Vision

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 (4^th and 5^th 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..

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