What is beauty?
No, I am not here to find a definition for beauty
nor am I willing to sit as a judge in a Beauty contest (that I will never be
invited to be a judge, is a different story!).
The reason for my asking that question-and the
reason for that question popping up in my mind- had to do with an incident which happened 2 days ago.
It was around 6.45
pm and I was driving on the Adyar
Bridge. People from South East
Chennai(and people who pass by S.E.Chennai frequently) know how that Bridge would be around that time on a
working day. It was chock-a-block with vehicles romancing with each other. This
romance did not sound or look exciting for people sitting behind the wheels.
Yours truly was struggling hard to see to it that the bumper of his car did not
touch the bumper of the one in front so that the expression ‘bumper-to bumper
traffic’could be avoided and was trying to stay calm with ‘Thaen Poove Poove Vaa’
pouring out like honey from the car music system. That is when something
happened.
By the side of the car was a bike driven by
a gentleman. What was very clear and perceptible (apart from his shining head)
was the movement of his lips. At first glance, it appeared as though the man
was uttering something. This sparked a kind of irritation inside me as I
thought he was saying something to me, probably to give him way. But a closer
observation suggested that he was singing.
The vehicle in front of me moved now and therefore I had to move mine albeit, just
a few metres. Because of this, I missed the ‘bike-man’ for some time. I then turned
around and spotted him. He came closer again and this time I could hear his voice too and could also catch
some words though it was not clear. However, it was apparent that he was
singing a classical song.
I became very curious and even switched off my music
system sacrificing my pleasure of listening to my evergreen favourite song.
‘That song anyway can be listened to
again-for the millionth time- but can one afford to miss this?,’ I thought
and tried to figure out what exactly he was singing. But to my dismay, I could
not get the tune or the wordings though I found his voice to be soft and melodious.
The traffic cleared and the bike overtook me and I
lost him. So, my desire remains unfulfilled.
But what I found the most amazing in this episode was the way the person was singing
unmindful of the vehicles around him and totally oblivious to the chaos on Thiru-Vi-Ka Bridge on a Wednesday evening.
And I found this to be beautiful!
What this shows is the fact that if music is with you,
you can conquer any situation. Music gives calmness.
Music gives energy. Music gives solutions to problems. What this also
shows is that beauty is omnipresent.
It is up to us to recognise this.
In fact, that is what the song of the day conveys too. The beauty in ‘Azhagu Aayiram’ from ‘Ullasa
ParavaigaL’(1980) is that not only does it talk about beauty, but it also
shimmers with beauty.
If I was asked to name just one differentiator which makes his orchestration
stand apart, I would say ‘variety’
without batting an eyelid. ‘Azhagu Aayiram’ is just another
example of his craftsmanship in orchestration.
Take the prelude
first. It starts with a kind of whirring
sound (reminding one of a bee) which gathers intensity. As if to provide a
contrast, the soft keys of the piano
susurrate. After a while, the resonating sound of the percussion adds majesty. The electric
guitar enters even as the resonant percussion
continues in chatushram(1 2 3 4). In
fact, the electric guitar plays the tune of the first line-which we
would get to know later- while the strings
reply with the descending notes of ShankarabharaNam(this
occurs in the Pallavi too with the vocals singing ‘maa
maa miya maa maa miya..’). The strings
pick up momentum and casually reach the higher octave with the single key of
the piano and the whirring sound backing them.
We are welcomed by an yet another funny sound in the
beginning of the first interlude. The strings show their faces briefly for a single cycle of chatushram sounding during every beat of the cycle.
Another set of strings enters now playing in the higher octave with the bass guitar responding now and then.
The funny sound appears again and
this time the flute decides
intervene just towards the end of the piece. Suddenly the vocals appear.
Is it uncommon for Raaja sir to introduce humming
in an interlude? People who follow
his music know that the answer is ‘No’.
He has experimented this umpteen times. What happens after this is what makes
him a genius. As Janaki renders ‘paa..pa pa pa pa pa..’,
there is no backing of any instrument-including percussion- for a full cycle.
The synth enters and plays along
with the humming. What follow then are the sound of the synth and the strumming
of the guitar in ‘usi’! As explained
many times, ‘usi’ is a technique in
which the stress is on the even beats. Here, it lasts for 6 cycles and doesn’t it give a very
special effect and doesn’t it leave us with a very special feeling?
In between-even as the beats are in usi- Janaki continues to hum with the funny sound entering
again and the vocals imitating the
funny sound as ‘uvaang uvaang’(whatever that means!).
It is the majestic piano which dominates the next segment with its unique melody with
the strings appearing rather
ebulliently in the beginning.
The piano
has more role to play in the second
interlude where it first romances with the strings after shifting to the minor
scale and then goes on a melodic spree as if there is no tomorrow!
But before this, there is an interesting spectacle
of distortion guitar, acoustic guitar and the bass guitar dancing and prancing
with unbounded joy. The strings take
over and move with insouciant grace before its romance with the piano starts. It is Laya Raaja again towards the end when
the drums play ‘ta ka dhi mi’ 16 times
per cycle in ‘ati mel kaalam’ when
the piano keys sound as soft as ever.
This kind of beautiful variety does not take the
credit away from the Pallavi and the
CharaNams which have the variegated
patterns too.
The first line gives an illusion of Mohanam with ‘ri ri ri pa ri ga ri’. The ‘maa maa miya’ pulls us back
with the descending notes of ShankarabharaNam.
The last line(maa maa miya) is a marvel with just a single note(ri) appearing almost till the end with
the ‘pa’ appearing just once in the
end.
The CharaNams
start with the humming of Janaki
which extends for one full cycle. Here too, we see the Master mind use only ‘Sa’,
‘ni’, ‘pa’ and ‘ga’ in the first
two lines, giving a feel of Hamsadhwani.
The innovator then makes the other dha
appear along with the dha of ShankarabharaNam in the middle segment (4th
and 5th line) giving a chromatic effect.
Beauty and Music, are in fact the play of light,
dark and many other shades and appear in the way we perceive it to be.
Ask the man in the bike who found beauty in music,
in the midst of mad traffic.
Or, ask the man who considered this spectacle as
beautiful and musical.
Or, simply listen to this song..
