ஒரு கற்பனை

Kamal Hassan makes an unique attempt to bring music composers of various generations into one room and attempt a collaborative effort for making an album with a theme in mind. Sharp 10 AM and the room is already filled with composers of various generations.

We could see MSV, Illayaraja, Rahman, Deva & Srikanth Deva, Harris and Yuvan all eagerly waiting to hear what Kamal has to say.

Kamal: Vanakkam. Pudhu Pudhu muyarchigal eduppathil naan munnodiyaaga eruppavan endru palarum ninaithu kondirundhaalum, endha muyarchi oru vidhyasamana.....

Harris: (interrupts) Sir. Konjam Tamil la pesa mudiyuma?

MSV: Ada da da daa......Oh Muruga....En appane..

Kamal: Oru album panna vendum. Oru koottu muyarchi oda.. Adhukku dhaan koodiyirukkom indru..

(Illayaraja takes a notepad, pen and starts writing notes onto it. Deva tries to look at the notes over Raaja's shoulders..and Raaja gives a rude look back at him!)

Deva: Anne.... Enna anne edhu?

Raaja: Notes

Deva: Yeppadi anne ungalaala mudiyudhu edhu?

Raaja: Thambi.... Isai endral enna?

Yuvan: Basically, .... actually....

Harris: I think ... it is a mixture of....various albums and ....various..

Raaja: Isai enbadhu pala pala vadivangalil varugiradhu..pala pala parimaanam erukkiradhu..

Harris: You mean foreign album and CDs?

Rahman: He means dimensions..

Deva: Eppa puriyudhu anne..

Kamal: Raaja, yeppadi vara pogiradhu endha paadal?

Raaja: Mudhalil, prelude kku Trill vechurukkaen..

Deva: Thrilling aana situation nnu sollave illaya?

Rahman: No.. No... Edhu Trill.. A technique...

Raaja: Idhil "Invertible Counterpoints" upayoga padutha pogiraen

Srikanth Deva: (murmers to Deva) Appa, indha instrument nammalum use pannalaame?

Deva: Idhu varai naan kelvi padalaye !

Yuvan: (murmers to himself) Selvaraghavan'ukku edhu pidikkum nnu ninaikkaraen...Will surprise him with this..

Kamal (turns at Rahman): Rahman, unga plan enna?

Rahman: Well..Infact, I wanted to ask you.. I need 9-10 months for this..

Kamal: No no... You don't need to compose 9-10 albums.. In fact, just 1 song in this album..

Rahman: I know.. adhu dhaan sollaraen... and regarding my look.. do I need to have a hair cut for the album? Does it have appealing visuals?

Harris: This is very insulting.. No access to internet.. No access to foreign albums... What is this? You just dump us in a room and how the hell you expect us to compose music? Hmm...

Yuvan: Adhaan... I agree....I need to go to Thailand..

Kamal: Thailand? Edhaavadhu problem'a inga?

Yuvan: Noaa.. Anga pona dhaan I get music...mood ... you know?? I target youngsters... you know?

Kamal: OkOk...

Kamal turns back at MSV. And MSV is busy with his harmonium..and disappointed with the noise around him he starts playing loudly...

MSV: Shambooooooooooo.. Siva Shamboooooo...

Kamal: Okay.. Situation enna vendral....

Meanwhile, Raaja completes his part, hands over the musical score sheet to Kamal and walks out.

Uliyin Osai - II

The more and more I hear this album (Uliyin Osai), I am getting deeply engrossed in it..

"Abhinayam Kaattukindra" is a classical number and the ending segment of the song is really a pleasure to hear. Maestro has set the right tempo for the song. I only wish, if he had roped in Nithyashree instead of one of them (Bombay Jayashree & Sudha Raghunathan) to give a more contrasting variety in voice.
It appears to me that the whole album seems to have one hidden agenda - To demonstrate Sriram Parthasarathy's abilities as a singer! After hearing the whole album, I get a question within myself - "Is he the same singer who sang 'Ilangaatru Veesudhe' ?" His rendition is simply superb.

The song "Aganthayil Aaduvatha" is a class in its own. After the pallavi, Illayaraja enters with a dialogue-styled-rendering and towards the end Sriram takes off effortlessly and only I wonder - Isn't this called "seamless integration"?
I have a historic intolerance towards scale and shruthi changes. Many gems, I haven't heard much because of those shruthi and scale changes. I wonder why? But, in this song, my experiences were different. I only wish I could bring out my experiences in words when I heard the scale changes in this song when Sriram sings "aadiduvaen paarthidama ... kaigalil oru baavam". Experts say that the song starts in Rasikapriya and turns into Mayamalavagowlai. All I can tell is, if the song was originally heading towards Chicago I-94 W, it takes a U turn and somehow (don't ask me how) gets on to I-80-90 E! And more, without any squealing shrill discomforting noises! I don't have the competence to analyze and get into "how" aspect of it.

Sriram has done justice when he sings "Ethanai Baavam Undu Nadanathile", effortlessly brings out all the emotions/baavam in his voice ranging from "Parivu" to "Mogam". Full marks to Sriram for his brilliant singing. Will he bag an award for this album or would he sit and watch some nasal singer bag the award for brutally butchering the lyrics?

For those who want to hear the song, here it is:



I know, I shouldn't have put the whole song considering the "piracy" and "moral" aspects. But, didn't some new-age-guru say that "Naalu Perukku Nalladhunna Edhuvum Thappila"?

Rise of Rahman - I

If Illayaraja is an apple, then, Rahman is an orange. It doesn't make any sense to compare one with the other. And Rahman is successful only because he is an orange and not a variant of an apple. If and only if he was a variant of an apple, the Raaja apple would have crushed and swallowed as it did many other variants of it. And Rahman orange must have been very cognizant from the day 0, not to even cross the shadow of the apple. If apple was serving melody sweetness all the years, Rahman orange decided to give a totally different flavor.

