Re-Recording Raaja Contest

R e-R e c o r d i n g R a a j a C o n t e s t

Valmiki Soundtrack

On Illayaraja's Azhaghar Malai, I wrote "There is nothing here that you haven’t heard before and nothing that you don’t want to hear again". When I myself read the post later, I thought that I can write the same about any new Illayaraja soundtrack.

Raaja laughs out loudly at my statement and comes up with "Valmiki".

Happy Birthday Raaja.

And RRR Contest.

Illayaraja Vs A.R.Rahman

I was reading this beautiful piece written by Vignesh on Illayaraja’s ‘Maarugo Maarugo’ song from Vetri Vizha and I headed to comment section and this is what I read as one of the comments,

Dear Vicky,

Long time ago, I used to play the flute in light music troupes in chennai, though I have been fully focussed on practising carnatic music lately.

I wanted to listen to the music of the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" today to see why it's being talked about so much. I searched and listened to it online.

It left me with a bad aftertaste. I just felt like cleansing my ears, body and soul by listening to some Raaja music and landed in your blog.

Thanks for the wonderful analysis, sound clips. You (and Raaja) made my day.

with love,
srikanth.

I really haven’t taken such comments that have no constructive purpose seriously and till this date I have never read or been in a single constructive argument or debate when it comes to Raaja vs. Rahman. I don’t understand the mind of some people, who call them to be an Illayaraja fan and who talk more about A.R.Rahman and how bad his music is than about how great Illayaraja’s music is. I don’t understand what is their real problem with Rahman, is it the music itself, or its popularity.

Irrespective of who is the composer, Music has one single purpose. Is it so difficult to understand the oneness of music? And who can better teach you the oneness of music than Illayaraja, who has covered every possible genre of music in his repertoire and yet makes us feel that it is all music, just Raaja’s music? I guess if you are a fan of Illayaraja, and if you have really understood his music and its purpose, it is so simple to accept and appreciate anybody else’s music. If not, then you fail Illayaraja, his music hasn’t educated you enough. (In this particular case I am so devastated that he who commented about the music doesn’t know what background score in a movie is meant for, and he calls himself Raaja fan)

I get as exhilarated by that worldly interlude in ‘Dil Gira Daftan’ from Rahman’s Delhi-6 as I get in the thundering coda of ‘Om Shivo hum’ from Raaja’s ‘Naan Kadavul’. The kind of music in the songs that I compare here has nothing in common in its sound and yet the purpose is the same. Illayaraja is a way and A.R.Rahman is another way to attain a musical Nirvana. Everybody has the right to choose his own way but the one who foul talk about the other ways is no different from those extremists who in the name of religion, do things which their religion itself doesn’t preach.

I don’t believe in religion but I believe in a God and in the same way I believe in music and I take the best of both to pave my own way to reach its purpose. I am both a devotee of Illayaraja and a Rahmaniac and I find it perfectly normal and rational to be so. And some call it incomprehensible and eccentric? I don’t know how to answer them because they never really explained to me why they feel so.

When A.R.Rahman wave was spreading all over India, everyone told that A.R.Rahman’s popularity is not because he is a genius or he has any talent but because he borrows heavily from western music but it is the westerners who now say that they have never heard a music score like that of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ before. And so where did Rahman borrow all this long? Nobody seems to be talking about this.

And what is this cry about Illayaraja deserving many International Awards and not A.R.Rahman? These are utterly ridiculous arguments. Oscar or Golden Globe is not given to greatest music composed by the greatest music composer of all time from a country. Why can’t we be practical and realistic about these awards? Raaja is contended in whatever he does in Indian films and if he gets a chance he will definitely do it right in an international movie too, I believe in it more than any other so called Raaja fan. And do you mean you want Illayaraja to win an Oscar for his background score in ‘Naan Kadavul’ to prove that he is the best background score composer in, the country? An Illayaraja doesn’t want that because he has no intention to go global or is in no contention with any Rahmans out there to prove his genius. Now if both Illayaraja and A.R.Rahman were nominated for their respective scores in ‘Naan Kadavul’ (though Raaja has slightly overdone it in Naan Kadavul) and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, and if I say A.R.Rahman deserves it, then I can be crucified. But that is not the case here. I feel Illayaraja is one of the best in the world when it comes to composing background score. When I wrote this, I was just trying to understand the impact of the music in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and explain it to others who are interested and who otherwise would easily oversee it. I was trying to illustrate the life that Rahman’s vibrant music brought to a movie like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

In this year, even if Thomas Newman wins it in the Best Original Score category, I wouldn’t be disappointed because I have totally fallen in love with his score for ‘Wall-E’. I felt its impact while watching the movie. I have heard only the audio of Alexandre Desplat’s score for ‘Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ and I loved what I heard but I don’t know how well it serves its purpose in the movie. A great music needn’t always be a great background score.

