MUSIC FROM BEYOND THE SKIES
AR Rahman proves, once again, that love his songs or loathe them, there’s no questioning the spirit of restless creation in them.
JAN 24, 2010 – WHATEVER THE OSCARS HAVE DONE FOR AR RAHMAN on a professional level, they certainly haven’t altered an iota of his person. Ascending the stage towards the close of the audio launch of Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa, the musician came off less like someone celebrated across a series of global platforms than a bashful school-kid still unable to comprehend all this fuss. Gracious as ever, he confessed to harbouring doubts about matching the standards set by the hit combination of Gautham and Harris Jayaraj – and he probably wasn’t alone in these doubts. Whatever the reasons – the requirements of the market, the quality of the films, the guidance from the directors – Rahman in Hindi is quite a different beast from Rahman in Tamil, and at least some part of the houseful audience, that Tuesday evening in Chennai, was wondering if their idol’s penchant for multi-tangential experimentation would coalesce with their requirement for a soundtrack that was admirable yet accessible.
But even that old bugaboo about Rahman’s compositions needing time (not to mention a lot of petting and stroking and the lighting of heavily aromatic incense) to grow on you was dispelled the instant Alphons Joseph started to strum his guitar in preparation for Aaromale, the album’s standout track. Before getting to the song, however, can I note how thoroughly refreshing it was to witness a music release function that was actually about the music? No windbag speeches from the architects of other aspects of the film, no gratuitous bowing and scraping before political (and other petty) powers – it was just the musicians on stage, belting out unplugged versions of the songs they’d sung in the studio, accompanied simply by a piano, a couple of guitars and manmade effects like clicks and harmonies. Gautham would introduce a song with a sliver of context, and the singer would take off from there – no muss, no fuss.
This approach, in hindsight, was unexpectedly rewarding. Firstly, it ensured that the spotlight shone on the most deserving – namely, AR Rahman and his singers. But more importantly, it etched into the audience’s minds the barebones template of each song – something that may not be of much use with another music director, but absolutely worthwhile in the case of Rahman. His methods of creation are so unique – the skeleton of melody gradually layered with sinew and tissue and muscle and, finally, skin – that the full-bodied song often bears little resemblance to the outline that birthed it. And we were privileged, that evening, to listen to these outlines, which instilled in our minds a rudimentary map of the musical terrain that was going to be stalked. Rahman, who came on stage only after all the songs were thus unveiled, may only have been partly joking when he mused that his numbers sounded so much better this way.
I hadn’t heard any of these songs earlier, and when, for instance, Naresh Iyer began to spit out the phrases of Kannukkul kannai, I was instantly drawn to the end of the opening stretch, where vocals and guitar came together in a set of staccato steps with the synchronised heat of a tangoing duo. Listening to the album later, I was surprised that this portion was submerged under backing vocals (including whoops), strings and a furiously tapping percussion, and what had previously been the highlight of the song, for me, was now merely an organic part of the whole. How would I have responded to the song had I not heard the earlier, acoustic rendering, which isn’t unlike reading the screenplay before watching a movie? The tone and tempo and colour are the same, yet different – the core the same, yet the conclusion different. Perhaps, henceforth, all albums should be required to perform this double duty – giving the musically curious amongst us the opportunity to peel back the skin and slice right to the bone.
On the other hand, Benny Dayal’s Omana penne sounded better recorded than live, primarily due to its studio-crafted special effects – like the electronically tweaked contribution from Kalyani Menon, or the lush raga passages in Bilahari that bequeathed an air of piquancy to a tune that otherwise might have been dismissed as generically chirpy. In general, Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa is one of Rahman’s stronger Tamil albums, bearing just enough outré envelope-pushing to sound different but still managing to appeal on first (or second) listens. The sole outright disappointment is Anbil avan (from Devan and Chinmayi), which holds little surprise (or interest) after a first listen. And with a couple of other tunes, such as Karthik’s soulful crooning of the title track and Rahman-Shreya Ghoshal’s Mannipaaya, everything looks perfect on the surface – from the patient and flavourful parsing of (lyricist) Thamarai’s phrases to the relatively unadorned musical flourishes – but something (I can’t put my finger on it yet) seems vaguely off. And yet, there’s always some sort of hook – a bluesy intonation here, iterative phrasings that spread out like ripples over there – that keeps drawing you back. Speaking of Thamarai, however, her staunch contribution to Gautham’s films certainly found a better showcase in Harris Jayaraj’s less-layered music, though even here, certain signature constructions announce themselves beautifully – like maru idhayam, a second heart to be offered the callous lover after she crushes the first one.
But Aaromale is everything you wish for – a dazzling boundary-pusher contained within the perimeter of a standard stanza-chorus construction, except that the stanzas aren’t quite stanzas in the way we usually know them, a block of music (comprising, say two individual lines of melody repeated twice, once by the male singer and once by the female counterpart). The non-chorus portions, here, are structured along the lines of blues-rock and country music (think Creedence Clearwater Revival’s recording of I put a spell on you layered onto an Ennio Morricone score for a spaghetti Western, and brushed lightly with the psychedelia of Pink Floyd) – and looping through the song’s lazy meanderings, you realise, once again, that Rahman’s legacy (in continuance with MS Viswanathan’s legacy of the “light music” melody line and Ilayaraja’s legacy of interstitial orchestration and arrangement) is not just the sound of his music, the clean, clear sound that’s the musical equivalent of a bracing breath of pure oxygen on a mountaintop, but also his systematic demolition of the constituents of a film song.
