Recently during the World
Cup match between West Indies
and Zimbabwe, a question popped up
on the screen. It was the usual kind of question
where 4 options were given and the
viewers were asked to cast their votes.
I am sure most of you remember that it was a match in which a batsman
by name Chris Gayle got a double hundred, the first in any WC
The question was- Which
is the best ever World Cup Innings by a
West Indies batsman and the options
were 1.Clive Lloyd 1975, 2.Viv Richards
1979 3.Brian Lara 1996 4.Chris Gayle
2015.
A majority voted for Chris Gayle. This was not surprising since people were still in the
euphoria of having watched the innings just a few hours before. But what was
disappointing to me was the percentage
of votes for Clive Lloyd- an abysmal
2%.
Why was it disappointing to me? Am I a Lloyd fan? Or was it because I recalled
that innings and the radio commentary on BBC (please remember that the Indian
viewers saw a WC match for the first time on the 25th June 1983 and until then one had to depend on the radio commentary on BBC) and
that the West Indies recovered from
an early loss of quick wickets solely due to this innings and his partnership with Rohan Kanhai? Or the mental vision of the ball flying from his bat when ODIs were in a
nascent stage was so enthralling to a school
boy who until then had known only test
match cricket(again through the radio) and Ranji Trophy?
The reason for my disappointment
is a combination of all these.
But there was something else too. And that was- This generation does not seem to respect
History and things which are not familiar to them.
Ask any Indian
born after 1980 about the most memorable moment of World Cups in the previous century and the reply would be Kapil Dev holding the Cup
at Lord’s on the 25th June 1983. While there is nothing wrong in basking in the glory of an
Indian cricket team’s first ever success
in a major tournament, I feel people
must also make an effort to know about happenings before that.
Yes without a trace of doubt, that day was a very significant
day not just in terms of pride but also in terms of inspiring youngsters across the country. But does that mean that one should be totally ignorant of History?
Now consider this. ODIs
were played in all whites with the red
cherry and without any fielding restrictions. Bats were not heavy and boundaries were not short. Analysing the opposition teams in terms of SWOT and using videos(what is that?) were all unheard of. Despite all these unfavourable factors, a batsman scored his hundred in 85 deliveries
with 12 boundaries and 2 sixes? If this is not an achievement, what else is?
No, I am not the one who believes in living in the
past and criticise the present crop
saying ‘You know those days..’ Nor am
I a cynic who believes that the ‘present’ is nothing and has zero talent while the ‘past’ is everything and nothing can match the talent. But at the same time, it pains me that hardly a few are
even aware of the inaugural World Cup and one of the most
remarkable innings played with limited resources.
I find a lot of similarities
between this and the way ILaiyaraaja’s
music is being perceived. A majority
of his fans (and this includes
the so called ‘die-hard fans’) does not know much about his songs from his early years. Between May
1976 and Nov 1980, he scored music for 100 films. At the most, people can list out about 20 movies and some 50-60 songs. The impression
in many- ‘70s songs are not great, his
magic started only in the ‘80s’. This impression has more to do with the mindset which in turn is due to ignorance. It is a fact that some of
his greatest compositions happened
during this time and if ILaiyaraaja has to be seen as whole, his
‘70s songs must be listened to and cherished.
The Rare Gem
of the day has some interesting stories
behind it. The first story which is rather simple- though not known to
many- is that this was singer Sujatha’s
first ever Tamizh song(a fact not known to even her
daughter Swetha, who in one of the TV shows mentioned that ‘Oru
Iniya manadhu’ was her first). This song was released a full 3
years before ‘Oru Iniya Manadhu’.But if one goes to you tube looking for the visuals,
they can never find it.
Yes, the song was released as part of the EP record, but the song was
unceremoniously ‘chopped off’. This in fact is the most interesting and
intriguing story.
If at all in his early years Raaja sir was very upset with something, it was the film ‘Kavikkuyil’ and the reasons were many.
