Recently, during a Training Session, there was an interesting debate.
In this age of AGs
and Republics(no, not the Donald one,
though this one is equally comical!), the word ‘Debate’ has lost its meaning
and surely its value. But in spite of being aware of this fact, I have some
reasons for calling the Debate we had as ‘interesting’. First of all, the two Teams were standing and not sitting (probably
to symbolise the fact that we are after all, ‘outstanding’!). Secondly, unlike
the normal debates where the debater presents his case somewhat elaborately, in
this debate one had to go, stand, make a point and go back. The person from the
rival Team would then go, say a one-liner and go back and so on..
Doesn’t this sound interesting?
But what made this most interesting, was the Topic, which was ‘City life Vs Village life’. The team member had to start his/her sentence
with ‘City life/Village life is better
because...’ and then put across a point. As you all know, this was more ‘honoured
in the breach than in observance’ (long live the Bard of Avon for enriching the language of English J).
The main point was forgotten and all other points were ‘put across’. It was
‘Comedy Time’ and yours truly enjoyed
every bit of it as he was part of the ‘village group’.
Let us keep this debate aside now and look at the
reality. How many of us really care for villages? How many of us genuinely
understand the significance of villages? How many of us respect villages?
That ‘how many of us’ is meant more for the people who
rule us.. One of the many words which have been misused and abused is the word
‘development’. The very mention of this word should normally gives us positive
vibes but it doesn’t. ‘Development’ in the lexicon of the powers that be, is
‘destroying villages’ which in effect means destroying our heart. I am not
going to list out anything here, but I am sure it is obvious to all true
citizens of the country. But the irony in this is that people who are against ‘Green’ include the word ‘Green’ in the project! Probably it is a
kind of cathartic release for such characters whose mind travels not in one
lane but in eight lanes!
If villages cease
to exist, I am sure music too shall
cease to exist. It is because of the reason that music has its roots in villages. If people do not
agree with this, they may read my earlier
posts on this subject in the same
thread. Though one may have divergent views on this, in my opinion, folk music is everlasting and can never
be ephemeral.
In fact, the reason for the success of ‘AnnakkiLi’ is the folksy tunes which
were lapped up by the Tamizh audience
as it came like a whiff of fresh air. As already mentioned in some of my posts earlier in the same thread, it is not correct to say
that folk music never existed in Tamizh film songs before ‘AnnakkiLi’. But the difference the album made was that the music sounded
more authentic. Most importantly, it was totally different from what people
heard until then.
ILaiyaraaja’s
folk music in films has never sounded out of place or cacophonic. At the same
time, the music was also experimental. He had no misgiving or apprehension in
using western instruments in folk
songs. On the other hand, he had the courage of conviction. This positive
attitude along with his innate musicality made the songs sound so very
different and attracted not just the common man but the cognoscenti as well.
The song of the day is just one example. ‘Hey
en aasai vazhaikkuruththe’ from ‘Aayiram
Vaasal Idayam’(1980) smells like the paddy in the green fields, tastes like
the sugar cane juice fresh from the garden and shimmers like the fireflies which
hover around the fields in the night.
The song starts with a ‘call and response’. The male chorus ‘calls’ and the female chorus responds after a pause. The silence in
between, conveys more than what it conceals. After 2 different ‘calls’ and ‘responses’, the percussion-which is nothing but the ankle bell- enters and backs the ‘thanthaana naa naa na’ of
the male chorus with the overlapping female chorus singing different syllables in a different octave. Who said Harmony exists only in Western
Music?
It is the turn of the percussion-this time a folk percussion something like ‘thaarai’ to take over. After 8 ‘ta ki ta’s, the drum plays only the first and
the third syllable, showing the mind
of the composer who thrives on ‘variety’.
Malaysia
Vasudevan is in his element and voice sings the Pallavi in a majestic tone with Sasirekha(who for a change, does not
sound off-key at all) and Shailaja
following suit.
Is it difficult to believe that a sound from a keyboard can give a genuine folksy
flavour? Your disbelief will disappear in no time if you listen to the
beginning of the first interlude. A mandolin-sounding instrument used
ubiquitously by him during the ‘70s,
replies to the keyboard with the jalatharangam-sounding instrument pitching
in now and then. The chorus enters again, now to the backing of the guitar. It is harmony again with the
female chorus singing in higher octave
and the male chorus singing in lower
octave at the same time. The flute,
which appears just briefly, does not fail to make us feel amidst the paddy
fields.
The lines in the CharaNams-especially
in the second portion- are folksy too and this is not least because of the
rendering of Malaysia Vasudevan, the
flute and the chorus. Note the use
of different sets of percussion and
also the change in the pattern!
The way the chorus is made to sing the first segment of the second interlude, the gliding and the
sliding of the keyboard, the
circumambulating flute and the ‘mandolin’ make us feel rustic and
nostalgic as well.
‘We are
happy-go-lucky. If you want, you join us, or else leave us alone’, these
seem to say musically.
Hope the ‘Development people’ are listening..
Check this out on Chirbit
