

Fantastic piece of work. Raja, please take more such assignments. After a very long time, I am hearing a violin score of this quality. When I heard War Horse of JW (I watched this movie in the theatre just for JW), I was longing for when Raja would do something similar. Though I will not compare here (I need to watch this film just for this score), the quality levels of this score are comparable.

There are several occasions when I have felt proud to be a Raja fan:

1.  Cheeni Kum score
2.  Marupadiyum score
3.  Kadhal Kavidhai score
4.  Nandalala score
5.  Onayum Aatukkuttiyum score

Thanks to Myskkin for making this happen.

I take a bow before the genius.

Yup, we had a John Williams and we never gave him a real orchestra .. Over whelming after NEPV and megha.
Anybody know where it was recorded ? if it is in chennai, then we have good infrastructure going moving forward for all movies.

Mysskin in the press meet

Says IR was angry as always  because he used only 2 of the 6 songs in the previous film. adhaiyellAm thANdi he booked IR, gave him a film with 10 pages of dialogs in 250 pages of screenplay and says he is the only one in India to understand the emotional weight and give a score.

Dai Mysskin, not only yuvaar a kalaignan, but also a rasigan da.

isaifan wrote:If any of you can contact Mysskin (using your twitter/facebook links), each of us IR fans can probably pay some amount to Mysskin (and this should happen before the movie release). He being the producer has given us the BGMs for free..probably incurring the loss. But, it would be a nice (and deserving) gesture for IR fans to give him back whatever we can..will make it a little more pleasant and loving for the artistes. Kindly take up the initiative and make it happen. (IMHO).

He should make the .wav or flac files available for purchase. These tracks are gonna love a nice stereo system in pure uncompressed form. Where is raja4ever or Gokul ?

I did not react to NEPV, nor to Megha or any films in between. It's not that I did not appreciate Raja's work on those films. To me, they struck me as his normal work that he has done for the past 5 decades. However, Raja has demonstrated something so unique now, that no composer has done from India. This is perhaps the best strings arrangement I have heard in decades. He clearly reminds those who have forgotten that here comes the emperor of orchestration. Such scores rekindle my pride for being a fan of Raja.
 
  Firstly, Mysskin deserves all kudos for making this happen. He has insisted that only Raja should compose the BGM for this film. I will compare this score with some of the finest from John Williams as I cannot think of anyone living today to draw a parallel. I like, collect and watch a number of JW scored Hollywood films. Both Raja and JW have similar working styles, though Raja is extremely fast compared to JW. Both of them have a rock solid understanding of WCM.
 
 The film has 10 BGM tracks.
 
1.  Compassion - Starts off with a lone guitar and a solo violin. Just 23 seconds - reminds you of the 'Schindler's List', though it has less melancholy.  
 
2. Firefly - This is 38 seconds long. It has some pretty intense strings and double bass and cellos. Too short is the only complaint.
 
3. Growl - This is 36 seconds long - Again, some intense thriller music with double bass, cellos and violins. The emotions from the firefly and the growl tracks are very different that only a maestro can deliver within half minute.
 
4.  Threshold Guardian - Not sure, why this track is called the way it is. Without watching a film, it is hard to tell. The solo violin leads the pack three fourths of the way (1:11 min).  The backing harmony arrangement of this track is world class. All new composers must take a few lessons from this track. Kudos to whoever played the solo violin on this track and others (Prabhakar?). The remaining 25% of the track length is pure harmony with strings. 
 
5. The Grim Reaper - Again another track with only 32 seconds of music. This is also heavy on double bass and cellos. Reminds me of Jerry Goldsmith's 'Omen'.
 
6. I killed an angel - This is one of the finest tracks in the collection. This is the type of track only Raja is capable of. Starts off with a solo violin in a repenting mood. A group of violins respond to the solo violin's sadness. Is that supposed to mean consoling the main character for realizing the mistake? I am just guessing based on what Mysskin said in his recent film launch.
 