It isn’t that others, earlier, have always buckled down and conformed quietly to the prototype of the Opening (namely, pallavi/mukhda) followed by an Interlude that bridges to the Stanza (namely, charanam/antara) which, subsequently, loops back to the Opening – I can quickly think of RD Burman’s Logon na maaro ise from Anamika and Ilayaraja’s Thendralile thoranangal from Eera Vizhi Kaaviyangal (both with no Stanzas whatsoever), Harris Jayaraj’s Manjal veyyil maalayile from Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (not invoking Stanza until after four iterations of Chorus and Opening), MS Viswanathan’s title track for Ninaithaale Inikkum and (its spiritual successor) Maragadhamani’s Nivedha in Nee Paadhi Naan Paadhi (both comprising merely swara/solfa passages and a single word/phrase) – but Rahman has displayed a remarkable consistency in chipping away at the taken-for-granted foundations of film music grammar. What, with those older composers constrained by their times, was a one-off (or two-off) experiment is for Rahman the undiluted norm.
Does this mean, then, that the Opening-Interlude-Stanza format is heaving its last gasps? I don’t think so, for I have yet to come out from under the spell of Anal mele panithuli from Vaaranam Aayiram, Gautham’s last (in the sense of both previous and final) soundtrack with Harris Jayaraj. The value of a strong tune yoked to a sensitive singer and sympathetic orchestration is still priceless, and it’s still the primary reason many of us listen to music. But Rahman’s peerless talent for painting soundscapes (as opposed to crafting soundtracks) ensures that the opportunity for boredom is minimised. With tunes and arrangements conforming to no particular pattern, and with there being no scheduled returns to a preordained base camp before successive ascents or descents, even the underwhelming stretches skip by without tedium. And as Rahman himself proves with Hosanna (sung by Vijay Prakash, Suzanne D’Mello and Blaaze), the best of composers, can, at times, induce fatigue – by the third iteration of the Stanza, we’ve had enough. (A third Stanza, in general, is never really a good idea unless your name is MS Viswanathan, who’d stave off predictability by adorning one of the Stanzas with an entirely different tune, as with the exquisite Mana medai from Gnana Oli.) And yet, the reggae-spiked sprightliness of Hosanna sneaks under your skin. That’s where Rahman wins – love his songs or loathe them, there’s no questioning the spirit of restless creation contained in them.
Copyright ©2010 The New Sunday Express. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Bala
January 23, 2010
hehehe…Aaromale does seem to be weaving its web of magic around a lot of people that I know :D.( Not sure that my mallu roomie appreciates my murdering the lyrics much though nor the neighbors my screaming 😀 )And you got to listen to the acoustic live versions of the songs ? You lucky dog you !Why don’t they have a directors cut or something for audio-tracks I wonder ?
LikeLike
Bala
January 23, 2010
Oh and would you care to do more music reviews ? They do seem a little more inspired than the movie review ones lately 😀
LikeLike
Suganth
January 23, 2010
Baradwaj,
As you put it, I too can’t put my finger on why I can’t completely fall in love with this soundtrack. Yes, I love the musical flourishes and the offbeat structure in each songs, but still something seems amiss. Over this decade, Rahman’s music seems to have lost easy accessibility (in most cases), while it still is highly experimental.
LikeLike
Harish S Ram
January 23, 2010
i think Rahman has gotten brave as time passsed wid all the accolade. Now he is satisfying himself more and keeping his spirit from not falling by being trapped into a format. His mind is now like you want something like this? ok i ll give you that but only if you think this is song is what you have asked for will you see that in it else it ll be my baby always. But he is still trapped in the style that he is been repeating more often in the form of “mannipayaa”.
LikeLike
Harish S Ram
January 23, 2010
on a lighter note .. its heartening to see many feel “annal meele panni tulli” as a great song. on of the best well inspired song by Harris.
LikeLike
Arun
January 23, 2010
You are painting wordscapes here! you play music with your words, don’t you sir.
And mannipaaya (what a soulful composition by thallaivar & thamarai), neatly summarises Rahman’s “spirit” in its closing stages where he asks his love “yen idhayathai yenna seiven?”, it may not be Rahman’s greatest song, but certainly a very sincere one.
LikeLike
Just Another Film Buff
January 23, 2010
Oh, did I come to the wrong site? Brilliant music review, Mr Rangan.
CLICHE ALERT – Love the soundtrack.
Aaromale is the most generic of ARR’s compositions (rarely do we hear him not blending genres and sticking to one). And that alone puts a smile on my face.
And a word about the snazzy BLUE too. Nadaswaram in a Punjabi track performed by an American? Or hip-hop meets folk in Yaar Mila Tha? Rare indeed.
LikeLike
Whatsinaname
January 23, 2010
Rahaman is hyped to the point of being a demi god. he is an arranger turned lucky, nothing more. But with a bunch if illiterate journos whose knowledge of music can be summarized on the back of a postage stamp, rahman shall continue to grow in stature. God bless these idiots
LikeLike
Priti
January 24, 2010
i agree – you must write more on music, especially rahman.
on a tangential note: arjun rampal and priyanka chopra?? kill me, someone!
LikeLike
Adithya
January 24, 2010
Oh wonderfully written.
That’s a universal feeling now, what with everyone falling in love with the album but still it seems to have halted one step before the finish line. I think Delhi 6 last year is to blame!
