Ramesh on Music: ragas

Showing posts with label ragas. Show all posts

Vizhiyadhu Mazhaiyinil - Original Song

I released my next original song this week. This song has been in the making for quite a few months.

This is a song about a person admiring and describing the cuteness of a baby crying. My colleague wrote this as a poem and I set the tune for that poem and arranged the music. This is the first time I am attempting to set the tune for a lyric and I am pleased with the result.

Do listen to this song and share your feedback.

Note: You can turn on the subtitles to view the lyrics along with the video.

CREDITS
Lyrics: Chandru Kutty
Music: Sripathy Ramesh
Vocals: Srivatsan Gopaladesikan, Vijayalakshmi Venkataraman
Baby's cry: Baby Shreyathi Sai

I intended to compose this song in the scale of Hindolam raga. In the 2nd interlude alone, during the aariro portions, I deivated a bit and used Ga3 instead of Ga2 of Hindolam. We get a raga called Sallabham/Surya. Then the song returns back to Hindolam.

I also tried a aariro backing to the lead aariro trying to create a harmony with just 2 notes (Sa and Dha for the most part) in the backing.

Do listen to this song and leave your comments.

Like and follow this page if you like this song:
https://www.facebook.com/VizhiyadhuMazhaiyinil

Prelude of Maalai Yen Vedhanai from Sethu

Recently I noticed and tried to understand the composition of the piano prelude of the song Maalai Yen Vedhanai Koottudhadi from Sethu. The song is in D Major scale (shankarabharanam) and the notes of the pallavi go like:

GaMaGa GaMaGa GaPaSaNi.
maalaiyen vedhanai koottudhadi

So Ilayaraja has tried to play on the GaMaGa (F#GF#) tune for the prelude. The piano piece opening is similar to the 'maalai yen vedhanai' tune. But since it talks about the pain of love and also because of the scene before this song, he brings in a melancholic and contemplative mood in the prelude. He does this by employing different chords that predominantly seem to be in its relative minor scale (B minor scale) and doesn't uses the tonic chord of the D Major scale at all. He also uses the Dha1 note (A# accidental note in D major scale) in some of the chords to bring in a little melancholic feel. Towards the end of the piano prelude (0:13 to 0:15 secs in this video), he creates a small break and the chord used there creates a certain tension. And then he releases the tension by leading up to the tonic chord (DMaj7th i think) using it for the first time for the GaMaGa tune (at 0:16). Building up this tension and releasing it is my favorite portion of the prelude. I used to keep repeating this prelude alone to listen to it again and again. From a composition point of view, this was really interesting to me.

Listen to this prelude in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkbU5NfxXrg

Chords used in the prelude below. I got this by loading the song in a mac based software called Capo 3.

Bm7 Bm7 | Em7 Em7 | GMaj7 GMaj7 |
A#aug Gm | GMaj7 Em7 | F#7- F#7 |
DMaj7

It showed A#7 at one place which I thought was wrong and change to A#aug above.
It aslo showed F#m7 at the end for the chord which creates that tension. This again I think is wrong. I changed that to F#7, but then I am not sure if that chord is correct.

Maalai Pozhudhil Oru - Our version of a Bharathiar song

Presenting to you, a Bharathiar song set to tune and sung by my colleague, Sai Sundhar. He had tuned it wonderfully in Raag Bageshri and Raag Abheri. Bageshri in itself evokes a sense of yearning / a separation / waiting for reunion. I think this is exactly what this song is about and hence the choice of the raga seems to be apt.

Music was arranged by me (Sripathy Ramesh). I wanted to give emphasis to the melody and the lyrics and so I kept the arrangement/orchestration very simple and subtle. I felt I could have done a better job to keep it more interesting. Anyway, listen to it and share your feedback in the comments.

Maalai Pozhuthil Oru
Lyrics: Subramania Bharatiyar
Tuned & Sung by: Sai Sundhar Padmanabhan
Arrangement: Sripathy Ramesh
Tabla and Tanpura: RiyazStudio

Lyrics:
மாலைப் பொழுதிலொரு மேடை மிசையே
வானையும் கடலையும் நோக்கி யிருந்தேன்;
மூலைக் கடலினையவ் வான வளையம்
முத்தமிட் டேதழுவி முகிழ்த்தல் கண்டேன்;
நீல நெருக்கிடையில் நெஞ்சு செலுத்தி,
நேரங் கழிவ திலும் நினைப்பின்றியே
சாலப் பலபல நற் பகற்கனவில்
தன்னை மறந்தலயந் தன்னில் இருந்தேன்

Music in bird calls

I came across this interesting article on 'The Hindu' regarding music in bird calls. It talks about how one can interpret different classical ragas and talas in birdcalls. It also talks about how birdsongs have inspired western classical music composers as well. Here is the link to the article - Avian Super Singers.

