Inscrutable?

Last night when we were listening to the songs, suddenly I said ‘Oh this is one of my most favourites’. My son asked me ‘Tell me one song which is not your favorite’. I had to then tell him that some songs are extra special and this one is one of those. But it also set me thinking. Supposing I was asked to list out my most favourite songs (in his music of course), how many songs would be part of the list?

It is a question difficult to answer. One day if I sit down and list out all these special songs, I am sure it will extend like the tail of Hanuman. I must then make a tabular column and mention the reasons for the special like. Of course this table should have the Name of the song, Name of the movie, Year of release, Singer(s), Raga ,TaaLa and finally the Reasons. An interesting exercise, no doubt! In some cases, the last column might even say ‘Don’t know. Can’t describe’J. 

Though this particular song which was played last night and set me thinking may not fall in that ‘Can’t describe’ category, I must also say that even after listing out the reasons, there will be one last line which would say ‘There is something more in this and that cannot be described’.

So, what all could be the reasons for considering the song- Thaen poove poove vaa from AnbuLLa Rajinikanth (1984)- as one of my special favourites?

In the order of priority, I would first mention about the Bass Guitar in the second interlude. Bass Guitar is an instrument which looks longer than the normal guitar and as the name suggests, it gives the bass sound. Seldom does one use it as a melodic instrument for it does not have the sweetness of a guitar. Before 1976, it was used as an instrument just to ‘back’ the other instruments and (at times) the vocals too. It was not given too much of an importance or prominence. Post- May 1976, the instrument acquired a special status by the gentleman who knew its capabilities. In fact, he used it even in songs based on Classical Ragas. He made the Bass Guitar play totally different notes from that of what the other instruments were playing or what the vocals were singing. Many times, it would be in a different Shruti or even a different Raga. Yes, normally we wouldn’t realise all these while listening to the song as a whole, but the fact remains that it gives an impetus to the entire composition.

What is amazing is that he went a step ahead and elevated Bass Guitar to a higher plane and gave it a very special place by using it as a melodic instrument in some compositions. In some other, he used it in lieu of percussion. ‘EndrendRum aaanadame’(Kadal meengaL) is a classic example of the latter while the song of the day is a classic example of the former.

Let us see how.

Bass Guitar which is slightly dominant in the prelude becomes very subtle in the Pallavi, the first interlude and the CharaNam. As if waiting for an opportunity to attack (musically), it responds to the call of the vibrant Flute as soon as the second interlude starts. Though it lasts for just about 15 seconds, the impact it has on us is unimaginable. It is zestful; it crackles with energy; it is lustrous.

The next reason (though I said ‘in the order of priority’, the difference between ‘reasons’ in a scale is just a micro point!) is the musical bit that appears towards the end of the prelude. I am not sure if the sound is made from a key board but I can say that it is wondrously beautiful and slides from the higher notes to the lower notes with felicity.

The Flute in the second half of the first interlude is the next one in the list. The composition is in minor scale with predominant notes of Kiravani plus the ni2 and dha2, which of course is allowed in western music where there is no raga concept. Now, in the piece under reference, the flute traverses to the major scale and then goes back to the minor scale. This technique called as ‘modulation’ has been used by the Maestro in many compositions  (‘Pudhu MaappiLLaikku’, ‘Puththam Pudhu Kaalai’, En KaNmaNi’ are just some examples). This particular piece is mesmerising to say the least.

The staccato Flute backed by the subtle Bass Guitar and the keys in the last half of the second interlude is effervescent and literally transports me to a garden full of flowers.

The prelude in its entirety…Scintillating to say the least.

The somewhat sober but resonant Guitar in the first interlude and the Strings in higher octave. In fact, the Strings are in higher octave all through making it a fantabulous experience.

The rhythmic pattern. Long back, I remember reading a comment in a forum that it is impossible to decipher the taalam of this composition. I think it was made to feel that way because of the strings piece in the first interlude. However, it clearly follows the Chatushra Ekam.

SPB and Janaki. Being a great admirer of both the singers, this point should have come much before. But I can also take liberties with people I like the most  J.

