Wisdom

That young man was walking on the road in his village when he heard these lines from the radio, ‘ILamai ellam veRum kanavumayam idhil maRaindhathu sila kaalam/ theLivum aRiyaamal mudivum theiriyaamal mayangudhu ethirkaalam’ (youth is full of dreams and a part of life is lost already/ future is full of illusions). He was just about 18 then and having seen many ups and down already (more of the former), he thought ‘oh, my life is gone’.

So, was he disillusioned?

Far from it.

But this song impacted him very much because of the character in the movie and most importantly because of the tune.

Sometime later, he heard these lines from a different song ‘Vaazhkkai endRaal aayiram irukkum/vaasal thoRum vedhanai irukkum/vandha thunbam edhu vandhaalum vaadi ninRaal oduvathillai/Edhaiyum thaangum idayam irunthaal iRudi varaikkum amaidi irukkum’( Life is full of problems/Miseries keep knocking at your door and will not go away if you get bogged down/Have a heart of steel and feel the peace till the end) and these lines reinforced his belief and faith in everything. Who that ‘young man’ was will be said a little later (unless you have already guessed it), but now the focus is on the gentleman who wrote those lines.

There are many things unique about KaNNadasan and let me try and list out just a few of these:

1. Spontaneity

He can rattle off words in no time. All he needed were the situation in the movie and details about the character. It is of course not that difficult to reel off meaningless words (ask the present day lyricists) but in Kaviyarasar’s case, each and every letter was meaningful and significant.

2. Aesthetics

Not only were(are) the words meaningful but these were(are) beautiful too. The story of giving 20+ charaNams for ‘Ezhu swarangaLukkuL’ and leaving MSV sir and KB confused(about which one to take and which one to leave) has already been narrated by me in some of my earlier posts.

3. Down to earth

Simplicity was his forte. Hardly did he use any tough or difficult word in his songs. And even complex things would be told in very simple words. See this-

‘Naan kaadal enum kavitai thandhen kattilin mele/Andha karuNaikku naan parisu thandhen thottilin mele’

Can ‘that’ act be put more succinctly?

4. Genuine love for Tamizh

Wherever possible, he would praise the language of Tamizh. In ‘Kallellam maaNikka kallaaguma’, he describes the beauty of a woman. But look at the third line- Sollellaam thooya Tamizh sollaaguma..

5. Range

Of all the points, I find this to be the most defining. Let me explain.

A poet is expected to touch upon or cover many things in life and many great poets in the world have done this. When it comes to film music, the poets (lyricists) have to operate with a lot of constraints. And yet some fabulous songs-which shine with glory - have been written over a period of time. But in my humble opinion, no lyricist other than KaNNadasan has covered so many topics in film songs. I am not going to list out the topics now but let me say that he excelled in romantic songs as much as he excelled in philosophical songs.

Now, see this- Vaazhkkai enbathu vyaapaaram/ varum jananam enbathu varavaagum /adhil maraNam enbadhu selavaagum

(Life is a business/Birth is the credit/ Death is the debit)

Or

SendRavanai kettaal vandhu vidu enbaan/Vandhavanai kettaaL senRu vidu enbaan

(the one who has gone will ask us to come/the one who has come here will ask us to go)      

And to think that this was the same poet who wrote ‘ Naan pesa nanippathellam nee pesa veNdum’ or ‘UNdenRu solvadhundhan kaNNallava, illai endRu solvadhundhan idai allava’….

So much to say about this genius and his works but let me stop here for obvious reasons..

And now for the incident quoted in the beginning..

I am sure many of you would have guessed who that ‘young man’ was. If you haven’t, let me tell you that it was our own Raaja sir.

The Raaja-KaNNadasan combination produced some unforgettable gems in a short period of 5 years. On this special day-the birth anniversary of the genius poet-, let me take up a philosophical song.