LikeLike
Vishnu
January 24, 2010
Good review and great music.. I think this album is a mix of all kinds of tracks.. Some for the masses (Hosanna, Omanapenne) and some experimental..Aaromale was the standout track to me as well.. Great start to 2010, though not in Dilli 6 range..
LikeLike
Arif Attar
January 24, 2010
Another song which starts with the antara is S.D Burman’s ‘Kaaton ke kheech ke yeh aanchal’ from Guide.
By the way I can’t think of many English songs that I have heard that follow the Mukhda-Antara-Mukhda format. of course they have the verse-chorus thing like in ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ but I can’t think of many songs that follow the M-A-M format except for Cat Stevens’ ‘Another Saturday Night’.
LikeLike
sureshkumar
January 24, 2010
Hi BR,
Great write-up.
I am glad you wrote about the Audio release function. I saw the audio launch videos after listening to the songs in CD. I liked the song better after seeing the unplugged performance of the songs. But before, I wrote this in my review,
“Rahman still struggles with setting tunes to already written lyrics. The exquisite title track sung by Karthik is a classic example of how unpredictable a melody can be twisted to without losing the mood and flavor of the lines but the awful abruptness with which he rushes and squeezes the line ‘Kadhal Yendral Kaayamdhaan’ in an otherwise addictive number ‘Kannukkul ennai’ is puzzling. In the same song, the lines ‘Neeyum Naanum’ has an extremely convoluted solo-chorus interplay with lead vocal and chorus taking turns for singing the every next word of one single line of song. Yet all of this weird play settles down when the line ‘Anbae Ododi’ is set to a pleasing melody pushing us back to our comfort zone. This game that Rahman plays with listeners is so taxing and tiring initially, but once we understand the rules, we are sure to have fun.”
And I like “anbil avan”. Is it standard structure the only reason for you not liking the song much or the melody itself didn’t work for you?
LikeLike
raj
January 24, 2010
I agree, too. Baradwaj is at his best as a music critic. He shouldnt be subject to the Veers of the world, and subject to Stockholm Syndrome whereby sheer getting used to crap hindi movies in childhood has led to him appreciating even Veer(well saying anyting other than crap for that movie counts as appreciation) and the likes. Someone must free Baradwaj from this terrible occupation 🙂
Like with JTYJN, it is baradwaj’s review that has inspired me to go ahead and listen to the songs. Whether I like the songs or not, I think I will find this review enjoyable when I return here after listening
LikeLike
Deepauk M
January 24, 2010
Many head nods during this piece. MSV not only tweaks 3rd stanzas but also the home stretch pallavi to make songs more interesting – sample Madana Maaligayil from Rajapart Rangadurai.
While the EVK song is probably the earliest example, Raaja breaks the Pallavi-CharaNam format in his MalayALam Guru track ThaththAram as well. And the song is Thendral Idai Thoranangal I believe not ThendralilE thOranangal. 🙂
The para I found myself nodding the most for is the one on KannukkuL Kannaai. After hearing the unplugged version I was worried that the interstices might be overstuffed in the final recording but Rahman makes it seem exactly as you described it – organic.
I am however completely in love with this album. As I hear Anbil Avan I get the feeling that the song would probably figure in the background during the denouement/end titles. To that end it serves its purpose well – sappy sweet end tune for a romance wedding march and anandham anandham included. BTW, will the real Chinmayi please stand up? She seems to have just way too many voices for her vocal chord health.
LikeLike
brangan
January 24, 2010
Arif Attar: You’re right. Most pop/rock songs have a verse-chorus-verse structure. Speaking of our film music, at least Tamil film music, the pallavi-charanam format is a legacy of Carnatic music, where compositions begin with pallavi (mukhda), go on to a bridge-like anupallavi, and then segue into a charanam (antara). The early Tamil films adhere to this format (a lot of them even having other Carnatic embellishments like swarams and niraval, like Thyagaraja Bhagavathar’s ‘Rajan maharajan’) — and gradually when the songs became “lighter,” the structure was retained even if the heaviness of the raga was diluted (and in many cases, subsequently, the song wasn’t based on a raga at all).
I don’t know Hindustani Classical all that well, and I wonder if a similar case can be made for Hindi film music too.
sureshkumar: The melody itself didn’t work for me. Plus, the excessive synth-ness too. And I like what you wrote: “This game that Rahman plays with listeners is so taxing and tiring initially, but once we understand the rules, we are sure to have fun.” That’s really the case with Rahman if you’re into music. It’s like playing games 🙂
Deepauk M: Are you sure? I thought it was “thendralile thoranangal, tholinile kooondhal alai…” That’s how I’ve always heard it, though I’ll admit that my recording is extremely hissy-scratchy.
Oh, Madhana Maaligayil is a beauty. My favourite part is the second like of the charanam, where the last phrase dips (“mazhayil nanaiginra kuyilgal”), almost as if making a major scale rendering a minor one. Brilliant melody-scaping.
And lol on Chinmayi. I don’t know what her real voice is like, as she doesn’t seem to have sung for anyone but Rahman 🙂
LikeLike
Suresh
January 24, 2010
I listened to the album multiple times but what ‘kodumai’, it refuses to grow on me!! Maybe it is because I am not a Rahman fan as such. After listening to it for a few times I ended up listening to ‘karigalan kala pola’ just to get out of the tedium of this album. Atleast Vijay Anthony has no pretensions.