Last point- There is something more in this song which makes it so special. Can I explain?

No, next to impossible..

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Dolorous

Sometime during last year, I had to hire a cab for a specific purpose. The drive -on one part of ECR- was interesting and exciting not least because of the music that was being played.

It is a well known fact that whenever I drive (my car), music also travels with me. No long drive is complete without ILaiyaraaja. Today, when I saw the pen drive hanging from the USB port in the car, I asked the driver if he had ‘old songs’. He replied, ‘I have ILaiyaraaja songs only’. Needless to say I was on cloud nine. When he switched it on, it started playing a sad song. It was followed by another sad song. I asked him if I could fast forward and he obliged by doing it himself. What followed was a feast of romantic songs and as I was listening I made mental notes on songs which I felt deserved long posts (though I know all these songs, it is on such occasions that I decide to write since my mind is relatively free then).

This should be interesting. In between, whenever a sad song ‘started’, the driver would fast forward almost instantly without even waiting for my gesture (read as ‘frown’).

Now, this is a rather lengthy introduction (or is it?) . But what I am trying to say or express is that as a rule, I don’t like sad songs.

But, aren’t there exceptions to rule? And doesn’t it sound nice if rules are broken?

Precisely for this reason, I am taking up this song. If by any chance you are led to believe that this song was played today in the car, I request you to change your belief. The reason for my writing about this song has to do more with the love for my song and the only reason for my writing about what happened today and about the driver was that my non-preference for ‘sad songs’ is now known even to the driver of a reputed cab company. But the saving grace is that my love, affection, respect and madness for ILaiyaraaja songs is also known to him. He of course had to put up with my humming and singing , but that is a different story.

So, why/how is it that I love this song in particular despite its being a ‘pathos song’? Before I proceed further, let me clarify that my ‘exceptions list’ is also big and it is not that among all the sad songs, I like/love only this one. If you feel that I am contradicting myself, let me also clarify that that is what is my intention..

‘Maadaa un kovilil’ from ‘AcchaaNi’(1977) has an interesting story too. Though I had written about this particular incident during the recording, I have no qualms in repeating it.

The fact that Raaja sir is a perfectionist is well known. Before the recording, the orchestra would rehearse all the portions many times before going for take. It should be remembered that those days, there was ‘live orchestra’ who would play along with the singer(s) and even if somebody made a small mistake, the entire recording had to start all over again.

The recording of this song took many takes unusually. Raaja sir, who always placed a premium on time, lost his cool beyond a point and started yelling at his assistant, R.Govardhanam. Finally, the real reason was out. Mesmerised by the tune and Janaki’s rendering, it seems Govardhanam forgot to show the hand gestures (this is called as ‘conducting’) to the orchestra team. But this alone was not the reason and he alone was not the culprit. Whenever he managed to show the hand gestures, some members of the orchestra forgot to play. And whenever he showed the gestures and the orchestra played, Janaki forgot to sing and instead was seen sobbing!

This goes to show the impact the composition had on all concerned. And the impact it has had on me cannot be defined. Even after listening to it for 1000+ times, it never fails to make my eyes moist and make me feel light(and not heavy!).

This must surely rate as one of the best songs Janaki has ever sung. And I don’t think any other singer would have done even 1% of justice to the composition. That is why, I still cannot digest the fact that some other singer (who in my opinion, sings off key most of the times) was roped in to sing this song when it was ‘used’ again in a 2009 film.

Anyway, since I do not want to talk about anything negative now, let me move on to the song and try and highlight some of the features.

How the raga Sindhu Bhairavi can take this kind of an avatar is beyond my comprehension. No doubt the raga as such has an inherent poignancy but my thoughts also go to the peppy numbers in this raga by the same composer. Even then the kind of eerie feeling one gets in the third interlude is quite unbelievable. And people who say (foolishly) that his grand orchestration started only during the ‘80s must listen to this particular interlude.

The interlude starts with the bells sound going at a faster pace with the violins responding now and then. What follows then is a rhapsody of sorts with the violins reaching a crescendo. Ethereal experience!

The next segment in the same interlude shows the brilliance of the composer. He uses the sarod and sitar in the Madhya laya(medium tempo) and this literally shakes us up.

