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Monday, June 13, 2011

Musical Images

Musical Images

Maestro has had astounding success in creating a visual image of a particular effect/mood/emotion through his music. Here are some of those masterly works...

Lets start with Oh Butterfly from film Meera…idhula interlude musics'la oru pattam-boochi parakkum effect unara mudiyum...Kanna moodi kaetta, naamale butterfly maadhiri parakara oru feel kidaikkum ..this is world class music at its emotional best.

Thaalatudhe vaanam from kadal meengal - you instantly connect this song with sea travel...i just dont know how...close ur eyes and listen, you can feel urself sailing in deep sea.....same with "megam karukayile" from vaidhegi kathirundhaal...that initial choru "aaha oho yehe hoi" is in nutshell the rowing image, musically coined for users to relate to the situation..

Recently there was this moonlight song - unna vida indha ulagathil from virumaandi - this is a song created for the dark skies of the night...it is just impossible to picturize this song in broad day light...its tailor made to perfection to suit night effect...the interlude musics are strong proof for the same...



What about Piraiye piraiye from Pithamagan? At any given time only one instrument plays at a time...thats probably a technique to hint how lonely the person is...now take the prelude...mudhalla oru female humming varum, adhai thodarndhu madhu balakrishnan'ona humming...i guess the first was for the mother who gives birth and the male humming says the child is now handed over to the vettiyan.



The musical symbolisation of death, cremation, the nothingness after cremation (sooniyam) and another death following this one endlessly, is captured in four different musical bits in the first interlude BGM...listen again, and you will know.



Overall, there had just been a death and a birth....the song is thus tuned mid-way between a oppaari to a thaalaattu.… There are four distinct parts (musical bits) in the first charanam of piraiye piraiye...i guess this how one should look at it...



first flute bit: Note how it is tuned as if air is rapidly escaping out of the holes of the flute...this stands for death. The life giving air (prana) escaping the body...

second bit: thagikkum thee jwalaiiku indha bit evvalavu porutham...


third bit: ellam vendhu saambal aagi poga, oru "nothingness"...sooniyathil nilaippu endru kannadasan solluvaare, adhu pola...oru vidhadhathil ellam izhandha vitta oruvanin olam pola olikkum musical bit


fourth bit: meendum andha first flute bit...marubadiyum oru maranam...marubadiyum engeyo oru udalil irundhu uyir pirigiradhu (moongil ootaigalin vazhiye kaatru pirivadhu pola oru flute bit)...ivan vaazhkayil maranam oru dhinasari vishayam enbadhu pola...

Take the second interlude...maranathai nidhamum parthu parthu marathu ponavanin mano-nilaiyai, andha verumaiyai, thanimaiyin valiyai arpudhamaaga isaiyaal unarthi irukiraar ilaiyaraja..

Overall, andha song'la mostly oru instrument than isaikka padum (at any given time)...that was probably a figurative attempt to showcase the vettiyan's loneliness...

Take the song Kaalai thendral form uyarntha ullam and Puththam puthu kaalai from alaigal oyvathillai – These songs silmulate the effect of 'morning breeze', and a feeling of something 'new & fresh'. The song "Thendral Vandhu Theendum Bodhu” is another amazing song!! Maestro has musically described how the visually challenged may feel, see and realize the various colours.

Listen to the song Poovarasambu Poothachu from Kizhakke Pogum Rail. The song is centered around the railway station and train. You can listen during the interludes the sound of the train and also during the song you can see the train shown in the film. But then when the song ends it will end slowly when SJ sings the line Kaveri pola pongura manasu paadaatho... this signifies that the train is coming to the halt... a good improvisation by the maestro.. way back in 70s.

There are many songs associated with train by Raja... Thalaltu Keekatha peringu yaaru (Patukku Naan adimai) and Goods vandiyile oru kaadal vanthirichu (Kunkuguma Chimizh) where just by listening to the song, you can make out it is a train song.,..

You can keep rambling on…“Sethazhampoovil Vandhaadum Thendral” – from Mullum Malarum is a long hill-drive song. Especially the opening humming of KJY transcends the listener to a different plane altogether.

“Yae thendrale” is a lovely song from the film Nenjathai killadhey – according to me an unparalleled effort. Its a wierd combination of three different aspects. A sorrow because one fa(i)lls in love, a "chill- factor" in a hill station and newly wedded couple honeymooning. This song clearly covers all these aspects.

Malargalil Aadum from film Kalyanaraman makes the listener experience the chillness of a waterfall. Especially watch the violin interludes. The flute in the first interlude gives a feeling that a tree is shedding hundreds of flowers on you.

Lets see more examples….“Nadham en jeevane” from kadhal oviyam - in the charanams, there is a line "nadhigal jadhigal paadume"...it is followed by a brief and brilliant piece for 4 or 5 seconds...without a second thought, even without knowing the preceeding lines, you can tell that it was to symbolize the flow of river that follows a musical rythm...pls listen to this song again...

Manasu Mayangum - Sippikkul Muthu - It is the female who sings a line, and the male follows by repeating what the female sings....It has to be, as the hero is totally ignorant (ondrum theriyaadhavan) of the roles he has to assume, even after he tied the nupital knot. This "male voice following female voice" trend continues till second charanam. Then the pallavi is repeated for the last time, but now - see what has happened...the male takes full control. The roles are now reversed, and the female voice repeats what the male sings...It is because the teaching and learning roles are now reversed...the hero now dominates while female is sub-dued....what a brilliant & clever thought from maestro...


Poongatru pudhidhaanadhu - Moonram pirai - i would any other MD would have tuned a slow paced song, and just for the train sequence, he would have inserted a real "shuk chuk" sound of a train...IR conceived this very differently...He decides to use the tempo of the train to be the pace of the entire song...so the song starts and ends like a bullet train, with a stunningly sedate charanams which still fits the overall "fast track" mould of the song...weird and baffling is it not...


Now for the train sequence...a trains siren (with some violins)...then actual puffing of the arriving train, muscially converted by string instruments...that train tempo has been uniformly maintained throught the song...


....and you know it the moment that electric prelude hits u hard...that a truly electric song is on its way !!!!!

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