And I can go on and on, I think it is best to conclude this piece with this video

Director's Composer

In film music business, for a music composer to have a long standing career, a good working relationship and successful track record with a movie director is vital. Instead of presenting the huge list of successful director composer duos who made it big, I can make it vivid by quoting one composer who couldn't make it big inspite of being most talented than most of the composers in Tamil Film music today. Karthik Raja. This man has immense talent and potential. Inspite of some brilliant soundtracks, he couldn't sustain simply because he has not continuously and consistently delivered good music with one particular movie director. In Tamil Film Music, year 2008 has seen most number of popular director composer break ups. But none of the break-ups worried (as much as I would have worried if Balumahendra broke up with Illayaraja) me, because the directors have gone either to a better composer or to a composer at par.

The biggest surprise is Charan picking Colonial Cousins (Hariharan and Leslie Lewis) for his next ‘Modhi Vilayaadu’ over Bharadwaj. From what little I heard in television interviews, it sounds interesting. Together, Charan and Bharadwaj (and Vairamuthu) gave some beautiful melodies and one hit kuthu or item number was an inevitable in their soundtracks and sadly that is what they would be popularly remembered for. I am sure Colonial Cousins would bring a totally different sound to Charan’s (occasionally intelligent) masala entertainment.

More than Selvaraghavan it is an opportunity for G.V.Prakash, as he is going to replace Yuvan Shankar Raja’s sound and music in a Selvaraghavan movie. I always felt that Selvaraghavan interferes too much in the making of his movie’s music (and probably why Yuvan had to plagiarize for some of the songs and background score), and extracts the best from the composer. I hope he does that with G.V.Prakash too (without pushing him to plagiarize). G.V.Prakash became a routine masala movie composer doing one kuthu song, one peppy song, one pathos song, two romantic melodies after Veyil. Now he gets an opportunity to compose music for a movie director who knows how to carry the story forward with music and songs. I hope he utilizes this opportunity and reach the next level. Another important aspect in a Selvaraghavan movie is background score, and infact all Selva + Yuvan’s background score were released in a separate CD after the release of the movie. G.V.Prakash who already has shown some promise in this area as he has been doing and including at least one instrumental theme music in most of his soundtracks (recent one being from Aanadha Thaandavam - that serene flute playing the beautiful melody of Poovinai on a happy note which after a bit of turbulent rhythms turns trembling and shivering, conveys almost the entire narrative arc of the movie), would definitely have to work hard for background score of a Selvaraghavan movie as the visuals in his movies demands so much drama from its music. I am eagerly waiting for ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ soundtrack, to know how much of Selvaraghavan is there in his movie’s music.

According to me, Gautam Menon is at no loss because of Harris Jeyaraj’s decision to not work with him again. Harris Jeyaraj gave his best is Gautam’s movies, but those are the songs that would have worked in any other movie equally well. After Ameer’s controversial remarks about A.R.Rahman working only in high budget commercial movies, here he is working with a upcoming movie director’s, the budget of which could be well below what Rahman usually takes as fee for his music. (It is little puzzling that Rahman who now says that he wants to work only in such independent cinema like Slumdog Millionaire and not in big budget Hollywood movies where he will not have creative freedom does exactly the opposite when it comes to picking the movies in Tamil). I am really anxious about ‘Chennayil Oru Mazhaikaalam’ soundtrack as Rahman returns of youthful love story in Tamil after quite a while (I hope he doesn’t use his songs from Jaane Tu).

I don’t know if I have to say it as break-up, but though they worked together in just two films, the movie’s music and especially the kuthu songs were one of the prime reasons that drew the crowd to theatres to watch the movie and thereby making both the movies a big hit. I am talking about Sundar C.Babu and Mysskin. By watching recent interviews I came to know how much Mysskin hates to have songs in his movies (and that is evident from the way he picturised the song Manasukkul in Anjathey) to an extent that he has chopped even two of Illayaraja’s song from his forthcoming movie ‘Nandhalala’. When it comes to Illayaraja, it is not the director who has a say, Raaja does what he feels like doing. And that clearly shows in ‘Nandhalala’, but still the simplicity and less complicated approach of Mysskin towards his screenplay is evident in Raaja’s compositions also. I am really looking forward for the background score of the movie also. Mysskin is also a director, who gives good importance to background score, and he even included the main music themes in the soundtrack CD of ‘Chithiram Pesudhadi’ and ‘Anjathey’ but this time it isn’t there in ‘Nandhalaala’. I hope they release a separate CD with the background score after the release of the movie.

Nandhalaala

The song ‘Mella Oorndhu oorundhu’ that sounds like a simple kids rhyme on surface (ofcourse the song seems to be backing a kid’s journey in search of something) is so intricately orchestrated with amazing vocal harmonies, keys, consistently running guitar strains and bass lines. Raaja usually just freaks out in his interludes and goes out far from main melody, but it is pleasantly surprising to see him playing with so much restraint on a brief guitar motif that appears on different instruments with little variations in the ludes and this brevity and restraint works so beautifully for this simple sounding intricately woven song.

