Scrupulous

Intriguing!

This is how one can define the lives of well-known people. No, I am not talking about politicians here as stating the obvious serves no purpose. 

Today, I read an interesting anecdote about Alauddin Khilji from a book. In fact, the book itself is very interesting as it narrates little known facts about people well-known, little known and unknown in a very fluent style. Since this is not a book review, let me move on.

This much dreaded Khilji known for his ‘kill ji’ policy and principle and for his looting of valuables from India, it seems was very scared of two women-his mother and his wife! In fact, many of his exploits happened because he wanted to be away from both these women as much as possible!!

Some 3-4 years ago, I also read (that was a different book) about a very famous Classical singer- a legend- who married twice with his second wife dominating his entire life. So much so that not only did he hardly spend his life with his ‘first family’ but also that he seldom met them. His son-from the first family- hated him!

Then there was this English author, one of whose books top my all –time favourite novels list, who had an illicit relationship with a girl nearly 30 years younger than him. He, it seems treated her like a slave!

There are many stories(real life) like these and the objective is not to besmirch anybody or to denigrate them. I quoted these examples because even the lives of legends were not without blemish. 

And yes, there is one more reason and that forms the fulcrum of this post.

One of the most popular and celebrated Western Classical Composers, once fell in love with his student, a student not brilliant or intelligent or smart, but just below average. He composed a short and simple piece in/for piano so that she could play it easily. Unfortunately, the lady rejected his proposal. This irked him so much that he extended the piece and included some very complex notes in the piece. He chose not to publish this work. The piece which was under the wraps for many years after his death was ‘resurrected’ and is now considered to be masterpiece and being given for practice for aspiring pianists. 

Name of the composer- Ludwig van Beethoven.

Name of the Piece- Für Elise.

This piece appears in the trailer of a very recent movie and if I am not wrong, appears in the movie too, though I am not sure of this as I haven’t watched it.

However, the Maestro did not use this for the first time. Before getting into that, let me also tell you that MSV sir, used the same piece in the first line of a song (En Manadhu OndRu Dhaan- PerumaikkuriyavaL) in 1977.  By no stretch of imagination can this be called as ‘copying’. I have written many posts on creativity and inspiration and therefore would prefer to stay away in defining and explaining the difference between ‘copy’ and ‘inspiration’.

If the legendary Mellisai Mannar used the first line of the piece as his first line in a duet song, Innisai ILavaL(as the Maestro was known during the late ‘70s) used a part of the first line just towards the end of the prelude in a song in 1978. What is beautiful or even outlandish about this is that he made the brass flute play this piece which was written exclusively for the piano!

‘Maalai iLamanadhil Aasigathanai Thooviyadhu’ from ‘AvaL Oru Pachaikkuzhandai’ is in fact dominated by the guitar. It starts with a resonant piece in guitar with the accordion taking over in the latter half. The tribute to the genius happens just towards the end of the prelude as mentioned already.

What is amazing is the fact that there is no sign or even a trace of that piece anywhere else in the song. 

The voices might sound very different to many, but let me tell you that the song was rendered by Shobha Sekar and S.N.Surendar, the former being the mother of a popular Tamizh actor (and the current CM of Tamizh Nadu) and the latter being his uncle who is also known for lending his dubbing voice to yet another famous actor of the ‘80s, who in fact is always identified with the ‘Mike’.

The inimitable guitar takes us through the first segment of the first interlude playing some mind blowing notes while the whistle sound adds to the intrigue with its sharp and piercing tone. The two join towards the end producing some unique sounds.

The lines in the CharaNams have a special charm with the last line transporting us to a different world.

The second interlude changes track with the brass flute giving a beautiful WCM flavour. The accordion at the end shimmers with beauty and yes with that sense of intrigue.

What is music without intrigue?

What is life without the sense of intrigue?