I guess if I am really ‘musically educated’, I should praise ‘Aaromale’ sky high. Unfortunately I keep hearing to the blues legends regularly and ‘Aaromale’ sounds like a watered down version of the blues. Other than this song, what you hear is the same rhythm loops, some gimmicks like the Kalyani Menon part (something similar to which Mickey Meyers does in the Telugu film, ‘Leader’), the so many times heard stanza structure as in ‘swasthi swasthi sumuhurtham’, the various autotune and other effects which have been used so many times, the same stylization of voices which kills the lyrics. (For all the criticism heaped on Harris Jayaraj, he did do a decent job in VA. Atleast he gave pride of place to Tamarai’s lyrics. I mean, no song in this album strikes you with the lyrics like ‘nenjathil peidium maamazhai’ did.)
Rahman has becomes ‘world famous’ now that one starts finding great things were none exists 🙂 When I read articles such as this, while admiring the author, I do get this uneasy feeling that many are now becoming like the courtier of the Emperor and whatever is worn or not, it looks beautiful!!!
LikeLike
Deepauk M
January 24, 2010
As a clarification I offer: http://www.thiraipaadal.com/tpplayer.asp?sngs=%27SNGIRR0692%27
LikeLike
raj
January 24, 2010
It is thendralidai thorangal.
Chonmayi sung for rahman’s nephew in veyyil, harris in chellamae. She also sang in ir’s italy concert.
LikeLike
Arun
January 24, 2010
interesting comments 🙂
with reference to rahman being hyped up by critics
i think critics should have bias, they’ll always praise tendulkar, sampras, fedrer and rahman bcos when the critic digs deeper into the details of their work, they find perfection, intelligence and consistency.
and for mass audience like me, tendulkar makes century and we are happy.. or rahman creates something hum-worthy, am elated and singing it!
just a thought..
LikeLike
Harish S Ram
January 24, 2010
did i miss it? or there wasn’t a BR on Aayirathil Oruvan??
LikeLike
Venkatesh
January 24, 2010
@Suresh : I guess if I am really ‘musically educated’, I should praise ‘Aaromale’ sky high. Unfortunately I keep hearing to the blues legends regularly and ‘Aaromale’ sounds like a watered down version of the blues. Spot ON.
But still ‘Aaromale’ for me is one of AR’s best pieces in recent times ,
@BR : Like someone else commented , your music reviews seem more “enthusiastic” than your cinema reviews. Any specific reason ?
LikeLike
Nandita
January 24, 2010
Brilliant article BR! Like everybody else, I love it when you write about music 🙂 The Bilahari interwoven in Omana Penne was the standout for me in that song..sheer genius!
BTW, Chinmayi has sung for a lot of non ARR albums, including Poo, Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu and Aadhavan. She was Sameera Reddy’s voice in VA as well. In Anbil avan she is probably closest to her “talking voice”, heard when she hosted Airtel Super Singer.
LikeLike
vijay
January 25, 2010
BR, liked your review better than the soundtrack itself. I myself liked only Aromale and the title track, with Hosanna holding mild appeal. Wished that Aromale had Tamil lyrics by Thamarai.And to think that this song is going to be wasted on Simbu-Trisha for a Gautam Menon film.
Regarding different structures another song I remember is “Ingeyum angeyum” by Lata Mangeshkar for IR from Sathya which had 3 stanzas with similar tune but different ludes. Not sure if the song made it to the film. With MSV, you never know what sangathis he is going to incorporate every time the singer goes back to the pallavi refrain after finishing a stanza.That alone, besides a lot of other things, keeps the tune interesting.
LikeLike
Suresh
January 25, 2010
@Venkatesh: ” But still ‘Aaromale’ for me is one of AR’s best pieces in recent times
That unfortunately, for Tamil Film Music, may be true.
LikeLike
Deepak
January 25, 2010
Rahman by his own admission said that the songs in VA were ‘quirky’. Now, we know that he is pushing the envelope when it comes to Indian film music by incorporating songs that do not have a regular structure. He can do this of course, coz he is such a behemoth in India. But will the Hollywood studio bosses give him as much creative freedom in his projects? So will we be seeing a more 90’s Rahman in Hollywood? Couples Retreat though good, felt like something which he could come up with in his sleep.
And loved Mannipaya in VA. Took almost a week for me to get my head around the song…So melancholic. Glad Rahman decided to sing that instead of Omana Penne as was originally planned.
LikeLike
brangan
January 25, 2010
Nandita: Also, Bilahari itself is so pungent that it (along with Benny Dayal’s vocalising) adds a lot of colour to that otherwise generic song. Another place where Bilahari was a standout was in the album “Mozart meets India,” which I wrote about here.
vijay: Reg. “3 stanzas with similar tune but different ludes,” that’s almost always the case with Raja, no? That’s why his signature is in the way the lude “breaks off” from the melody and later “rejoins” the melody. Except in rare cases like “Oorandangum saamathile” (what a song, btw!) and “Pottu vaitha kaadhal thittam,” Raja rarely repeats ludes.
Is there a link to the song, BTW? It certainly didn’t make it to the film. And I saw it more than once in a theatre, so I should know 🙂
LikeLike
Suresh
January 25, 2010
BR,
Here is the link for ‘ingeyum angeyum’
http://www.thiraipaadal.com/albums/ALBIRR00584.html
A couple of standout songs where the first charanam and the second charanam are not the same : ‘O Sajna Barka Bahar Aayee’, Parak (Salilda), ‘Vedham Nee Pudiya Naadam Nee’, Kovilpura (Illayaraja). Both immortal songs.
LikeLike
brangan
January 25, 2010
Suresh: Thanks much. That KP song goes “iniya” nadham, BTW.
