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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