‘NallaveRkellaam SatchigaL ReNdu’ from ‘Thyagam’(1978) has an unmistakable air of serenity and the reason is not far to seek. It has a beautiful tune based on a raga called Vaasanti which is known for its poignant feel, the orchestration is simple and yet piercing and the lyrics are meaningful as always.

It starts with the humming of TMS (though well past his prime, it must be said that he did render the song with aplomb). Of course there is that subtle bell sound too prior to this, but the highlight of the prelude in my opinion is the flute which first gives a sleek silhouette and then moves with unique elegance along with the folk stringed instrument.

The pensive violins give way to the guitar which sounds philosophically in the first interlude. But it is the flute again which steals the show. It moves languorously with that touch of melancholy. The slow circular movement in the end pinches our hearts. Can pinching be so pleasurable too?

The second interlude starts with the violins yet again but this time with western classical contours. The single violin which is superimposed on its own family, is wistful and arresting. But, it is the flute which scores yet again. Steeped in melody, it lends majesty and poise.

And now for the lyrics..

This genius wrote long back that if it is God, it is God/if it is statue, it is just statue(deivam endRaal adhu deivam/veRum silai endRaal adhu silaidhaan).

Now in this song, he says ‘Look at a stone with faith,  and you can see the God there’.

In the first charaNam, he talks about the drying up of rivers and asks who is responsible for that-rivers or the fate.

He invokes the Divine force again in the second charaNamm praising his superior qualities. But what I find most interesting and intriguing are the last two lines where he says ‘ When a person decides to do harm or cause trouble,  he doesn’t cry; Have the heavens ever fallen down on the earth?’

These two lines need a thorough study. Usage of similes is not uncommon in poems. But in this case, the first line talks about negativity while the second line talks about great men. Why this contradiction? Does he equate bad people/deeds with the heavens?

This is where the brilliance of the poet comes to the fore. What he means is this-

Bad people have no sense of remorse. Good people never stoop that level and are always great.

A new dimension to contrasts in poetry..

And this is what sets him apart and makes him an 'Emperor of Poetry!.

Illusions become Dreams and Dreams become Reality when one has faith.

Any doubts? Ask the ‘young man’ who got inspired and subsequently became the unconquered Emperor of Film Music..

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MaarkaNdeya

The universality of Music is too well known and appreciated to be explained again. Yet I write about it again as the topic is more on paper than in practice. What is surprising is that even within our country proponents of the two major classical forms vie with one another to plead ignorance about the other form despite the obvious similarities.

This is where the film music plays a major role in terms of dispelling the ignorance of a majority. Since it is not necessary for a composition in film music to follow a particular grammar, one gets to listen to a mélange of forms in a matter of less than 5 minutes. But let me hasten to add that I am talking about composers who know the real value of each form and are equally knowledgeable about the respective forms.

As we all know, ILaiyaraaja is adept in integrating many forms not just because he loves all forms but also because he knows the intricacies of each form. So, what we get to hear is a synthesis with each form coalescing with the other. But what makes him great is the way the forms mingle without in any way affecting the melody. It in fact enhances the melody.

Take ‘SiRiya PaRavai SiRagai Viriththu PaRakkirathe’ from ‘Andha Oru Nimidam’(1985). The entire song follows the Charukesi scale. If we delve further into this raga/scale, we will know that the Indian melody Charukesi has been in existence in Western Classical form as Melodic Major since time immemorial.

The prelude is entirely in Melodic Major with the keys and the subtle bass guitar sounding a repeat melody which is repeated by the guitar and then by the strings in the higher octave, followed by the brass flute. Note the absence of the percussion here though it does follow a time signature. More on this rhythmic aspect, a little later..

Charukesi is present in the Arabic system as well and this gets reflected in the first half of the first interlude.

We get to see the Carnatic Charukesi in the first interlude with the chorus singing the swaras followed by the flute first and the veena later. Note that the second CharaNam is different from that of the first and the third.

Melodic Major returns in the third interlude with the first half sounding jazzy and the second half symphonic..

The starting music in the prelude, the Pallavi and the beats follow

1 2 3/ 1 2 3/ 1 2 3/ 1 2 3/ 1 2 3 4- with 4 subdivided into 16.