Tidbits:
Raag Hamsadhwani/Hansdhwani and Raag Hamsanadham literally mean "Sound of Swan"

Was flute the earliest developed musical instrument (melodic)? If so, was it inspired from bird calls?
The film 'Ullasam' shows Vikram's character being inspired from a bird song and then uses the same melody for the "Veesum Kaatrukku" song. View that scene here (starts at 11:55): www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hzH_E-u8Ls#t=705

Representing the sound of a bird on a musical instrument in film songs:

There are numerous songs in films that use certain instruments in a certain way to depict a bird sound. Most of them invariably use the flute to depict the bird call. Here are some such songs:

Idhu Oru Pon Maalai - Nizhalgal - Ilaiyaraaja
I am not even talking about the opening bird chirp sounds. I am talking about the flute sounds and keyboard sounds in the preludes, interludes and charanams. Listen to the whole song once by clicking on the link above and appreciate the usage of various instruments to depict birds on the evening sky. This song is based on Kedaram ragam which is a janya of Shankarabharanam. Typically the sounds of bird calls belong to the scale of Shankarabharanam and its janya and hence it is so apt here.
Kuyil Paatu - En Raasavin Mansile - Ilaiyaraaja
'Kuyil Paatu' translates to 'Cuckoo Song'. Again, the flute is used as a symbolic representation of a bird call (specifically cuckoo). And the raga used here is Shivaranjani, which is quite atypical for a bird sound, but it really fits well. Though this raga is used for pathos situation, I also heard that this raga is also suitable for situations where one is expecting or longing for someone. Considering that, the situation of this 'Kuyil Paatu' song as well as 'Kaathirundhu Kaathirundhu Kaalangal Pogudhadi' seems to suit well and both are based on Raag Shivaranjani.
Thirakkadha Kaattukulle - En Swasa Kaatre - A R Rahman
This song is set in the midst of nature. Interestingly, there is no flute sound in this song. The bird sounds are brought out in the form of synths sounds in the opening and as staccato notes on the guitar (charanam). And incidentally, most of the charanam is in Raag Hamsadhwani (sound of swan).
Ila Nenje Vaa - Vanna Vanna Pookkal - Ilaiyaraaja
This is another song that celebrates nature. Again we can see the use of flute sounds depicting bird calls. One interesting thing is that there is a flute response to each line of the vocals. I think this song is based on Sudhadhanyasi ragam.
Oh Butterfly - Meera - Ilaiyaraaja
This song is about a butterfly (ok, it is an insect, not bird). Look at how the singing and arrangements are very soft and delicate, similar to how you would want to touch and handle a butterfly. Specifically listen to the 2nd interlude - the harpsichord runs, the staccato notes on the flute all symbolize numerous butterflies flying around, exactly the way the picturization was done.

And there could be numerous other songs similar to the ones mentioned above. Maalayil Yaaro could be one such song.

And here are some songs from independent albums that represent insects:

Poo Eru Konum - Thiruvasakam - Ilaiyaraaja
This one is related to an honey bee. Observe how the music accurately brings out the representation of a bee flapping its wings and flying between flowers. It uses tremolo, pizzicato, fast phrases and trills in the Strings section and the Flute - all to bring out the effect of a bee flying. This song is predominantly based on Raag Sudhadhanyasi and some parts in Raag Madhukauns.
Mosquito - Connections - A R Rahman
This track from Connections uses the Saarangi instrument effectively to create the effect of a mosquito buzzing around your head (listen on headphones). Of course there are some sound effects (like resonance?) added to the instrument to effectively bring out the effect.

Speaking of birds, flutes and hamsadhwani, here is one of my compositions which is set predominantly in Hamsadhwani raga. I have used the flute instrument in this song. I didn't intend to represent a bird call, but may be because of the raga and how it has been played (by Dilip), I now hear a bird call, especially during the opening of the song.
Mudhan Mudhalai - Sripathy Ramesh

Another related blog post on bird song with respect to Western Classical Music:

http://sinfinimusic.com/uk/features/series/classical-connections/birdsong

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?