7. Fairy Tale - This is fortunately more than 5 minutes and 16 seconds long. This starts off with a lone violin playing in harmony with the background violins. However, the mood is not one of melancholy, but one that is narrative (same instrumentation, different colors, emotions - that's what happens when it is handled by a maestro). For the first time, after 2 minutes, the flute joins the foray.  The background violins and harmony continue, reminding me of some Hey Ram scores. The flute parts are just very soothing, perhaps meant to describe a different stage of a fairy (the first stage being handled by the solo violin).  There is a brief silence and another stage of the fairy is narrated by a group of violins in harmony with background violins. Again another brief silence. The mood suddenly shifts to something very jubilant, with the double bass and the cellos joining the fray.  The last parts remind you of some of the Marupadiyum score. Also, it reminds me of the stage of the lone horse getting trapped in the battle field in War Horse (JW).  One of the top tracks in this album.
 
8. Walking through Life and Death - This is 4:37 in length. As the title suggests, Raja is describing a span of life challenged by some dark events.  This starts off with violins (reminds me of the opening score of Jurassic Park). With the flutes, cellos joining the orchestra, and later by the double bass, oboe,  it is ideal for shots that span a wide landscape/cityscape. This progresses  for a minute followed by a high pitch violin, normally to sound a marked departure from routine. What follows this is the waves of sound with violins (some scores of JW in Jaws, Once upon a time in Tibet, had this characteristic) that I have never heard in Indian BGMs. I have always longed for such treatment for Indian films. Raja delivers a great score that makes Indian movies no less than any Hollywood flicks. The 30 odd seconds of repeated waves of violin will stay in my mind for a very long time. The final parts are played on the piano perhaps signifying something dark. Ideal for a zoom shot that completes the journey. Another top track.
 
9.  Redemption - This is 1:01 in length. Starts off with a simple piano tune. The solo violin and the background harmony takes over and alternates with the piano. The piano signifies perhaps past action and the solo violin signifies the present and the harmony can show how one tries to bridge the past and the present. The only complaint: too short.
 
10. Somebody loves us all - This is for 3:35. This track simply hit me on the melody just on the first hearing. This track closely resembles Marupadiyum score in arrangement, though the melody is different. Having heard Raja several hundred times, I will not risk guessing the emotions that he may be conveying in this part.  I like the silence between the violins and where the piano starts. The violins play beautifully between the piano strokes. It takes a master to arrange this part. The solo violin takes over playing the same melody the track started with in a different octave. The violin group plays the first melody in response. Ideally, this type of music is ideal for the final summary of the narration. I was reminded of the horse coming back to its old place in the sunset in the final scenes of War Horse. I liked that JW score the most in WH and I like this the most in OA.
 
Raja has spoiled me over the years by training my ears to expect the unexpected. With these kind of scores, he has set the bar so high that even the peak is invisible. He has scaled a new peak and most observers are still behind his past peak. Most of the general listeners think that he has descended from his peak. Scores like this tells us that he is scaling new heights that observers behind his past peak have no idea about.
 
I will not be surprised if this score goes unappreciated by any reward committee as they are also behind his past peaks. It is up to every listener to elevate himself/herself to see his constant ascent in musical quality.

Ravi, Brilliantly written....IIR reminds me of Jonathan Livingston Seagull....

kv wrote:Beyond musical talent, artistry, technicalities and showmanship, lies the subtle art of evoking emotions - real and unpolished, so familiar yet enigmatic, wholly comprehensible yet unexplainable. 
Dear musical midgets, please do us, yourselves & this world a favour - STFU.

Imagine, the low life SJ Surya (who has don less than 10 movies) is making a movie just to portray IR in a bad light to promote ARR - I hope someone throws this at his face and the media's face so he looks like an idiot to even consider insulting IR - Hats off to Prakash raj for walking out of the movie - If I had the time and am in Indi, I would love to lead a counter PR campaign against that movie - I wouldnt even put it past that ARR probably is behind it funding it.