LikeLike
Suresh
January 25, 2010
My bad. It is indeed ‘iniya naadham’
LikeLike
brangan
January 25, 2010
vijay: Heard the song and got what you meant — three pallavis with different ludes, like that EVK song I mentioned. I got confused when you said three “stanzas.” Thanks (also Suresh) for pointing me to this song. I wonder where it would have fit in, though, with all that “irattai vedam” talk.
LikeLike
Suresh
January 25, 2010
Another song which has this type of a pallavi structure continuing throughout the song with no charanam whatsoever is the folk based ‘sandana mariye’ sung by Malaysia Vasudevan and Chitra from ‘Kumbakkara Thangaiyya’. You can listen to it here: http://www.thiraipaadal.com/albums/ALBIRR00311.html
(The site wrongly lists the song as S.Janaki solo.)
And while on this topic of song structures listen to this Anilda’s gem from ‘Kismet’. It does have a antra mukhda type of structure but the way Anilda moves the song on the charanams and how he blends the second charanam blends into the third are absolute delight. Just for the way Amirbhai Karnatki enters with ‘kaun gata hai rubayee re’ is enough to fall flat on Anil Biswas’s feet. Such an amazing tradition we have. Shows how you can experiment while keeping the song interesting. (What gets my goat nowadays is that a song is considered good if we can’t understand the structure!!! )
LikeLike
Suresh
January 25, 2010
I forgot to give the link to the Kismet song. Here goes:
LikeLike
yadu
January 25, 2010
BR,
I think you are being too polite –
this is by far the weakest album from ARR in a long time. The “not being able to put a finger on what’s wrong” feeling is because the album sounds jaded. Gautam and Rahman need to work more closely in the future a-la Mani Ratnam and Shankar.
“Aromale” is perhaps the only saving grace. But again, as a serious lover of Blues music, I feel it is also a missed opportunity in tuning the first perfect Tamil song in the Blues tradition. The anguish and passion in Alphonse’s voice would have sounded much better if it was paired with an Electric guitar. The acoustic just doesnt work. For me at least.
LikeLike
Suresh
January 25, 2010
yadu,
You put it rightly. As I had earlier indicated, I felt this song (Aromale) was a watered down version of blues. The electric guitar would have definitely heightened the feel.
LikeLike
Anand
January 26, 2010
Padma finally comes home for Raja. I donot understand why I do not feel elated though, having cribbed for several years on Raja not been accorded this honour.
LikeLike
புலிகேசி
January 26, 2010
///What, with those older composers constrained by their times, was a one-off (or two-off) experiment is for Rahman the undiluted norm.
///
Oh My! Blasphemy. Can quote more no. of songs by Raaja where he has broken the norm of pallavi-charanam-pallavi pattern. The no. may far exceed the total no. of songs composed by Rahman (JFF :D). But it will be a futile exercise to prove to people whose eyes are already blinded by the lights & glitter of international fame/Oscars.
BTW expecting a Write-up on ‘PadmaBhushan’ to Rahman. (Just an academic interest to know how many more words are there left to praise Rahman), Well not on Raaja, since we fans have least expectation from highly biased ‘commercially’ viable writers. I understand your professional demands.
LikeLike
brangan
January 26, 2010
Pulikesi: Thank you for reminding me of the pleasures of writing about Tamil film music, wherein the writer begins to feel like a mridangam — bashed from both ends 🙂
LikeLike
புலிகேசி
January 26, 2010
BR,
Thanks for taking my comment in the right spirit. After Posting the comment, I thought whether it was too harsh. But your reply indicates that, seasoned being a ‘Mridhangam’ for sometime now, your skin have become very thick. NOM 😀
LikeLike
A.Shankar Raman
January 26, 2010
BR-Your article only proved what I told you in the post event party of VTV-when director vasanth introduced me to you – that you are the best thing that happened to the barren Tamil film scenario. Compliments apart, the points I saw eye to eye with you are one too many. Right from Delhi-6 I had pigen-holed my experience of ARR has ambient and was kicked off by your ‘soundscape vs soundtrack’. What I am writing below is my feeling about VTV which I thought was one of his best in recent times.
Aaromale, apart from blues guitars also had the ‘boatman song’ aspect to it with a bit of ‘Nalangu song’(swasthi swasthi refrain).A real genre fusing ensemble. But that I feel has been the basic tenet of ARR for a long time. That and the intercut between two melodies. The second melody which was just a ‘first listen hook’ in the form of chorus in ‘Rukmani Rukmani’ (literally to hook the listener on first hearing and make him care about the song) in Roja was elaborated to a second melody as a refrain from the days of Yenga Anathu kavithai in Kandukondain Kandukondain has settled to a parallel melody making it indistinguishable as to which is the main melody or prime pallavi.
This has slowly pervaded to subvert the pallavi/charanam dichotomy to make the song more towards an experience rather than a melodic or harmonic structure.The accent has fallen on being ambient and on mood rather than a song whose basic sell is a tune with strong lyrics.I feel the part lyric subversion is part of this grand design of being ambient and moody.Lyrics give a face to a song and thereby jeopardize mood. To supplement this notion Yuvan Shankar during the song recording of ‘Sathum Podathey’ asked Vasanth whether he wanted to record the voices (lyric bearers) up and shining in the forefront or at the same level as the instruments. He further told that he largely prefers to record it at the same level making the voice and lyrics another part of a whole rather than the primary focus.