Ragas in Films

I started a new twitter account to tweet about the ragas that I notice in film songs. Not all songs are based on ragas. Infact, there are a very few songs that are composed keeping a raga in mind. So if I come across a song where the composer might have used a raga, I will tweet that. If you are on twitter, please follow @filmi_ragas.

http://twitter.com/filmi_ragas

I have also added a section titled 'Ragas in Films' in the sidebar of this blog which lists the recent tweets from the above mentioned twitter account.

Brindavana Saranga by various Film Composers

In my last post, I mentioned about the Raag Brindavana Saranga. In this post, I am going to list down the film songs composed in this raag by various music directors. Many music directors have used this raag in their compositions. Here is the list grouped by the composer.

Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy
Ponn Ondru Kanden - Padithaal Mattum Podhuma
(listen to this rendition by Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan. The song starts at 0:50 secs in the video.)

Ilaiyaraaja
Aathaadi Paavada Kaathaada - Poovilangu
Intha Jilla Muzhukka Nalla Theriyum - Priyanka
Maadathile Kanni Maadathile - Veera

A R Rahman
Konjum Mainakkale - Kandukonden Kandukonden
Adadadada Muthu Muthu - Mr. Romeo

Vidyasagar
Radhai Mandhil - Snehidhiye
Chella Nam Veetukkul - Poovellam Un Vaasam
Kanden Kanden - Madurai

Bharadwaj
Ye Samba Ye Samba - Pandavar Bhoomi

Vijay Antony
Ninjakootil Neeye Nirkiraai - Dishyum

Hariharan-Leslie
Paadhi Kaadhal - Modhi Vilayadu

Deva
Kookoo Kookoo Kuyil Paatu - Vaaymaye Vellum
(Pallavi lifted from the Colonial cousins song, Indian Rain, which is also in Brindavana Saranga).

If you need to add any other song to this list, kindly leave your comment below.

I have also updated this list in my Wiki website for Ragas in film songs. Let me know if you are willing to contribute to the wiki site.

Recent Raga Sightings

I noticed some raga usages in recent tamil film songs. Here are the songs and the ragas.

Song	Movie	Composer	Raag
Paadhi Kadhal	Modhi Vilayadu	Hariharan-Leslie	Brindavan Saranga
Unnai Enakku	Azhagar Malai	Ilaiyaraaja	Hamsadhwani
Enna Senjalum	Azhagar Malai	Ilaiyaraaja	Mayamalavagowlai

Paadhi Kadhal is a nice song from Modhi Vilayaadu. It is set in the Brindavan Saranga raga. You will find similarities between this song and the "Indian Rain" song from Colonial Cousins in the usage of the raga and the instruments (guitar and trumpet). Interesting aspect about this song is the contrast between the 2 lead vocals. Bombay Jayashree sings in the indian classical style while Sunitha Sarathy sings almost the same tune in western style.

Unnai Enakku from Azhagar Malai is set in Raag Hansdhwani/Hamsadhwani. Ilaiyaraaja has composed only a handful of songs in Hamsadhwani when compared with other raagas that he has used. There is lot of classical touches in the way this song has been sung. In recent times, he has composed another song in Hamsadhwani from the film "Oru Naal Oru Kanavu". It is called "Enna paatu vennum unakku" sung by Sonu Nigam. That is yet another good song. Refer this wiki page for some songs in this raga.

Enna Senjalum from Azhagar Malai is set in Raag Mayamalavagowlai. Ilayaraaja has done lot of classic songs in this Raga. But somehow this song doesn't impress.

Rajapaarvai background piece - shruthibedam again

Talking about Rajapaarvai, listen to the following background music (re-recording) from the same film. It is a very nice piece.

Hope you enjoyed it. Here is a comment by an user on that video:

i'm an atheist...but this music makes me think twice. Divine!

Now for the technically inclined:

While listening to it I realized that this piece starts in raag Jog in 1.5 kattai (C#) and at 00:26 secs it shifts to raag Subhapantuvaraali in 4 kattai (F) - basically the Ga of Jog becomes the Sa of Subhapantuvaraali with the same notes. It again comes back to Jog later. Kindly correct me if I am wrong.

Raaja has done this kind of shruthibedam / tonal shifts lot of times. This same Jog-Subhapantuvaraali shruthibedam was done in the album "How to name it" too.

