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Great Impact of ARR on Indian contemporary Music and IsaiGnani

Topic started by The Fan (@ spider-we053.proxy.aol.com) on Thu Nov 12 02:16:07 EST 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

By now we must appreciate the positive qualities of ARR's musical genre or style and interpretations. ARR has single handendly made film music and that too, Tamil film music one of the most favorite discussion topics anywhere. He reengineered or turned around the concept of film music in India and made it a pop culture. Though there is something left to be desired in his creativity, he has forever changed the landscape of Indian film music. Taking it to a different platform, he has escaped comparisons and stands at the heap of a new generation of musical presentation and thought. I feel glad that ARR happened at the right time to Indian films. Otherwise look what might have happened to Isaignani, who probably would've lost the inspiration to stay around. ARR's has woken up IR from his classical mode and made IR change mode to a trendy style, eg: KM and MVU, each filmy score of IR getting more experimental and in tune with current taste for music. In other words, I personally thank ARR for being the EYES AND EARS OF IR. New rhythms, extremely different melodic structures. etc.. In addition, ARR is gaining on to be the next icon of music in Indian film music, maybe not in Tamil film music, however. This is what we need. New persectives, a 360 degree difference in styles. In this thread, it will be beneficial to talk about how ARR brought in new things that made us wonder why didn't our other composers attempt this, so easy, so out there, why didn't they. And,difficult innovations that challenged even IR. This will discussion should be purely to discuss the impact of ARR's contributions and his impact on IR's creative styles.

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Responses:

• From: The Fan (@ spider-we053.proxy.aol.com) on: Thu Nov 12 02:20:01 EST 1998
  
  The first two new facets that ARR has brought in: new and exciting dance rhythms
  the significance of visiting newer places to get a feel of the vibes of the locales. Good example, we are seeing IsaiGnani now going to Maldives, Goa, Cochi, London to get the feel of sounds that he probably feels can do justice to his compositions, just as his travel all over Tamilnadu gave us Annakkili.
  If you folks, get the drift, let us learn here what these new steps can do for Indian film music in general also
  
  
• From: S.P MAHENDRAN (@ 161.139.37.74) on: Thu Nov 12 03:17:27 EST 1998
  
  No way guys...!
  
  IR already use western music before AR.IR is the genius in the music industries.There is nobody can stand with him.IR is a music creater.
  
  
• From: Udhaya (@ ip214.sjc.primenet.com) on: Thu Nov 12 03:17:51 EST 1998
  
  The Fan,
  This is as objective and neutral a posting as possible from an IR devout. I commend you on this balanced stance. Sattai thuni maniyudan indha threadai vittu neengal veliyaerida vaazthugiraen.
  
  
• From: UV (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Thu Nov 12 08:07:01 EST 1998
  
  The Fan,
  I agree that the advent of ARR has inspired IR ,but not the way u have mentioned.
  He has never changed his style except for the frequent use of synth in his film songs after 92 (ie., after he composed the symphony no 1).
  He was dormant for some period as he himself said he's taking a break from movies for his symphony and he was back with a bang in avadhAram.
  Even after ARRs arrival we did have maNiyE maNikuyilE ,thenral vandhu theendum bOdhu and songs like nEtru vandha kAtru (from a grossly under-estimated album- kaNmaNi).
  
  take those wonders from GURU,yAtra mozhi and kAlApaani (sorry, there's no tamil movie which cud inspire IR to the extent those mallu movies did).
  They had the typical IR's stamp on them .
  Take one more example, EmpAttu EmpAttu from poomaNi.Even the news papers called it a welcome change from the synth stuff produced by ARR & co.
  
  Might be guys like deva and sirpi got inspired from ARR . i certainly wont agree that ARR's advent has brought in some changes in IR's style.
  
  I also have noticed that ARR has made sure that his songs don't have IRish style except for some good numbers like naRumugayE and sevvAnam sinna poo thoovum etc which I liked.
  
