i am reproducing an interesting (but lengthy) article i came across in the internet. i read this one an year ago actually. Thiruvasakam By Ilaiyaraaja is just 1 month away (releasing on 26th june) and 30 days is long time for me.anyways, read on...

WHAT IS INDIAN SYMPHONY AND WHY IS THIRUVASAKAM IN SYMPHONY SPECIAL THAN OTHER FUSION MUSIC COMPOSITIONS?

MODERN MUSIC THOUGHTS IN MAESTRO ILAIYARAAJA


“If you are patient enough to read you may learn a lot I guess”


First of all Indian music’s foundations are horizontal structures called melody. Since it concentrates on melody alone enormous experiments were conducted by many generations, before several unknown centuries, to build up melodic systems and its usage.Western music’s specialty is it’s vertical structures, the harmony but also involves melody. The melody the west uses is different from the Indian melody because of the usage of scales and tones. Though the Indian musicians felt the harmony by mind while they created melodic compositions, they didn’t try to introduce harmony into their music systems and just concentrated on making the melodic usage more and more complex in its content and easier in its usage and understanding. There are certain ways and methods of music education by which Indian music education can be learnt in a decade but the to what extent is always a doubt because it has formatted a system for itself which includes all natural sound substances available in nature (which our ear hears) whereas the west operates on fixed sounds following an uniquely accepted music system all over the world “The chromatic scale system”. Though music is periodic and involves octaves (stayi), the number of scales (ragas) experimented by many folks is unimaginable and almost the Indian music grammar covers almost all harmonic contents of tones. For example the “Moving tones”(Gamakkam) where different types of shaking the fixed note (in relation to chromatic) takes place where different additions and omissions of harmonic contents may result in different ragas. Infact the truth is Melody is made up of harmony. Harmony is the mother of melody. The melody and harmony are inseparable. It’s a very tough concept to understand but it’s the truth.

Astounding!!! And that’s why to master Indian music it will take almost 3/4th of your life. Not only this there are many more complex rules, which minutely makes one raga different from other raga. For example the ascending and descending of scales (arohanam and avarohanam). The universal pentatonic scale is referred to “raga mohanam in Indian music” but to say the truth its different because of some more minute melodic (harmonic) details which chromatic fails to give. Many more complex rules govern Indian classical music system. As how difficult it’s to perform a grand symphony, it’s very very hard to become a genius in Indian classical music. Indian classical music is mastered by pundits who will always hesitate to enter the western classical domain as its one another tough music system.One can hardly point out music composers who are really really into both classical music domains.Maestro Ilaiyaraaja is therefore ahead of all music composers.Western classical composition and making grand symphony needs brainwork to harmonize the contents in brain and write as score. Mastering Indian classical to the maximum possible extent are not possible in ones life time of 80 years. Ilaiyaraaja has achieved this in 50 years. “Mel harmony by Ravikiran is great work left for humanity but still I doubt if Maestro Ravikiran can handle his own western classical symphonic composition and orchestration. Besides these Ilaiyaraaja has almost touched all parts of the world either jazz, blues, souls, Chinese or German folk all in his film scores.

His non-film albums like “chamber welcomes thiagarajar” is a blow for “Western classical musicians who believe that their music system is the greatest as the notes played in the composition will make one think if its fixed note or a moving note”. To say one more truth, the absolute pitch musicians don’t play the perfect pitch in reality. The vibrato which our ear like = absolute pitch+ a slight deviation from absolute pitch. If this slight deviation is not there, we wont like the sound. We like string effect.What happens in a string section of orchestra? Each string player play notes slightly deviating from the note on the score sheet. All these random pitch variations add up causing the effect, making us feel the great sound. So its not the argument that we humans like big sounds.

Mozart I love you is based on an assumption if “Mozart plays kalyani rag, I guess. Not sure of it. Watch the mathematical musician Bach playing moving notes.

“I met Bach in his house” is a fusion of Indian rag with Bach’s compositions.

Hear “You can't be free” and just you could not believe how Indian tones are harmonized with fixed tonal system. Listen how he tries to avoid fixed notes in weak accented beats thereby intelligently succeeds in harmonizing the raga with a string quartet. He introduces silence where fixed note can’t be harmonized with moving note (the gammkam).
“Song of the soul” is an Indian classical jazz-fusion.