The interlude preceding this one is marvellous too with the brass flute-along with the bells- piercing us like an arrow of Arjuna. The segment before this-which is the beginning of the interlude- has a very specially sounding violin which sounds preternatural. The third segment of violins-which is the end of the interlude-, is uncanny too.

But listen to the first interlude.. and tell me if this is not genius stuff, what else is..

The sustained violin, the bells, the poignant sarod ..and the melancholic single violin..and ah..yes.. the strings playing purely in western classical style.

Blissful!

Can sadness be blissful?

Can pain be a pleasure?

I asked almost a similar set of questions sometime back in one of my older posts..And the answer is...

In the hands of the Maestro, anything is possible.

Then why wouldn’t I like this song? Or for that matter hundreds of his melancholic songs?

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Bonny

The more I listen to his songs, the more am I left with a sense of stupefaction. A feeling of completeness, a feeling of nothingness..

This applies more to his ‘early years’ songs and the reason is pretty simple- I would have listened to these songs more, more than the ‘80s, ‘90s and the ones from the 21^st century ( too many ‘mores’?).

‘Devan Thiruchabhai MalargaLe’ from ‘Avar  Enakke Sontham’(1977) is one of the many songs which gives me that feel. What attracts me first is the western classical style orchestration dominated by the brass flute (it has its own charm, doesn’t it?), the strings and the guitar. But what is astounding here is the ‘tanpoora’ sound in the background (mainly in the Pallavi and before the end of each interlude). Quite unthinkable!

Next are the vocals. . If I said that the voices of PooraNi and Indira sound as fresh as morning dew, I am sure I wouldn’t be exaggerating. Somehow, these two voices were not used at all after this. As far as I know, the two were part of the chorus voices in many songs after this.

The guitar theme-which runs as a leitmotif- gives this song a very unique flavour. But this theme music got into a controversy with many claiming this to be a straight lift from ‘Sholay’. I have even read some posts where people have said that ‘Raaja paid a tribute to R.D.Burman by using his music’. However, the fact remains that it was Raaja who composed this bit for a Kannada film- at least 2-3 years before the release of ‘Sholay’- when he was assisting G.K.Venkatesh!

The much forgotten accordion appears in the charaNams and also in the second interlude, giving that sense of nostalgia(or should I say adding to the sense of nostalgia?). But there is one more forgotten sound in film music and this one too appears in the second interlude. It is the ‘whistle’(no, not the ‘vuyeee’ whistle, but the melodious whistle from one’s lips).

Ah, yes! This song follows the Harikambhoji scale (Mixolydian scale in western music).

What gives the song the impetus is of course the flute. It is silky; it is charming; it is subtle; it sparkles; it is vibrant; it is pulsating.

Then why wouldn’t it give me that ‘nothingness’ and ‘completeness’?

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(Con)Text

How important are lyrics in a song?

As a corollary to this question, I would even ask – How important is the subject or the main theme of a song?

By ‘theme’, I am not talking about the musical theme but the ‘main subject’ of the song. In my opinion, it is a tricky question and is not very easy to answer or explain. Most importantly, it is subjective.

Let us take Tyagaraja kritis for example. Would a ‘Chakkani Rajamaargamu’ or a ‘Kanugontini’ sound the same or give us the same kind of vibrations if the wordings were different?

I doubt.

Because here, words and music go hand in hand and one sees a royal path unfold in front of the eyes or one even sees the magnificent form of Rama in the mind. Most importantly, one sees and feels the emotions of a great soul.

This is of course the case of Carnatic Music. Let me turn my attention to film music. 

One of the most important reasons for the old songs (‘50s and ‘60s) for sounding great and so very pleasing even now is the way the lyrics were written.

Sample this:

‘Kanni Tamizh Thandadoru Thiruvaasagam/ Kallai Kani Aaakum Undhan Oru Vaasagam(The language of Tamizh gave us Thiruvaasagam/ One word uttered by you (vaasagam) will make a stone melt).

