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Why ARR's BGM is still bad even after 10 years??!!

Topic started by Saran (@ 164.164.46.20) on Thu Apr 25 06:53:28 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Surprising! Even after 10years, ARR still a kid in BGM. Even in his latest KM, BGM lacks a lot. Especially in the scenes where the BGM need to lift the scene. Does his musical talent is LIMITED only to the songs or his CREATIVITY misses something whenever it comes to BGM or does he need MUCH MORE TIME to compose it? Yeah, i agree perceptions differ. Lets see how it goes.....

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Misguided Soul (@ 66.208.196.76) on: Wed May 8 18:00:43 EDT 2002
  
  Pongada mayiraandigalaa.. thevadiyaa pasangalaa
  
  
• From: curses (@ 203.199.248.84) on: Wed May 8 21:34:00 EDT 2002
  
  and a misguided tongue...
  
  
• From: peeps (@ 12.162.224.6) on: Thu May 9 05:14:37 EDT 2002
  
  When u mentioned Southern folk my dumb mind thought its only tamil folk..apologies..
  Regarding IR's folk ventures outside TFM i am not aware at this point of time..But think that he has done in Malayalam and Telegu..Pundits please clarify..
  Can we take any kaalapani(mallu version) songs having folk touches?
  
  
• From: WN (@ 203.24.100.132) on: Thu May 9 05:16:50 EDT 2002
  
  "Sufficient knowledge of ARR's music?What do u mean?"
  I mean you will not be doubting that ARR has covered Sthn folk music if you knew enough ARR songs, such as the examples I'll give you now.
  
  I'll quote some good ole DFers here (whom I presume have more authority in this matter than my own personal selections of ARR folk songs), and a few more articles/reviews with further examples.
  
  Post 1: From: Trend (@ 216.68.113.227) on: Mon Oct 30 00:20:25 EST 2000
  "As far as Village songs are concerned ARR has composed for about 5 films-Karuthamma, Sangamam, Kizhakku seemaiyele(KS), Uzhavan and Taj Mahal(did I miss any other film?).His work in these films barring TajMahal is pretty good.Sangamam had outstanding songs.KS songs was a rage at that time.If I remember correctly,Karuthamma fetched two national awards for Swarnalatha and VM.The song had to be very good for the singer and lyric writer to be considered.
  
  In Taj Mahal too,... two short songs(kizhakke nandhavanam and manjakilange) had true rustic feel"
  
  Post 2: From: fan (@ 216.190.255.35) on: Mon Oct 30 15:37:40 EST 2000
  "athangra marame, porale ponnu thayee are all great ("folk") songs."
  
  
  Post 3: From: Udhaya (@ 63.89.188.162) on: Mon Oct 30 20:49:56 EST 2000
  "Folk music:
  I will list the songs that I think belong in the folk genre.
  -pachchaikkili paadum paattu
  -poaraalae ponnu thaayee, especially the sad one sounds convincingly like a villager’s lament
  -kaththaazham kaattu vazhi, if this is not folk music what does it sound like to you? Does this song bring to mind an urban landscape? Come on, don’t get comical.
  -then kizhakku cheemayila, same as above
  -nee kattum saelai madippila, this is a rousing folk dance number if I ever heard one.
  -usilambatti pen kutti--the flute and percussions are flawless in this number they punctuate the folk dialectic in their arrangement."
  
  You're not the only person who reads archives, peeps ;-)
  
  The following are music reviews which describe infusions of sthn folk in ARR's songs.
  
  1) Music Review of Star (by Ezekiels)
  "The folk number 'Nenthukitten' is very appealing - thanks to playback singers Karthick, Chitra and the lyrics penned by Palani Bharathi. In this song, traditional musical instruments like Gatam, Thavil, Nadaswaram have been put to good use."
  Source: chennaionline.com
  
  2) Muthalvan Review by Shashi kumar Srinivasan
  2. Kurukku Chiruthavale--by Hariharan & Mahalaxmi & 3. Uppukaruvadu--by Shankar Mahadevan & Kavitha
  http://www.rahmanonline.com/movies/revs/muthalvan.shtml
  
  In case some of the terms mentioned in these articles fail to register on how it relates to Tamil folk music, here's an article generally (but not exhaustively) describing folk music from TN. It is pretty interesting in that it gives a rather broad-minded approach to folk music (instead of prescribing only to the normally talked about sub-genres of T.folk music) nor do I find this article trying/pretending to contain all forms of Tamil folk music. The instruments section seems to be limited tho. There are some advocates of certain forms of Tamil folk music whose description/definition/categories of folk music dont contain all forms of T.folk music, whose own version of TFolkMusic have geographical limitations owing to their own locale, leaving much uncovered territories (both literally and figuratively) in Tamil folk music. (However I have also heard theories elsewhere that tribal music is not to be confused with folk music, but I feel within our context, we dont need to get too specific.) Before anyone pounces on me, I am not talking about any TFM MDs here. I'm jus rambling on abt my own personal opinions.
  http://www.webindia123.com/tamilnadu/art/folkmusic.htm (make sure u click on 'more' for the next sections of the article)
  
  3) Sangamam Review by Shashi kumar Srinivasan
  Song 2: Mazhai thuLi--by Hariharan, MSV & chorus.
  http://www.rahmanonline.com/movies/revs/sangamam.shtml
  
  If u notice, in the above review, the reviewer talks about squeezing too many words into a constrained space, which I believe is actually one of the characteristics of certain Tamil folk styles. The lyrics not fitting/sitting in with the melody well and going too fast is supposed to be a common feature in many folk songs. Of course, I'm only stating this as a point of interest.
  