I had earlier written about some songs were shruthibedam was used in tamil film songs. Here are the links to those posts:

BGM piece - Alaigal Oyvadhillai

Kavithai Kelungal - Punnagai Mannan

Raa Raa - Chandramukhi

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.

Learn more about ragas

I stumbled across a site www.sawf.org when I searched for information on raag Jog and recently for raag Shree. There is a music section in this site and there is quite some information available on certain ragas on this site. A raag is not just about arohanam and avarohanam. The various prayogas of the raag are explained along with some sound samples too. I found this very informative and I believe you will too.

Here is the music section of the site:

http://www.sawf.org/bin/tips.dll/getclasstips?class=EZine&subclass=Music&user=Sawf+Archives&pn=Music&start=-1

Speaking about ragas, I will write a series of posts here on certain ragas and how some of the music directors have used the raga in film songs. I will be focusing mostly on tamil film music, since that is what I know. I will also keep a focus on present day music directors and hence I can write about only a handful of ragas. Please keep in mind that since it is film music, don't expect too much classical adherence to the raga.

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)

Dha

Srothaswani (in 4 1/2 kattai)

Western Notes

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.

Raag Revathi in Films

Revathi is the first raagam that I learnt on my small keyboard 10 years ago. Here is the arohanam and avarohanam:

a: S R1 M1 P N2 S
A: S N2 P M1 R1 S

Western notations: C C# F G A# C

This is not used much in films may be due to the classical / devotional flavor. The first film song I knew in Revathi is the "Ye Mera India" from the film "Pardes". It is a very good composition in Revathi. It suits the patriotic flavor too very well.

Other songs in Revathi include:

- Sangeetha Jaathi Mullai (1st half)
- Mandhira Punnagai from Manal Kayiru
- Some portions of Vizhigal Medaiyaam... Julie I love you from a Mohan film, Kilinjalgal
- And the more recent title song from "Naan Avan Illai"

I was listening to the Naan Avan Illai song, kaakha kaakha, today morning on Radio and hence this blog post. It was interesting how the composer, Vijay Antony, had used Revathi for a peppy song.

Hamsadhwani

Yesterday I was listening to this "Suppose unnai" song from Sukran. It is a peppy song based on the Hamsadhwani scale. And it set me thinking why this scale is not used in many film songs. Hamsadhwani/Hansadhwani is a janya of Shankarabharanam.

Arohanam: S R2 G3 P N3 S
Avarohanam: S N3 P G3 R2 S

It is a very sweet and pleasant raga. Most of you would have heard of the famous "vathapi ganapathim baje" song set in this raga. However, this is not used much in film songs. I first heard about this raga from my mother while hearing the song "Let me see the love" from "Colonial Cousins" debut album. Film songs in recent times set in this scale are listed below. You may add more to the list.

En manadhai kollai - Kalluri Vaasal
Thee kurivi - Kangalal Keidhu Sei
Vellai pookal - Kannathil Muttham Ittal
Suppose unnai - Sukran
Sriranga ranga - Mahanadhi (interludes and charanam)
Thirakkadha poovukulley - En Swasa Kaatre (starting portions of charanam alone)
Enna paatu - Oru naal oru kanavu

I could only list a handful. The chords for this raga are also very light-music friendly. Chords like C Major, G Major alone are sufficient for this scale. E minor chord can be used at times. Still not many songs are set in this scale. Other ragas like Mohanam are used more than this. Any thoughts?

Ding Dong Kovil Mani

Have you heard "Ding Dong Kovil Mani" song from "Ji"? It is a beautiful composition by Vidyasagar. In this song, almost all the instruments seem to have a longer sustain, giving a sort of eerie effect. In the charanam an extra percussion layer of Dhols is added over the western drums giving a nice sound. This beat is similar to "Kurukku Siruthavalae" from Muthalvan.

Interestingly, this is set in a not-so-common rasikapriya raaga, which is the 72nd melakartha ragam, which is why I thought of blogging this. Arohanam is S R3 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S and avaraohanam is S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R3 S. Any other songs in this scale?

Raa Raa

In one of my previous posts, I talked about shruthibedham taking the kavithai kelungal song as an example. Now lets analyze the "Raa Raa" song from Chandramukhi. Vidyasagar has done a similar experiment with shruthibedham in this song. In this film, at one place, the chandramukhi character asks rajini to sing a song in Sudhadhanyasi raagam. But this song is not exactly in Sudhadhanyasi. The kannada version, from Apthamithra, which also begins with the same Raa Raa is in sudhadhanyasi, I believe.