The exceptional music composer’s compositions have gone unnoticed. The Illaiyaraja Grand symphony 1 is not released and the reason should be the attitude of Western classical musicians who could not hear anything other than that tones fixed in the London music conference, May 1939.

I hope folks can now understand who is Ilaiyaraaja and why he is special. There are many in the world that could write music by mind but most of them would be fixed note specialists. Ask them to write an Asian classical-Western classical fusion, they could not as what they believe as music is that 12 notes and that’s it.
Ilaiyaraaja can write for a total western classical orchestra and also for a fusion orchestra, which means all natural sounds, can be represented on sheet by his mind.

Do you now feel the difference? If you ask a question “Friend!! Many have did fusion music; my reply would be “sir! Most of the fusion would be fusion of either American and German or Russian and French all of which are based on fixed tonal system, which is of course quite possible if you could understand the music culture of both domains but this is a fusion of entirely different systems, which are strongly experimented in the past. Fusing folk with a classical system is great but also not as challenging as this “thiruvaskam in symphony” does as folk music is not much experimented with much grammatical expectations”. You are free to compose the way you want. You are free to mould the music, twist it the way you want. Western classical and blues, jazz-fusion is also kindred.

To me Ilaiyaraaja is the world’s best Composer because I think this way: What if Tamil is the world’s highly spoken language and Tamil culture is widely followed on earth. Mr.Thanikachalam is not going to say Mozart as the best composer and Mr.Parthasarathy is not going to mention “The Beatles music troupe”.

Ilaiyaraaja is the single sole man (not a music band of 4) who does all by himself from composition, arrangement, conducting to sometime even sitting in the console mixing tracks. His ideas ranges from Indian, western, American to computer music. If you could then argue there will be more competition and more talents, if Tamil becomes world’s highly used culture, I can take India musicians into account. Nobody in India has satisfied common man, Indian pundits and foreign pundits at the same time. Give me one great example I will accept my argument and surrender.But unfortunately you can’t even mention one such composer other than ilaiyaraaja and therefore my argument is proved. Ilaiyaraaja should be seen from different points to understand his genius. He is a special composer of our age and we are failing to give him the right acknowledgement.

For me stevie wonder is great composer and singer and I love his voice in “I just want to say I love you” but my culture want “yengae sellum indha padai” the maestro’s trademark voice in me. I’m from Indian culture and who is “Schubert for tom”, so is Ilaiyaraaja for me. Even if you throw out the culture discussion, 900 movies in a span of 25 years. All are not one and a half hour movies but 3 hours. All done in 3 to 10 days time. Neither Beethoven, Neither Michael Jackson, Neither Beatles, Neither Elvis Presley, James Horner could accomplish this. Leave out our local music composers; they haven’t touched all classical domains in the world.Don’t bring the old film works inspired by world musicians, which are few in number.That old ilaiyaraaja is gone before 20 years. Who is ilaiyaraaja now? How did he turn himself to a music colossus?

Ask a foreigner what is Indian music? He replies so naively “sitar and tabla music”. I don’t blame the genius of Ravi Shankar or zakir Hussein.Many argue thatthey were the musians who took our music to foreign. My answer to them is “No”. They didn’t take our music to them but they created a “Curiosity in foreigners about Indian music”. A theoretical explanation before a raga concert in “Ohio concert hall” will never make a foreigner understand our music but a practical composition made like thiruvasakam in symphony or “you can’t be free” or “study for violin” will achieve it. Those compositions haven’t reached even Indians and that’s because we are poor souls to acknowledge great composers but future will certainly hail Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s compositions. May be after a
century.

He is one man, i have always admired..especially ever since i came to know that when he had an attack of paralysis, doctors ruled out the chances of he walking on his feet. a walker , they suggested, has to be his support. but with few years, he over came it. he threw away the walker..and then..the stick too. he began walking.. "he is the man who should be called as the real fighter", i thought when i was watching a programme on him, 3 years ago.