‘Kamban Thandha Seethai Undhan Thaayallava/ KaaLidasan Sakuntalai Un Seyaallavaaa’( Kamban’s Seeta is your mother and KaaLidasan’s Sakuntalai is your daughter).

Though this may sound odd(everybody knows that Seeta and Sakuntalai were not related), but by invoking literary characters and using poetic licence, Kaviyarasar not only makes us interested in literature (or know more about it), but takes romance itself to new levels(this was sung by a male character to his beloved). So here, we appreciate the tune in Mayamalavagowla along with beautiful Tamizh(for people who do not know this song, it is ‘Kallellaam MaaNikka Kal Auguma’ and what I have given is just a sample line and there are more beauties in the song).

And then we have, ‘Neerodum Vaigiyile NindRaadum Meene, Neyyurum Kaanagaththil Kai Kaattum Maane’( the fish which dances in Vaigai river, the Deer in a beautiful forest) to describe two sweet and cute kids.

Then there is my oft-quoted ‘Naan Kaadal Ennum Kavitai Thandhen Kattilin Mele, Andha KaruNaikku Naan Parisu Thandhen Thottilin Mele’- which in my opinion, are the best ever lines written on love making in terms of subtlety and poetic beauty.

That brings me to the lyrics in Raaja sir’s songs. Though there have been some great lines written in his music, somehow these are few and we don’t pay attention to the wordings in his music because the music is so great that other things sound secondary to us. I can quote many songs in which lyrics have been below par but I would refrain from doing this now due to many reasons, the primary one being- ‘always focus on the positives and not on the negatives’.

Some (rather many) of the situations given to him have also not been challenging and yet he has given some immortal compositions for such situations. In a way, this answers the question about poor picturisation of a majority of his songs.

The rare gem of the day falls under the category of ‘poor lyrics’. More than that, the situation itself is not the one which we as good citizens should not be proud of. To put it plainly, the song is an ‘Eve teasing’ song and considers women as glamorous creatures. But the way Raaja sir has handled this song would make even a feminist to not hate the song and even love the song.

To start with, he composed it in a classical raga. In fact, he has composed many ‘kuththu’ songs in classical ragas and Shanmukhapriya seems to be his most favourite in this genre.

 But somehow he decided to compose ‘Vaa Machchi Machchi’ from ‘ManjaL Nila’(1982) in Hamsadhwani. The beginning is a kind of viruththam in a morning raga BhoopaLam and the wordings are a poor imitation of a verse in Abhirami Andaadi. Here I must add that though one may not like the concept of eve teasing, the words do bring a smile or two (after all, what is life without humour?).

The resonant bass guitar is backed by the pulsating drums and we begin to tap our feet instantaneously. The tabla and dholak that follow play the beats in ‘usi’ enhancing the experience. The piped instruments play in pure Hamsadhwani and it is a musical celebration to say the least.

Deepan Chakravarthy(joined by the chorus) sings the Pallavi which is beautifully structured. The last line ‘Ooduvaththi’ lasts 2 aavartanaas and without a doubt sounds like a classical piece. Please also note how the percussion sounds the chatushram beats and the intermittent guitar sound. Humour at its best!

Celebration of musical humour continues in the first interlude with the western wind instruments in full flow backed by Indian percussion. The guitar enters the fray and tickles the wind instruments which start jumping. These tickle the guitar in return and it is fun all around. The pure Hamsadhwani appears again before the keys and the guitar take over leading us to the first CharaNam.

The pauses between the lines in the beginning of the first CharaNam and the keys add to the humour. Same is the case with the long pause towards the end and the intentional off- key singing.

The second interlude is humorous too but what is beautiful here is the classical Hamsadhwani. The mridangam and the jaalra have been aptly used and don’t these smirk and titter? Surprisingly enough, the keys(or is it the synth?) are used to give the Hamsadhwani flavour in the beginning. The Indian melodic instruments join in the second segment playing Hamsadhwani to the backing of mridangam and jaalra. The guitar and the’synth’ appear after two aavrtaanas and sound in ‘usi’!

It is a MeLa..Musical MeLa.. Humorous MeLa..

So, how important are lyrics in a song?

I would prefer not to answer this question now and would rather prefer to listen to this song again now..