  Another major impact ARR had on TFM MDs was the introduction of cut-and-pastes from albans and ofra hazas!!
  Deva who used to do the same from IR started following ARR from Asai and others like sirpi followed him.
  
  
• From: cram (@ 206.103.12.102) on: Thu Nov 12 08:44:07 EST 1998
  
  great work, Fan. just what the doctor ordered. in fact, i have already touched upon this topic in another thread. ARR broke new ground with Roja and there has been no looking back for him. he
  holds the credit for several innovations in TFM and should be lauded for ushering in a breath of fresh air into the stale atmosphere of TFM, with IR having lost the zest to compose music
  for running-around-the-trees situations and generally having reached a seen-it-all-done-it-all stage.
  Aside of his musical contributions, ARR deserves our eternal gratitude for having revived the fortunes of VM, who was floundering due to the lack of a composer who could complement his lyrical genius. theirs is now a winning ombination, a creative collaboration that has opened up new frontiers in TFM.
  here i would like to list out a few of the main changes that ARR incorporated into TFM.
  technology - though IR was always in tune with the technological developments during his heydey, in fact he was the pioneer in introducing it in TFM, he had become slack around the time ARR
  made his entry. of course, tech. alone is not music, but in the hands of a creative genius, it can be put to great use. ARR has used this judiciously in bringing in new sounds to TFM. his
  pastoral score in kizhakkuchcheemaiyile combined traditionality with tech. innovation for a mind-blowing album.
  new rhythms and music patterns - ARR must be credited with infusing new life into TFM with various rhythms that had influenced him in his formative years. be it reggae (chinna
  chinna aasai and mustafa openings), big band jazz (vennilaa vennila, what a song), or rock, rock'n'roll and metal for those foot-tappers (so many songs, eg: paalakaatu machchaanukku,
  muqabla, kannum kannum, hello mr. ethirkkatchi), he has deftly reworked these patterns to suit TFM and at the same time, retain a global feel.
  new voices - ARR has taken off where IR left, in bringing in new voices, some of them established in other industries, and some of them local talent (re)discovered by him. he has even used
  children's voices to great success (i know, i know, IR also did it in anjali and a couple of other films). his practice of giving
  credit in the album to all those who have lent their voices is a new and commendable effort.
  exotic sounds - ARR has made it a point to continuously experiment with the rarely heard sounds (in TFM) of instruments such as sarod, spanish guitar, udukkai, mandolin, ghatam, etc.
  this is what i particularly like in his music. instead of sticking to the violin-guitar-flute-tabla combo, he boldly ventures into new areas and brings in new flavours, much like IR
  used to in his earlier days. Duet almost sounds like his tribute to the sound of sax, man, what music. i would rate it among his best three albums so far.
  non-film - just as IR refused to let his creativity be shackled by TFM, with HTNI and NBW, ARR also came out with a good album in Vande Mataram. i think he deserves a round of applause for this effort.
  of course, he still has a long way to go as far as BGM is concerned, but let's give him time and have confidence in his undoubted talent to provide freshness in TFM always.
  in his 'badhilgaL' in kumudam, arasu was once asked what the difference between ARR and IR was, for which he came with the best possible answer, IMO. "hindi paattai kettu kondirantha thamizhanai thamizh paattu ketkavaithavar IR. hindi paatai
  kettukkondirantha hindi aatkaLai thamizh paadalgaL ketkavaithavar ARR."
  i think that sums up ARR's greatest contribution, that of spreading the glory and greatness of TFM. yaan petra inbam peruga ivvaiyagam enbathukku ARR-e sirantha saandru. vaazhga, vaLarga avarathu paNi.
  