As an actor, the first film which impressed me was "Mother India".the role of Birju , which he has potrayed with sheer brilliance, had some impact on me. his performance as rebellious son was/is unparalleled. then, quite contrastingly, his character "bhola" in padosan made me think ,"would any other actor dare to play such role, especially when the meaty performance was by kishore kumar?". very often i used to wonder why i never got to see any film in which this man tried awkward steps or silly dances.because he never did.he may not be one of the greatest actors, by histrionics...but definitely he is one of the finest actors, whose performance was always decent, which is why, i think..he got to work with some great directors like Bimal Roy.he must have done some mediovcre films, but on one ever dared to comment on his performance. he was conferred Padmasree, way back in 1968.

As a producer, he produced some 5 films or so..all of them being critically acclaimed ones. i remember watching 2 films..Mujhe Jeene Do..which is one of the cult films on dacoit vs society drama..and Reshma aur Shera. the films the produced had fabulous music by Jaidev.

As a human being, i dont think there are many human beings of this nature. an inveterate philanthropist he was,he is known to have worked at the grass-root level for the upliftment of poor. infact,thousands of people rever him as a messiah.be it telephone booth owners or municipal sweepers, light-boys, watchmen etc.,. no film personality has got so many fans...(not for filmi antics ..but for humanitarian values) as this man has got. being a social activist, the social welfare programmes he initiated and undertook are numerous. the goodw-ill he got from people, by helping them, translated into votes..for 5 times..he won 5 times. he was always on the forefront to stand for the social causes. he never talked about the charitable and social-work and he was doing unlike so many stars who hog for screen presence and hype for the 3 km marathon they run every year.the last time i saw him was when he stood up for the livelihood of bar dancers of bombay, a month ago. his altruism is unequalled by anyone in film or political circles.

As a person, he had spot-less character. when Nargis was engulfed in fire, during the shooting for a fire-sequence in Mother India, he jumped into the flames and saved her life. Romance blossomed and they married a year later. he was broke when Nargis died of Cancer. he built a charitable cancer hospital in her memorial.

As a politician, he was the only MP who has resigned from parliament, to protest against the communal riots in bombay, during early 90s. and when his son sanjay dutt was on trial, for his alleged links with bomb blasts, he refused to contest in elections .not once..but twice..he could have won and got away with it..but he stuck to Values... as a completely non-controversial and non-political leader, he won immense respect even from opposition. at 74, he was given the sports ministry and yet, he carried it with much aplomb. one bombayite wrote about his political facet in the link here..
http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/may/25dutt2.htm

an unblemished and honest politican(he is one among the very few who broke the myth of this paradox phrase...honest-politician) he was.

thousands of people flocked to see him today. be it film-makers, actors, writers, social activists, spot-boys, slum dwellers, auto, taxi & lorry drivers, etc.,. from all strata of society..including the prime minister. bombay has never seen a gathering like this. because bombay has never seen a man like this.

today, Sunil Dutt died.

I wandered in the cosmos..like a speck of dust.
so many galaxies passed by,
and i came across the milky way..
every planet beckoned me,
like an old friend inviting home..
"some other time," i said, to each of them,
and walked along, bidding good-bye..
i know not how many years crossed,
and how many light years..
tired, i knocked the door of earth tonight!!
it opened and said "welcome home".
look!! I just took my birth tonight...
and did you see, every star looks like a butterfly..
hovering around the mellow-moon which blossomed in full,
in the dark garden of my home..called sky...

saw the comment.
look at this remarkable coincidence. i was just listening to a song from film "Raincoat", which had a poem written & recited by Gulzar.Raincoat!!! what a film it was.a person who didnt watch this film..will not understand or find this poem relevant at all. the song ,"piya tora kaisa abhimaan" is one of my favourites, because it is a good composition and also cleverly interspersed along with a poem.and the poem, needless to say :

kisi mausam ka jhonka tha..
jo is deewaar par latki hui tasveer ko choo kar gaya hai..
gaye saawan mein yeh deewarein yun seeli nahi the..
na jaane is dafaa kyon! inmein seelan aagayi hain..
daraarein padgayee hain..
aur seelan is tarah behthe hain jaise..
khush rukhsaaron par geele aansoo chalthe hain..

yeh baarish gungunaathi thee isi chathh kee munderon par..
yeh ghar ki khidkiyon ke kaanch par ungli se likh jaathi thee sandese..
dekhthi rehthi hai baithi hui ab..
bandh roshan baandh ke peeche..