One-
For the first time, his album had 7 songs.
Two- For
a person being accused of having little knowledge in Carnatic Music, he composed two
songs in pure Carnatic ragas and made a great Carnatic legend sing those two. To top it all, the raga of one of these songs was never used by any film music composer until then and the ragas of the other song were specifically from a particular chakram in the mela karta system. Almost all are familiar
with the former which is in a raga called Ritigowlai while many
are still not familiar with the latter,
a song which I took as a special song in Geetanjali -2012.
Three-
He did some beautiful experiments
with a particular song but this song was not ‘liked’(no, not again!) by
the distributors who insisted that
the song be taken out from the movie so that the movie will appeal
better to the masses.
Four-
Despite his best efforts, the movie
bombed.
Let us now focus on the third one and see if it appeals to you and me.
The song
starts with a very simple humming of Sujatha
and this happens to be the prelude.
The Pallavi is
simple too-or that is what it seems to be.
However, there are some hidden intricacies. First, we have the ‘podi sangatis’ in ‘Oviyam’ and also a sudden jump from
‘pa’ to the upper ‘Sa’. ‘KaNden’ ‘Kanavo’ ‘Ninaivo’
also have some beautiful sangatis
with the last mentioned going in lower octave as ‘dha. pa.sa’. The last line
is interesting as well with prayogas
like ‘ga ma dha ni pa dha ma pa ga ma’.
The composition
essentially has the swaras of Harikambhoji with the last line in the CharaNam mixing the other ‘ni’.
However, the unmistakable Hindustani
flavour forces me to classify this under ‘Mishra
Khamaj’. In any case, nomenclature
doesn’t matter as long as one is able to enjoy
the song.
The CharaNams
too are beautifully structured with some pleasing sangatis(note the one after ‘maalai pozhudhinile’ in the first CharaNam which extends for 12 cycles of Tisram) and higher octave
swaras predominantly in the second and the third lines.
The Tabla is
the only percussion which goes in
the ‘mel kaala tisram’ from the second line in the CharaNam(s).Apart from this, of course there is that subtle bass guitar which backs the vocals.
Now, for those interludes.
The norm those days was three CharaNams and Raaja
sir consistently gave three
different interludes.
The Violins
which start innocuously in the beginning of the first interlude effortlessly touch the higher octave. The subtle Santoor
and the Bass Guitar are not to be
missed. The Chorus suddenly appears
from nowhere and sing in perfect harmony
as the Strings and the Bass Guitar back it with elegance. The Strings take over and play in Indian Classical Style with gamakam , while yet another set of Strings responding briefly and
gracefully. The Santoor follows and
adds a different touch totally. One hears traces of Raag Mishra MaaNd here.
The second
interlude is dominated by the Veena (played
with finesse by E.Gayathri) with the
humming of the Chorus super imposed and the Santoor
nodding its head now and then. It is two
sets of the Strings again involved
in a brief ‘call and response’.
It is the third
interlude which is my most favourite. In fact, it never fails to give me
goose bumps even when I think of it.
A single Violin
first plays very briefly as if to give a cue and the set of Strings play a melody. The Tabla alternates between ‘ta ka dhi mi ta ka’ and a gap for the
same number of beats. After two rounds of this dialogue between the
single and the group, a couple of more Violins
join the first one and sketch a melody with the other set of Strings playing their original melody.
The Bass Guitar plucks a String and then starts the magic. The Chorus hums with exactitude with the Bass Guitar caressing the humming with
some beautiful patterns. The VeeNa
joins and plays its own melody. Now, this is heavenly indeed! It seems as if Tyagaraja and Bach meet in the heavens
with the angels showering the
flowers. Finally, the Strings enter
and the VeeNa responds to them with
an unmatched majesticity!
Is it possible to evaluate the purity of this Gold?
I don’t think so. How about you?
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