Ilaiyaraaja's Cyclic Interludes

About 5 years back, I posted 6 of Ilaiyaraaja's cyclic interludes in this blog. By cyclic interlude, I am referring to an interlude (or prelude) which starts with a specific phrase, then meanders around and then returns to that same phrase before starting the charanam (or  pallavi).

I then noticed 7 other songs with similar pattern. So I compiled all 13 of them into a single track starting from the oldest (as per the release date). This technique/pattern has been used by Ilaiyaraaja even recently in a song from Dhoni. Go ahead and listen to the cyclic interludes below:

Here are the songs featured in the above track:

1. Idhazhil Kadhai from Unnal Mudiyum Thambi
2. Sivarathiri from Michael Madhana Kama Rajan
3. Kuyil Paatu (Happy) from En Raasavin Manasile
4. Kuyil Paatu (Sad) from En Raasavin Manasile
5. Povoma from Chinna Thambi
6. Oh Butterfly from Meera
7. Ellorum Sollum Paatu from Marubadiyum
8. Ennavendru Solvadhama from Raajakumaaran
9. Piraye from Pithamagan
10. Ilaimaikku Oru from Oru Naal Oru Kanavu
11. Malle Puvvu from Malle Puvvu
12. Yaarum Thodatha from Ajantha
13. Vaangum Panathukkum from Dhoni

And as an experiment, here is another version after excluding the music in between the repeating phrases. Even though the interlude is shortened, you won't find the flow missing. Listen to the first clip posted above and then listen to the one below.

There could be more such songs. If you come across any other song, leave a comment.

Endrendrum Anandhame - Ilaiyaraaja

Rajiv Shankar introduced me to the song "Endrendrum Anandhame". It is a funky song by Ilaiyaraaja and is set in Sarasaangi raagam!

Listen to this song here:



Another intersting thing Rajiv pointed me out was the play in the time signature. The pallavi and rest of the song seemed to be in 3/4 except for the anupallavi - 'vaalibathin rasanai..." in 4/4. The beat seems to be similar for both portions. That is because for first 2 lines the beat plays 4 bars of 3 counts each and for the next 2 lines (vaalibathin..), it plays 3 bars of 4 count each. Very interesting to note this.

What I later noticed is that the melody (mainly charanam and 1st 2 lines of pallavi) seems to be in 6/8 time signature rather than 3/4. But the beat and bass follow 3/4 time signature. I don't know how to explain and so I added a tabla rhythm over the song to try to demonstrate that. Here is that version:

Endrendrum Anandhame by sripathyramesh

Beat   : 1 2 | 3 4 | 5 6
Melody : 1 2 3  |  4 5 6

I may be wrong too. So please correct and educate me if I am wrong. What do you think?

Thenpandi Seemayile - Strings Section

About a month back, I wanted to decipher the Strings section of Thenpandi Seemayile song from Nayagan. The lead melody was easy. And with some equalization of the original track I was able to find out the notes for the rest of the orchestra. It was fun deciphering this and understanding the harmonies involved.

I sequenced the same piece on my computer. Here is the violin section, followed by the viola section, the cello and double bass section and finally all of them playing together. I am not really good at listening to a piece and reproducing it perfectly on keyboard. So if there are any wrong notes, please let me know so that I can correct them.

Thenpandi Seemayile - Strings Section Details by sripathyramesh


My next target is the opening strings section of the 'Singing Self' piece from Nothing but Wind. The good part is that I chanced upon the practice session of the orchestra at the venue for the 'Nothing But Wind' concert held at Chennai. And I recorded a small section on my mobile. Sorry for the poor audio quality. Here, you can listen to the individual sections doing the mic check and then all of them playing together. Refer the link below for the recording.

http://soundcloud.com/sripathyramesh-1/nothing-but-wind-concert-rehearsals

Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Rajapaarvai Violin Concerto

Listen to this wonderful Violin Concerto composed by Ilaiyaraaja for the film "Raja Paarvai". Nice blend of Carnatic and Western styles (typical ilaiyaraaja). This composition is in raag Pantuvaraali. Sit back and enjoy.



Some observations:

1. Till 1:35 secs in the video, it is carnatic style. You will notice that Kamal sits and plays the violin as in carnatic style. At 1:36 it changes to western classical style and you will notice Kamal standing and playing the violin.

2. From around 2:04 to 2:24, for about 20 secs the Sa and Pa notes are not at all played. This song is in 2 kattai (D) and in this Pantuvaraali scale in D, except Sa and Pa all others are half notes - either sharp/flat (black keys on the keyboard). So for these 20 seconds, there are no natural notes played. i.e. only black keys while playing on the keyboard. And at 2:24 after heightening the tension, it lands at Shadjamam and then from there, the drums take off. The violins, lead guitar and bass guitar go in a frenzy along with the drums. Finally it comes to a finish with the main theme played in unison.