(apne nayan se neer bahaaye..apni jamuna khud aap hi banaaye)

do paharein aisi lagthi hai..jaise..
bina moharein khaali khaane rakhi hai..
na koyi khelne waala hai baazi..
na koi chaal chalpaaye..

na din hota hai ab na raat hoti hai...
sabhi kuch ruk gaya hain..
woh kya mausam ka jhonka tha..
jo is deewar par latki hui tasveer ko chookar gaya hain..

(piya tora kaisa abhimaan)

I thought I would paint love’s image,
in its own colours and shades.
But that’s deep in the canvas of my heart.
Would you see that if there was no light?

I thought I would sing love’s song,
In its own tune and melody.
But that sounds only in my silent eyes.
Would you hear that in a crowd then?

I thought I would dance to love’s song,
In its own steps and rhythms.
But my limbs awaken to them only in your absence.
Would you see that in your dreams then?

I thought I would write love’s words,
In its own meaning and language.
But they elude my thoughts and I write nothing.
Would you read them on a blank paper then?

EPILOGUE :

In the night, the song came to me,
But you were not there.
It found the words, hues, tunes and rhythms,
Which I had been seeking all day.
In a stillness of moment, after dark,
They all throbbed into music,
To which even the angels danced.
And the stars began to pulse with light.
But you were not there.
My hope was to sing it to you in the morning.
But as I tried, though the music came,
The words hung back,
When you were beside me...

As the sun sinks,
The lazy blue fades beyond,
The earth stands on the dark banks of the night,
And I watch the moonlit sky,
Beyond which constellate,
A multitude of galaxies unknown.
The vast bed of ethereal sky,
Now scarred by a comet,
Now stained by a luminous strand of lightning.
Glittering sonatas belled in moonshine,
From the twinkling of stars,
As if the sky is filled with,
Thousands of eyes with glints of smiles.
How would it be, I thought, if,
The eloquent mercury, the lovely venus,
The fiercy mars and the majestic Jupiter,
The sandy Saturn and the enigmatic Uranus,
Neptune the sea god and the distanced Pluto,
-all descend to earth, to orbit around me,
-to hold me captive in a celestial madness,
like the one I’m in right now,
amidst which, a strong urge, drives me,
to write poetry, like this one.
Now what shall I call it? Cosmic poetry...

i just got the link to a site where the songs of the film "adhu oru kanaa kaalam" have been put up. ofcourse, this film is no famous one that i can quote it this way...so i better divulge few more details.few more?? infact, i can quote only 2 names associated with this film..which speak a lot. the film is the latest by Balu Mahendra and needless to say, the music is by Ilaiyaraaja.

Balu Mahendra, in my opinion,is one film-maker deserves much more fame/name on national level. i havent seen many of his films, but i would love to. he is one of the few film-makers of south-indian cinema who initiated the technical brilliance in films, although many attribute it to maniratnam. Balu mahendra is a very senior film-maker, much senior to maniratnam. when mani wanted to make his first film, the only cinematographer he could think of was balu mahendra as he already had high regard for him. though mani didnt have any experience in film-making, balu agreed to shoot his film because he liked the script. the film was "pallavi anupallavi". today he is an admirer of mani himself.technically, most of his shots are in natural sun-light.atleast the ones i saw were shot that way.he doesnt use colour filters glaringly and sometimes prefers dim-lights, if the scene demands so.even today i can pick out a balu mahendra-shot with as much ease, as i pick a maniratnam shot. he doesnt use colourful shots but very naturally looking ones.


