IR's composing technique

Folks here is what I see in a 'typical' or 'quintessential' tabla melody of IR. This is the 'walkthru' I was talking about earlier.

I have taken up thenRal kARRE from eeramAna rOjAvE.

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The song starts with a mini alaapanai in the classy voice of KJY.
The ending of the alap is picked up by the bell/triangle like sound, which is
a cue for the flute/keyboard to join. This sound alternates with the cello
strikes. Soon, the flute+cello play together with the cellos generating
the momentum, which is quickly ended by the bell like sounds and
the bass, and the last second piano like notes leading to the vocals. All this in just 15 or 20 seconds.
This is the prelude. Notice the fine transition from the instruments to the vocals.

For the first two lines of the pallavi, the bass guitar backs up the
rhythm of the tablas. Then the next two lines,starting at thanimai kothikkuthu,
the bass recedes with the guitar chords more prominent, one note harmonies highlighting
the change inpace, almost giving the feel of 'nadai' change in the tabla beat..
The bass guitar comes back at thunaivaraththan... and help out in the
rest of the pallavi.


Interlude 1: The pallavi's rhythm is picked up by the fast paced flute/strings.
As we proceed further, the strings in multipart are followed by electric guitar,
congas and flutes and with a triangle note we are in the first charanam.


charanam 1: The first part of charanam has tabla and triangle. The later part of the charanam has
wailing strings and bass. I find the strings in second half of the charanam which are very
predictably thereas well as addictive depending upon how much of an IR fan you are :-)

Interlude 2 : The tempo is picked up by Cellos/violo with the bell sounds interrupting them and
bringing the strings into play. You could notice atleast two or three parts to the strings.
The congas join imperceptibly, with bells and flutes and a tabla stroke+triangle leading
to the 2 charanam.

charanam 2: Same as charanam 1.

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I had to listen to this song so many times to write this up. There are so many twists and turns but it is very easy to miss the. They are there so naturally, it is lpreposterous to be discussing this, like defining a mountain range as a serious of ups and downs !!!. I hope you all can see the amount of 'music' that is there in a simple tabla melody of IR. Mind you I dont have any knowledge about raagams or specific WCM techniques. But I am able to enjoy this song. Somebody more knowledgeable can throw some light on the indian classical aspects of this. The bass and guitar chords are a light rock influence and of course the strings are western classical. Listen to this song and enjoy more.

I might have not gotten all the instrument sounds right. It could be the indian 'hand cymbal' in the first half of the charanam.

Hey guys.....i have a serious doubt abt IR's BGM technique......yesterday i happened to watch Mouna Raagam, where scenes feauturing Karthik were supposed to be funny and it had some chirpy BGMs but 60% of the times it was a slow negative sort of music.....i have seen IR doing it in many films......though it is very touching i dunt think it is apt for the fun moment......

IR's BGMs always leave a impact but a negative one, i shuld say......

Jaiganesh, Thanks on the info on the CD availability in Bangalore

Kiru, as always thanks, please do write more on IR's Thabla based songs

app_engine, can you give me some sources in India or online sources for the Malayalam IR CD collections ( the late 70 and 80's collections), I can get online source info thro' Google but I wanted some decent quality recordings and reliable sites, if you can help.

Prabhudas

Great pick Kiru! Fabulous job!
Eeramana Rojave has great tabla beats in ‘adho mega ooravalam’ and the happy song ‘vaa vaa anbe...’ of the same tune of pathos ‘ thendral kaatre...’. What an album!!!!
Some more memorable,repetitious tabla beats are ‘idhayam oru kovil...’, ‘thendral vandhu ennai....’, ‘vaasaliley poosanipoo...’, ‘ethamaiyaa etham...’ film Ninaivey oru sangeetha.
Another song that fascinates me is ‘Neelakuyile....’, film Soorasamharam. Raaja uses drums, guitars in preludes and interludes , nicely switches to tabla when the singers start singing!! sounds very rich & classy! At the end of the first interlude after that melodious flute..... ( I am mesmerized by the charanam: 1) when chithra starts singing ... ‘padum sangeetham kanney ......’ slow, gentle tabla beats pick up the pace, appadiye thaalattum from ‘thai pola naanum thaalattu...’ Tabla Raaja is stupendous!!! Classy!
Again, very interesting Kiru! Thanks, Vinu.

Maddy,
Can you pls quote other BGMs that had -ve impact ?

IMO, the reason why IR did the melancholic start to Karthik's theme (piano )and the guitar piece starts off in a funny note. The sadness in the tone, to me is to give an idea of the impending tragedy.

sorry, forgot the ()s...
IMO, the reason why IR did the melancholic start to Karthik's theme (piano )(and the guitar piece starts off in a funny note), to me is to give an idea of the impending tragedy.

Talking of IR's composing prowess and technique, I was listening to SD Burman's 'Pyaasa' and Madan Mohan's 'Barsaat' - they are absolute timeless classics - if at all, there is a living soul who can recreate such magic in India, that is only IR - I wonder what IR would come up with, if some modern day Guru Dutt were to make a 'Pyaasa' like masterpiece and IR does the music for the same!!

Sadly, poets amongst filmmakers do not exist anymore - Mahendran was the last filmmaker who could weave poetry into celluloid - Balu Mahendra did manage that in some of his movies, but the rest are contrived

baroque
There is one particular song in 'Ejamaan' with very lovely tabla flow throughout the song. To me, it looks as if the Tabla is talking(!) with the other instruments.
One more in Aranmanai kili sung by Janaki, which goes like 'Raasaave unnai'...
IR's composing technique - two more instances
1. 'listen to the rain drop sounds towards the end of the song 'Chinna Chinna Thural Enna...' what an imagination !!! It's Great.
2. 'Aritharathha Poosikkolla Aasai' - It is impossible to express...I would like u to listen..

Maddy,
That was a ridiculous observation.
If you are referring to the scene where Karthik returns from Police Station after Revathy aalkattufies him to the Inspector, the scene starts off with Karthik limping and in a rather craggy state ostensibly after the inspector has had a good go at him. Revathy is horrified and suitably the music is melancholic. After Karthik observes Revathy seeing him, he tries to hide the pain and naughtily behaves as if nothing has happened and hops around