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Analysis of Maestro Ilayaraaja's works

Topic started by Music fan (@ 208.154.130.13) on Tue Oct 10 14:34:19 EDT 2000.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Dear fans of music

Of late, there have been many threads in this forum discussing about IR and his music in general. I don't deny that. But many have been just discussing his new albums, his new projects or in general very superficial which does not delve much into the analysis of his compositions. Maestro Ilayaraaja is a peerless composer and he is one of the very few to compose around 4000+ songs and compose music for around 800 movies. He writes music and his creations show his ingenuity. In this topic, I request the musically learned people to analyze some of his great works.

As a starter, please analyze the song "thendral vandhu theendum bodhu" from Avatharam. Please let us know the intricacies the Maestro has used to create this number. Since I am a lay man in music, I do not have much to say about this song, except that the song is in the lines of western classical music. The song is harmonious and great to listen to.

Needless to say, I believe this topic is never a waste of time. Not many have the opportunity/skill to analyze a great composer's music. So, on behalf of music lovers and fans I request people to participate here and analyze many of the gems given by Maestro.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Shibu (@ 207.43.195.201) on: Wed Oct 18 20:07:37 EDT 2000
  
  Rjay, are you saying that there are really people who like SPB version better?
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 129.252.22.221) on: Wed Oct 18 23:01:33 EDT 2000
  
  "You have to tune out the man's personality to notice his imperfections! "
  
  Rjay, I need an unbiased opinion :-)
  
  
• From: MS (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Thu Oct 19 01:05:26 EDT 2000
  
  shibu - there is atleast one to my knowledge :-)
  
  
• From: veera (@ 202.54.63.131) on: Thu Oct 19 09:25:38 EDT 2000
  
  here are some more(out of 100s of Raja's good songs)for analysing
  
  1.poove semboove
  2.kathal oviam(alaigal oyvathillai)
  3.devathi ilam devi
  3.poonthalirada ponmalar chooda
  4.ilamaiyenum poongattru
  5.ninaivo oru paravai
  6.megam kottatum
  7.partha vizhi(guna)
  8.ninnukkori varnam(agni natchatram)
  9.poomalaye thol serava
  10.thalattuthe vanam
  
  ada innum irukkuthungo noothukkanakkula
  
  mail pannunga solren.
  
  
• From: Veera (@ 202.54.63.131) on: Thu Oct 19 09:31:09 EDT 2000
  
  who told Raja misses scale(sruthi)
  His voice may seem flat without structured gamagams,like that of SPB or KJ.But he has
  never missed scale.But his husky voice is really
  divine and loveable.His voice really touches heart.All can't understand this.
  Have you heard 'Enge sellum intha pathai yaro yaro arivar' from 'Sethu'?
  
  Really superb,others cannot bring that emotion.
  
  Veera
  
  
  
  
• From: vikram chander (@ 202.9.175.244) on: Thu Oct 19 10:50:14 EDT 2000
  
  Veera,
  Naan Nenachen,neenga solliteenga.I agree
  with your fact that no one can bring out emotions
  like Raja.Yenge sellum is one of my all time
  favourites.
  
  
• From: rjay (@ 208.51.40.112) on: Thu Oct 19 11:31:16 EDT 2000
  
  Vijay
  
  My unbiased opinion is already there. His
  voice is not that great and his singing does not
  have much ornamentation. In some songs you
  hear pisiru. There are imperfections. Period.
  