I tried re-creating this number on my computer few years back by doing some basic midi sequencing. Here is the midi file in case you are interested on the notes of the song. By the way, I have omitted a few lines and I think there are some wrong notes in the midi file that I created.

Musical Conversations - ARR

A R Rahman has done some nice background pieces in songs which are basically a conversation between either 2 instruments or an instrument and a vocal. These are not question and answer types but more like a real conversation. Listen to 4 such conversations below. Interestingly all of them are towards the ending of the respective songs. It is more like a postlude.

Rahman Conversations by sripathyramesh

The 1st one is "En swasa kaatre" from "En swasa kaatre". Nice conversation of veena and chitra's voice. I love the veena in this piece. The chord and bass backing is also very good. I think this is in Nilambari raga. Please correct me if I am wrong.

The 2nd one is "Azhage sugama" from "Paarthale Paravasam". A nice conversation between piano and violin. Violin is played by Ganesh I believe. I read that it is a mixture of dwijawanti and sahana ragam.

The 3rd one is "Uyirum Neeye" from "Pavithra". Veena and violin converse here in Khamas raga I think.

The 4th one is "Netru Illatha Maatram" from "Pudhiya Mugam". Nice sitar and flute combination. You can also listen to a veena in the third line. This is the same piece played in the first interlude. But in the first interlude it is a sitar and veena conversation. And at the end, the sitar piece is the same, but a different flute response. Flute must be by Naveen.

Let me know if there are other similar songs by ARR. I will also put a separate post on such conversations in Ilaiyaraaja's music. So let me know the relevant song interludes that come to your mind in IR's music.

Some ARR pieces repeated

Here are a couple of instances where A R Rahman has reused some of his earlier pieces in songs. These are just 1 or 2 line pieces and there is no harm in doing so since the originals are also his. You can hover your mouse over my photo on the comments bar at the bottom of the track to find out details about the songs mixed.

Rahman Repeat by sripathyramesh

I also read that one of the re-recording pieces in Roja was later the charanam of Telephone Manipol song. Also the rerecording piece of Kannathil Muthamittal became the pallavi of a song from the hindi film Ada.

Other music directors have also done that. Harris Jayaraj has incorporated one rerecording piece from Vettaiyadu Vilayadu (plane sequence with Jo) in the song Mudhal Naal Indru from Unnale Unnale. Similarly HJ had used a rerecording piece from Minnale into a song, Pinju Thendrale, from Majnu.

What do you think of this? Also let me know if you know of any other similar reused pieces.

Jai Ho Rahman

Congratulations to Mr. Rahman on getting the Oscar awards ! You truly deserve it.

On celebration of this, I am currently having the Jai Ho song (from Slumdog Millionaire) as my mobile ringtone. I have edited it slightly. Here is the ringtone version:

Jai Ho Ringtone by sripathyramesh

I have also edited the O Saya song (again from Slumdog Millionaire) for using it as a ringtone. Here is the edited version below:

O Saya Ringtone by sripathyramesh

You can download the above ring tones and use it, if you like them.

Not exactly remixes

Here are a couple of songs in recent times, which are not exactly remixes but are inspired / lifted from old songs.

1) "Ah mudhal akku thanadaa" from Jithan

This is one of the few kuthu songs that I like. Music is by Srikanth Deva. Only later did I realize that the full tune is lifted from an old MGR song: Koduthathellam Koduthaar. They have changed the time signature to 6/8 (kuththu beat) and have written new lyrics for it. I have overlapped both the songs and you can listen it below. You can listen to the new song on the left channel and the old one on the right.

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2) "Jalsa" from Chennai-28

Some couple of lines alone remind you of the popular old song "Senthamizh then moziyaai". Listen to the mix below.

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I used Audacity, the free audio editor and recorder, to mix these tracks. I had to change the pitch so that both the songs overlapped are in the same shruthi. Because of this, the voice would have changed. Now-a-days, with the help of technology, the tempo of a song would be constant through out the song. But in those days, the tempo has to be maintained manually and hence the tempo will not necessarily be constant throughout the song. Because of this, I also had to alter the tempo in various places. I will also post a series of articles on this blog on how I do sound editing.

BGM piece from Alaigal Oyvathillai

Here is a BGM piece from Alaigal Oyvathillai with music by Ilaiyaraaja. This piece comes when Karthik runs behind Radha on the beach and holds her hand. The piece was so good when watched along with the visuals. This is in Raag Hindolam, conveying the same mood as in "Dharisanam kidaikaadha" song which appears earlier in the film. Towards the end of the piece you will notice a mood change with an emotional male humming. Now listen to the piece and then read further.