With the movie titled ‘Nandhalaala’, how could you not have a song with abundant flute pieces in it and who can use flute in its true sound in the songs better than our Raaja. ‘Onnakunnu’ begins with a flute piece and ends with a flute piece but what Raaja does with it in between is something we haven’t heard much or atleast I don’t remember listening much. The flute at times follows the main melody backing the lead vocals (smoothly rendered by K.J.Yesudas), sometimes it takes its own route and travels all the way around to reach back to the main melody, sometimes it just fills in the space between the lines and sometimes it is louder than the main melody, sometimes it is there and yet it is not there leaving just a haunting presence felt from behind. For a song that sings a lot about companion, and a companion of love, there can’t be a better substitute than a flute and a Raaja’s melody on it which serves as the perfect companion for the main melody and remains as its soul till the end.

If only the song ‘Thalaattu’ as a whole could have evoked the same feel as the flute piece that starts off the song (that sounds like a derivative of the flute piece from the classic Nayagan theme) it would have a much greater impact on the listener. Not to mean that the song is bad, but something is missing, and the melody doesn’t hit us with the emotion like say a ‘Kannil Paarvai’ did in Naan Kadavul. Ofcourse, Raaja’s voice and singing naturally has that pinch of sadness and added to that the instrumental pieces in the interludes and that appears along the vocal parts are indeed emotive, just that all just don’t fall right together to have a greater effect on listeners. May be the situation demands such a sound which is less sentimental and which gets more sensitive and meaning when it becomes rightfully functional in the narrative. I am not going to arrive at any conclusion until I watch the movie.

I can’t stop listening to ‘Kai Veesi’ song which is catchy from the word go. The effervescent melody that just doesn’t sit easily on the rhythm, the omnipresent keys and strings, the ambient flute ludes, all sum up to an entertaining musical journey. For the kind of atmosphere that the song tries to paint, it is set in a surprisingly slower tempo but for it the feel in the melody and its unpredictable flow manages to compensate. And talking about the flow, it is amazing how the flow of the melody is as unpredictable and yet as beautiful as the nature that the song exclaims about.

‘Oru vaandu kootamae’ has an instantly relatable melody in the beginning, with right amount of innocence and casualness but the grip fades in the later parts. The interludes hugely deviate from the main feel of the song, which may be because Raaja wanted to match the music with situation in which the song was going to be placed in the movie, but with the song being excluded from the movie, we won’t get to know the real intention behind those deviating interludes.

The gypsy song ‘Elilae Elilae’ with strong vocals of Saroja Ammal is an effective piece of music, but it is difficult to understand the intended emotion.

Naan Kadavul Music

Om Raaja Om, Om Raaja Om
Raaja Naamam Bhaje hum, Bhaje hum

Listened to ‘Naan Kadavul’ songs atleast 50 times and still Listening.

Illayaraja's Italy Concert

I was so ecstatic when I accidentally found the video CD of Illayaraja’s Italy Live in Concert in Landmark. It is released by Best Audios. Earlier Agi Music released an audio CD of the same concert. But after watching the video I was extremely disappointed and the reasons are many. Best Audios has done a worst job in making this VCD.

The VCD doesn’t have the entire concert. They have edited out the Mood Kapi (Instrumental Version of Sangathil Paadatha Kavithai), Ilangathu Veesuthae, Aasaya Kaathula, Janani Janani songs. In the audio CD released earlier we heard two versions of 3 in 1 piece, one the vocal version sung by Illayaraja and the other one is the orchestral version. Here in an attempt to try something different, they have edited the video in such a way that after Illayaraja sings each line of the melody, the orchestral version of the same line is shown and it terribly hams the flow of the beautiful piece. The highlight of the concert, the performance of vocal jathis and the rhythm patterns at the end of the ‘Veetukku Vetukku’ song end in a halfway. I guess the coverage itself was poorly done with limited number of cameras and that explains the poor video quality. The only consolation is the instrumental version of ‘Azhaghu Malar Aada’ song which was beautifully orchestrated and performed. But I don’t know why this piece wasn’t there in the audio CD released by Agi Music.

The person who cut the VCD sure have seen a lot of international concert videos, so he intermittently cuts to the behind the scene footages, as the concert is going on. But it is done in such a poor and stupid way that the question, ‘Why this happens to everything that comes with the name Illayaraja?’ Why the hell they didn’t include all those other pieces, at least 30 minutes of the concert is missing in the VCD. From what I see, there was a lot of additional video material of that of the rehearsal sessions in Chennai, Illayaraja’s travel in Italy, were available.

They could have easily made a high quality DVD with the complete concert, and could have added special behind the features and interviews of the performers and it would have become a sort of a collector’s edition. Does Illayaraja really know that this kind of a poor VCD of the concert is going to be released? I still don’t understand why Illayaraja is so bad in promoting and pushing his music to reach much more people. We still don’t know what stops any audio company from getting the audio rights of Illayaraja’s Jaya TV concert and releasing it as a DVD. Why Raaja is so undervalued when it comes to commercial viability?