  Undistracted by these, the feeling and emotion
  directly hits us. In short, he does not have a
  great voice but he is a great singer. Not just Raja, but many folk singers downplay the importance
  of voice cultivation and perfection and often
  sing open-mouth (inji iduppalaga Janaki). It is
  like semi-naked Gandhi asking you to ignore
  the dress. (or dress-less-ness)
  
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 129.252.22.221) on: Thu Oct 19 23:43:57 EDT 2000
  
  Rjay,
  I agree that he brings out the required emotions. I just needed to know your final take on that. I know that he has some imperfections ;))
  
  Vaada vaatudhu from Chakalathi and Metti Oli are some of the songs that I like very much.
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 129.252.22.221) on: Thu Oct 19 23:57:40 EDT 2000
  
  Reg, Naan thedum sevanthi poovithi Like I said earlier in one of the ARR-related threads IR shows his variation in the second interlude which is a characteristic of many of his songs. The beat gets a little complicated in the second interlude when the synth(?) goes out of Hindolam scale before the violins brings the song back into Hindolam with a short 3-note piece just before the start of the second charanam.
  
  The first interlude reminds me a bit of the interludes in naanaga naan illai thaaye.. I have to confirm this. Another beautiful piece is when the synth plays an up-and-down melodic piece as a side track when the main melody is being played in the first interlude. It gives u goose pimples.
  
  
• From: musicurry.com (@ 64.240.134.51) on: Fri Oct 20 05:05:11 EDT 2000
  
  The Rise & Fall Of Ilaiyajaja! (musicurry.com)
  
  What could be the causes for the decline of Maestro Ilaiyaraja? We are not into any research on this, but certain truths tempt us to spell out the reasons sometimes.
  
  Film music is such that one hit can take a music director to the top, and a flop can knock him off his lofty perch.
  
  But there are a few composers who were climbing up and up from the time they started their careers. One such music director of Tamil films is Ilaiyaraja. Ilaiyaraja is not your everyday music director. His thought progressions, especially on background music, are unbeatable. Till date, he is the unchallenged king with regard to background scores.
  
  His strength lies in perceiving the story of the film exactly the way the director expects him to. Background scores of films like Moondram Pirai, Sirai Chaalai (Kaala Pani) are good examples of Ilaiyaraja’s grasp of the story.
  
  This doesn’t mean that his songs have any less impact. The songs from the films Panneer Pushpangal, Punnagai Mannan, with computerised music, are amazing.
  
  According to the laws of gravity, what goes up must come down. Where there is an upward curve in a graph, there will be a downward curve also. Though Raja has been reaching the heights in his career, he has to face the decline in his career as well.
  
  One of the main causes for Raja’s declining career is that he began to let his personal life dictate his music. Singers like Arun Mozhi were given a chance, when there were better singers. Also, he had some problems with studios and sound engineers, which forced him to switch to studios which did not have much facilities. This has affected his scoring ability a little.
  
  Though he was a pioneer in introducing modern recording facilities, his thought processes seemed to be stagnating. His focus of late was more on fame and money than on giving music according to the taste of audiences. Having monopolized the scene for so long, he wasn’t ready to meet the challenge when there entered the young chap with a big bang, and with new sound technologies. Apart from this, he was following a particular pattern of music which became stale to the general public after a certain time. For example, he was following a worn-out rhythm pattern which got on the nerves of people. Ilaiyaraja’s fans are hoping he changes his attitude and controls his ego, so that he starts composing good, modern numbers again.
  
  No one can deny the fact that he is a great composer...he is the only composer in India to write a score without using any instruments. The great Beethoven was known to have been doing this.
  
  But when the competition is fierce, and people’s tastes are so fickle and clamouring for change, it is time for Ilaiyaraja to come to terms with the ground realities, if he doesn’t want to lose his fans, who have been loyal to him all through.
  
  
• From: eden (@ 61.1.250.172) on: Fri Oct 20 05:38:25 EDT 2000
  
  musicurry!
  edhai endha thread'la pOdaRadhunnu viyavasthai kidaiyAdhA?
  
