Saarattu Vandiyila - Kaatru Veliyidai

Saarattu Vandiyila - Melody is easy, rhythm is zingy, percussive arrangement is crisp, mood is festive, the whole song is conventional, comforting and an instant ear-worm. The song is Rahman’s take on the most popular tamil folk riff “Thanna na naa dhinam, Thanna na naa dhinam, Thanna na naa dhinam, Thandhaanae”. Vairamuthu pours into the one-trick melody lots of beautiful words and phrases filled with playful imagery and innuendos. Sample this, “Avan kaigalil udayattum kanni kannadi” — the image of bride’s virginity as a brittle glass that would be broken in the hands of the groom on the wedding night. Vairamuthu’s earthy Tamil syllables have always had problems sitting comfortably on Rahman’s polished musical phrases and sophisticated production (example, purusan in Yaaro Yaarodi), but in Saarattu vandiyila marriage between the two sounds almost perfect. That final crescendo, where all the best riffs of the song come stacked in many layers, blossoming together like petals of varied colours in one flower, it makes you go “Pudhu Ponnae, Adhu dhaandi Rahmanin baani”. 

Vaan Varuvaan - Kaatru Veliyidai

Vaan Varuvaan - Here comes again, flying from above, the sound, that Rahman Sound! The sound defined not by contrapuntal layers of melodies, but by endless layers of sparkling e-sounds enmeshed together to be a carrier and a cushion for the voice, the melody and the mood. After the opening Piano chords, any hint of acoustic instrumentation in the layers underneath the melody is avoided fearing they might hurt the serenity of the central melody. Even the omnipresent flute and choir do not play or sing any definitive melody; maybe they do, but they are not allowed to be heard in its original form; a whiff of the sound, just a whiff of it, picked at a moment precisely before the basic sound dissolves into silence is used to fill the sonic canvas. Despite the seductive soundscape and Saasha’s sensuous rendition, it took a while for me to embrace Vaan Varuvaan. The first few times I heard the song, the long opening line of the melody, with  multiple “Vaan” words in succession, remained elusive. Melody sounded constrained by the monotonic words in the poetry (which isn’t a problem in the equally wonderful Telugu version “Mairmarupaa”). But, that was, only in the warm-up phase. Suddenly, when you are totally unaware, the contour of the melody reveals itself, and in that moment of Rahmanealization, Vaan Varuvaan does what every magical Rahman song does — finds a sweet little spot in our memory, digs a tiny hole, locks itself up to stay in there, forever.

Kochadaiiyaan - A.R.Rahman

Rahman is after grandeur and largeness with Kochadaiiyaan music, that aims to go with the image of Rajini as Kochadaiiyaan and that of the ambition and milieu of the animation film. Unsurprisingly, A.R.Rahman settles with the usual 100-piece Orchestra, massive choir and percussions to create that sound, and also with usual dose of Synth. All of these elements come together creating the impact, the best it can offer, in Enge Pogudho Vaanam, a song that interestingly alternates between a song a leader sings to his army and a song an army sings to its leader, the army that is marching briskly towards a war, towards victory. With the strings whirring, brass blaring and chorus screaming consistently throughout the song, the song fits its premise to T, and a perfect harmony is achieved between the sound of music and the music of the sound. The arrangement is brilliant in the way it relentlessly changes to sit with the meaning of the lyrics being sung at any given point in the song.

The energy and the power a song like this requires, doesn’t come only by using an orchestra, the melody on its own must have it, which the melody of Enge Pogudho has in abundance, as it is evident in the prelude when just the main melody played on a solo trumpet produce a majestic sound. This is the aspect that is missing in other songs - Maatram Ondrudhaan and Karma Veeranae. Though A.R.Rahman gets hook portions perfectly right — “Un Maarbodu Kaayangal Or Aayiram” in Maatram Ondrudhaan and insanely addictive “Kaatrae Kaatrae Nee Thoonguvadhae Illai" — it is the journey of the song between the hooks that is less interesting, with the melody in these portions constantly at a tug of war with Tamil and lyrics. Even the orchestration is rather underwhelming in both these songs, they deliver the desired mood and impact, but somehow feels like A.R.Rahman took an easy way out here. Especially, on Maatram Ondrudhaan I would go to the extent of saying this - A.R.Rahman might say, “I totally forgot this song” five years from now, when someone sings it in Airtel Super Singer Season 10 (He said that when a contestant sang Athini Siththini song from Thenali). However, we might find the same song interesting and wonder why we didn’t lend a proper ear to this song all this while, like it happened for that Thenali song.

