The Raaja of Erotica

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Originally Posted by jaiganes

@KV - yaar saar neenga? pinni pirichu menjuteenga!!!

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Exactly! KV pinni pedal eduthuteenga! :thumbsup:

Aravind, sorry it's not me and it will not be me :)

V_S - :oops: Confees.

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Originally Posted by KV

Oh great creator of being,
grant us one more hour,
to perform our art,
and perfect our lives.
We need great golden copulations.

Thus wrote the immortal Jim Morrison, in what can be inferred as an elevated soul in an escalated state of mind, in the song that I consider to be one his most imaginative and brilliant poetries, The Ghost Song.

Well, it isn’t this one that I’m to write about here. Rather, it’s a song that starts off with lines that could well be a nod to Morrison’s prayer, or maybe its just me! Ok, I’m talking about the song ‘Deham pon deham, ondrodu ondraagum vizha’ from a seemingly nondescript Thamizh movie from the 80s called ‘Anbulla Malare’.

When I had picked this CD last year (by the beleaguered Inreco label, featuring Anbulla malare, Yennai paar yen azhagai paar and Iravu pookkal) I noticed this song listed on its cover, which had Janaki credited as its singer. Almost immediately, I guessed, and hoped, it would be an erotica-musical-delight, the likes of which include Vazhimel Vizhiyaal, Pon meni urugudhey, Nalla neram neram, Unakkum enakkum anandham, and other ‘item numbers’ of this composer-vocalist combination.

Here’s where you can listen to this album (some sublime melodies in there too)
http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/...p?mid=t0002642

A solo flute to kick start proceedings? Ok, not unexpected.
Picking up from the flute, a pulsating bass line? We’re discussing Raja, aren’t we?
A constant Mrudangam beat and keyboard chords to keep company? Again, not unexpected, right?
This forms the 30 secs prelude. Now, isn’t there something strange about how the prelude sounds considering this is an erotic number? I’m referring to the images of sunrise, tender light of dawn, serenity of morning hours, etc., for this is the picture I could form in my mind.
(If we bother to dwell a bit into this technically, the short keyboard piece towards the end of the prelude roughly starts off this way:
Sa Ri1 Ga3 Pa, Pa Da1 Pa Ga3 Pa. A very Bhupalam like start which I later figured is actually Revagupti (Ga3 instead of 2). Now, this ragam, like Bhupalam is generally regarded as a morning ragam).

Janaki now picks up from the prelude, ‘Deham pon deham’. A faint quiver in the singing evokes a sense of inhibition blossoming into excitement. A husky tone of shyness entwines an energetic tone of passionate longing.

The first para plays within the Revagupti scale again. The bass guitar here is something I doubt anyone other than IR can conjure. It cuts across the vocals in a sort of hop-skip-jump manner and treads a unique path altogether, while still firmly supporting the structure of the song. The background rhythm packs together a mrudrangam, bongo and drums, with the mrudangam driving it with a fast and continuous pattern.

A syncopation piece on the keyboard punctuates the beginning of the first interlude that has a little flute solo, a Bharathiraja-style over-nourished-aunties-in-white-fairy-gowns-performing-aerobics-amidst-romancing-couple chorus section, and ending in an electric guitar lead.

The charanam section is where the gears are shifted from foreplay to primary centerpiece action (pun unintended). The song structuring here, too, is done in a way, where momentum builds-up, reaches a crescendo, lingers momentarily in a state of high-tension (vocals and instruments briefly pause, a solo bass line pounds heavily and the mrudangam drill beat joins in), reaches the summit (singing resumes, other instruments join back), before gradually descending back to normalcy.

(He uses an anya swaram in the form of Ni in the charanam, but otherwise the base ragam remains the same)

Now why would one want to set such a song to a morning raga? Is not this theme generally associated with night? However, it can be seen that advisory texts speak of a certain charm/magic of the hour of dawn and its significance in the ritual. Is this essence of choosing a ragam commonly associated with dawn? Is this what Morrison implied when he asked ‘grant us one more hour, to perform our art, and perfect our lives’?