It was not a fluke or overnight success for Rahman. In my opinion, it was not Rahman's Roja that took him to the heights. Roja was followed by some of his sensible and matured decisions. IMO, those decisions and convictions took him to the heights and not the mere tunes/rhythms.

If Rahman gave Roja, so did Vidyasagar come up with a musical hit Karna (a year after Roja). In fact, Aasai became a much popular album in those days, composed by Deva. Why they weren't able to attain the heights that Rahman did? (Are you wondering, how insane must Emjay be to compare Rahman with Vidyasagar and Deva? Hold your breath till I complete).

My answer to this is, while Vidyasagar, Deva & Co. were walking at a brisk pace, Rahman was climbing at a slower pace. He knew very clearly that walking would only make him cover distance and not take him to heights, whereas only climbing would do. Other composers were able to walk 20-25 steps per year, whereas Rahman chose to climb just 5-6 steps per year.

In detail, I can illustrate some aspects that I think that took him to the heights and also some external factors that acted like a catalyst to his growth. I will cover all but the external factors in this post.

They are:

a) Being selective
b) Betting on winning horses
c) Choice of veteran & upcoming filmmakers
d) Right moves @ Right time
e) Humbleness & Clean image
f) Public relations & Marketing sense
FINALLY,
g) Display Rahman'ism and never-be-Raaja'ish.

Being selective: Raaja was the undisputable king of music making in the film industry those days. There were many many gruntling filmmakers prostrating before Raaja while wondering if there will ever be an alternative! Imagine within a week after Roja's release and its musical success, Rahman would have been flooded with offers. If "Chinna Koundar" was a hit, at least a dozen film makers were ready with similar stories. If and only if Rahman had accepted all those offers with his both hands, he would have been booked for 3-4 years, but would have been DOOMED by now!! He was an intelligent chap, wasn't he?

Betting on winning horses: Secondly, he betted on winning horses by making some intelligent and most often correct guesses. He had a good flair of taste for winning films and good films. He signed up sensible movies (for the most part) and carefully managed to stay out of the gutter. How did he manage to do that? Did he have any good advisor around him? Or was he smart enough to do all by himself? I don't
know the answer. On the other hand, Deva was busy accepting all the offers with 4 hands (with Sabesh Murali) !!

Choice of veteran & upcoming filmmakers: Though he signed up movies with new directors like Shankar, he striked a balance with veteran filmmakers like Balachandar (in Duet) and BharathiRaja (in Kizhakku Cheemayile). That gave him a good visibility and established contacts. In particular, the initial years are as important as the first trimester for a pregnant women! And his association with Vairamuthu cannot be missed here as well. Some of his immortal lyrics have been a major factor for some of his album's success.

Right moves @ Right time: Having tasted great success in the initial years, inertia would hug anyone. Rahman was very conscious to break the status-quo and made right moves at the right time. He clearly understood the politics behind the geography of our country and stormed into Bollywood with "Rangeela". Small timers like Anu Malik, Anand Milind and Nadeem were looking like a tiny boat in front of this juggernaut. He colonised the whole India and everyone started singing to his rhythm. What Illayaraja didn't do in several decades, Rahman did it within 2-3 years. By this
time, Deva became a "Gaana" king tainted with all accusations of plagiarism. The best thing about Rahman is that he just didn't stop there. He again overcame the inertia and broke into the international arena with albums and some hollywood assignments.

Humbleness & Clean image: Five million units of one album sold in 1995 is no joke. Despite this feat, he remained humble and didn't lose his composure. That has given him the "media darling" status. Media is so powerful that even Gandhi can be shown as Godse and Godse can be portrayed as Gandhi.

Public relations & Marketing sense: His acumen in marketing and his public relations has taken him to new heights that no other Indian has ever achieved till date. The way "Vande Mataram", "Jana Gana Mana" was promoted is an example of how much importance he has given to the marketing.

Display Rahman'ism and never-be-Raaja'ish: Last but not the least, he has displayed always "Rahmanism" in his music and very consciously avoided being "Raaja'ish", even if asked to. This last point can be a separate post by itself. I intend to cover a lot in this point alone in my future posts.

I strongly believe that if and only if Vidyasagars or Devas or any other talented composer had adopted Rahman's above-said strategies, they would have touched new heights as well.

Digression: BTW, I have a chronic acid-relux problem. So, I don't take much oranges and apple serves me the best. An apple a day keeps the doctor away :-)

என் பிதற்றல்

Couple of my blog readers have already sent their tunes for the few scribbles that I made and that prompted me to further take the pallavi to completion. One day, if I ever meet this genius, I will proudly present this to him.

உன்னை இசை அரசன் என்பேனா
இல்லை இசைக்கு அடிமை என்பேனா
அரசனும் நீயே
அடிமையும் நீயே

என் நரம்பினில் உன் நாதம்
உன் இசை தான் என் சுவாசம்
ராகதேவன் என்பார் சிலர்
இசைஞானி என்பார் பலர்
என்னை ஆட்கொண்ட ஓம்காரம் என்பேன் நான்

கலைமகள் அருளோடு
சப்த ஸ்வரத்துடன்
நர்த்தகம் புரிந்தாய்
வர்த்தகம் மறந்தாய்
சிம்போனி அமைத்தாய்
வெளியிட மறுத்தாய்
புரியா புதிராய் சிலருக்கு அமைந்தாய்
புரியாமலே பலருக்கு போனாய்
புரிந்தவருக்கே ராசா ஆனாய்

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