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Afflatus

Getting inspired is a trait, I am sure all of us have. How, when and where, we don’t know.. But the fact is we all get inspired one way or the other and almost all the times, it results in a positive action.

Let me narrate a short episode from my life now.

About 18 years ago, I had a serious problem with my health and had to be confined to bed for a week. What it was and how serious it was are all not relevant here and are beyond the scope of this post. All I can say is that the ‘confinement’ was literal in the sense that I was not allowed to get up except for my eating sessions and for other small sessions. For a person who hates lying down on the bed beyond 5 am, this was indeed a very severe punishment. Moreover, I had to keep both my legs up and place them on a stool while an equipment with a pulley would be pulling me back.

My professional commitments forced me to be in touch with the office constantly through the phone. Though this was a positive distraction in a way, it was against the Doctor’s instructions. So, I was ill at ease.

To top it all, the ‘walkman’ was not working and I did not have i -pod (I don’t remember if I had even heard of that name then!).Reading anything continuously was ruled out too for medical reasons. ‘A great punishment’, I was thinking to myself when something caught my eye. One small creature peeped through the window sill and after a glance and a ‘tweet’ (not the ‘micro blogging’ one .The danger in writing about the past is that some words totally carry a different meaning and connotation in this digital world), the creature left only to return with its ‘friend’.

 I had seen this tiny creature since my childhood but only now did I spot the difference. The other creature, though it was looking similar, surely looked different in terms of the features. The first one had a uniform brown shade on its body and had a shorter tail while the second one had a kind of grey crown and black spots, which almost seemed like a beard below its beak. ‘Oh..How much to learn’ I thought. By then, I could somehow discern that the former was the female species and the latter, a male.

It was obvious that they wanted to set up a family and therefore, were looking to build a comfortable home. Within few hours, the male appeared with the grass on its beak. The female which was making more noise went around flapping its wings until it identified the best place to construct the house. Once this was spotted, it went on instructing the male partner which obliged religiously. In between, both the creatures spotted me too .They must have thought to themselves, ‘What an awkward position this man is in. Anyway, it is good for us since this bloke is unlikely to get up now and disturb our work!’

At the most, I could have shooed them away or at least asked one of my family members to perform that act on my behalf. But, I did not want to. There was a selfish interest of course, but the reason for my decision had more to do with my love for birds and most importantly my propensity to observe and learn things.

The next 6 days were spent just by watching the birds go about their tasks caring for nothing else. It was a great sight to see them plan their construction like trained architects and engineers ‘Would they by any chance have read Bhagawat Gita?’, wondered I.. Who taught them to be ‘Karma Yogis?’

After a week, as I rejoined my duty, I was lost in my own world of sales figures and budgets, but still I remembered the creatures. One evening, when I went to that room to check the status of their Home, I found to my dismay that it was deserted. Though I could not make out what went wrong, I felt sad and left it at that.

And I got fit within a couple of months with my physical pain gone with the wind. But the pain of seeing the ‘deserted place’ remains with me.

I am sure most of you would have made out that the creature referred to in the post is the Sparrow.

Today (March 20^th) is World Sparrow Day. 

The sparrow, that beautiful creature is now almost extinct and is likely to be declared as an endangered species soon. The same Digital World where Apples and Berries are no longer associated only with fruits, is the culprit. It is of course very easy to argue that if not for technology, we would not be sharing thoughts like this, just at the click of a button. Agreed, to a certain extent, but let us also lean back and think if we have ever felt that this world just does not belong to only us(meaning human beings) but also to millions of other living creatures. Let us start questioning ourselves as to what can be done to make the world a better world to live for all creatures.

Let me now take up a song-which in my opinion, is a marvel - and dedicate it to the Sparrow.

The beauty of ‘Chittukkuruvi Vetkkapadudhu’ lies in its rhythmic pattern. No, not just the pattern of the percussion, for which he is known for, but also in the way the lines in the Pallavi and CharaNams are designed and structured, albeit spontaneously.