This song, from Chandramukhi, is set in F minor (4 kattai). Sudhadhanyasi in F minor is F G# A# C D# F (or) Sa Ga2 Ma1 Pa Ni2 Sa, whereas the scale of this song is F G# A# C E F (or) Sa Ga2 Ma1 Pa Ni3 Sa - Just a half note difference. This scale is the same as "Sindhiya venmani" song in a Vijayakanth film. I read somewhere that this scale is the Srothaswini raga.

In the later half of the first interlude (after the thom thom thom portion), he does a tonal shift and changes the shruthi to E major (3 kattai) in Pantuvarali raagam. i.e., The Ni3 now becomes the Sa. The scale of this is E F G# A# B C D# E (or) Sa Ri1 Ga3 Ma2 P Dha1 Ni3 Sa. Then in the 1st charanam he again goes back to the original scale in F minor (4 kattai) and stays there in the second interlude too. This second interlude, with all those trumpets and strings, has more of sudhadhanyasi shades, with an occassional Ri2 popping up.

In the second charanam, the scale shifts to Hindolam raagam in C minor (1 kattai). The scale of hindolam is C D# F G# A# C (or) Sa Ga1 Ma1 Dha1 Ni2 Sa. It again goes back to F minor (4 kattai) during the pallavi after the stanza.

If you see compare the scales of the different raagams and the corresponding tonal shifts (shruthibedham), you can see that many of the notes (absolute notes) are the same, but are played in a different scale / shruthi. Here is a table comparing the various notes.

Srothaswini
(in 4 kattai)

...

Pantuvaraali
(in 3 kattai)

Dha

...

Hindolam
(in 1 kattai)

Dha

...

Western Notes

...

It is a wonderful composition and looks like he has followed IR's footsteps with respect to the tonal shifts (shruthibedham). One difficult thing in such a composition is the shruthi of the mridangam should also be changed as the shruthi changes. I don't think Vidyasagar has done that here. But IR has done that and is easily identifiyable in the song Vaidehi Raman.

On the whole this is a very good composition and suits the climax situation very well. It creates an anxiety of what would happen next. The singers Binny and Tippu have done full justice to the song. It was a pleasant surprise to hear Tippu in a classical song.

Kavithai Kelungal

Randow Walker analyzed the Vaidehi Raman song in his blog. I would suggest you to read the above post first before continuing. Ilaiyaraaja has used the concept of shruthibedham in many of his film songs and albums such as "How To Name It", "Nothing But Wind" and "Thiruvasagam". Today I will deal with one such song - "Kavithai Kelungal" from Punnagai Mannan.

It is a wonderful composition. The song starts with a small hindustani kind of alaap. The prelude and the pallavi is in raag Jog. It is in C scale (oru kattai). The timing is 4/4 adhi thalam.

When the pallavi ends, there is a small male humming which ends in the note D# (Ga1). From here the scale shifts to D#. This Ga1 now becomes the Sa from there on. Now we are in the first interlude and the scale is rendarai kattai. There are some jathis and nadais in tabla after which the first saranam starts in Malayamarutham ragam in the D# scale (rendarai kattai) which was shifted after the pallavi. Interestingly the saranam starts with the line "netru en paatil shruthiyum vilagiyadhe" !!

When the first saranam ends, the pallavi again shifts back to C scale (oru kattai) Jog. Again just before the second BGM interlude, the scale shifts to D# (2 1/2 kattai). The timing also changes to 6/8 (tha ki ta | tha thi mi) jagana jagana... The rest of the song is based on the raag chakravagam (ahir bhairav?) which is somewhat close to malayamarutham.

To give you the relationship between these 3 raagams and the scale shifts, refer the following :

Jog
(in 1 kattai)

Dha

...

Malayamarutham
(in 2 1/2 kattai)

Dha

...

Chakravaagam
(in 2 1/2 kattai)

Dha

...

Western Notes

...

Most of the absolute notes are the same, but the shruthi is different. I think this is called shruthibedham and in western, tonal shift. Very interesting compostion !! Ilayaraja has done lot of such stuff. For example refer here: http://www.raajangahm.com/music2.html

Vidyasagar has also tried this approach in Raa Raa song from Chandramukhi, which I will analyze in my next post.

Regards,
Ramesh