Recently, an advertisement
in the newspaper affected me a lot.
No, it was not
an ad for an alcoholic brand, nor was it for a tobacco product. It was an ad
for ‘audio books’- classics to be more precise. Do I hate books or do I
hate sound? I am sure most of you know that I love both. The cause for my
consternation was something else.
‘Reading’
matters a lot to me- ‘Reading’ as in reading ‘mentally’. What happens when we
read to ourselves? First, we can read at our own pace. Second, we can pause
when a word or a sentence or a passage is beautiful and brilliant. We can close
our eyes and savour that moment. We can go back to that line, re-read,
and therefore relive that moment. If we come across a new word or a
tough word, we can stop and either make a mental note or note it
down on a paper. At times, we can also refer to the dictionary instantly to understand
the word, the context and the usage. We can visualise the sequence,
letting our imagination free. Most importantly, we can feel the pages.
We can smell the pages. The aroma and the feeling are enough to give us
an unique experience which cannot be put in words(or one may have to write a
separate book for this, yes a ‘written book’!).
Tell me if any
of these is possible in an audio book. However eloquent the reader in
the audio book is, however beautiful his/her diction is, however expressive
his/her tone is, can we get the same experience of reading a physical book?
Of course, I
have listened to some ‘reading sessions’ but these were limited to some select
passages and not the entire book. These kindle an interest for the
book and make one ‘acquire’ the book. Well, that second word in the previous
sentence got me reminded of ‘e-books’. These in my opinion, are
acceptable to a certain extent but cannot replace the joy of reading a physical
book.
I am writing all
these for a reason.
Though music
cannot be compared with books, I got reminded of my views on ‘listening
to a song’. Well, here I solely mean a film song and not a classical
song. Experience with the latter will be described soon in some other post.
People who know me well, know that I prefer ‘listening’ to ‘watching’ and that
precisely for that reason, You Tube videos are not given as links in
posts. Since I have covered this aspect in the past, I am not getting into
further details.
But the reason
for my aversion for ‘watching’ a song- a beautiful gem at that- can be easily
understood if one listens to the Rare Gem of the day and then ‘watches’
it.
I have said many
times that it indeed is next to impossible to find out what runs in his mind
while composing a song. I have also suggested that scientists should
invent a special machine, connect it to his brain and monitor the creative
thought process.
While it is a fact that he composes the tune and
subsequently the prelude and the interlude(s) after the Director
explains the situation, it is also a fact that a majority of the directors are
musically illiterate. So, his imagination runs riot while composing the tune on
the harmonium and more so while writing the notes for the orchestra.
It is here that he starts experimenting not to get appreciation from anyone
concerned but purely for self-actualisation. Otherwise, how can one
explain his playing with the rhythm, his use of master techniques like cross-rhythm,
usi, gati bhedam, graha bedam etc..?
But this has a
flip side too. Since our directors are musically illiterate(a majority of
them), neither do they understand the nuances and the techniques nor do they
appreciate the subtleties. Because of this, there is a mismatch between
the music and the visuals. But he cannot be blamed for this, though I wonder
how he would have felt each time he watched the visuals for his music on
screen.
‘NenjukkuL
Poo Manjam’ (Saattai Illadha Pambaram-1983) falls in this
category without a trace of doubt. In fact, one of the most significant features
of this song is the rhythm and the sharp percussion in the
beginning which was totally chopped off while picturising.
But without
worrying about all that, let us look at the song.
It starts with
the percussion playing sharp beats, but that is not all. The
composition is set in tisram(3-beat cycle). The Master divides 3
into 6 micro-beats- as ta ka dhi mi ta ka- and makes the percussion
play only the first, third and the fourth leaving others blank.
See (listen) as to how it sets the mood for a romantic song.
After four
repetitions, the trumpets and the bass guitar join even as the percussion
continues in the same pattern in the background. The bass guitar sounds
sharp too, albeit in its own inimitable style, and acts as an additional rhythm.
After a while, the guitar joins, indulges in a brief call and
response with the piped instruments with the flute joining
later and charting its own path. The guitar family finally plays the
melody of the first line with the percussion sounding sharp once
as if to signal the end of the grand prelude!
The Pallavi
which starts with the humming of Janaki is yet another rhythmic feast.
There are three (at least) sets of percussion. The first one plays ta
ka dhi mi(1 2 3 4) twice in mel kaalam(fast pace). The second
one starts after a gap of 4 beats(it is left blank!) and plays ta ka
dhi mi twice. The third one plays ta ka dhi mi once. This pattern
continues in both the CharaNams.
But the composer,
who is known for giving variegated patterns, thinks differently in the interludes.
Let us see this as we go along.
The first
interlude starts with the guitar sounding the bass, giving that Spanish
feel. Then, just one string of another guitar for every first beat
of Tisram. Mind you, no percussion is used here and just one string of the guitar acts as percussion.
This is followed by a melody by the same guitar with a different sound(from the
keys?) accompanying it. The piped instruments make an entry and only now
do the drums(percussion) sound. The friendly banter between the bass
guitar and the piped instruments makes it more exciting. The
excitement continues in the next segment too when the flute plays a
beautiful melody.
The lines in the
CharaNams call for an interesting study too. The first two lines rendered
by Malaysia Vasudevan have a touch of nonchalance. The next two lines of
Janaki suddenly touch the higher octave. The scale changes
in the next two lines of Malaysia Vasudevan while Janaki
continues in the higher octave in the original scale in the next
line. The last line continues in the male voice almost sounding similar to the
previous line but is wound up with the ‘pa pa pa pa pa’ giving a
feeling of completeness.
To be honest,
the entire CharaNam is a tight rope walk and all the three come up
trumps.
There is more in
store in the second interlude.
The trumpet
sounds in higher octave giving a pause in between. The team of piped
instruments joins and until now there is no percussion. The trumpet
gathers steam and as if to add more spice, the bass guitar joins. So
do the drums. It is a jazzy feel with the guitar and the bass
guitar taking over. The flute appears in the end again, playing a rather
unusual and different melody.
The sensuous ‘pa
pa’ towards the end of the song makes it even more special.
Books are to be
read by the individual.
Songs (like
this) are to be listened to and are not to be watched.
The first
statement could be subjective. But not the second one..If you have any doubts,
go, watch and then decide.
