Global recognition for IR's music.......

I think the title "Why IR music hasn't got global recognition?" does not paint a good picture.
A better title would be just "Global recognition of IR's music".

ananth222,

I too thought the same way. I support your request.

While you guyz are wondering why IR hasnt got global recongition..doesnt it pain everyone of you that IR so far hasnt reacted to ARR achievement. Other than Yuvan to an extent, I havnt seen anyone heap praises on ARR achievement. I dont care if SDM score is the "greatest". ARR did what noone .. i repeat NOONE in the history of Indian Music has done. He will have no more peers at the end of this. He transends everyone in terms of his success. My prediction and prayers will be two oscars for him.

That leaves us to the big question why is IR silent?. Even the non-ARR camp will acknowledge ARR humilty above everything else. When TIS was announced, ARR was there, celebrating him. I saw no pretensions in his speech.My regards for IR as a musician is unparralled, but he has let me down on this one. I no longer care about his global recognition. IR holds the highest place in my heart. I still sincerely hope when ARR returns home with 2 oscars, IR will be there to welcome him. When MSV can openly declare his love for IR, I think he can do the same as well. Maybe not for his music, but the fact that ARR has elevated the indian music scene.

ARR deserves everything thats been given to him.
Like the movie saying,

Question: Why do you think ARR deserves all this success?
Answer : D. It is written

I recently saw raja's interview in kalaignar TV in youtube. When Bavatharini asked who is his favourite music director of the current times he answered that he too is scoring music in current times in a lighter vein. But he insisted 2 things, whoever scores music that touches his heart they are his favourites and one musician can never truely appreciates another as he always considers himself to be the best.
As far as this global recongition for IR music is concerned to me its no issue. Raja is more of a classical oriented musician rather than responding to the demands of current times which will eventually disappear in the tides of times.
His music even after 100 years will create a sense of wonder in the minds of listeners and they will appreciate the creative genius of him. His creations are timeless. He will never get the kind of recongition some of his fans are looking for (ie., An oscar or GGA)
But that no way can diminish his musical achievements.
Take the case of Mahatma he never won a nobel for peace.... but all the peace movements in the world, all the leaders of it get inspired by him. It holds gud for Raja also in the field of music...

ananth,

I came up with that title because I think it reflects the central theme of this thread. My intention was not to offend anybody. That said, I leave it to irir123 to edit it as desired.

sloshed: why.. you want to start all over again?? That's quite irrelevant here.

Well i have been looking into the working style of these two and i can say that this might be the closest i can get to IR's thoughts.

The thing about ARR is that as much as he is a extremely talented musician, his success and achievements are bound by commercial viability. He cannot afford to refuse good offers that come his way to give good music and of course aim for the best to keep competition out of his way. That defines him as the best film music composer in india but commercially and in terms of success.

When we look at IR, he is more of a music scientist. Even though he did come to film music just like ARR and came in to achieve, his thoughts were more about "to conduct an orchestra" or like how "raagams can be applied to western classical music" rather than reinventing himself to stay ahead of his competitors.

His dreams have never been about film music, it was rather researching and exploring it to see what other gems can be found. If you notice his three most famous non-film albums they are not to show just his composing ability but his burning desire to research music. How to name it showed us that indian instruments can be used for a symphony format in four movements and also raagams can be used to relate with a western classical piece. Nothing but wind was IR's theory that music is really nothing but wind, just changed to suit out ears in film music or commercial music. And thiruvasagam was IR's trial to see if a divine set of lyrics can cope with a symphony orchestra to bring out its intended emotions.

Watch the interviews of ARR and IR. While ARR interviews are more about achieving and his desire to enthrall audiences around the world IR's interviews are about he would stop composing if he knew all about music. He always mentions there is alot to explore. They are both totally different set of people. A hollywood film will mean a good chance for ARR to step up but for IR it is just a film which he can compose in 30mins. No challenge .

Now how does this bring us to the topic? Simply because IR does not believe in awards, publicity or overachieving. He is more about " give me something that can make me think and create a composition to explore it ". He does not bother about global recognition and awards. It is more about we as music listeners understand the theory he is bringing in his compositions.

ARR - Music composer.
IR - Music scientist.

A music composer will be elated at the sight of a better film, a music scientist will be elated at the thought of a totally challenging theory that has not been stepped into yet.

Hulk, to me, i see music in IR's music but i see GOD in ARR's music.......so, u r analogy of composer/scientist will only be accepted by IR fans not by the general public............

hulky, for me, even if ARR hadnt got oscars/GG awards, hadnt got bombay dreams, chinese movie, Padmashri, Bollywood power status - he is still GOD to me........more than anything else - i connect to his music, dont care if others can connect to him or not, yea ofcourse i feel proud when an american feels the same way as me while listening to thalaivar, but thats secondary.........i will not feel bad at all if one day, Yuvan wins more oscars than him

Good post Hulkster. I agree with what you are saying.

You say that IR is a Music Scientist - Invention of "Panchamukhi" raaga is a solid proof for your statement. I don't know how well this raaga was accepted by legends in Carnatic Music. But his attempt in inventing this new raaga is genuine and this shows the "burning desire", "innovation", "creativity" in him. IR is second to no one in this world.

Once again, thanks for using the word "scientist" to describe IR. Suits well.

Hulkster

thats an intersting take and i too agree with you. Infact, i too felt the same about the approaches of these 2 composers.

My only point is: if IR's thinking graph as been exploratively upward since 1976, then..as a scientist, he should be conducting more experiements in his lab and publish his research papers (instrumental albums) instead of just picking up something which any other 'composer' can do.TIS was one, the experiment was phenomenal, but not the method of publishing it.
In my opinion, he will do spectacularly well if we works more on instrurmental works - harnessing his core strengths, instead of not so great films. ofcourse, he can still work on films parallely. lets not forget that the pieces of How to Name It were written during the breaks he took between films an recordings sessions.
Why not now?

I think Raaja badly needs hype because music fans except some fans who needs good music to listen, do not care about Raaja.