The composition is in the normal Aadi taaLam in Tisra gati(aadi taaLam is the most commonly used cycle and has 8 beats and ‘tisram’ is 3 beats. So, typically a composition set in this TaaLam and Nadai should have 24 beats. Each beat will be further sub-divided into micro-beats.  I do not want to get too technical here as that is reserved for my other blog Rajamanjari. However, to highlight the hidden beauties, certain details and explanation are required.

First, look at the last line of the Pallavi which goes like ‘Muthirai Oththadam Ittadhum Nidirai Varume’. Here, each phrase follows 1 2 3 4(ta ka dhi mi) in the faster mode and there are 5 phrases. It is therefore 20 micro-beats. The remaining 4 are left blank, 2 before the first phrase and after the last phrase.

The CharaNams go a step further and the last line - Pattu chiRagu PaRavai Paruva Sumaiyai Perume- goes as 1 2 3 4/ 1 2 3 4 /1 2 3 4/ 1 2 3 4 /1 2 3 4/1 2 3 4.

Let me try and make it more simpler (if at all, that is possible!). One Tisram= 3 beats. So, the two lines quoted above should have 12 beats each. But the Laya Raaja doubles the speed and makes the vocals render in that speed. Generally, this is done (and mostly by him) for percussion alone even as the vocals render in normal speed. But the Laya Raaja that he is, he shows he can do it for vocals as well!

Not surprisingly, once when Vairamuththu was asked as to which one was his most difficult and toughest song, he quoted this song instantly.

Credit also goes to SPB and Janaki as it needs a lot of breath control and also a firm grip on the taaLam to render this.

In fact, this marvel occurs in the prelude itself though there are no words in that. Listen to the humming of Janaki and SPB. The first ‘Tara ra tara ra’ has ten  ‘1 2 3 4’ s rendered by Janaki(with SPB’s voice peeping up in lower octave now and then) and the two ‘1 2 3 4’s are rendered by SPB after that. The following humming sees twelve ‘1 2 3 4’s with Janaki in higher octave and SPB in lower octave.

Laya Harmony!

The percussion plays three  ‘1 2 3 4’ in faster mode, whenever it is present. Note that it is absent when those ‘special lines’ are rendered by the vocals.It is absent in the beginning too -when the sparrows kiss in Tisram with the flute casting a magical spell mesmerised by the spectacle.

The melodic instruments too play this ‘ 1 2 3 4’ in the prelude with the strings playing two and the flute responding in the third ‘1 2 3 4’.

Just because Laya dominates the scene, by no stretch of imagination should it be misconstrued that the melody takes a back seat. In fact, the song abounds with melody.

The sliding and gliding of strings in the first interlude, the singing of guitar and the cooing of flute and the ‘leitmotif ‘of the guitar in the same interlude, the majestic melody of the acoustic guitar to the backing of its ‘brothers’ and the call and response between the strings and the guitar in the second interlude are just some of the melodic aspects apart from the bass guitar, rhythm guitar and the flute melodies which back the vocals.

The composition also follows a very different scale. Though it is set in the minor scale, it eschews ‘dha’ while descending. As per the Raga texts, the raga which follows this structure is ‘Udayachandrika’, a raga not used by anybody before. But let me caution you that this composition cannot be said to be based on ‘Udayachandrika raga’. One can probably say that it follows the ‘Udayachandrika scale’.

And now for the inspiration. The first two phrases- ‘Chittukkuruvi Vetkappadudhu’- have been inspired from the Czech composer  Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony no.9, ‘From the new World’.. Mind you, it is just the third movement in the symphony, which has an entirely different tune in the other 2 movements. And surely, Dvorak wouldn’t have even imagined the ‘mel kaala tisram’ divided into 24 micro-beats, and rendered with gusto by two great legendary singers from India.

This is what a real inspiration can do.

A mortal, who loves nature, got inspired by two tiny birds and overcame his serious health issue, changing the way he looked at life, in the process.

An immortal(at least as far as his music is concerned) got inspired by just one line in the 3^rd movement of a 19^th century symphony to produce an outstanding composition which made that ‘mortal’, who got inspired by the sparrows , and who is always inspired by the immortal works of the genius, decipher the significant intricacies in that composition.

