Do swaras
and ragas have colours?
This may sound abstract or even absurd but I
feel it is a valid question. Long back, two very popular carnatic musicians (sisters in fact) raised this question to
another musician. This was part of
an item in a Tamizh magazine (yes,
those days Tamizh magazines had more
aesthetic sense and sensibilities) in which musicians interacted. One musician
would ask a question to a fellow musician, who after answering the question would ask
a question to another fellow musician. This chain was as interesting as the questions and answers and revealed
a lot to a layman like me who wanted to learn
more and more about music.
The duo
who asked the question even named some ragas
and the colours associated with
those. What they meant was this- Whenever
they played a particular raga, they visualised a particular colour. They wanted
to know if other- musicians that is- too had similar experience. Though I
don’t remember who answered this question, I found this to be very interesting.
Nearly 15 years after this, I
happened to interact with a musician-
a child prodigy who plays a very beautiful instrument- in a Dance camp and asked him this question.
He paused for a moment, looked at me and said ‘It is a very interesting question. Why don’t you ask me in the forum
after I finish my lecture?’
Unfortunately, I couldn’t due to reasons I don’t
want to get into now. But I have always related colours with music and
vice versa. Coming to think of it, the
basic swaras are seven and the rainbow has seven colours. I don’t mean
to say that each colour corresponds
to one swara but this coincidence (or
is it?) is striking. Colours are dynamic, full of energy,
and at the same time give a sense of calmness. Music does the same.
Let us now celebrate Colours and Music with a song.
Surprisingly enough, the word ‘colour’
appears only in the first line and yet I feel the song is very colourful.
I really don’t know as to ‘Rangulalo kalavai’ from ‘Abhinandana’(1987) giving me visions of various colours and I am
sure the reason has to do more with the whole composition and just a little with the first word. It is a
composition with many specialities.
1.Janaki- In some of my earlier posts, I had mentioned as to how he has
used Janaki’s voice as an
instrument. In ‘Rangulalo..’, Janaki
renders only the Pallavi and that
too only twice-after the first charaNam
and in the end. Otherwise, she just hums. Indeed, this ‘just humming’ has the
capacity to take us to the heaven. The composition
starts with her humming. To start
with it seems like a plaintive cry of a bird. But this is just an illusion. The
moment the next part of the humming starts, we spot the romance in that voice. The final ‘akaaram’ makes it classic and classical.
The ‘akaaram’
appears in the second part of charanams too and the rolling of the
voice…isn’t it amazing and mind blowing?
2.SPB-
That this gentleman can change the voice to suit the occasion is a known fact.
Here, his voice is shrill and gets shriller in the higher octave making it a
thrilling experience.
3.Acharya
Athreya- Not many in Tamizh
Nadu know about this genius. Known for his aesthetic sense and his word
plays, this legend shows yet again that he is a romantic at heart. Look at
these words- ‘Colourful dream’, ‘Art
inside the heart’, ‘Sculpture’, ‘Embodiment of art’ ‘Swinging imagination’,
‘Beauty like the blooming spring’, ‘Honeyed arrow’ ..
This is how he describes the Lady Love. He even calls her as his ‘viraha taapam’.
Height of beautiful imagination (or is it
swinging imagination?).
What he does in the end is a masterstroke.
Throughout the song, he asks questions- ‘Are
you this/that’. But at the end-when the Pallavi is rendered, he affirms that ‘yes, you are that’. Not many songs end like this.
I am also told that generally Athreya gaaru wrote the lyrics and
these were later set to tune by the music composer. I believe this song also
was written first. That brings us to the gentleman
who set this to tune.
4.ILaiyaraaja-
What can one say about this tune in Hindolam?
Sorry, can’t find a suitable adjective. Even the accidental note in the CharaNams enhances the appeal. The
structure of the CharaNams is a
lesson for all aspiring music composers. Look at the last line where he splits
the chatushram into 16 maatras
as ta ki ta/ ta ki ta/ ta ki
ta/ ta ki ta/ta ka dhi mi
almost like a pure classical composition.
Ah yes, the rhythmic
pattern almost throughout the song is a kind of leitmotif. One set of percussion sounds the first 4(ta
ka dhi mi) and then sounds only the first
syllable(ta) thrice while the second set(vamping of guitar) sounds
all the 16 albeit subtly. Both these
happen simultaneously!
If I say that the orchestration is beautiful, it
is like saying ‘The moon is beautiful’
or ‘the flowers give beautiful fragrance’.
Stating the obvious may sound clichéd but in the case of Raaja sir, this cannot be helped.
The Prelude
has the rhythm guitar backing Janaki’s humming. The ankle bells
follow during the second part of the humming with the tabla tarang and jalatarangam
showing subtle shades of Hindolam.
The bass guitar winds up the Prelude in its own style.
The sitar
responds to the first two lines of SPB with elan.
The first
interlude starts with the call and response between the strings and the tabla tarang. The strings
then go up the stream to the backing of the percussion(playing in the pattern explained before 3 paragraphs).
The percussion decides to take a
break with the strings taking a
straight path and the flute that
follows blows with joy. The keys
sounding like a stringed instrument
guide us to the first CharaNam.
The flute
now follows SPB in the first section
of the CharaNam(the following
sections of course have that original instrument called Janaki’s voice as explained earlier!).
The second
interlude is a class by itself and has some variegated patterns which can
be conceived only by one gentleman in film music. It starts with the flute-sans percussion- which plays an amazing piece in Hindolam to the backing of the bass
guitar with brief repartee by the tabla
tarang. We then see the western contours of Hindolam with the strings showing some glistening strands. The
harmony between the violins and the cello has to be heard to be believed.
After drenching us with honey, the sitar
and tabla tarang take us on a
blissful journey to the backing of the percussion.
It is indeed a spiritual journey. Don’t I see
the white colour now?
And after all, what is white?
Probably, this answers my question..
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