Lesson 10

Expressing Moods Through Music - 1 (Surpirse,Happiness)

               

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Song:	Vae Vaela Varnala...(Telugu)
Film:	Sankeerthana
Based on Raga:	Mohanam
Listen to this song. [Audio Courtesy: RaajaNGAHM.com ]

 

The Mood of the Song

This song is a perfect example that describes how controlled deviations from a selected scale should be handled, thus tuning a song to  evoke the required mind set.

This song has been composed for a joyful situation, wherein the character in the film describes the natural geographic beauty around him. The character expresses his feelings (of surprise and joy) while sailing in the fast moving river water. The tunes in this song are "musically" very close to the motion of the river water. The ups and downs in the flow of the notes in this song are analogous to those that occur during the journey through the river water. The composer thus gives an intelligent demonstration of how a song should be tuned to match the underlying situation.

The Scale

This song is based on the pentatonic scale Mohanam. This scale contains the chathusruthi dhaivatham , but the composer has made careful usage of shudha dhaivatham at several places in the song. The pallavi of the song begins with wonderful slides woven with the notes surrounding the higher sa. The second tune (Alalu silalu...) is unique in that it sounds both the dhavaitham in sequence. The unexpected appearance of the smaller dha (at several places in the song), adds to the uniqueness of the song in general. 

The charanam maintains the high spirits of the character by beginning in the higher octave. The composer brings another surprise at the end of this tune by moving down to the smaller dha and finally touching the bigger dha before a tentative halt after which the next tune continues to the lower sa. 

The amazing note combinations that constantly keep shifting between the bigger (chatustruthi) and smaller dhaivatham are beyond verbal description.These shifts in particular, express the feeling of surprise (as implied by the wonderful lyrics) and happiness in the mind of the character in the film. The charanam ending on the higher gadharam is the most unexpected musical surprise in this song. The lyircs for this last tune in the charanam, being a question, demonstrates the composer's ability to grammatically blend s tune with the meaning of its lyrics.

 (Note: I'm note aware if the song was tuned to the lyrics or the lyrics were written to the tune).

The Orchestration 

The high pitch and moderate tempo of the song speak of the composer's brilliance in matching the mood of the song. 

The composer brings life to the song and fuses it with the situation in the film with a folk tune in the interlude. The female chorus backed up by a folk percussion, followed by the flute, gives a classical telugu folk color to the song. The fast pace of the song is supported by the tabla throughout the song (pallavi and charanam).

 Thanks to Maestro Ilayaraja  for enlightening us with this wonderful lesson.

Author: R.S.Balaji

 
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