  
• From: vaidy (@ cbpxy0.att.com) on: Thu Nov 12 14:15:33 EST 1998
  
  My response may not address the positives of ARR's music. But some thoughts (IMO ofcourse).
  (1) Take the nenjiniley song from Uyire..Even though the malayalam lyrics sounded good to hear to, I am not sure if it was a necessity in a song. This goes back to the basic question of "Is a song fitting the scene the director wanted to depict?" - basically this song is not context sensitive. ARR might have used the malayalam lyrics to gram listeners attention, but he failed in being objective to see whether that will be relevant.
  (2) Kizhakku cheemaiyile songs were good. I guess ARR wants to paint new colors to folksy/village music. The orchestration was very differant from IR. I felt, in some songs, he uses a kinda rhythm that sounds like 10-15 people are clapping their hands. Let me come up with some examples later. Is this rhythm pattern my own imagination or any one else had noticed it before?
  
  
• From: Ravy (@ eagle.vapower.com) on: Thu Nov 12 15:53:09 EST 1998
  
  UV:
  
  MaNiyae MaNikkuyilae from Nadodi Thendral was released in the summer of '92. (well before Roja was released)
  
  
• From: Neels (@ 202.54.125.164) on: Fri Nov 13 04:51:03 EST 1998
  
  Vaidy,
  
  If you had seen the film Dil Se, you would have noticed that the second lead (Preeti Zinta) is a Malayalee and is singing the song during her engagement day celebrations. No wonder Mani Ratnam grabbed that opportunity to take the viewers on a Kerala Darshan, with Snakeboats and Vallams, Mundu clad babes dancing with elephants and Kalari performers. The situation demanded something unique, so, I guess the Mallu lyrics.
  
  By the way, ARR did some good service by forcing them upon the Hindi soundtrack. No HF Music Director would have dared doing such stuff.
  And going by the success of the song (if not the film), nobody seem to mind the Mallu lyrics; in fact they seem to like it.
  
  
• From: UV (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Fri Nov 13 08:46:21 EST 1998
  
  Neels,
  Is the DilSe album a Hit???
  
  
• From: Ramki (@ pm062-22.spindler.wmich.edu) on: Fri Nov 13 12:40:17 EST 1998
  
  UV u bet.'chaiyya chaiyya' and 'jiya jalae'are the top 2 songs in the charts for past couple of months.
  
  
• From: SitaRam (@ portal.ameritech.com) on: Fri Nov 13 17:05:15 EST 1998
  
  That is the great thing about ARR, he has made listeners in the Hindi belt know for now what Malayalam is. For them, the whole of South India is Madrasi! That is the way to go. Not only that ARR has been able to bring in new cultures to the North Indians, but also completely overwhelmed them with the total south Indian flavor in his songs. Even IR was not accepted at this level, even when he produced difficult compositions for Sadma in the Hindustani ragas, they could not enjoy. You guys are right, ARR has definitely broadened the musical paramaters for all of India.
  
  I agree with a lot of 'cram's observations too,
  except for 'duet', which i still cannot appreciate!
  
  His tar taram papa is excellent song, excellent interludes (nice sounds in the second interlude, not heard before at all) and excellent charnam part. That song should set new standards for dance numbers.
  
  
  
  
• From: Raja_Fanatic (@ pup36.stanford.edu) on: Fri Nov 13 20:26:38 EST 1998
  
  I agree that ARR brought in a lot of freshness initially. But ironically, he is losing out on freshness too. This is not to downplay ARR's work, but recent compositions of his do not seem to reflect the quality of his initial works.
  What is the use of the freshness if it is going stale already? :-))
  Added to this, you can hear bits and pieces of RDB/ SDB songs or even classical keerthanas in his songs. This very much puts into question, his composing abilities. At times, I am forced to wonder whether he has plagiarised those great compositions of Thiruda Thiruda too. :-))
  One thing is sure, no matter how popular he gets and how many styles he explores, the level of inspiration shown has/will never surpass IR.
  
  IR was/is/will be the best.
  
  Thanks
  
  

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