As I said earlier, this piece is in Hindolam. But when the male humming starts, it changes to Srothaswani raga (Ni3 counterpart of Sudhdha dhanyasi) in a different shruthi. The madhyamam of hindolam becomes the shadjamam of srothaswani. And that is why the female humming ends at Sa ma ga ma, Sa ma ga ma, Sa ma ga ma, Sa ma ga ma, and the shruthi changes and the male humming starts at the upper Sa which is equivalent to the ma of hindolam. This technique of changing the shruthi is being called as shruthibedam. Lets look at the notes of the scales and see how the transformation was done and why it didn't sound odd when both the ragam and shruthi changes.

Hindolam (in 1/2 kattai)

Sa

Ga

Ma

Dha

Ni

Sa

Srothaswani (in 4 1/2 kattai)

Pa

Ni

Sa

Ga

Ma

Pa

Western Notes

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

So as you can see above, even though the scale changes, almost all the notes which will be played / sung are the same. It is only with the relative base shruthi that you identify with the swaras and the ragas.

Some of my earlier posts on Shruthibedam in film songs - Kavithai Kelungal and Raa Raa. Infact Raa Raa is also based on Srothaswani.

Swara Harmonies

I was listening to some of the BGMs of Ilaiyaraaja. Here is a short BGM bit from the film Sindhubhairavi. Listen to the harmonies and overlaps in the Shanmugapriya raga. The audio quality is poor, kindly bear with it.

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And here is a similar piece in Mayamalavagowlai raga from the film "Alaigal Oyvathillai"

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Ennai Thalaatta Varuvaalo

The song "Ennai Thalaatta Varuvaalo" from "Kadhalukku Mariyadhai" is a very popular song by Ilaiyaraaja. Recently there was a song "Oru porkaalam thodangum" from the film "Kasthurimaan" again by Ilaiyaraaja. I could sense a similarity in the opening lines between the two songs. The tune looks somewhat similar. However the similarity ends after the first 2 lines. So I mixed the 2 songs together. Listen to this below. In the middle, you will notice that both the songs are played simultaneously with one song on the left and the other song on the right.

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Speaking of "Ennai Thalaatta Varuvaalo", the other version of this song from the same film is "Idhu Sangeetha Thirunaalo". Both these songs are set in 4/4 adhi thalam. The song is predominantly in the scale of the keeravani ragam, I believe. Now listen to the prelude of the "Idhu Sangeetha Thirunaalo" song below.

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When I listened to the above prelude, it seemed that the timing was in 3/4, but again it was not matching completely in 3/4. Then I heard a few more times and found that the timing goes as follows:

1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 ||
1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 ||

tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ka thi mi ||
tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ki ta | tha ka thi mi ||

Each cycle comes to a total of 16 counts there by effortlessly maintaining or switching to the 4/4 beat after this initial piece. Again the actual beat is predominantly 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 || which is 8 counts.

The 16 beat count above is also used in the song "Siriya paravai siragai virithu" from the film "Antha Oru Nimidam" however in a much faster tempo. You will notice that the tune also fits into this timing. This is however used only for the 1st 2 lines.

Speaking of the Siriya paravai song, refer this article to know how IR has used Shruthibedam in this song, where he changes to Charukesi in the 2nd interlude and the following stanza.

Some of my earlier posts on Shruthibedam in film songs - Kavithai Kelungal and Raa Raa.

Overlapping talas

The song "Kannalane" from the film "Bombay" is a well known one. I am not a big fan of this song, except for the sufi style singing by ARR in the first interlude. The bass and tabla combination also rocks here. During the interlude before the second stanza, there is a chorus section singing "gubu subu..." and after it is over, there is a small theermaanam in tabla after which the saranam starts. So I was thinking why was this extra bit added after the line / bar has been completed. So I started to look more into the talam of this song.

The talam of the song looks pretty much straightforward - adi talam or 4/4 in western. This is true for most of the song. When we come to the interlude under discussion, the tabla still plays the 4/4 rhythm. However the chorus melody is composed in 7/8 (misra chaapu). Misra chaapu is generally 3+4 counts. For example, tha ki ta ; tha ka thi mi. However this one seems to be 4+3 counts, which is: tha ka thi mi ; tha ki ta. I read somewhere that this talam is called "vilOma". Please correct me if I am wrong. That was very nicely done - mixing a 4/4 rhythm with a melody set in 7/8.

So I went ahead and tried to add 7/8 beats to the song, and here is the result. Somewhere in the middle, the melody changes to 4/4, but I couldn't find out where. This combination of talas necessiated the extra theermaanam at the end of the interlude. Use headphones to hear the below piece. You will hear the original song on the right speakers and the 7/8 rhythm that I added on the left.