Illayaraja with CBSO

I saw the Sonu Nigam’s breathtaking concert ‘An Evening in London – Rafi Resurrected’ on Sony TV. Mohammed Rafi’s classics were performed with the backing of City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. More about the concert later but while watching it, I thought how it would be if Raaja’s songs were performed with the backing of such a symphony orchestra. For Sonu Nigam’s concert they had to arrange the songs differently for the orchestra but for Raaja’s song, one need not add or remove anything from the song, it is enough it they just play the song in the way Raaja has arranged it. I believe there must be many songs eligible for such a concert and everybody would have their own list of songs but here is the list of songs that came to my mind immediately (not considering ‘Music Messiah’, ‘How to Name it’, ‘Nothing but Wind’ and ‘Thirvasakam’ here)

1. Sundari Kannal (Thalapathi)
2. Adi Rakkamma (Thalapathi)
3. Maalayil yaaro (Chathriyan)
4. Thendral Vandhu (Avathaaram)
5. Oru Naal Antha Oru Naal (Devadai)
6. Sangeetha Megam (Udhaya Geetham)
7. Ram Hey ram (Hey Ram)
8. Sempoovae Poovae (Sirai Chaalai)
9. Poonkathave thaal thiravai (Nizhalgal)
10. Captain Prabhakaran Title Score (we need a separate concert for his background scores)

The exhilaration I had when I was sitting in the middle of 10000+ crowd clapping after the orchestra finished playing the second interlude of the ‘Sundari’ song from Thalapthi in Illayaraja’s ‘Andrum Indrum Endrum’ concert is one of those unforgettable moments of my life. Be blessed by watching this video if you are cursed of not being one among those 10000+.

Raaja Experience

Vicky tagged me with five questions on ‘Raaja and Me’ and here are my answers

The moment that introduced you to Raaja

I don’t remember exactly. But as far as memory goes, it is while watching the movie ‘Chinna Thambi’. The local cable network use to illegally play newly released movies and on day they played ‘Chinna Thambi’. I instantly got hooked to ‘Thooliyilae Aada vantha vaanaththu min vizhakkae’ from ‘Chinna Thambi’. ‘Chinna thambi’ was one of the most favorite soundtracks during my childhood days.

One moment where Raaja’s music directly/indirectly influenced my life

When I read the actual verses of the poem ‘Nirpadhuvae Nadappadhuvae’ of Bharathiyar after listening Raaja’s musical interpretation of the same.

Other language favorites

Not listened many of his songs in other languages. Ones that instantly comes to mind are

Tamil – Sundari Kannal Oru sethi (Thalapthi)
Telugu – Chirugaali (Mallepuvvu)
Malayalam – Poo kunguma poo (Rasathanthram)
Kannada – Aah Dinagalu Theme music

One rare song of IR that one shouldn’t miss

Yele – Karuvelam Pookal

Currently humming

Raasavae Unnai vidamaattaen (Aranmanai Kili)

And herewith I am tagging Karthik, Zero, Guru, Kumar

A Journey with Illayaraja

My journey with Illayaraja has been very uneven unlike that of with A.R.Rahman. I followed Rahman’s music from his very first soundtrack and I have heard and listened to 90% of what Rahman has composed so far, but I am sure that though I have heard 80% of Raaja’s works, I have listened to only 20% of them. No one told me that Rahman’s music is great; I heard it first and I myself found it great. I was always told that Raaja’s music is great, even before I could listen and understand them to form an opinion myself. So, the goodness of Raaja’s music was taken for granted and more attention was paid only to the ear shattering and ground breaking soundtracks that Rahman kept dishing out one after the other. Rahman stormed into my life and I searched for and found all possible ways to get a listen to newly releasing Rahman soundtrack, but this kind of an urge and a mad following wasn’t there in me for Illayaraja’s music.

Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai

I had just given my 10th standard board exams and my parents took me to one of our relatives (quite wealthy) house and the first sound I heard as we entered the house was the ‘Kolusu’ sound in ‘Ennai Thalaatta Varuvaala’ song from ‘Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai’ (KM). They had a very high quality sound system and I hadn’t seen or heard music from such high quality audio system till then. The vivid sound and the serene melody completely blew my mind. I found myself transported to a different world (I get goose bumps even know as I think of that moment). That was the day when I became conscious that here is the great Illayaraja’s musical storm hitting me

But soon I had forgotten about the song and much later I again stumbled upon the song, when my uncle rented a VCR player and video cassette of ‘Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai’ and played it in our house. I instantly liked all the songs of the movie. I still remember how I kept switching TV channels on every Friday evening to listen to at least one song from ‘Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai’. ‘Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai’ is the very first Raaja soundtrack, which came out with lot of synth in its orchestration, and the very first one that instantly appealed and attracted a generation that was totally immersed in Rahman.

Till now I have seen ‘Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai’ at least 25 times. 5 times for the movie as a whole, 10 times for Illayaraja’s songs and 10 times for Illayaraja’s background score. I remember reading Kumudam Weekly’s review on ‘Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai’ and the reviewer had mentioned that Raaja’s background score with three big percussion strokes conveyed the complete shock and surprise of all characters in the climax scene. Those lines of the reviewer introduced me to what it being called ‘Background Score’ in movies. And I wanted to check the movie once again to see what actually those three master percussion strokes of Raaja have done to the visuals. But it wasn’t so easy to catch a movie at our will then, so I had almost forgotten about it.

