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Ilaiyaraja and the bass guitar!

Topic started by Srivatsan (@ 219.65.96.172) on Thu Dec 4 06:48:17 EST 2003.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Ilaiyaraja and the bass guitar!

Dear All, Im a newbie to this wonderful site. Ive just been going through the old IR threads, especially 'Ilaiyaraja and the guitar' and the like. I was fascniated by the way ppl had discussed these topics (Mux, Kanchana and Kitcha ... hats Off!) I am absolutely bowled out by IRs use of the bass guitar in many many songs, like Ninnukori, POOgatru PudhirAnathu and so on. Im planning to learn the acoustic guitar and I thought Ilaiyaraja's love for the bass guitar shopuld be discussed more in detail. Please post ur comments!

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: rasigan (@ 195.226.230.37) on: Mon Jan 26 03:10:20 EST 2004
  
  How about Katta vandi song from Sakala kalaa vallavan? IMO, Bass & lead guitars are used heavily and nicely next to Ilaiya nilaa pozhikirathe song.
  
  Ignore the lyrics of katta vandi and listen to the guitar patterns only. From beginning till the end, you will enjoy the strings of guitars.
  
  
• From: Srivatsan (@ 61.1.201.50) on: Sun Feb 1 13:47:41 EST 2004
  
  meesund, your collection is very good! i have most of the songs, and i like them all!
  
  Mr. Prabhudas, I got the Malai soodum velai song from Naan Mahan Alla. It is simply superb! Please do give us more such instances!
  
  
• From: Srivatsan (@ 61.1.200.18) on: Mon Feb 2 12:05:16 EST 2004
  
  
  I happened to get a mp3 version of the song "Engengo Sellum en eNNangal" from PaTTakathi Bhairavan ... has wonderfull bass all over it, and SPB is simply superb in this song!
  
  
• From: k (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Tue Feb 3 14:10:53 EST 2004
  
  I think 'ada macham uLLa machchaan' has a fantastic rhythm. If you notice..the rhythm in most of IR's songs is not in the beat (like malaikkOvil vasalilE)..it is built into the melody itself. chinna veedu also has another song..veLLa manam uLLa machchan vilayaadi ooynji vanthaan..I have not heard a song like this which refers to extra-marital affairs in tamil cinema.
  
  Srivatsan, the bass guitar is a standard part of the rhythm arrangement of many of IR's songs in the 80s. Most times, when the tabla/drum is just being 'tapped' but while the 'rhythm' is actually played out in the bass guitar. The funny thing is the bass guitar can stray from being a rhythm instrument and play melody (or counter melody). Not many people seem to notice the bass guitar. That is why one music lover (Vicky) asks this question and answers himself very well. "Not many people seem to notice the bass..then why did IR do it ? It is the joy of creation..just like God created the mountains, moon and the stars" I am probably recounting it verbatim..But I thought it was very well written.
  
  
• From: Srivatsan (@ 61.1.200.68) on: Wed Feb 4 03:39:17 EST 2004
  
  well. I agrree to that completely, but only with this addition - IR did not restrict his bass guitar music only to the 80s - he hs continued it even to this date - see the 'Elnagathu veesudhe' and 'Anaqnda kuilin paatu' songs for exmaple.
  
  And Virumaandi as well - 'Indha Kandamani' song has a great bass guitar piece in it in the middle.
  
  
• From: kj (@ 192.87.1.200) on: Wed Feb 4 13:25:26 EST 2004
  
  maalayil yaaro from shatriyan?? has an amazing bass part running throughout the song
  
  
• From: fmlover (@ 61.247.243.165) on: Wed Feb 4 14:36:24 EST 2004
  
  hi guyz!
  
  plz visit the following thread and post msgs. its on IR's non-film albums
  
  http://www.newtfmpage.com/forum/5954.12.37.08.html
  
  
• From: prabhudas (@ 140.251.159.192) on: Wed Feb 4 17:52:25 EST 2004
  
  Srivatsan, I am back, sorry, I didn't answer ur query properly I think, anyways Ur question was not offensive at all.
  
  Another interesting thing I have noticed ( I don't know if my observation was right), some bass guitar accompaniments of IR rhythm arrngemnet are very dominating and very well appreciated, in some songs they appear very subtle and I always wonder if the arrangement was such that the bass guitar was more dominant in those songs also how well they would have been like say as in " chinna chinna vannakuyil", "guru" songs etc,
  one example where the bass guitar is very subtle is " Paruvame Pudhiya paadal paadu"
  
  K, I remember reading that nice writeup by " vickY" , may be that's why many HCIR fans consider him God on that note I always wonder what would the creator think as his greatest creation * IR never seem to answer this question in any interview he always comes out with more simplistic and philosophic statements.
  
  One more request to all, If anybody into MP3 streaming ( in home network) does anyone have their collections organized ( I am talking about exclusive IR songs) in different playlist ( different themes, different genre, different singers etc), Kiru can u suggest some
  
  bb/ admin, can we have a sticky thread on technical aspects of TFM music ( I mean like mp3 streaming, mp3 ID3 tagging,ripping and encoding etc..)
  