Does it indicate something?

It does, to me...

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Wings

We Indians have always been fascinated by the colour blue. This surely is not a colonial hangover (as you know, the British are known for their obsession with this colour!). And this surely is not just because our Indian Cricketers wear Blue jerseys while playing in the shortened version of the game.

This passion for blue dates back to our mythological days. Lord VishNu is blue-hued and is lying down on the sea which is of course blue. Lord Shiva is known by the name ‘Neelakanta’, the one with the blue neck, as it is believed that when the Ocean was churned to get the amrita, poison came out first (there is a philosophy here too which will be taken up later on in some other post) and Shiva consumed it to save the lives of all around and Parvati caught His neck fearing that if it went inside Shiva would die and therefore the poison got struck in his neck.

Then there is Sani-aka Saturn- who is depicted in blue colour with his gem as per Indian astrology is the Sapphire which is blue in colour.

If we look at the modern days, it was a youngster in Madras, who was so enchanted by the colour of the sea and the sky that he started wondering as to why these are blue which led to one of the most famous discoveries called the ‘Raman Effect’.

English language too loves the colour blue. When something happens suddenly, we say, ‘out of the blue’. When it is a shocking news, we say ‘bolt from the blue’. If somebody is very loyal, we call them ‘true blue’, while if somebody is a favourite of a particular person, we call him a ‘blue-eyed boy’. A detailed plan is called a ‘blue print’. When it is a very rare occurrence, we say ‘once in a blue moon’ and if we feel sad or depressed, we say ‘ feeling blue’. The last two mentioned have a lot of relevance to today’s post, but before that let me share two things.

One of course is a book titled Blue Highways written by an American author William Least Heat-Moon. Hailed by many as a masterpiece in travel writing, the book talks about the adventures of the author even as he travels not on inter-state highways but on back roads marked in blue on the old maps covering every nook and corner of America.

The second is personal. This is just to tell you that Yours Truly loves Blue and that he has dresses in different shades of blue(yes, ‘blue’ and not ‘grey’!).

With this ‘priceless information’ about my personal likes, let me move on to the topic of the day and then to the song of the day. Now, the ‘topic of the day’ is not what the real topic of the day, but there is a connection and we shall see that at the end. It surely is as depressing as that topic provided you care not just for the mankind but for the other species that inhabit the Universe and which have equal right to live with freedom.

Yesterday was ‘World Sparrow Day’ and the idea to observe this day was conceived exactly 10 years ago by an Indian, Mohammed Dilawar, who founded something called ‘Nature Forever Society’. Why is a day dedicated to the sparrow? It is because this beautiful bird species is dying a slow death and though some have disputed this, it is fact that the dwindling population of sparrows is because of the technological advancement and the radiation from the gadgets.

So, what can be done to prevent this-stop using all these gadgets? Well, even if God appears and requests humans to give up modern gadgets, it will fall on deaf ears (deaf ears, as our ears will be plugged with earphones with the eyes focussed on screens!). The simplest way to help sparrows breed is to make Birdhouses made of cardboards/terracotta /discarded wood and keep it on the balcony. Also to be kept is a small bowl of water. Try this and see the magic!

When I was listening to Aananda Kuyilin Paattu from Kaadalukku Mariyadai (1997)  a few days ago when I was walking around my apartment building, what struck me the most of the sudden shift after the first CharaNam. A baby voice (Deepika) sings the basic dance jatis followed by ‘skies are grey and cloudy/we are feeling blue’  This is followed by the lines which go like ‘You come to us like sunlight and make our dreams come true’. My thoughts of course went to the current situation and then moved to the poor sparrows. ‘How gloomy they must be feeling!’, I thought and decided to dedicate this song to the beautiful species. Though it is ‘Aananda Kuyilin Paattu’, ‘Kuyil’ (koel) is just one of the cousins of ‘kuruvi’(sparrow). That I cannot spot the koels too of late, is another story.