In the emotional roller-coaster Idhayam, A.R.Rahman cleverly averts any risk by choosing not to have any kind of journey between the hooks, the song is a parade of addictive stanzas stacked one after the other. Rahman travels two extremes within one song in a way only he does - Chinmayi exquisitely sings her pain in a fluid semi-classical melody, whereas Srinivas goes all masculine and staccato in expressing his pain. Again, there is nothing new in the orchestration, a mix of stuff from In Lamhon Ki Daaman mien and Hai Rama, but that knowledge doesn’t come in the way of me connecting with the emotion of the song. I complained about the war between music and lyrics in other songs, but, here the same A.R.Rahman shows how it is done; the marriage of melody, lyrics and musical arrangements in that line Nazhuvi Nazhuvi Nagarndhu is sheer beauty.

There is more from Jodha Akbar here in Kochadaiiyaan and some from Rahman’s Chinese Soundtrack Warriors of Heaven and Earth too. The Rudhra Thaandavam song Kochadaiiyaan Engal Kochadaiiyaan is Marhabba oh Marhabba transposed from Mughal to ancient Tamil era. After that Italian version of Anbin Vaasalae in Kadal, here is another instance to prove that it is an utterly technical exercise for a composer — that is making a song out of an abstract melody represent a specific place, clan and culture.

Most interesting of all tracks in Kochadaiiyaan is the Rana’s Dream, which takes the main melody of Enge Pogudho Vaanam and turns it into a motif and the different sections and solo instruments of the orchestra play and plays with it just like that singular thought, wish or dream that plays in a loop again and again in different shapes and forms in Rana’s mind.

Set to a simple rhythm of a lullaby, the melody of Sathiyam is too conventional and straight forward to like instantly, but, once we get past its conventionality, we can see how the simplicity in every aspect of the tune augurs beautifully well with the sincerity in the oath of marriage bride and groom sing to each other. The melody wouldn’t sound out of place in that first night scene in Kandhan Karunai.

Medhuvaagathaan yenai eerkkirai could be a line a Rahman fan sings to A.R.Rahman, but that wouldn’t be because of this song. It is an instant winner in every possible way, despite being a mish-mash of elements of so many of his other songs. Yes, that loop the song beings with is straight out of Maahi Ve from Highway, but what the heck, What a Song, What a melody and What Singing! S.P.B and Sadhana Sargam continue from where they left off in Swasamae. It has been a while since we heard S.P.B singing with a sparkling smile throughout a song, even when he is not injecting a deliberate smile like he does in the line Yenai vella yaarum illai. Dear A.R.Rahman, chuck the new sound, I can take hundred more songs in the same template as Medhuvaagathaan.

Vaagai Sooda Vaa Music Review

Gone are those days when I use to write so-called Music reviews for movie soundtracks. I wrote one for "Vaagai Sooda Vaa" soundtrack last year. I didn't post it then, because I took too much time to write it - two months since the release of the soundtrack. I don't know why I am posting it now.

A Cello Counters

With the quick staccato steps that the phrases take in the melody and with the backing of chirpy pizzicato strings, the supposedly Tamil folk song sung by a girl in love in 1960 - “Sara Sara Saarakaaththu” comes with a tinge of classical western music. This isn’t something new, Ilaiyaraaja has successfully executed such experiments decades before (remember, Yendha Poovilum Vaasam Undu from Ullasa Paravaigal) in Tamil film music. However, it is refreshing to see a composer making such an effort in his debut film. The song is easily one of the most addictive songs of year. Who else but Vairamuthu could think of such delightful parade of words for a song that a girl sings expressing what happens within when she meets and speaks with her ‘Sir’? In one line, Vairamuthu could capture the ambience – the gentle breeze, the characters – the information that the girl calls her Man ‘Sir’ and their feelings – the hiss in her heart the girl could sense when she speaks to her “Sir”. Not to forget the exquisite singing by Chinmayi with heaps of husk and silkiness in her voice. The recurring Violin motif, the Mandolin piece in the first interlude which surprisingly is also set to words by Vairamuthu and plays as a coda to the song at the end – M.Ghibran sprinkles such sweet little musical nuggets throughout the song. Yet, the one that really bowled me over while listening to the song is the Solo Cello that plays a deeply affecting counter melody to the main melody line throughout the second stanza (from when Chinmayi goes “Pullu kattu Vaasamaa”). The song would be popular even without that layer of Cello but the composer doesn’t stop with just what is necessary to make a mere hit song, instead he embellishes the song with intricate orchestral layers that add an emotional heft to the apparent fluff on the surface. M.Ghibran – Take a bow! (This Cello layer can be heard clearly in the Karaoke version of the track included in the Audio CD).