  
• From: musicurry.com (@ 64.240.134.51) on: Fri Oct 20 08:41:58 EDT 2000
  
  eden machi...
  
  nee innum aadaam yeval kalatha vittu varalannu nenekren! analysis'na nanayathoda rendu side'ayum paakanum. kudira mathiri orey konathula paatha oru use'um kedayathu.
  
  unna maathiri naalu peru intha maathiri blind worship panni, raajava nalla keduthu kutti sovara aakiteenga. yepa thaan puriya pogutho ungalukkum raajavukkum?
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 129.252.26.123) on: Fri Oct 20 19:24:55 EDT 2000
  
  Musicurry,
  If the TFMDF has come to this state it is solely because of idiots like u that dont think twice before posting irrelevant crap in a thread. Dont u see that this thread has got something to do with analysis of IR's WORKS?
  
  
• From: SL (@ 63.253.7.4) on: Fri Oct 20 20:25:44 EDT 2000
  
  Musicurry, unga article-la niraya comments intha forum-la iruntha thaan adichchathu..hmmmmm. I noticed this in another article too, but do not remember the title off-hand. Anyway, this thread is solely for analysing IR's songs that have captured our imagination. Your posting this here is in bad taste.
  
  rjay,Srikanth ayya deivangaLe...please analyse 'raaja Kayyavachcha'/'aruna kirana' from guru. Guru was dubbed in Tamil and therefore not irrelevant to this forum.
  
  
• From: Ramesh Ganesan (@ 206.175.176.2) on: Fri Oct 20 20:40:25 EDT 2000
  
  Rjay
  
  I liked your analysis of Aetho Mogam. I would like you to further the page with some more songs - even it is 4 or 5.
  
  My suggestions is to take songs from various time periods and various genres. Veera's song lists is good but in my opinion I would like to include a few other genres like IR's 'Grammathu type songs', 'philosophical or sad songs'.
  
  Also it would be good to compare a song from annakilli and something that came later like 'Manguyilae Poonguyilae' - different time periods in the same genre
  
  
• From: sk (@ 137.132.2.109) on: Fri Oct 20 23:18:06 EDT 2000
  
  SL and Others:
  
  musicurry, musichutney etc are web robots that post
  the same information in all threads having one
  of the keywords, Ilaiyaraja or IR in
  the title. The posting is optimized to disturb the
  flow of thoughts in the threads. So no point in
  replying to them. :-)))
  
  I have one general question (to ask you, rjay, vijay,
  Srikanth and others who technically analyze music),
  after reading rjay's two comments..
  
  1. His voice is not that great and his singing does not have much ornamentation. In some songs you hear pisiru. There are imperfections. Period.
  
  2. Undistracted by these, the feeling and emotion
  directly hits us. In short, he does not have a
  great voice but he is a great singer.
  
  My question is:
  How much does technical knowledge and analysis
  of music distract or spoil the actual listening
  and emotional enjoyment? My belief is that
  music is truly meant for the heart and not for the
  brain that does technical analysis and finds faults (usually).
  If that happens then you have introduced noise into
  the actual listening process! To me it appears that its very
  difficult for a Subbudu to be a good enjoyer of music!
  
  Sorry for the distraction. Perhaps you can send
  me an email on this.
  
  
• From: vijay (@ 129.252.22.221) on: Fri Oct 20 23:39:51 EDT 2000
  
  Sk,
  First of all thanx for including me in the technical analyst panel, but the truth is that Iam far less qualified to comment on the technical nuances of any MDs work ;)) I just have a slightly above average ear for good music, thats all.
  
  But to answer your question , for people who are able to discern musically and are able to identify mistakes in shruthi etc. for them it might be more difficult to appreciate IR or any one else's faulty singing.
  
  Reg. Subbudu his job as a music critic is to find mistakes. I think if some of us sit with an objective to find mistakes in a composition one can end up with more than what one finds in a casual hearing. Some of IR's mistakes in singing could be obvious to a keen ear and might disturb the listener from appreciating the rendition completely.
  
  The fact is IR more than compensates for these deficiencies with his emotional rendering which I believe many of the current top singers even fail to do. But if he were even more technically perfect while singing the so called emotional impact on the listener would be even more enhanced.
  
  I leave it to SL or Rjay to come up with better answers.
  
  

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