While writing about a four decade old song
in a forum , I realised something.
As a child,
as a boy and then as an adolescent, I hardly paid attention to
the meaning of the words in songs though I was almost thorough with the
wordings of the song. There may have been exceptions here and there but the
fact remains that it was music that
attracted me even when I did not know much about the nuances.For that matter, I
hardly knew music then..
When I took up that song to write, I was overwhelmed by the inner and deeper meanings.
This is not to say that it was the first time I paid attention to the lyrics but it was a kind of revelation
to me basically because I was listening to the song after a very long time and naturally my thoughts went back to
those good old days when that song would give me vibrations because of the tune and because of the way it was sung.
For that matter, I deciphered the raga
of the song only now but this is besides the point and not within the scope of
this post.
Two clarifications:
1. The song under reference is a non-Raaja song.
2.I wrote that post about 4 and half years ago.
Within days of writing about that song, I started humming yet another
song but this time it was a Raaja song.
Though I knew the song word by word,
only this time did I notice as to how it has been written. A love duet, it describes
the Nature’s beauty mostly and
brilliantly connects it to the lovers. Vaali
sir surely deserves a salute for doing this in a pure masala movie.
Have a look at the Pallavi and you will know why I am raving and gushing about this.
‘The
reed by the riverside (NaaNal) dances with NaaNam(sorry no proper English word
for this) and how can I describe that pleasure(of watching it)’,
sings the Lady.
‘Nadiyoram
naaNal ondRu naaNam koNdu naattiyam aaduthu mella, naan anda aanandam en solla’.
The man’s repartee: You are the reed by the riverside says your small waist.
‘Neeyum
or naaNal endRu noolidai ennidam solla’
Forgetting for a moment that the heroine’s
waist was as huge as an elephant’s, one can’t help appreciating the poetic
brilliance.
The brilliance continues in the CharaNam too and the Lady sings ‘From
the cradle( sky )moves the white cloud and covers the mountain. Is it cloud or is it a cloth?
VeNNiRa
megam vaan thottilai vittu oduvathenna malaiyai mooduvathenna, mugil thaano
thugil thaano..
Sky as the cradle..
‘mugil’
and ‘thugil’..
What an imagination!
Are the brains of great poets wired differently? Only qualified neurologists can
answer this.
In the Second
CharaNam, it is the grass capped by the sleeping dew –pani thoongum pasumpul-which has the privilege of grabbing the attention
of the poet.
This song, Nadiyoram from Annai or Aaalayam(1979) has always been
one of my evergreen favourites since the time it got released and needless to
say it was because of the musical value.
The prelude
draws a sketch of the river and the dancing reed in Suddha Dhanyasi with the
piercing flute, the different
sounding folk instrument and the mesmerising
strings. In fact, the strings remind one of a cascade.
The Pallavi
moves like a clear stream. Introducing the flute
and the strings in the gap
between the female and the male voices, making the percussion sound sharp only in this piece
and giving an illusion of tempo-change by sounding the Tisram beats differently in two parts of the line (first ta ki ta plainly and then playing only
the first and the second syllables from naan
anda aanandam) show us the genius whose other name is ILaiyaraaja.
In fact, his signature continues in the CharaNams too when the strings play in
higher octave for a count of 4 with
the flute appearing just at the 4th count like a naughty face
of a child and then disappearing and again when the strings back the vocals
albeit subtly, in the lines that follow.
We see the romance between the strings and the flute in the first interlude,
with the strings climbing up the
mountain and the flute fondly
shaking the branches of the trees making the flowers fall on the ground. The
guitar acknowledges this romance and the flute finally moves in circles across
the mountain.
The second
interlude shows the multi-dimensional Raaja.
If his sense of humour is seen in the piece just before the chorus , his respect for language and
lyrics is seen in the last segment in which he musically creates the atmosphere
of ‘Tea Garden’ by making the chorus hum
‘lululu
lulu lu..’ and making the flute follow the chorus. And do I need to say that we see Raaja-the connoisseur in the first
segment in which the mandolin piece
moves innocuously and steadily with the strings
playing a repeat melody, thus symbolising the snow and the mountain?
Suseela’s
and SPB’s
voices are surely like the honey from honeycomb!
Tailpiece:
The song attracted me when I was an innocent (or is it ignocent?) boy.
The raga,
tala and other technical details were discovered by me after nearly 25 years.
The deeper meanings of the lyrics were deciphered much later.
Do all these indicate something?
I really don’t know and don’t care..
..because a song is a song is a song..
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