This song, in fact can pep up anybody’s spirit. Listen to the beginning and the peculiar words ( no, it is not ‘kiliki’ as Kattappa and company were non-existent in 1997!). The words and the way it is sung are rib-tickling and without a doubt evoke peals of laughter. The strumming of the guitar brings sanity and the Pallavi in the voice of Arunmozhi gives a sense of joy and happiness. So does the guitar piece which follows. The Suddha Dhanyasi tune turns poignant in the second half with the alien notes peeping in but this makes us feel joyous and surely not sombre. Chitra’s voice which enters now, is a like whiff of fresh air and makes the atmosphere cooler.

The guitar goes around in a circle and the flute takes a flight just like a tiny bird, full of vigour and energy. A very peculiar sounding instrument follows, probably to indicate the hardship the bird might have to encounter on its way. The strings play the strains of Suddha Dhanyasi making us see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The first charaNam in the voices of Malaysia Vasudevan, S.N.Surendar, Chitra and Arunmozhi is full of compassion with that poignant shade appearing towards the end. And then it is that baby voice and the lines in English about which we shall see again very soon. What follows these lines is exciting too with the percussion playing to the count of 3(tisram) and the guitar moving in a circle again playing the leitmotif.

And now for those lines again..

What is amazing here is the seamless transition. What is also amazing is the harmony with one set of vocals in the lower octave and the other one in the higher octave.

Skies are grey and cloudy and we are feeling Blue
You come to us like Sunlight
And make our Dreams come True
Love is always there with us together
Feelings are forever and forever.

Doesn’t this apply to the Sparrows?
And doesn’t this apply to the mankind too now?

Tough times never last..But tough people do!
Blues will disappear and the Blue will emerge stronger!!



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Mystique

Why I do what I do is a question which is both difficult and easy to answer.

Let me take writing here as an example. As mentioned many times ad nuaseam, what drives me is the passion for music in general and his music in particular and my yearning to share with others what I observe, feel and enjoy. The logical question which would follow is, how I decide what to write. This ‘what’ encompasses many things and these include the song, the introduction, the topic, the flow and the caption.

Though it is a process, it would not be that easy to describe this as many factors are involved. I would have listened to a particular song that day and would wonder as to why I had not written about that song. If I had already written, I would then have the incline to write about it again taking totally a different perspective. At times, I would note down in my note book and take up that song months (or even years!) after that. At times, I would read about something- not necessarily on music- and immediately would think of a song which according to me matched with that item. There have also been cases where I have related my personal stories and real life incidents with the song.

There are many more things as well which go into this, but let me stop here as of now. As regards the flow, I do not plan anything and just ‘go with the flow’, that is, I write what strikes me at that particular moment. The caption is one area which I pay a lot of attention to. I see to it that the caption gives the essence of the post/song. Most importantly I avoid using the word(s) used in the caption in the posts. For example, if the caption of a post is ‘Rose and Thorns’, you will not find those two words anywhere in the post. I do this to challenge my creativity.

Now, what made me write about the song of the day?

During the December music season, a musician sang a Ragam Taanam Pallavi in two different ragas. What is this RTP is a question which is beyond the scope of this post. Suffice to say that it is a composition where a musician takes up just one line in a particular raga, expands the raga before singing that line by singing an aalapana followed by taanam and then sings swaras in that ragam.

The particular musician took up two ragas instead of one(this too is done sometimes) and within seconds of her first aalapana, yours truly could make out that it was a rare vivadi raga not commonly sung in the concert circuits, but used by the Maestro long ago in a film. I had also written a detailed post more than 11 years ago in the Orkut community which was reproduced in my blog (https://rajamanjari.blogspot.com/2008/11/ilaiyaraaja-musician-par-excellence.html) soon. This raga called as ‘Chitrambari’ hold a special place in my heart, a fact known to regular attendees of Geetanjali, and since I have mentioned about this several times, I would refrain from giving the reason yet again.