In Sun TV there was a program called ‘Climax’, in which they show only the climax scene from the movies. In that show, I again saw the climax of ‘Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai’ and that is when all that enlightening about background score happened and I understood how music can elevate the emotional impact of the scene and how big a master our maestro is in this business. And that lead me all the way to become a crazy fan of background scores and also to this.

Kaadhal Kavithai

That was the first phase of my journey with Raaja’s music but then after that I returned to Rahman again. One day I saw a movie’s trailer on TV in which a romantic piano piece was playing in the background as the camera moved along the sparkling lights of oil lamps in a temple. And at the end of the trailer I found that it is the trailer of the yet to be released movie ‘Kaadhal Kavithai’. By that time, I had my own Philips tape recorder and decided to buy the cassette, just to listen to that romantic Piano piece once again. ‘Kaadhal Kavithai’ is the first soundtrack of Illayaraja that I owned and so it is easily the soundtrack of Raaja that I heard the most number of times in my life.

‘Kaadhal Kavithai’ is so close to my heart because it was the first Raaja soundtrack that I had complete access for listening at my will. ‘Kadhal Kavithai’ was truly a mind blowing soundtrack and even now I remember each and every word of the lyrics of all the songs, each and every interlude of the song. ‘Thakthom’ was something I never expected from Raaja, a path breaking sensuous number. ‘Diana Diana’ is a calm soother that gives me Goosebumps even now. Hariharan (a favourite of Raaja in those times) was at his soothing best in the song. But my all time personal favourite from the soundtrack is cute little ‘Alai Meethu’. Exquisite vocal harmonies, string section, the serene melody and innocent voice of Bhavatharini - ‘Alai Meethu’ could well be a separate chapter in the textbook of melody making and orchestration. To sum it up, ‘Kaadhal Kavithai’ is one of those Raaja’s complete soundtracks and a stunning one at that which aggravated my interest and drew me closer to Raaja’s earlier works. (I have been having a great time listening to this soundtrack again repeatedly for past one week as if it has released just now.)

After ‘KK’, again for sometime, I didn’t meet Raaja, by which I don’t mean that we never met; we met but parted after exchanging few formal pleasantries. Most of the movies telecasted on TV then, had Raaja’s music, so we were always in touch, just that I wasn’t as crazy as I was with KM or KK soundtrack. Even if I was, I had no access to all those 70’s and 80’s songs which I fell in love with by repeatedly watching them on TV.

Rhythm Boss

The next big meeting with Raaja happened after I moved to Trichy. It was when I visited the ‘Rhythm Boss’ music shop in Trichy, which was in Chathiram Bus stand then (now it is near Central bus stand). ‘Rhythm Boss’ does music recording service. They had a huge music collection and a very well maintained catalogue, listing all the soundtracks available for recording (I was searching one such shop in Salem but there were none). Immediately, I listed down Raaja’s songs that I badly wanted to own for a very long time, to record them in a T60 cassette. As I was having a cassette player, I always felt very lazy to fast forward the songs, so I decided to record the songs that I would never ever want to fast forward while listening to the cassette.

I still remember the songs I recorded in that cassette (which I have lost a longtime back). ‘Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan’, ‘Paadariyaen padippariyaen’, ‘Manathil urudhi vendum (Sindhu Bhairavi)’, ‘Oh Butterfly’, ‘Nalam vaazha ennalum’, ‘Ellorum sollum paattu’, ‘Amma endralaikkatha’, ‘Ithu oru ponmaalai pozhudhu’, ‘Enna Saththam intha neram’ and ‘Yetheytho ennam valarthaen’. Even now when I listen to ‘Paadariyaen’ song, at the end of the song I involuntarily start singing ‘Manathil Uruthi vendum’ as it was the song recorded next to ‘Paadariyaen’ in that cassette. I was listening to the recorded cassette and realised how much I love and always have loved Raaja’s music even without being aware of it. Except for ‘Manathil Uruthi vendum’, I don’t remember when I first heard the other songs and when I started liking them and I cannot pinpoint the moment when exactly those songs became my all time favorites, my choices came from some part of my brain in which these songs have been kept safe for a very long time.

How to Name it

In Jaya TV, there is a program called ‘Kaalai Malar’ telecasted from 7-9 A.M. In the end credits of that show, they always play one instrumental music piece (I guess, still they play it) which I liked so much. Once when I visited ‘Rhythm Boss’ the same track was playing there also. I asked them which movie this music is from. They told that it is from Illayaraja’s non-film album ‘How to Name it’. I can’t really explain in words about how much the ‘How to Name it’ album enhanced my music sensibilities and broadened my music tastes. It made me a sucker for orchestral music and I guess that even reflects in the music in me. It sounded totally new. It gave me an experience that I never had before. I didn’t understand any technicalities of it, didn’t know who is Bach or how great the fusion that Raaja has attempted in the album. To me it was the simple beauty of the melody and the harmony that did something to me which I couldn’t decipher then. I listened, I listened, I listened and I am still listening. It just sounded so magical and transported me to a different world.