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You can also follow this interlude, by putting the misra chappu talam in half the speed of the rhythm that I had played. That means, 1 "gubu subu" is 1 count.

There are a few instances of other such experiments too. I think the most talked about of them is "aagaya vennilave" from "arangetra velai". People say that the song is in roopakam while the tabla plays in 4/4 adi talam. Some time back my opinion was that the song as a whole was in 12/8, and hence the 4/4 rhythm will also suit this song. I am not sure on this though.

I also heard a mridangam player talking on radio. He was saying how tough it was playing for a song by ilaiyaraaja, where he had to play 4/4 adi talam, while the composition was in 7/8. I don't remember the song. You can imagine how tough it would be to play a completely different tala in a live orchestra. These days, with the help of technology, it is pretty much easy carrying on such experiments.

The song "Chinnan chiru vayadhil" from "Meendum Kokila" is in 3/4 (roopakam). After the 1st stanza, during the pallavi, an extra metal sound is heard in 4 counts overlapping with the 3/4 rhythm. This 4 counts may be perceived as a 4/4 or rather 6/8 meter.

One more often used thing is playing an occasional 6/8 theermanam / drum roll on top of 4/4. This is pretty much easy and hence I am not discussing that here. Do you know of any other similar complex experiments?

Finally, I don't know much about talas. So kindly correct me if there are any mistakes in this post. You can point them in the comments section.

Ilaiyaraaja's interludes

We all know Ilaiyaraaja is a master in orchestration. I noticed a few songs of IR where the interludes begin with a specific phrase (tune), goes on to explore and then return back to the same phrase before starting the charanam. This is really very interesting. I have compiled a list of such songs that I know. Do add any other similar songs that I might have missed out.

1. Idhazhil Kadhai Ezhudhum - Unnal Mudiyum Thambi
   Notice the first BGM
   
2. Ellorum Sollum Paatu - Marubadiyum
   Again notice the first BGM
   
3. Oh Butterfly - Meera
   The strings section in the first BGM
   
4. Enavendru Solvadhama - Rajakumaaran
   The guitar+flute dual piece in the first BGM
   
5. Kuyil Paatu (happy) - En Raasavin Manasile
   Both the first and the second interludes

Here is an audio with all the above interludes. Click on the play button to start playing.

IR-interludecircle...

Hope you liked it. If you remember more such numbers do add them in the comments.

UPDATE: Refer a new version of this clip at http://rameshonmusic.blogspot.in/2012/04/ilaiyaraajas-cyclic-interludes.html.

Angel Vandhale

This song is from the Tamil film, Badri. Music is by Ramana Gokula. I am blogging about this song because I noticed an interesting aspect in the charanams (or is it saranams?). The first charanam is sung by the lead character which is played by Vijay. It has a kind of western feel to it. While the second charanam has a light classical feel. This one is portrayed on one of the heroines, Bhoomika. But if you listen carefully, the tune of both the charanams, though seems different, is very similar. Hence I have overlapped the 2 charanams so that you can appreciate the composition. Listen to my mix below by clicking on the Play button.


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Trills in the prelude of IR songs

Listen to the opening few seconds of the following songs and identify the similarity.

1. Etho Moham from Kozhi Koovudhu
2. Nalam Vazha from Marupadiyum
3. Etho Onnu from Solla Marantha Kathai

You can listen to the song prelude bits below:


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The similarity is they all start with a very rapid alternation between 2 adjacent notes of a scale. I learnt from my colleague, Godwin, that this is called a 'Trill'.

The first song, Etho Moham, is a very beautiful song. You can read a more detailed review by RJAY of the Edho Moham song at http://www.geocities.com/rjaymidi/aedho.html. Heard that our Maestro wanted to meet French maestro Paul Mauriat, and took this song in a cassette to him as a sample. Upon listening to this song, the French composer immediately wanted to meet our Maestro, who was waiting outside.

Coming back to the prelude of the 1st song, there seems to be 3 string sections, all of them playing trills in different intervals. Then the strings sections takes of and the flute follows the melody.

In the second song, Nalam Vazha, some wind instrument like flute seems to be playing the trill, backed by strings filling. There is also some bass walkthrough during this piece. Is it pizzicato strings? I am not sure. After the very short trill, the guitar piece starts.

The Trill in the third song, Edho Onnu, is my favorite of the three. Here the strings section plays the same trill repeatedly. After the first 2 bars, there is a short sweet melody on strings overlapping the trill. After the piece, the song immediately starts. At first hearing, the song seems to start abruptly after the trill, but after listening properly and repeatedly, I am able to understand the timing. I don't think I listened to the strings overlap when seeing the song on TV. So use a proper headphone while listening to the above pieces.

Do you know of any other similar song employing this technique?