I keep humming this song whenever I feel like it. And somehow, since this morning I have been having a strong desire to write about this song again. And this post was born...

‘Sangeetam En Degam AndRo’ from Bala Nagamma(1981) is a gem not known to even many die-hard fans of his. What makes this song unique is of course the raga. But as I have been saying, the beauty in any composition is enhanced not just by the raga but by the way it is used. And this is what makes Sangeetam great (pun intended!).

Though this may not be a blog for technical details, it is incumbent on me to say a word or two about the raga as this would help in appreciating this song more. Even a person not too familiar with Carnatic Music, knows that there is a raga called KalyaNi (Can any Raaja fan or even people who are neutral, forget that song which goes something like ‘Janani Janani’?). What separates KalyaNi and Chitrambari is just a variant of one note and this note is a vivadi note. Now, let me stop here lest this goes into a classification called ‘out of syllabus’. The concept of vivadi has been covered in some of my posts in  my other blog and it has also been discussed in detail during ‘Geetanjali-2019’. Simply put, vivadi note is one which is very close to another note (getting too close to anyone is dangerous?).

In ‘Sangeetam..’, there are phrases with that distinct vivadi note and there are also phrases without that vivadi note. If the latter dances in KalyaNi, the former prances and smiles in Chitrambari, albeit mischievously. Take the beginning for example. Till the flute melody, it is in pure KalyaNi. It is the VeeNa- which follows the flute - which first gives the shade of Chitrambari by playing the vivadi note. And as if to make everything clear and candid, the violins, flute and tabla tarang  combine together playing the ascending notes with that vivadi note appearing without fail towards the end.

The first half of the Pallavi has that vivadi note, while the second half(from ‘aalilai meloru’) is in KalyaNi.

Chitrambari dances with elan in the first and the second segments of the first interlude what with the veena, flute, and the violins moving with ebullience combined with enthusiasm.

As if to challenge Chitrambari, the tabla tarang(backed by morsing) and the flute show some mudras of/in KalyaNi. Not used to being passive, the vivadi Chitrambari jumps into the fray yet again with the veena, tabla tarang and jalatarangam coming to its rescue.

The first CharaNam is dominated by vivadi and the akaaram in the honey-soaked voice of VaNi Jayaram makes one feel how beautiful and distinct vivadi is despite giving that eerie feeling.

The second interlude is a connoisseur’s delight. The VeeNa sounds a melody. The Jalatarangam repeats it. The flute repeats it. The violins repeat it.

Aren’t parrots musical too?

It is then tharangam all the way with the Jalatarangam and the Tabla tarang combining together to bring out the beauty of Chitrambari. This is followed by the veena-venu and then the violins. Just towards the end, we see glimpses of  laya-natana raaja when the mridangam  is joined by the ankle bells.

Dance of sound!

The second CharaNam is structured differently from that of the first one and don’t we know that one should expect the unexpected while listening to this composer?

In a way, this answers the question I raised in the beginning. Doesn’t it?

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Atrium

What interests me always is this question, a question which I must say has been raised many times in different forums ad nauseam - ‘To appreciate music, do we need to know the nuances or do we just have to listen and get immersed in the beauty of music without bothering about anything’?

I shall come to this a little later. Before that I must share interesting information about the brain.

Recently, I read that scientists have identified a chemical in the brain that can be blocked to boost the learning of music and language in adults. ‘Adults’ because it is said that the capacity to learn decreases with age. This chemical is known by the name ‘adenosine’ and is a neuromodulator present in the auditory thalamus. This auditory thalamus is a kind of ‘relay station’ where sound is collected and sent to the auditory cortex for processing. By disrupting the signals in mice (always these are the guinea pigs, you see!), the window for auditory learning was extended well beyond adulthood.

 This can be applied to humans too and by restoring plasticity in critical regions of the brain, the capacity to learn music in adults increases manifold.

We have read about chemicals aiding us in a positive way. But here is a chemical which stops us from learning something as important as music.