Then much later I bought ‘Nothing but Wind’ also and got mesmerized by it. Both these albums opened doors to a whole new musical universe called ‘Western Classical’. With ‘I met Bach in his house’ and ‘I love you Mozart’, I came to know that Mozart and Bach are western classical music composers who lived and composed music centuries ago. (But in Trichy I couldn’t find any western classical recordings. Much later after getting a job and moving to Chennai, the first ever CD I bought is Mozart’s symphony 25, 28, 29 and 35. And my journey with Western classical music started then).

Bharathi

Bharathi is another masterstroke of Raaja that engulfed me and brought me back to Raaja’s music. The ‘Nirpadhuvae’ and ‘Mayil Pola’ songs that were playing repeatedly on all TV channels initially attracted me. Long after movie left the theatres, I went and bought ‘Bharathi’ cassette. It was also the time when I got my own Walkman. (When I was in Trichy, every weekend I use to travel to Salem by Bus and the travel time was so boring. So, I bought a Walkman to listen to music while traveling in the bus). I still remember that one night, in which I listened to ‘Bharathi’ repeatedly for complete 3.5 hours of journey from Salem to Trichy. I loved the simplicity of the melodies in the songs. The divine ‘Ninai Charanadainthen’ and the exhilarating ‘Ethilum Ingu’ – I thought “Ah! Ennama Potirukkanya!” I still wonder why Raaja didn’t get National award for his music in this movie, especially when the movie itself had fetched awards in many other categories.

The music of ‘Bharathi’ got me into Bharathiyar’s poems. Bought a pocket book of Bharathiyar Poems and first thing I did was reading ‘Nirpathuvae’ song. I read the poem and I was bewildered and stunned by the way Raaja had composed a beautiful melody for a poem, which on paper looks to be not having a pinch of musicality in it. And Bharathiyaar’s poems and Raaja’s music made me a composer, not that I sat before a keyboard writing notes under each word of the poem, but at least I could fit each song into a rhythm and I could think of a melody for the words – it was more like a ‘Vaipattu’ which people instantly sing in villages. Sang them and recorded in a cassette (god knows where that cassette is now), but those melodies are still fresh in my mind which I guess may never see the sound of the day. Following that the soundtracks of Raaja that I heard most are ‘July Ganapathy’, ‘Vishwa Thulasi’ and ‘Virumaandi’.

After buying a Philips 5-in-1 player, I burnt an mp3 CD in ‘Rhythm Boss’ with 20 complete soundtracks of Raaja. And finally Raaja stayed with me and he was always there, ready for me to meet whenever I wanted to. That CD with 20 Raaja soundtracks is one of most played and most wanted in my room. As my classmates gather in my hostel room to prepare for the cycle tests or semester exams, Raaja served a pleasant background score throughout the night from that CD. One of the main things that my college friends still recollect when I meet them now is listening to Raaja’s songs all the night in my room.

Thiruvasakam in Symphony

And ‘Thiruvasakam in Symphony’ and the final crescendo in ‘Polla Vinayaen’ hard nailed one of the most important truths in my mind and the truth is that ‘Raaja’s music takes its listeners very close to Divinity’. I still remember the kind of an electric shock or something that started passing through all my nerves in the body for a split second, and the tears that welled out of my eyes as ‘Hail Hail’ choir slips into ‘Namachivaaya Vazhgha’ in that final crescendo. No more words on ‘Thiruvasakam’, because after listening to it, I sincerely thought and still think ‘I am just Man, Imperfect lowly, How can I write on, something holy’ and that too as holy as this one.

Then there was a phase in which I expected only great music from Illayaraja. Anything less than great was considered as bad by me and so outright rejected and as a result ended up missing many good songs and soundtracks of Raaja that came after that. My thoughts on ‘Maayakannadi’ and ‘Athu Oru Kanaa Kaalam’ soundtrack would explain about my expectations better. Though both of them definitely had lot of goods in its music, just because it didn’t match up to the greats of Raaja’s music, I got disappointed. Now this year after ‘Kangalum Kavipaduthey’, ‘Uliyin Oosai’ and ‘Dhanam’, my passion for Raaja’s music has resurrected again and I have begun to realize all that I have missed by expecting sky high from each and every soundtrack of Raaja. Now I am starting again, starting with the soundtracks of Raaja from 2001 to 2008 and I have covered only 10% of them. God knows whether I will be able to listen to the complete works of Raaja in this lifetime.

And there are many other incidents like this and small episodes in my journey with Raaja which I have missed here due to my laziness.

Like every other Raaja fan, even I have something to say about what Raaja should do from now on

1. He should work more on non-film instrumental albums and less on movies. If at all he works on movies, he should make sure that the movie’s script and the director is worthy of his music.
2. It is high time he starts working on a compilation of his background scores.
3. Should hire a better sound engineer to mix his songs. It is surprising to see such an inconsistent sound quality in Raaja’s soundtracks. (Listen a song from Dhanam and from Cheeni Kum or Mumbai Express one after the other)
4. Should release his first symphony that he recorded with London Royal Philharmonic orchestra and compose and release more such works.
5. I want to see Raaja recording a symphony in Chennai with Rahman’s yet to be started K.M Symphony orchestra and if possible wish to see a live performance of the same too.