Erhu and Shenga

Sound - The New Sound is something every new Tamil film composer is working hard to bring in their music. A song can’t have a new sound anymore, by merely using a commercially available loop or sample, before others do. Those days are gone. Now the search is on for new tones and instruments that could make their songs sound distinct. Especially, there has been a growing interest in using Chinese musical instruments even since A.R.Rahman’s ‘Warriors of Heaven and Earth’ happened. However, most of the composers fail to localize the sound of the instrument enough to make it sound in sync with ethos of place and the period represented in the film. When they use a foreign instrument, they play the genre of music that the instrument naturally belongs to and there is nothing special about that. M.Ghibran does not seem to be one such composer and the instruments used in the song “Thanjavooru Maadhaththi” are a proof. Gab Gubi used in the song isn’t a Tamil folk instrument, it originates from West Bengal but there is nothing new in using Gab Gubi, we have heard its sound many times before in Tamil film music (the one that instantly flashes in my mind is Ore Oru Oorilae from Abhiyum Naanum). None would have imagined that a Chinese string instrument could sound totally in place in a Tamil folk song. The Erhu piece in the prelude of the song is a wonder. The earthiness of the melody played on the instruments totally sucks the Chinese sound out of the instrument and injects the spirit of Tamil folk milieu in it. That is how you bring in a new sound into a song, by using a new instrument but playing a native melody on it. Even in the other song “Poraanae Poraanae”, the prelude piece is not played with flute, it is on a traditional Chinese wind instrument Shenga. Did anyone found it sounding odd or alien?

Lyrical Music

In his “Aayiram Paadalgal” book release function, Vairamuthu told that out of thousand songs in the book, only for five songs the lyrics was written before the tune was composed. That is the common practice. Yes, it is true that lyricists are forced to write verses that fit into a melody, but the composers do take efforts to ornament the beauty of the lines with their orchestration. With the current music making process, where nothing is final or rigid, this lyric-ornamentation is possible. The way A.R.Rahman adds a layer of flute that doubles the main melody in the line “Yennai yaendha koodaadhena Kaiyyodu solladhu Pullangulal” written by Vaali for Roja Roja song from Kadhar Dhinam is an example of lyric-ornamentation. But, in “Poraanae Poraanae” song, M.Ghibran goes a step further in ornamenting the lyric by re-shaping the main melody to suit the literal meaning of the words penned by the lyricists (Karthik Netha – A pat on the back for the line “Seempaalu vaasam pola un sirippu”). When Neha Basin goes “Yeara yeranga paarkum”, the notes on the words “yeranga paarkum” beautifully descends down the pitch lane to sound perfectly in sync with the meaning of the words. M.Ghibran must have done it intentionally and that intention is all the more evident when in the second charanam, for the equivalent part Neha Basin goes “Adakaakkum kozhi pola”, the melody doesn’t take the path tread by “Year yeranga paarkum”. “Poraane Poraane” was originally composed by M.Ghibran 10 years ago for his band. Sargunam liked this melody and wanted to use this song in the film. It would be interesting to listen to that original song and check if the tune of “Yaera yeranga paarkkum” was there already in the original.

Debutante’s Symphony No.1

Is M.Ghibran the first ever composer in Tamil Film Music to get a symphony orchestra to records his songs in his debut film? That shows the level of confidence the producers of the film had in him. But, all the songs aren’t symphonic in style. I am not sure if these songs really demand a symphony orchestra. In most of the songs, only the Strings section is recorded with the symphony orchestra. Ilaiyaraaja has recorded far more complex orchestral stuff with his own musicians in Chennai. The song of revolution “Aana Avanna” (recorded with Lisbon Symphony Orchestra) is the only song that uses the grandeur and richness of the symphonic sound to the maximum. Generally, composers tend to become over excited and enthusiastic when they get access to such orchestras and that does impact the output. Listen to Yuvan Shankar Raja’s orchestral pieces in Pudupettai Soundtrack CD; you will know what I mean. M.Ghibran surprisingly shows total restraint and he seems to know exactly what he is doing. The song to sound anthemic, it isn’t enough if you write for an 80-piece orchestra, the anthem is in the melody and M.Ghibran has got that right with the main theme sung by a kid in the beginning of the song. But, these symphonic orchestrations of other composers ‘sound’ vastly different from that of Ilaiyaraaja’s, I don’t know why. It could be because of that the tonal balance and dynamics in the orchestration or just sound mixing.

Best Song of the Year 2011

That in which all the parts come together and fall perfectly in place to create a whole that is so poignant, moving and beautiful as the song “Senga Soola Kaara”, you do not even think of any of the elements of music – orchestration, choice of instruments, the melody, chords, interludes, preludes - in isolation. This is one of those rarest of songs which you cannot dissect to its basic elements and describe in words how satisfying the experience of listening to the song is. The song that talks about the travails in the lives of sand brick makers is atypically conceived without any melodrama or pleads of sympathy both in melody and lyrics. Anitha’s robust vocals and brilliant rendition with right expressions and emphasis on the words leaves an indelible impact on the listeners. Listen to the boldness, force and anger in her voice when she sings “Soranaketta Saamy (Senseless God)”. And what can one say about Vairamuthu’s lyrics? Phenomenal and Breathtaking! I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins his next National Award for this song. The line “Viththa Viththa Kallu Yennachu, Vinna Vinna thottu ninnachchu, Mannu Kuzhi pola namma parambarai pallam aagi pochchu” – What more can one write to convey the sufferings of suppressed society. Senga Soolai Kaara will be the best song of the year 2011 for me.