I did feel at that time that it was a legacy of Ilayaraja whose harmony based thought process mostly saw voice as another instrument but which still remained as soundtrack than soundscape. ARR is carrying this still further.Now the only ‘first listen hook’ seems to be the catch word which also has long lineage from ‘Rukmani to Mustafa to JaiHo to Hosanna’. In some of his songs only that word is the strong tune. Even when ARR ostensibly wants us to listen only to the melody – by a song shorn of instruments like ‘Vellai Pookal’ in Kannathil or ‘Vinaithandi Varuvaya’ by Karthik – I feel the accent is only on mood and not the melody per se. I mean can they be called melody just because it is sung shorn of orchestral backing.
Can these be called melodies if MSV is the main template for melodies. I think ARR means it as ‘mood and ambient’. Hence maybe you have felt in ‘Mannipaya’ and the title track by Karthik that ‘everything seem perfect but something is wrong yet a phrase here and there draws you back’. I think that’s because melody is not intended but only a mood.
Regarding Anbil Avan my experience was different. I agree it was not musically as experimental or soundscapy as the others. But it had the whiff of choir and the undercurrents had a gospel flourish which was accentuated by Devan’s ‘Priest like voicing’. Maybe I am reading too much into it but my repeated listening gave me a church feel. But what I loved most in the song was ‘Chinmayi voice whose guttural strived to be melodious and landed in a no man’s land which I found very sweet.
BR- apart form song reviews I like the layered way you review films which makes space to like a film at one level and not at another level instead of a ‘like-dislike’ binary view. Of course like the ‘catchy one word’ hook of ARR you have a ‘star rating’ system. Why don’t you try avoiding it,become totally lateral instead of a rating pin pointing.
Shankar Raman
LikeLike
brangan
January 26, 2010
Shankar Raman: That’s an excellent point you make about the hook-like “second melody” gradually expanding to become a “parallel melody.” Where I would differ with you — slightly — is in your categorisation between “melody” (on one hand) and “mood” (on the other hand). Even if I choose to ignore the lyrics, the voices and so on — because they are, as you say, “in the forefront or at the same level as the instruments” — the driving motor of any song is still the melodic notes that it hits.
The “tune,” so to speak, to which all the other components (like lyrics) may or may not add much, but which is still the skeleton. And that skeleton didn’t work for me in Anbil Avan is what I was trying to say. Another very interesting point you bring is that Raja too thought of voice as an “instrument,” while still composing soundtracks (as opposed to soundscapes). That is why I like to put musicians ( or movies, for that matter) in context of history, because nothing exists in a vacuum. But a lot of times, it gets misunderstood as partisanship. Aarggh!
Regarding reviews, I make no bones about recommending films to an audience as my approach is deconstructionist. I like this definition here, that “the critic claims there is no meaning to be found in the actual text, but only in the various, often mutually irreconcilable, ‘virtual texts’ constructed by readers in their search for meaning.” And it is these virtual texts that I construct during my dialogue with the movie that I am interesting in recording in the review.
Ergo, a star system literally makes no sense in my case. But to their credit, the paper has been extremely accommodating in terms of space and not asking me change my style. All they ask is that the intro should state an “opinion” about the movie and that a specific number of stars be allotted. And I oblige. Please pay no attention to them, though, for as I said, stars make no sense when you’re deconstructing films (as opposed to evaluating them on a recommendation level).
LikeLike
Suresh
January 26, 2010
I guess with movies like ‘Blue’, ‘Couples Retreat’ and ‘VTV’ not capturing the audience attention like earlier days, it is probably now necessary to prop up such albums with intellectual pretensions!! Rahman has gone beyond tune, he is now in ‘mood’ LOL. You probably didn’t need such a big article for ‘Dilli-6’ for the album stood by itself and reached the people. The truth is there are many ‘hooks’ in the song and not all of them to create an ambiance or a mood. It is just that the hooks are not working as they used to earlier. This is because those who came after Rahman have also mastered these ‘hooks’ quite well.
I had written in another place that Rahman is now at crossroads. On hand the music must be upto ‘Oscar level’, whatever that means. On the other hand it has to be as popular as Vijay Anthony or DSP or Harris. A tall ask. Second, the various tools and techniques are now available to all and sundry. Just check out how Micky Meyers uses technology with ‘Maa Telugu Talliki’ in the Telugu movie ‘Leader’. I would rate that usage much better than what Rahman did with Kalyani Menon’s voice in VTV. Added to it, everyone now has access to all the loops and samples. So when the beat of ‘Hosanna’ starts or when the guitar strums in ‘Aromale’ you cannot avoid the sense of deja vu. And everyone now tries various genres with different degree of success. So there is no big feeling of listening to something very original. You need to fall back on ‘this grows on you’, ‘this is soundscape’ ‘this is ambience’ etc.
For me, as of now, I fall back on ‘Edaya Balgilu Thattade’ from Suryakanthi. This shows how a genius can take a foreign genre, imbibe the essence and instead of just transposing it here with some additional ‘hooks’ can actually go ahead and create something very original, which is his own. Everything that was discussed here, ‘ambience’, ‘mood’, ‘soundscape’ etc are present in this song, which so effortlessly creates the ambiance of an Broadway musical. Listen to it at: http://www.raaga.com/channels/kannada/album/K0000868.html
LikeLike
A.Shankar Raman
January 26, 2010
Oh.A text (say a movie or an album) pops up several windows (say sensory perceptions,analytical perceptions, even genetically induced propensities) which are mostly antipodal to each other and an effort is made NOT to place one window or rather one mode of signifying as superior to the others.