Ey Aa O !

Bought the DVD of the cultural show called ‘Ey Aa o’ – a show by Paul and Vel. The DVD was recently released by A.R.Rahman. It is a very unique show (conducted all over China) in which the diversity of Indian culture was exhibited through the different forms of Indian music like carnatic and Hindustani classical, bangla, Rajasthani and Tamil folk. The highlight of the show is the item they did with Tamil folk instrument ‘Parai’. The synergy, enthusiasm and the electrifying energy with which they performed should be seen to be believed. The song composed for famous verses of ‘Thirukkural’ covering multiple genres of music is another novel attempt and this song ended the colorful show on a good high note. Even other items were good but were too long to sustain the interest of a listener. There is a lot of intercuts to behind the scenes footage in the video with the music from the concert continuing to play in the background. They could have avoided such cuts as it was very distracting after a point. The audio and video quality of the DVD is very good.

Going by the statistics at least 60 unique visitors have listened to all the interludes but only 3 gave answers. I don’t know what to infer from this.

Waiting to grab the CD of S.S.Kuraman’s ‘Poo’ Soundtrack. Is there any website where we can pay (in INR) and legally download the new Tamil soundtracks?

‘Agam’ – one of the six winning bands of Rahman’s ‘Ooh La La La’ show, has posted 6 of their soothing numbers in their blog. I like all of them.

Finally A.R.Rahman has decided to release his next private album 11 years after ‘Vande Mataram’. And as always my expectations are sky high.

I just can’t believe the glorifying reviews of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. I liked Vikas Swarup’s Q&A but there was too much bollywood masala in it, especially towards the end. I am sure that they would have changed a lot of things for the movie. Going by the praises in all the reviews, it seems that Rahman’s score for this movie has hit the bull’s eye. Here is another soundtrack to the long list of Rahman soundtracks (Yuvaraj, Ghajini, Delhi 6, Sultan, and Chennayil Oru Mazhaikaalam) to lookout for.

‘Vidathu Karuppu’ is now available for online viewing and downloading and a zillion thanks to Rajshri pictures. ‘Vidhathu Karuppu’ is light years ahead of anything that Indian Television or at least Tamil television has seen till date. The genius of Indira Soundarajan (writer) and Naga (director) in ‘Vidathu Karuppu’ is unparalleled. The series with its concept and philosophy had a huge impact on me and so was one of the prime reasons for me being an agnostic now. I am also eagerly waiting for ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ series being directed by Naga for Kalaignar TV which is still under production.

Airtel Super Singer 2008 is little dull overall. But I enjoyed last week’s grooming sessions; especially Sriram Parthasarathy’s composition was beautiful and it was interesting to see him enthusiastically teaching the nuances of the song to the contestants. ‘Ungalil Yaar Aduththa Prabhudeva’ hits a new low in Star Vijay TV’s series of reality shows.

Listening to ‘Thiruvasakam in Symphony’ (finding extremely difficult to get out of it), How to Name it, Nothing but Wind and Wall-E Original Soundtrack (Thomas Newman). After listening to the samples, I decided to stay away from Raaja’s ‘Manikantan Geet Mala’.

Ludes - Answers

These ludes are from

1 - Athu Oru Kanaa Kaalam - Kili thattu
2 - Cheeni Kum - Baatein Hawa
3 - En Mana Vaanil - Muthu Muthu Penukkoru
4 - Kaathal Saathi - Manasae Manasae
5 - Kamarajar - Senthamizh Naadennum
6 - Madhu - Kaetkavillayo
7 - Pithamagan - Kodi Yethi veipom
8 - Solla Marantha Kathai - Kattula thalai aattura
9 - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - Salasalakkum kaatrae
10 - Vishwa Thulasi - En Manamae

Ludes of Illayaraja

A quiz on Ludes of Illayaraja. Guess the songs. To make it easier or rather tougher (based on how seriously one follows Illayaraja’s music), all the songs are from movies released on or after year 2001.

1 -

2 -

3 -

4 -

5 -

6 -

7 -

8 -

9 -

10 -

Answers will be posted on 13-09-2008

Mayilu

Listen this.

To put in Vadivelu style, Raaja – “Only you possible”.

Thanks to Emjay for posting the clip.

Raaja - A State of Mind

Rock, Jazz, fusion, world, hip-hop, folk, new age, pop, Indian classical, western classical, orchestral - In an urge to understand and appreciate various forms of music, I try and find the best in each of the aforementioned genres of music and listen to it. But sometimes I just get stuck with Illayaraja and think that listening to all those various forms of music is all but a waste of time. In times like these, Illayaraja (music) becomes a state of my mind and I say to myself, “Just listen to one genre of music - ‘Illayaraja’ and that is enough for this lifetime.” I often get into such a mindset and it takes a really fantabulous music of some other composer to shake me out of it. I guess I am not alone.

Dhanam Soundtrack

Kangalum Kavipaduthey, Uliyin Oosai and now Dhanam! Illayaraja is in fine form. The soundtrack is rich with Raaja’s typical melodies, amazing instrumental pieces in preludes and interludes, beautiful bass lines and catchy rhythms. The soundtrack is worth buying just for ‘Kannanukku Yenna Vendum’ song.

