Ennodu vA vA endRu solla mAttEn
sAindhu sAindhu nee pArkum pOdhu adadA
kAtRai konjam niRkach chonnEn
vAnam mella keezhiRangi maNNil vandhu aadudhE
muthal muRai pArtha nyAbagam
satRu munbu pArtha mEgam mARi pOga
pudikkala mAmu padikkaRa college
peNgaL endRAl poiyyA poi dhAnA
app_engine: only last night, I hummed the tune of 'satru mumbu' in a Starbucks outlet at the Univ of Minnesota, Minneapolis, after the students managing the counter requested me to do so, after i gave them an IR flyer ! ellaam NEPV audio quality thandha confidence! having done my best to sing/ hum the 'satru munbu' tune as huskily as i cud, i assured them that the entire album is a zillion times better than how i rendered!! they looked very much hooked!
Fantastic write-up and analysis on Kaatrai Konjam.Originally Posted by Sureshs65
Incidently I started writing about it yesterday. You wrote what I had in my mind.
Very very special composition. This composition is in E-Major. As you said, I was stunned by the rhythmic innovation. By the fast tempo, it is 7/8 (123+1234) as you said, but it could also be 7/4 provided which beat gets attention. Can't imagine how fast this song is. We will not know by listening, just when we try to find the time signature, we know what pace it is going. Silent killer! I asked my teacher a tricky question forwarding this song yesterday.
Which genre can we classify this song? She almost told everything right from rock/pop/jazz/blues/classical and then asked, wait a minute, how is that even possible?. She said this statement about the whole composition and its time signature. "I will admit, the more I listen to this, the more confused I become!"
I was smiling myself as I knew what genre that is in. It is a cracker of a composition and we don't often get to hear a composition like this. One thing is for sure. Playing piano, guitar, violins are not that tough for this time signature, but for wind/brass instrument it is not easy to play, as it gasps for breath. Surprisingly sax goes so close to the main melody, it is not just a filler, and where it gets a small opportunity. That electric guitar in the first interlude, what a delight! This is the supremacy and authority we are talking about. More later....
That rediff reviewer is so pathetic in hiding her biases. If I were her - I would go all out and attack IR.
I would say it is all a rehash of 80s melodies with too much of loud orchestral sounds to hide it. If young MDs are using loud synth percussion IR is using loud orchestra and not to mention the satanic rock music electric guitar sounds (ha ha ) IR has no respect for chennai musicians. This "foreign" obsession should go way from indian people blah blah (See an ardent IR fan like me can say it without any compunctions
She has no guts.. Sorry for her.. There are posters here who are reviewing and criticizing the albums much better ..
Last edited by kiru; 7th September 2012 at 01:45 AM.
To Jai (for his comment on Mugamoodi)
...an artist without an art.
1. In Saindhu Saindhu.. the high-hats are used in closed mode.. the sound after the strike is more subdued versus the open mode where in the sound strike is resonated for couple of milli seconds and then it is closed as he keeps striking it in certain intervals.
2. Regarding the "Rim Click", its the tapping sound that you hear right after the initial rendition of "Saindhu Saindhu" is that when he strikes the stick on the rim of the snare drum or it could be mini version of a drum which produces the "tak... tak" sound.. Any drummers out there?
The more impressed instrument for me is the Acoustic drums and Guitar.. The Drums dominate the whole album followed by Guitar (Acoustics/Electric). You can see the brass/Flute/Oboe dominating every now and then.. This is a musical treat for all of us..
Last edited by Vinodkumar; 7th September 2012 at 01:55 AM.
Problem with IR albums isn't so much that you don't have much to say, but how to say something that's not already said (and better than I ever could)..Super ji
The first interlude and the charanams are my favorite. So many things going on in the first interlude. Sax conversing with the electric guitar(?), followed by the chorus, flute and the violins with the piano playing a counter melody all this time. The piano continues without any accompaniments for a while till that pause. Then the oboe playing the piano's tune. Blissful. Also the pallavi after the charanam has delightful violin 'punches'.
...an artist without an art.
Hope at least one of the guys from your group search and buy the tracks say.... at places like AMAZON , i tunes etc..
Care to let you know that your efforts fascinate them! You deserve it!
Correct, Plum...
MelHarmony,
There are some previous albums in recent yrs with 7 or 8 compositions, say....Rahman's JA, Delhi 6, endhiran etc..
It doesn't mean anything for some people!
Raja's AA DINAGALU - 2007 has only 2 compositions or TIK TIK TIK - 1981 has only 3 songslove everything about those compositions & the albums!
I emotionally connect with them!
'good music' they appeal to me etc... are relative term.
all compositions appeal to you, good for you!
Not everyone has to warm up to all compositions!
that's nice, Raja has enjoyed surely!
It's good NEPV producers has money to spend which Raja appreciated very much.
that doesn't mean anything to some folks!
I bet with no orchestral gimmicks, melodic, minimalistic - 'oh....sajna - Parakh of Salilda or early IR's suga mo aayiram..... etc.. they may be cherishing forever!
This is a problem for sure. Especially for our Indian melody loving people. If you are going to look for "just" the melody in the song and it doesn't appeal to them, it doesn't mean the song is not good. It means they have a different taste. Raja has moved on whether some will like it not. He is trying move from an era where the orchestra is an ornamental and supportive element to the main melody, to successfully integrating the orchestral and other elements into melody as an essential element of the song. They are becoming integral and soul of the song. Remove them from the song there is a loss of essence in every angle -- impact, aesthetics and feeling. He is almost moving into true western classical structure but still figuring out a way to retain the beauty of Indian melody. He is sure gonna lose some Indian melody purist but we all know Raja's love for western classical, he wants to go in this direction. I'm not saying he has not done this before. He started this trend in 80's and he going really far into this territory now and I don't think he is going to do pure Indian melody type song unless the song/situation requires that treatment.
You can see this kind of shift even in western classical music. Beethoven's "Fur Elise" melody is not same as Ravel's "Bolero". Difficult see the impact of Bolero melody's full impact without those marching drums around it. Debussy 's "Claire de lune" is completely different in treatment from Beethoven's "Moonlight sonata" but subjectively they both take me to heavenly world and create a similar feeling in me.
Extreme example in WCM would be Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" Such a discordant and shocking piece of WCM when it came out. The aesthetic to appreciate is completely different but the world came around and appreciated it later. There would probably be no Psycho's creepy music, Jaw's shark theme and Close encounter of the third kind music with out "The Rite of spring"
Coming back to the point, Raja is trying to take us into a completely new direction. We either go with him in to future or make our own choice but to compare his music to a different era of his music is just a futile exercise. If they are going to look for 80's style musical "comeback" they will surely be disappointed.
--Senthil
Last edited by senthilv.com; 7th September 2012 at 04:17 AM.
My video blogs on storytelling in Ilayaraja songs --> http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...7EZL2qTp7nmqPH
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