starting out with a kannada film "kokila", starring kamal haasan, in 1976, he has directed over 16-18 films..all of which had different kind of themes and wonderful technical quality.still, he is one of the most under-rated film-makers of india.his malayalam film "olangal" had amol palekar in lead role. subsequent films had stars like mamootty, kamal haasan etc.,. apart from directing films, he has been the cinematographer for many films by other veteran directors like k.vishwanath and Bapu, during the eighties.the only telugu film he directed was "nireekshana" (aakaasam entaatidho). the wonderful aspect about his films is that he doesnt allow any star-baggage to associate with his films as he believes that a good film can be made even with 60lakhs. most of his films are low-budget ones.his filmography has interesting titles too, like "raman abdullah", "julie ganapathy" and "sathi leelavathy".


just a week ago, i have started collecting the songs from all the films he made. he is one film-maker who still prefers only Ilaiyaraaja. infact, the greatest tribute to ilaiyaraaja came from balu mahendra when he said "if ilaiyaraaja ever stops composing music..i would stop making films as well". if this quote makes you believe that he never worked with any other composer, then you are in for a shock. his first few films had music by the legendary Salil Chaudhary. isnt it interesting? what struck chord is the fact that there are many similarities in the composing-styles of Salil and ilaiyaraaja.(ilaiyaraaja was a guitarist to salil and salil had a fascination for western music).i have often observed Balu mahendra's fascination for western music, in the songs.strange links right!! there was a period in eighties when balu mahendra had one mandatory guitar-oriented song in every film of his. "minmini parvaighal" from Julie Ganapathy(2003) still reflects that. other songs are "en iniya pon nilave", "raaja raaja chozhan", "ilaya nilaa" etc.,. but apart from these songs who can forget songs like 'o vasantha raaja", "kannan vantha", "poongaatru","surmayi ankhiyon mein","paruvame" or the most recent "enakku piditha paadal".

having suffered one heart attack, he completed his latest film, with great difficulty because he still finds it tough to get/convince producers and distributors. directors today climb into stardom with just 1 film and lot of hype. but being a very non-compromising film-maker, today, this maverick doesnt have his own car. thats life.

while my balu mahendra-ilaiyaraaja collection is still expanding, i am yet to find the salil chaudhary compositions for his films..and ofcourse my current favourite ,"antha naal" from his latest film.the song shines.

PART-I

Romantic youngsters, drunk with dreams of triumph,
all have pedalled off to continents afar,
just like the birds in the evening sky,fast-flying,
and alone here, I talk, now and then, with every star.

Now I'm trying to retrace their route,
with a high here and there, a fall..
the steep ascents turn my lips mute,
yet I move with the dreams I often recall.

and when I march forth toward the future,
the past, I won't discard, as a thing outworn.
in its garden, its my own dreams I nurture,
hoping to bloom them in my life,one day,beautylorn.

PART-II

"What have i lived for? What have i created?",
the answers I can't recall and yet I haven't lived in vain,
but on my own terms, and sometimes other's ,though belated,
Myself, my dear ones and thoughts-again and yet again.

Perhaps, it may not be easy to realize,
Hard and clear, that you have to die,
And all this beauty before your eyes,
Would fade along with your last restless sigh.

but few relationships can weave two spirits akin,
and such bonds can survive the grimmest death.
at the end,one must go through thick and thin,
and live...live on while able to draw breath.

PART-III

Yes, greeting every new day with kindly rhyme,
casting off my numbness and discarding fear,
I come out to meet my poetry, my time,
my words,music, bringing thoughts of beauty near.

My journey, I continue,dispelling doubt,
in steep paths, with each new poem, I'm a new man,
and once again a sweet metaphor of beauty hold out,
her rosy cheek,which if I want to kiss, I can...

when i go alone at night,
to have a rendezvous with my love,
birds do not sing, wind does not stir.
streets stand silent,
in the mellow gleam of the musing moon...
it is the sound of my own breath that grows loud,
and i don't know how to quiet it...

when i sit in my room,
To listen to her footsteps,
leaves do not rustle, water in the river sleeps still,
and clouds retreat away,
singing the long preludes of sunrise...
it is the sound of my own heart beating wildly,
and i don't know how to quiet it...

when my love finally comes,
and sits by my side, to becharm me,
my breath trembles and my eyelids droop,
the night darkens,and monsoon breezes diffuse,
and then clouds veil over the stars...
my love is just a thought which stirs up this very song,
and i don't know how to quiet it...