Long live Inspiration! Long live Music! Long live the Sparrows!

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Contrafactual

Once writer Jayakanthan wrote, ‘I have become a bundle of contradictions’. And he enjoyed making this statement.

I love contradictions too. As written in some of my previous posts, contradictions are poetic.

But why am I talking about contradictions now?

Let me explain. In my yesterday’s post, I spoke about the importance of appreciating music without getting into the technical details. But today, I am going to mention the raga details in a song, albeit briefly. Would it then mean that I am a bundle of contradictions too?

Yes and No (ah, isn’t this statement itself contradictory?).

In any case, I am not against discussing the raga details of a song. If that was the case, a majority of my posts –especially in my other blog- wouldn’t have been written at all. What I meant yesterday-and what I mean now- is that one need not break their heads in deciphering a raga as that would collapse the beauty of music. At the same time, appreciating a raga gives a different dimension to appreciation. One just has to strike the right balance between the two.

Considering the kind of phenomenal work Raaja sir has done in terms of using Carnatic and Hindustani ragas, it would be an injustice to music itself if his raga usage is not brought to light. Raga itself is a very broad term and it requires reams of writing to define and describe it. So rather than getting into reams of writing now, let me focus on something else which of course is totally relevant to what is being discussed now.

Recalling my yesterday’s post again, I mentioned about different categories of film songs. The song of the day falls in the category of ‘raga being used as a scale’.

While it is not uncommon to use notes of a raga as a scale in film songs, what Raaja sir has done in ‘Chamaku Chamaku Chaam’(Kondaveeti Donga- 1990) is unique. Saaveri is a raga in carnatic music which is not only very classical but is also known for distinct use of a couple of swaras(‘ri’ and ‘dha’ to be specific). Even if one sticks to the ascending/descending (aroh/avaroh)pattern, it cannot be called as the raga(Saaveri) unless the swaras are sung in a particular way. Therefore, it needs a lot of gumption to use such a raga in the form of a scale. And that is what Raaja sir has done in this song!

Generally, in such experiments, the composition would sound stale as the raga would have lost its unique charm. But surely it cannot happen with a composer who clearly knows what he is doing and has the courage of conviction.

The entire composition follows the structure of Saaveri and yet sounds so different.

Yet another beauty of the composition is the prominent bass guitar which sounds with resonance and appears now and then. Whenever it appears, it seems as if a cobra is showing its hood, dancing and then disappearing fleetingly.

In fact, the ‘snake feel’ is present throughout the song as we are ‘charmed’ right from the beginning.

Listen to the beats from the tribal drums for one full cycle followed by the ‘special syllables’ rendered by SPB for yet another cycle. Most importantly, listen to the sax backed(or should I say ‘fronted’) by the bass guitar. And to the synthesiser which plays the tune of the Pallavi(just the first three phrases) I am sure you have already started dancing, swaying your upper body to and fro.

And the dance continues in the Pallavi with SPB and Chitra singing with gay abandon even as the bass guitar, the family of guitar and the synthesiser nod their heads in glee.

What can one say about the interludes?

The first interlude sees the camaraderie and also the friendly banter between the guitar and the strings. The strings repeat the melody of the guitar but the guitar does not want to remain as a passive spectator even during this ‘response’ and therefore plays along with the strings. It plays a melody again in the higher octave and after a brief rendezvous with the flute, lets the strings play on their own. And what a melody it is! Doesn’t it make us fly even as we keep dancing? The guitar finally plays yet another melody before the first CharaNam and it seems like ice skating.

The second interlude is more playful. The guitar first plays with a touch of insouciance. It then combines with the synthesiser to produce some amazing funny sounds. The strings then move as waves to make it a stirring experience. All through this, the bass guitar involves itself but without in anyway compromising on its uniqueness.

The lines in the CharaNams flow, gush, rush and spout with the strings-in the last segment- blowing like a breeze and the bass guitar going against the stream.

Swimming against the tide is exciting indeed provided the swimmer knows to go with the flow.

Does this sound contradictory?

Well, contradictions are poetic..you see!

PS: Ugadi Subhakankshalu!!!

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