Raja, Janaki :bow:

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That was a nice walk through of the song that I have been desperately seeking after I lost my old cassette of assorted rare Raja gems. I think you must be the next soul to talk about this song in this forum.
My post about this song way back 2006 on "Drunk songs of Raja thread" - attached :
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How can you guys forget the immortal "rama aandaalum ravana aandaalum" from "Mullum malarum? ". Raja is a cocktail expert in providing the ultimate intoxication.
"malar konda poongodi
madhu undu aadudhu" - SJ again for a very tipsy Sridevi in the movie "Kavarimaan".
One of my gud old cassettes contains a rare IR song with SJ crooning a seductive number starting something like "deham sandhegam onrodu ondragum vizha.." - not very sure about the lyrics. But the tune is fantastic , set PanthuvaraLi or Kamavardhini scale [Scale that is supposed to cause sensual ]feelings] . The orchestration is very energetic with a prominent bass guitar , mridhangam for rythms. Could anybody tell me the movie?

kingvj, no , not "en deham amudham" , though it can be included in this "bodhai" list of Raja too. The song that Iam referring to goes like
"deham .. sandhegham ..
ondrodu ondraagum vizhaa" . This song is a high voltage , high octane tempo song with pounding bass and mridhangam for rythms.
"En deham amudham" is a sweet. sensual number. I have also mentioned about the excellent tabla in some old thread.
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My bad, Iam unable to play any song from raaga and the other sites have only the rest of the popular melodies without this. Thanks for sharing the details of raga and movie name. I had the preconceived notion that it must be in panthuvaraLi , but after reading ur post, I hummed the song and could make out Bowli/BhoopaLam early morning scale being put to use. I only wish I could listen to this rare, precious piece sometime :(

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Originally Posted by thumburu

That was a nice walk through of the song that I have been desperately seeking after I lost my old cassette of assorted rare Raja gems. I think you must be the next soul to talk about this song in this forum.
My post about this song way back 2006 on "Drunk songs of Raja thread" - attached :
----------------------------------------------------------
How can you guys forget the immortal "rama aandaalum ravana aandaalum" from "Mullum malarum? ". Raja is a cocktail expert in providing the ultimate intoxication.
"malar konda poongodi
madhu undu aadudhu" - SJ again for a very tipsy Sridevi in the movie "Kavarimaan".
One of my gud old cassettes contains a rare IR song with SJ crooning a seductive number starting something like "deham sandhegam onrodu ondragum vizha.." - not very sure about the lyrics. But the tune is fantastic , set PanthuvaraLi or Kamavardhini scale [Scale that is supposed to cause sensual ]feelings] . The orchestration is very energetic with a prominent bass guitar , mridhangam for rythms. Could anybody tell me the movie?

kingvj, no , not "en deham amudham" , though it can be included in this "bodhai" list of Raja too. The song that Iam referring to goes like
"deham .. sandhegham ..
ondrodu ondraagum vizhaa" . This song is a high voltage , high octane tempo song with pounding bass and mridhangam for rythms.
"En deham amudham" is a sweet. sensual number. I have also mentioned about the excellent tabla in some old thread.
---------------------
My bad, Iam unable to play any song from raaga and the other sites have only the rest of the popular melodies without this. Thanks for sharing the details of raga and movie name. I had the preconceived notion that it must be in panthuvaraLi , but after reading ur post, I hummed the song and could make out Bowli/BhoopaLam early morning scale being put to use. I only wish I could listen to this rare, precious piece sometime :(

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As regards to panthuvaraali Vs Bhoopaalam - The interludes speak "panthuvaraali" reminding me of "ee daaha"..

KV - Great post about the Dhegam Pon Dhegam song. Completely bowled over by this song and your post.

Thanks guys :smile: Ellam Raaja seyal!

KV
Thanks a lot for introducing us (me) to this song. Brilliant song and superb write-up

Jai,
Yes, can't remember another instance where God has used an inter-charanam-lude....

Chalakku Chalakku Sela - Sembaruthi

This song is packed with surprises (prelude and the choice of chakravaham to start with) and "moments" throughout. And the guitar and the first interlude are of course Raaja-level

:Raajaness-is-godliness:

Aaha. At last Raja brings Bala(Karthik) out of hibernation :) Welcome.

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Originally Posted by Bala (Karthik)

Chalakku Chalakku Sela - Sembaruthi

This song is packed with surprises (prelude and the choice of chakravaham to start with) and "moments" throughout. And the guitar and the first interlude are of course Raaja-level

:Raajaness-is-godliness:

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guitar usage tweaking to create a mood -
அந்த மண்டைல எப்படி இது தோணிச்சு? இப்பல்லாம் synth + computer ஈசியா பண்ணிடுது இல்லையா?