Hamlet

 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