LikeLike
vijay
January 27, 2010
I too felt the tune meandering in Mannipaaya and Anbil avan. Wish that Rahman leaves the tune alone sometimes and does the mood thing with just the arrangement.When you have decided to have vocals in a track it has got to be able to stand alone somewhat. Even a Jazzish melody like Jaane tu ya jaane na (sung by Rahman himself) which might sound strange to desi ears seemed to have a direction to it, besides the orchestration. Same with New York Nagaram,even if the inspiration was Sting and 80s rock/pop. I didnt get any sense of direction or purpose with these melodies in VTV.
At the same time, when he decides to just have a no-frills no-fuss strong tune he usually scores. Mujhpe Toofan from Tehzeeb is something I keep going back to. Closest approximation to how Madan Mohan would have scored an aap ki nazron ne samjha in today’s electronica driven music. And the nice thing is that the song does set a mood, but without compromising on the flow of the melody.
LikeLike
VJ
January 27, 2010
BR ,
Thamarai’s incredibly romantic lyrics have always been a highlight of Gautam Menon’s movies and it is a shame it gets buried in the sound track VTV . That is my only complaint about this excellent alubm and as usual your observations were very intersting and certainly adds to my appreciation of the album . I still liked “Anbil Avan ” even though it is “over-synthed” – the unplugged version was particularly delightful . don;t you think “Kannil ” was over synthed too and “over-chorused”?
LikeLike
Shankar
January 27, 2010
To bring back ARR from the skies (or beyond it as the title of this article suggests) we need to quickly order him to compose music for the next Vijay film so he can regale us with a massy album like ATM!! 🙂
Though I appreciate all the boundary pushing that ARR does, I fear that he is getting further and further away (in Tamil) from the masses in terms of accessibility of his music…
LikeLike
Suresh
January 27, 2010
Shankar,
You do have ‘Endhiran’ to look forward to 😀 Vijay with Rahman has not clicked (the movies I mean) Udaya and ATM were unmitigated disasters. While Rajni and Rahman have generally clicked.
I think the next two movies in Tamil hold hope. Both ‘Endhiran’ and ‘Ravan’ do have the director MD history in their favor. But as you rightly said, the cross section of people that Rahman’s music is reaching in Tamil is coming down.
LikeLike
Suresh
January 27, 2010
…. and Shankar I will go ahead and predict that Rahman in Tamil will not get the same sort of reach as he did earlier. As I said too many people have perfected his music!!! So unless Rahman comes with something totally different and also massy, it is going to be a tough ask. In short, his market has been split up and taken over by various other vendors, who may be nowhere closer to his skills but give good returns to the concerned producer. So Rahman is now pushed to the high end of the market and here he has the enviable role of being classy for the sake of the directors he works with and at the same time giving tunes which will become caller tunes to many. (From what I understand the whole business model nowadays depends on the caller tunes downloads!!) His days of market domination in Tamil are over.
LikeLike
kanishk
January 27, 2010
Rangan….Anbil Avan was my favorite track of the album! Why didnt u like it?
LikeLike
Arun
January 27, 2010
“instant happiness” sinhalese song. one kick ass song!
LikeLike
Muthuvel
January 27, 2010
//, wherein the writer begins to feel like a mridangam — bashed from both ends.. //
Its all the time amusing that when it comes to Raaja or Rahman music, both camps of fans (the exclusive ones) consider that the only way the greatness of their idol can be established is by degrading or venting it out on the other.
And post-ARR-Oscar this has got just worser, I don’t really see the need to point out the deficiencies or whatsoever in a newly released Rahman album to remind or emphasize the greatness of a legend like Raaja whose work will speak for ages.
*had to get it off the chest*
LikeLike
R D Burman (yes it is me)
January 27, 2010
Rangan, It seems the standout song Aaronmale is quite a lift from this song
LikeLike
Shankar
January 27, 2010
Suresh, but as albums I did like both Udhaya and ATM. Infact the “Udhaya Udhaya” song is a personal favorite since the feel, singing and the tune are extremely captivating. The melancholy mood of that song is truly outstanding.
And in terms of Rahman’s reach or domination etc, I wouldn’t even want to go there. My only point was that his recent compositions may tend to alienate the masses. As a music lover, all I wish is for Rahman to continue giving good songs for our enjoyment. As much as I hold Raja dear, I also like Rahman and for that matter anyone who can produce good music. For instance, I thought Rameshwaram by Niru was an under-appreciated album…
LikeLike
brangan
January 28, 2010
Shakar: I’m with you on ATM. It was harmless fun, and very catchy. I think because it was ARR, the expectations were that he’d do all these envelope-pushing things, and when he delivered a (relatively) standard album, I think it got a bad rap.
LikeLike
sureshkumar
January 28, 2010
BR – Accidentally, ATM has music material that fetched him the Oscars via Slumdog Millionaire. The ATM theme became ‘Liquid Dance’ and ‘Yella Pughazhum’ became ‘Jai Ho’. Besides that, there was a mad mixup of genres in ‘Valaipayapatti Thavilae’ song, considering that it is for a standard dance number in a Vijay film, there is a bit of envelope-pushing there. And ‘Madhuraikku Pogadhadi’, with most instantly hook-able lines of melody stacked up one after the other, is how a catchy kuthu or folk song has to be. Extremely addictive. My least favourite is ‘Kaelaamal Kayilae’.
