ILAIYARAGAM
ILAIYARAGAM Research Posts - 9
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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