  Finally, I'd like to end with a post by good ole another DFer
  
  Post 4: rajaG (@ 207.43.195.201) on: Tue Oct 31 16:50:14 EST 2000
  
  "1. Some singers have naturally folk-friendly voices - eg. Saahul Hameed, IR, Malaysia, Kollangudi karuppaayi, Ila Arun (Hindi/Rajasthaani), Malgadi Subha. Fans of melody singers like Rafi, SPB, KK etc will even suggest that the common undelying theme maybe partially a rustic nature to the voice and partially an 'untrained raw material'. Irrespective of the explanation, these singers generally do well in folk songs.
  
  2. Folk tunes stand alone as "folk tunes" and are only augmented by the rendition of the tune by a "folk voice". Kurukku ChiruththavalE is a folk tune though rendered by "trained" voices.
  ......
  4. ARR's nee kattum chElai, maanoothu mandhaiyilE, edhukku pondaatti enna suththi, are all examples of folk tunes. SPB's voice change for maanooththu was complimented by ARR himself in a Sun TV interview."
  
  
  Before I end this post, let me reiterate that I am not trying to prove that ARR is The Expert in Sthn folk (no way), nor am I saying that he has covered ALOT of sthn folk. All I've said and I'm saying is that ARR HAS covered Sthn folk in his songs. And I still think anyone who doubts this either does not have enough knowledge about ARR's music or has a very limited/narrow preconception about what tamil folk music comprises of.
  I stand by my statement regarding his versatility.
  Tho i'm not as familiar with these forms of folk music as well, I've read many reviews about Rajasthani & Punjabi folk music in ARR's songs (esp HFM). This adds to my point regarding his versatility.
  
  
• From: WN (@ 203.24.100.132) on: Thu May 9 05:45:58 EDT 2002
  
  "When u mentioned Southern folk my dumb mind thought its only tamil folk.."
  well peeps, so do u feel ARR has not covered Tamil folk then? i disagree. i hope my previous post covers my view on this.
  
  
  "If u mean changing the sound of music or making the sounds clearly audible is setting trend then i am not arguing Sir...:-)"
  No! peeps. I'm not sure if ur feigning ignorance or are really clueless regarding what I am talking about. Stop twisting my words and jumping to (very convenient) conclusions. And when I said presentation, I did not mean packaging of the album/PR skills either (I'm clarifying this as well, knowing ur propensity for distorting my words). If u really want to know more about how ARR has done something new in TFM, I suggest you read this thread: "ARR's song making style" started by Kiru. http://www.newtfmpage.com/forum/29254.18.56.17.html
  I strongly suggest u start reading from the very first page of this thread (there are about 9 pages), and it starts here: http://newtfmpage.com/forum/8602.29254.18.56.17.html
  
  
  ""It was made more than 4 years ago, when ARR had done "25 movies". ie. when he was halfway thro his career as of wat it is today."
  
  WhyNot, Can u please tell us in what way has ARR improved in this last five years when compared to his first five?curious to know really.."
  
  There u go again...judging from your question, one wud conclude I had just stated that ARR had improved in the last 5 years. I did not make any such statements.
  I made that statement regarding when that post was made to illustrate
  1. How outdated that post was.
  2. How irrelevant that post was within our context (since the argument was revolving around ARR, and this article cud contain absolutely no info about half his movies...not tat it contained any info about even the first half of his movies).
  In case peeps is very dissatisfied and wants to know how I feel ARR has changed in the last half of his career (not tat it is relevant in any way to our discussion), I'd say that he has had a better pick of movies within the last half than his first half. Some ARR Fans may disagree wit me. Tis is jus my opinion.
  
  
  Yaaro,
  thank u for attempting to answer my query. (rajaG, thk u for clarifying the genre of those songs). So now telegu 'folk songs' comes under the category of containing telegu culture with telegu base. But when it comes to ARR's songs we need to satisfy stringent criteria such as the exact nature of the musical instruments, appropriate lyrics complete with rustic and untrained voices?
  If anyone can offer me any further info on this (IR's non-Tamil folk compositions), I'll be grateful.
  
  btw, wud raasaathi from thiruda thiruda qualify under the a capella folk category? I understand there was some slight music at the bg tho.
  
  
• From: Kupps (@ 156.153.255.134) on: Thu May 9 07:46:55 EDT 2002
  
  So now telegu 'folk songs' comes under the category of containing telegu culture with telegu base. But when it comes to ARR's songs we need to satisfy stringent criteria such as the exact nature of the musical instruments, appropriate lyrics complete with rustic and untrained voices?
  
  
  Telegu is not mother tongue of IR so a more than 75% is enough (i won't say sufficient, a great % is naturally good). Same is the case for ARR or any Thamizh MD in any Non-thamizh arena.
  
  But, extending this logic to further, ARR comes from a background that is not rustic so even for ARR folk is alien i.e. folk is not his mother but might be his uncle. Other languages are his friends and distant relatives. But, even then ARR has done justice to folk songs for whatever chances he got.
  
  Aathangara maramae of kizhakku cheemayilae, imo, is not folk. The lyric makes us to think so. i wud add adi naendhukittaen naendhukittaen also in "aathangara maramae" category.
  
  
  
• From: ROTFL (@ 203.106.188.184) on: Thu May 9 08:13:31 EDT 2002
  
  Interesting reading WhyNot.
  
  What could RP stand for? Ravi Prasad? Raa Pitchai? NOM yaaro. :)
  
  

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