LikeLike
aNoN
January 28, 2010
brangan, i remember a top-10 list of ilaiyaraja songs from you. Can’t find that post. Please help.
LikeLike
brangan
January 28, 2010
aNoN: Are you talking about Raja or Rahman? I did a 15 years of Rahman post where I listed some songs I liked. As for Raja, I remember someone asked me this and I shot off 10 songs that came to the top of my head. But it wasn’t a post. In the comments section of some unrelated post, I think. I’ll see if I can find it.
LikeLike
sn
January 28, 2010
thats here: http://www.desipundit.com/baradwajrangan/2009/09/13/between-reviews-the-shorthand-of-emotions/
in comment no. 11
LikeLike
vijay
January 29, 2010
For scoring “massy” songs Shankar’s films are good enough for Rahman.I dont think he needs to stoop down to do a Vijay or SJ Surya film anymore. Shankar’s film songs are catchy enough and are also usually packed with some fresh and neat ideas. Take the Adiradi kaaran song from Sivaji for instance. Thats the kind of “mass” material I expect from Rahman these days. why do we need Rahman to score an ordinary “Madhuraiku pogadhadi”? Vijay Antony can do the job pretty well.
LikeLike
brangan
January 29, 2010
sn: Thanks.
LikeLike
Shankar
January 29, 2010
Somehow, I wasn’t a big fan of Sivaji album. To me, most of the songs seemed too synthesized. The songs were shot with massy elements though for instance the Adiradi kaaran song with all the gimmicks that Rajni does on screen. From an album perspective, I’d prefer ATM anyday. However, I’d agree that Rahman usually scores really well for Shankar’s movies.
LikeLike
MADDY
January 30, 2010
Mr. Suresh, you must realise this market split had happened right during minnale days….with advent of high-speed internet from 2000’s, young crowd were exposed to Eminem and other western bands – which further split the market…..but ARR’s commercial market is the strongest in tamil even now……he may not have 100% domination as he had earlier but he is still the top by a mile…..he is the biggest brand in history of indian music……..well, that doesent mean, he is all about brand but it means ARR has a dedicated fan base which would support him in most of his works…..neutrals too would place their hand on ARR CD than most others…..
BR, you were spot on when u said u were a mridhangam….hahah……raja fans are pissed with you that you dont write abt raaja…..we, rahman fans are not so happy with your constant MSV-IR praises in ARR reviews….but pls continue – this is the kind of varied responses and thought process a review has to generate…….there is nothing mundane abt ur reviews……ur review, sorry deconstruction of “No Smoking” in 2007 is one of the best reviews ever written…pls keep going
LikeLike
raj
January 30, 2010
I’d also take atm over sivaji. I see that Rahman has reached that stage where Raja was around 98. With general public generally apathetic, and followers producing reams of posts on experimentation, depth etc. Vijay used to question ir “once upon a time he used to combine mass appeal with aesthetics now the appeal seems to have gone so this IR is inferior”m
Where Rahman is lucky is that there is no one to “rahman pwn” him.
Don’t mistake me, I relate to many recent albums of rahman to earlier ones but the circle of life seems to be taking hold here…
I expect more oscars for Rahman but perhaps, the time will come when vijayr says “this rahman is not the same rahman who combined appeal with experimentation” 🙂
LikeLike
MADDY
January 30, 2010
right from Roja , rahman was always supposed to fare badly from his next album….people kept telling, this is it – rahman is going hahahaha…..
LikeLike
Suresh
January 31, 2010
Maddy,
I was just wondering if the songs of VTV will have the same reach to all sections of the public like ‘kangal irandal’ or the VA songs. My guess is that it may not.
But don’t take me too seriously. I thought Slumdog was a very mediocre album and have commented as much and everyone knows what happened 🙂
LikeLike
Prasanna
February 1, 2010
Bilahari’s mention makes me think that it’s not been too popularly used…but for probably a “Kondhalile megam vandhu” or a “Nee ondru dhaana en sangeetham” by IR,no?
LikeLike
Srikanth
February 4, 2010
@Suresh
Vis-a-Vis use of technology in Maa Telugu Talliki,I would like to add a point here.The song itself is quite an old one sung by Tanguturi Surya Kumari.So it had to be extricated from the LP records and hence as a consequence of this it is inherently bequeathed with an agedness-A quality,I suspect,you have taken to be a tweak of technology,which it is not.I would say technology was used but the effect is made more genuine by its intrinsic old age.
LikeLike
SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
February 28, 2010
I don’t know about you, but Hosanna is my current fav. I heard it for the first time only a day ago, and am unable to stop listening. It’s really catchy. Something very cute about that song. I love how Rahman hasn’t become predictable even after being around for so long.
LikeLike
Saravana
March 1, 2010
@suresh
Just heard ‘Maa Telugu Talliki’ and NO it’s not technically better than ‘Omana Penne’. The song sounds repetitive and has a gradual build-up that frustratingly goes nowhere.
LikeLike
SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
March 9, 2010
I like Anbil Avan. It didn’t catch my attention the first time, but after second and third listens, it stayed. I especially love the modified mangalyam sound in the background, in the middle of the song. After alaipayudhe’s “mangalyam thanthunane”, this was the next one that I’ve liked in the mangalyam genre. Jog my memory if there were any good songs in between.
LikeLike
Sanjay Raghunath
June 29, 2012
Ok. Its 70 comments here and i am surprised no one has mentioned Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here which atleast to my ears is Aaromale in a more primal form.
LikeLike