  
• From: k-iru (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Wed Feb 4 19:00:13 EST 2004
  
  Prabhudass..I have not organized my collections as mp3. I might in the future, but will not be available to others, it will be for something like the Gateway 'Connected' DVD Player for my personal use.
  
  Srivatsan, may I ask how old you are ? I had a friend at high school by the same name. I am also happy that you gave very specific examples of usage of bass guitar in recent work of IR. elangaathu sounds like a 80s song mainly because of this (very similar to EdhO mOgam from kOzhi koovudhu). It is a pity there are not many like you. mEgam kottatum in enakkul oruvan is an example where IR used mainly bass guitar whereas todays MDs would have used percussion.
  
  
• From: prabhudas (@ 140.251.159.192) on: Wed Feb 4 19:35:47 EST 2004
  
  Kiru,
  Sorry, If my post was not clear, yes I didn't mean for mp3 sharing with others but with in ur home network between PCs and Living room stereo , for personal listening only. I was just curious how different IR fans had either different or near similar playlist profiles as their personal choices.
  If u are looking for only audio streaming and not video, I will suggest one by RIO , it is compact u can just take it to to different places ( say like backyard, bedroom, etc and has option for external speaker set up too) although it is discontinued they are available on ebay or Ubid for < 50$
  
  " Elangaathu" was again sort of got little recognition as many were focused on the poor ( not in my opinion) singing by Sriram although it had this great Bass Guitar not being seen regularly these days
  
  
• From: meesund (@ 68.0.110.98) on: Wed Feb 4 20:23:43 EST 2004
  
  friends..
  check this bass work from a ramarajan movie Annan. bass guitar starts in saranam..awesome work..i don't know when the movie was released..could be around '98 or '99..
  
  http://web.music.coolgoose.com/music/song.php?id=98979
  
  
  
  
• From: Srivatsan (@ 61.1.201.41) on: Wed Feb 4 23:27:42 EST 2004
  
  Kiru: I am a resident of chennai and I am 22 years old. Ive done my electronics engineering and am in the process of hunting for a job!
  
  I got the virumandi album 2 days back - its a great album and the songs just grow on you. I am very impressed with the bass work in the middle of the 'andha kandamani' song. Kamal's singing in high pitch is the highlight of this song.
  
  How about the bass work in 'Ooru Sanam thoogirichu' in MTK??
  
  
• From: Srivatsan (@ 61.1.201.41) on: Wed Feb 4 23:28:50 EST 2004
  
  
  It should read as: How about the bass work in 'Ooru Sanam thooginrichu' in MTK??
  
  
• From: Srivatsan (@ 61.1.201.41) on: Wed Feb 4 23:34:39 EST 2004
  
  And what about the bass work in 'Ilamai Idhi idho' from sakalakala vallavan and in the theme music of Payangal muivadhillai??
  
  What impresses me most about IR's bass work is that it is subtle in almost all songs - like 'enna satham indha neram' and 'elangathu visudhe' ... subtle, but you cannot imagine the song w/o the guitar piece ... at the same time, complex as in 'neethaane enthan pon vasantham' - i cannot isolate the bass track at all in this song, but just hear it with the song and enjoy!
  
  
  
• From: Mythila (@ 203.200.33.65) on: Thu Feb 5 06:51:11 EST 2004
  
  I don't know if I mentioned the song "Vanna poongavanam chinna brindhavanam" from Eeramaana Rojave.
  PS: I like this lively song's opening, before the pallavi
  
  
• From: Srivatsan (@ 61.1.202.25) on: Thu Feb 5 10:19:25 EST 2004
  
  How about the songs from (kaml) film vikram? In 'Vanithaamani vanamogini' the work is fantasatic - and also in the 'vikram rap' - to me these songs sound hip even to this date!
  
  
• From: Srivatsan (@ 61.1.202.25) on: Thu Feb 5 10:19:33 EST 2004
  
  How about the songs from (kamal) film vikram? In 'Vanithaamani vanamogini' the work is fantasatic - and also in the 'vikram rap' - to me these songs sound hip even to this date!
  
  
• From: meesund (@ 68.0.110.98) on: Thu Feb 5 21:20:03 EST 2004
  
  Srivatsan,
  Quoting Guitar Prasanna from his article titled Ilayaraaja:"A personal note on the man and his extraordinary musical accomplishments" by Guitarist / Composer Prasanna-----------
  
  "I have never heard a guitar even remotely out of tune in Raaja’s songs for example (believe me, that’s very rare in general). I have to make a special mention of Raaja’s use of the electric bass guitar. I have never heard such meticulous written bass parts (its clearly written carefully), as it is in Raaja’s - song after song after song. Mention also to some brilliant acoustic drum work (a lost and ancient art in India) on Raaja’s songs."
  
  read the whole article here
  http://www.raaja.com/guitarprasanna/
  
  
  
  
• From: ram (@ 219.65.112.209) on: Thu Feb 5 22:40:35 EST 2004
  
  guys...pls. listen to idhu oru nila kaalam from the movie Tik Tik Tik....its got an amazing bass line all thru the song....and vaanam keezhe vandhal yenna...from the movie ????? i don remember...its a kamal movie...
  njoy the listening....
  
  

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