I know this is a ddiversion from the topic - but how does the film world even allow someone who has done nothing but lived on vulgarity to even attempt to denigrate IR who consistently scales new heights - It boils my blood.

Ravi,
Wow! Superb write-up! Yes, this one is truly outstanding work by Maestro. Very nicely put especially on how many listeners are always behind his past (obsessed with this bullshit market and losing sensibilities) and unable to comprehend his present best works. I am also so sure that even this work will be ignored by our honorable National Awards committee while upholding/recognizing the mediocre works.

kr,
I truly understand your feelings. enna panrathu sir, we have to live with all these people. Even this is fine, but when a person who worked with him for years and observed his style and mastery for 20 years could not comprehend/appreciate the ingenuity of IR and sees his works more as obstacles to his career, that's more painful to me. Has IR ever commented negative/sarcastic (even his working style is different) about his mentors; MSV, KVM, Salil, Dakshinamurthy, Dhanraj Master, TVG, BMK ? Never ever we will hear that from Raja because he knows and respects art and he has sincerely carried/carrying over their legacy on his shoulders all these years without letting them down. On the other hand, if Raja is commenting on the next generation's works (including his sons), he has every authority to say/do so, and he also sees the danger of losing our indigenousness among many other things. If they don't understand that, it's their fault. Rather than understanding and analyzing on why is he saying that, these outbursts only shows their true hatred and not to learn anything new from their mentors.

I am thrilled that we are again getting to hear counterpoints from Raja with some of these newer works. The last minute or so of 'A fairy tale' is just beautiful. Also as Ravinat says, very pronounced cellos/double bass in some sections. My only greedy complaint is - I wish some of the tracks were longer.

kiru wrote:

isaifan wrote:If any of you can contact Mysskin (using your twitter/facebook links), each of us IR fans can probably pay some amount to Mysskin (and this should happen before the movie release). He being the producer has given us the BGMs for free..probably incurring the loss. But, it would be a nice (and deserving) gesture for IR fans to give him back whatever we can..will make it a little more pleasant and loving for the artistes. Kindly take up the initiative and make it happen. (IMHO).

He should make the .wav or flac files available for purchase. These tracks are gonna love a nice stereo system in pure uncompressed form. Where is raja4ever or Gokul ?

Kiru, I listened to these tracks today on my system and they sounded warm and wonderful. I can't wait to get them in HiRes format. 

Gokul.

Ravi,

Superb review. I am just stunned at what Raja is doing here. Amazing stuff. Very baroque and very emotional.

Kiru,

I think they probably have encoded this at 320kbps. It sounds quite good on my headphones.

Kiru,

Just checked. It has been encoded at 256 kbps.

writeface wrote:

kiru wrote:

isaifan wrote:If any of you can contact Mysskin (using your twitter/facebook links), each of us IR fans can probably pay some amount to Mysskin (and this should happen before the movie release). He being the producer has given us the BGMs for free..probably incurring the loss. But, it would be a nice (and deserving) gesture for IR fans to give him back whatever we can..will make it a little more pleasant and loving for the artistes. Kindly take up the initiative and make it happen. (IMHO).

He should make the .wav or flac files available for purchase. These tracks are gonna love a nice stereo system in pure uncompressed form. Where is raja4ever or Gokul ?

Kiru, I listened to these tracks today on my system and they sounded warm and wonderful. I can't wait to get them in HiRes format. 

Gokul.

Hi Kiru/Gokul.. Listened this in my system today and being MP3, it sounded okay. If it a CD or DVD format with the up sampled version will just drench you in music rain. I sincerely hope that they release this DVD without any ambient sound or sound effect. Just imaging a movie (without any natural sound or sound effects like walking, running, swishing..etc) and just with Raaja's BGM? Even better like you mentioned if we can get hold of hires format, then its priceless...

fring151 wrote:I am thrilled that we are again getting to hear counterpoints from Raja with some of these newer works. The last minute or so of 'A fairy tale' is just beautiful. Also as Ravinat says, very pronounced cellos/double bass in some sections. My only greedy complaint is - I wish some of the tracks were longer.