Now that we have seen about the brain, let us turn our attention to yet another organ in our body, which is as important as the brain-if not more important. An organ which beats 72 times in a minute (there is music in this too!)

 The Heart!

In fact, I keep saying this quite often:                         

To appreciate music, what we need are two ears and a heart.

 I did mention this during Geetanjali- 2017 too and one of the members commented , ‘No , we need the brain too. How will the ears function without the brain?’

This was a clear case of missing the wood for the trees, because by ‘brain’, I meant ‘thinking and analysing’ and not the basic function. Though the heart needs the brain to function, the heart is independent of the brain when it comes to thinking. That is why, we are asked to go by ‘what the heart says’. When we leave things to the heart, we will be wiser, calmer and relaxed.

So, which is more important to appreciate music-the brain or the heart?

I shall leave this unanswered now and move on to a rare gem. Unlike many rare gems discussed here, this is not an ‘old’ gem. 

The rationale behind choosing a rare gem or rather calling it as a 'rare gem' was given by me long back in the Orkut Community. It must be a song which is not familiar to many despite being a great composition. And this need not necessarily be from his ‘70s and his early ‘80s. Members who attended Geetanjali-2017 will vouch for this as a couple of his ‘new songs’ from the present century were played and a majority was listening to those songs for the ‘first time’.

The speciality about ‘Idho Idho ILaignan ILaignan’ from ‘Ajantha’(2007-unreleased, though it won the state award for music!) is the variety. Yes, almost all his songs have that ‘variety element’ but this one is special because it also has some familiar tunes (of his old songs) which appear in the CharaNams.

The brilliance of any composer lies in the way he improvises an inspiration. As Raaja sir himself has said, his body is soaked with compositions from past masters. But how he takes that inspiration to new levels distinguishes him from many other music directors who copy others’ works shamelessly.

In ‘Idho Idho’, Raaja sir gets inspiration from his own compositions and brilliantly uses the tunes, albeit briefly.

The song starts with the humming of the chorus and the lead singer (Manjari) backed by a host of synth instruments. This and the sound of the trumpet prove that we are not way off the mark. When Manjari sings the Pallavi with gusto and keeps repeating the lines, we keep moving the feet, tapping the feet and even sway from one side to another.

The interlude starts and aren’t we in for a surprise?  The tempo slows down and the bamboo flute(or a synth instrument with the same sound) plays a tune very familiar to us. The beats are familiar too. In fact, ‘Aasaiya Kaaththula’ has taken many avatars (as far as I know 5 avatars) and each time it has sounded different. Here too, the synth instruments take us to a different world!

The first segment of the CharaNam almost follows the same beats. I am saying ‘almost’ because there is a subtle difference in the ‘kaarvai’ and the way the percussion is played. The second segment –in vocals- gives the beautiful shades of the original.

And now comes the next surprise. After a beautiful humming by Manjari, the composition takes a new turn with the change in the tempo and also the change in percussion. It also becomes ‘light classical’(what is this?- a raga sung like a scale!) in Suddha Dhanyasi. And don’t we hear a tune of yet another old song-‘Maanjolai kiLithano’- now?

Yet another surprise.. It now turns to pure classical with the swaras of Suddha Dhanyasi being rendered in a pattern with the mridangam supporting the vocals.

The melodic mathematics continues in different patterns, in between giving a shade of his ‘Vizhiyil Vizhundhu’ in a flash and moving on to the syllables of classical dance and the TaaLa, culminating in a ‘teermaanam’. No I am not going to explain this, nor am I going to give the break-up of the micro beats.

Does this not touch our heart even without knowing about Suddha Dhanyasi, Nata Bhairavi, Chatushram,  Kaarvai, Muththaippu or Teermaanam?

If yes, then your heart plays a more effective role than the brain.

If ‘no’, then your brain plays a more dominant role-in a negative or a positive way.

Is it possible to appreciate the nuances and the melodic beauty simultaneously?

More on this in a forthcoming post..

Until then, open your heart and get immersed in that beautiful ocean called music-with or without adenosine!

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