MAESTRO ILAIYARAAJA NEWS & TITBITS VER.2010-2011

Plum,

KV is right. The 'kaatirundha malli malli' has traces of Amrithavarshini and other ragams. As he said raagas and me had discussed on this and came to the conclusion that it is a typical Raja raagam, which essentially means it is not a single ragam :) In that way SKV is right, 'Sreeramalera' is also a Raja raagam :) More seriously, no, there is no major relationship between Sreerama Lera and Kaatirundha malli song. As I had said earlier, Sreerama Lera has shades of Pantuvarali, Lalitha / Vasantha etc. A Raja raagam indeed, in every sense of the word.

Suresh, while we're on this topic, the shift in Nalla neram neram... what's the other Ragam it leads to? One's PV right?

Suresh, classify the following

Putham Pudhu Poo Poothadho/Piraiye Piraiye- same raagam or atleast same "Raja Raagam"? Is that Suba Pantuvarali? Or Panthuvarali?

Pyaar yeh jaane kaisa hai? - idhu enna raagam?

Sri Rama Lera - endha raagams are touched

Plum,

I would not undertake this mission :) This require someone like Vel who has swara gnanam, i.e. someone who can identify the swaras. I can't and so it is more based on the 'effect' created. I think both "Sreerama lera' and 'Putham Pudhu' would fall in Panthuvarali and not Subhapanthuvarali. The latter one is a very sad raga. As I said earlier, I 'feel' Vasantha / Lalitha in 'Sreerama'.

I did discuss with Raj y'day on Sri Rama Lera ..He said that IR has done a lot of magic in this song and induced the technique of Graha Bedham ..He said he will write about this song soon , but as Suresh said , Raj also said that one of the Ragas in Sri Rama is indeed Vasantha ..

Checking hub after a gap. I liked most of the Sri rama Rajyam songs. My review:

Sri Rama Lera and Jagadananda Karaka are melodic delights. I dont need to write more about it. Sheer splendour. Sri Rama Lera is indeed a Raaja Raagam, as suresh rightly put it. There is Amritavarshini in the beginning and then there are traces of Panthuvarali and Vasantha as well. I am happy with the song (and also disappointed that Raaja fooled me with that amritavarshini teaser in the beginning. I have been waiting for another Amritavarshini from raaja since years. It is a favourite raaga of mine). Jagadaananda Kaaraka is a treat anyway.

Seetha rama charitham was an unusual song, from Ilaiyaraaja. It treads well along the old telugu songs (in mythological films). I dont know if we have an audience who can enjoy such songs but it definitely fits within the ethos of the film.
Devulle Mecchina is interesting although I think it would lose its sheen, in my playlist, over few months/years. But the song is an indicator of the kind of songs that Bapu usually takes in situations such as kids singing a story/philosophy(I think there was a song like that in Muthyala Muggu).
Gali Ningi is a wonderful pathos melody that takes us back to IR of 80s.
Ramayanamu Sri Rama is a very good composition in Sindhu Bhairavi raagam. Its been long time since Ilaiyaraaja composed in that raaga (in telugu).
Sita Seemantham is again a retro. It reminds me of IR of 80s. Completely vintage raaja, in charanams and interludes.
Rama Rama ane raaja mandiram is another typical Bapu song. It is as if Ilaiyaraaja studied the music in all the films of Bapu and then understood his grain and composed it. I dont know if he did it, but IR really caught Bapu-Ramana's grain (their taste for simple folk/vernacular elements) perfectly in this song.
Kalaya Nijama deserves to be a full-fledged song. Brilliant tune. For the FIRST TIME ever, Tippu impresses me (i never liked his voice somehow). Beautiful devotional feel in the song. Ilaiyaraaja betrays by keeping it as a short song. If only it was a 6minute song.
Idhi Pattabi is a typical 80s village folkish IR song. Might suit the film's situation and works more as "hey, IR used to give these kind of songs with this kind of interludes back in 80s" thought. And thats about it.
Other small songs are slokas/padhyams anyway and ilaiyaraaja had limited role, given their short duration.

Over all: It is a good telugu album that has Ilaiyaraaja's skill and even Bapu's signatures. Ilaiyaraaja must be commended for reasons such as - writing good music for pre-written lyrics, understanding the pulse of telugu audience(not new... but we have a newer generation of audience and he has to please a bigger bandwidth of audience), getting the premise of the film right and providing songs accordingly, a good balance between acoustic and synth instruments/sounds (he could have omitted synth a lot more, but then.. i guess thats a reality we all need to accept..and move on) that does sound fresh and new and yet evoking the sounds typically found in mythological films. and good recording quality also. Ilaiyaraaja did his best, given all these factors and the output is good enough, with few songs(if not all) bound to stick in our memory for long time. Thats well done.

Plum,
Pyaar yeh jaane kEtu pAthen (didn't realize you were referring to the Rangeela song until I googled it). I don't see much similarity to Sri Rama Lera. One song that came to my mind while listening to Pyaar yeh was your chellam's 'Naacho jaise thumbi vaise'. My guess it that this is also a SGMPNS scale, but not Amruthavarshini for sure (it uses a smaller Ga). Vel/Usha/S65/Thumburu... neenga yaraachu dhaan theerpu sollanum.
Putham Pudhu Poo Poothadho/Piraiye Piraiye are PV based compositions, but with variations, I think.

Quote:

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One song that came to my mind while listening to Pyaar yeh was your chellam's 'Naacho jaise thumbi vaise'.

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You tell me. I have thought the same two. Think Rangeela precedes Grahan, though.

edhukku kEttEnnA, adhu Suba Panthuvarali-nu sollapattadhu.

Well, it doesn't sound like SPV, at least to me. PeriyavA enna sollrAnnu paakalaam.

http://www.telugutouch.com/entertain...1&videoid=5522

Interview with IR