I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack except for the song ‘Ulagam Kidakuthu’. From when did Raaja included staves for samples in his score sheet? The first interlude of this song has the same melody sample that we hear in Citibank ad in raaga.com (earlier we heard the same in Yuvan’s Pudupettai) and that is not the only reason why I skip this song.

Uliyin Oosai

I am listening to Illayaraja’s ‘Uliyin Oosai’ songs for past one week or so. It is an absolutely delightful soundtrack with classical and semi classical melodies. Though the orchestration and overall sound of one or two songs is at odds with others and the period of the movie, the chaste Tamil lyrics and Raaja’s vintage orchestration make us forget the initial discomfort that we get from the alienating sound. It also made me to revisit the songs of ‘Ivan’ and ‘Pon Megalai’, the songs from the soundtrack which I often hum or listen in my mind though I don’t hear the actual audio frequently.

Mean while, Kumar, Vignesh and Emjay write some interesting articles about Raaja’s music in their blogs. Each and every post of them is educating and a pleasure reading. But while there are many blogs like these which tries to decode Raaja’s compositions from 80’s and to some extent from 90’s, I couldn’t find many (or any) such blogs or such write-ups in blogosphere on Raaja’s latest works. Aren’t Raaja’s recent works worthy enough to write about? Or is it that there still is so much to dig and learn from Raaja’s earlier compositions that the hard code Raaja fan bloggers tend to write mostly about them?

With soundtracks of Mayil, Naan Kadavul, Nandhalala and Dhanam, Illayaraja has an interesting lineup this year. Eagerly waiting for each one of them.

Kangalum Kavipaduthey Soundtrack

As much as we have got used to great music of Illayaraja, so much we also have got used to his recent half-hearted efforts in Tamil Film music, to an extent that we are no longer surprised or disappointed to know that his newly released soundtrack is just another run-of-mill kind. But I was little surprised when I heard the soundtrack of ‘Kangalum Kavipaduthey’, because, inspite of the tiresome and inconvenient mix of Raaja’s melodies with synth beats and loops, inspite of boring Karthik, Tippu and Manjari’s vocals, genius of Raaja is intact. Though on the outset the songs sound very familiar and repetitive, Raaja brings in enough familiar-yet-pleasant moments in his music.

The beauty of simplicity in the melodies not just in vocal parts but also in instrumental pieces that fills the interludes (as in the song Maalai Nila), the ease with which the melody just flows in a way which makes you feel that it is always destined to take this route (as in the song Naalai Inneram), innovation in rhythm patterns (as in ‘Ketti Melam’), the variations in the vocal melody (as in ‘Sollum varai’) and the bass lines (in all the songs) are as good as that of any of Raaja’s classics. But the problem is that when all are put together, it doesn’t sound as exciting or pleasant as before because of so many other deviations which Raaja seems to be deliberately taking and that which makes us ask the million dollar question “why Raaja why?”. Yet this soundtrack is a must listen if you are a fan of Raaja’s music. After quite a while, this is one soundtrack of Raaja which is on loop in my play list.

Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai - Background Score

This article is moved here

Maayakannadi

When I saw Cheran’s Autograph and Thavamai Thavamirundhu, I thought how great the movie would have become in Illayaraja’s music. Especially the kind of scenes Cheran conceives is perfect ones for Illayaraja to come up with soul stirring background scores. These two movies had some good variety of songs and different situations which I thought Illayaraja would have done justice in his way. So, when I heard the news that Illayaraja is the composer for Cheran’s next, I was eagerly waiting and expectations were sky high. But after listening to ‘Mayakkannadi’, I felt Cheran has got Illayaraja for a wrong movie. We cannot blame Cheran, because Illayaraja came into the project because of the producers of the movie.

In present scenario, the directors who have no guts to reject a tune of Illayaraja could better stay away from him. Even for Balumahendra, Illayaraja gave just above average tunes recently. I think as of now, if there is someone in the Tamil films who can get the best out of IR; it is Kamal or may be Bala. Illayaraja is not taking film music seriously these days. IR said he initially took 15 days to write music for Thiruvasakam and after finished writing it, he was not satisfied with the music and then started writing again from scratch. Why can’t he follow the same in film music? Why can’t he give the same importance to film music? Frankly speaking, he himself won’t remember the song he has composed for this movie a few months down the line. I am not saying that the songs are bad, it is good but it is repetitive and boring. I feel IR should stick to his own style, I mean the synth, e-beats and jarring sound loops doesn’t really gel well with his typical melodies.

Yet, the sweetness in ‘Konjam Konjam’, IR’s singing in ‘Yele Enga Vanthey’, interesting rhythm pattern in ‘Kaasu Kaiyil’ and ‘Kadhal Indru’, the orchestration of ‘Maya Logam’ and especially ‘Ulagilae Azhaghi’, and interludes in all the songs are some likeable aspects of this soundtrack. And of course, I still have hopes on the background score of the movie. Let us wait and watch.