Film has a 250 page screenplay with 10 pages of dialogs, leaving time for close to 2 hours of just music. Can't wait to watch the film. Hoping it releases here in the USA.

ravinat,
Brilliant review. Very well written.  

Just as I have felt many a times listening to some IR's songs (like Maataraani Mounamidhi from Maharshi (Tel)), in these OA BGMs one can feel IR's confidence in every single note in all the tracks   Not sure if I am expressing it correctly..there are no hesitant notes or fillers of sort (!)..lacking in confidence, which I tend to sense in other MDs/co-MDs meesik. Not a single note is lacking or extra. If you can try to listen from IR's perspective, one can feel IRs confidence in each and every note.
If you can feel those notes that way, that is what is soul meeting soul, atma-paramatma becoming one  . Thassaaal. Ambuttudhaan.

@vinod and gokul .. right.. mp3 is not going to work that much. Even 'premium' spotify's 320kps does not do it for me.
@ravinat - I guess you are referring to the helicopter shot in Jurassic Park. JW's bgm score.. even my kids recognize when they are used in tamil cable tv channels !!
I hear some good Orchestral music in china/korean movies. IR's music might become mandatory for our movies if we want to go to international competitions (unless it is a totally indian subject, requiring indian music).

Kiru

   Yes,I meant the score for the helicopter shots in JP.

    Some minor errors in my review - It is 'Seven Years in Tibet' and not 'Once upon a time in Tibet'

    I did not bother to time mark within the tracks so that my review can be easily related to the exact location within the track.

   Raja must take on more such assignments. Here is a case where only he can do it.

ravi nat, a small question from a music n00b if you don't mind.   Is that a fugue towards the end of Walking through life and death?

@Ravi - that helicopter bgm is awesome isn't it .. Because it was a grand scene . he could use horns and trumpets.
(after listening to that piece and OA back-to-back..what can I say .. IR is a worthy competitor to JW .. at the least )
Anyways, here is my take - people can think of the bgms as atleast two songs .. walk thru life and death,  and somebody loves.. 
Listen with Ravi's explanation and re-listen quite a few times.. Walk thru - starts with a sad note.. then it builds into an agony/fight (staccata cellos) ..unlike somebody.. every line is played with a variation from the beginning (not the end of the line) .. there is an almost raagam based melody build up going on.. and even a some what anupallavi/charanam type structure .. the agony gives rise to a "cry" .then it sounds as though the hero has "fallen"  and a song in praise of his hard/valorous life play and then when he breathes his last .. a sort of peace returns with that bell like sounds.. This is surely some story telling going on. 
somebody loves us - taking a cue from the title.. I can see this as somebody singing a consolation ..the solo violin .. is the story of the sad self.. the cello seems like a older person's advice consolation ..then the consolation repeats ..
Both are excellent pieces..walk thru life is my fav... I think they should release IR's movie songs with the BGM tracks always .. one full CD all for him/his work on that movie.. maybe with some explanation.. so our monophonic ears get introduced to these polyphonic orchestral sounds.

crimson king wrote:ravi nat, a small question from a music n00b if you don't mind.   Is that a fugue towards the end of Walking through life and death?

CK

  I suppose you are talking about the piano parts at the end of this track. In my view, it is definitely not a fugue arrangement. By definition, fugue must have a melody which must be repeated (the exact term is imitated). The imitation has certain constraints to it. The imitation must be of a different pitch. However, the imitation must also be polyphonic. When it is not polyphonic, it is called a cannon. Normally, however, cannons tend to play with the tempo in Raja's music (Etho mogum or Nilavondru Kandaen or Kandean Engum Poomagal Oorvalam).

Speaking of great violin scores and baroque arrangements, have you guys heard the below track from 'Idhu namma aalu'. This is a fairly recent find for me and I suspect not very well known. It is quite simply put - staggering. The last minute is sheer contrapuntal genius within the scope of an Indian melody. V.S.Narasimhan -take a bow.