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The Golden Era of Tamil Music...

Topic started by Vishvesh Obla (@ 206.189.24.8) on Wed Feb 21 15:28:41 EST 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Listening to a few old tamil songs always reminds me of the golden era of Tamil Cine Music. The two decades from the late fifties seems to me to have produced the best light music in Tamil. The golden era not only belongs to MSV (&Ramamoorthy) but also minor composers like AM Raja and V Kumar who could create music which has taste and inspiration behind it. Perhaps the formative years of Tamil Cine Music had an element of genuine inspiration behind it that could shape the musical sense of even the minor composers.

I have observed the songs belonging to this era having a kind of organic fluidity that is so natural to good music. The tunes flow to the natural sequence of music and don't have the strain of an artificial imagination at all. The accidental notes fall so perfectly in their places and add charm instead of a jarring sound as one hears in modern tamil cine music. Take for instance a song like "Unnidam Mayangugiraen". It varies in its rhythm and tune so differently but as a whole it is so beautifully synthesized that it adds so much of beauty and charm to the tune as a whole. The variation of tune sequence (or the scale) in those songs always seems to blend and not forced as one sees in the songs today.

They still appeal to the music lover, for there is the charming simplicity of the tune which combines elegantly with the better lyrics (mostly from Kannadasan, who had a fine sense of the beauty and more importantly, a good sense of sound in Tamil Language). The lyrics, hence, came naturally without any forced or exaggerated poetic association. One notices that those songs don't involve much complex orchestration of modern light music, but nevertheless are so musically elegant ; there isn't any forced imagination ; no aping of Western music as in modern light music. We mostly find the composer in his natural elements trying to synthesize a musical expression in a medium 'native' to his sense of music. Even a later composer like Ilayaraja is original most of the times when he tries his hand at folk music with which he grew up with.

In contrast, today's tamil cine music seems to appeal to us only by the hi-fi sound effects and rarely by any musical sense. There is always the annoying monotony, one who has any musical sense, observes. I wouldn't say that the songs of the earlier period were all so creatively diverse in their compositions. One can't expect such a thing in a lesser form of music as light music. But then there was at least that part of experimenting and a genuine attempt to create something from the musical sense that was less falsified in its inspiration. The composer of those times, as one can observe, had a kind of devotion to music, which didn't just have commercial interests alone. It is seldom seen today.

It seems to me that it is more than a question of taste and listening pleasure alone when one responds to tamil film music of its formative period. Ain't it so?...

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: sumathi (@ ) on: Thu Aug 19 06:37:39 EDT 2004
  
  i want to listen 80 songs. can you help me
  
  
• From: sumathi (@ 218.208.229.135) on: Thu Aug 19 06:46:09 EDT 2004
  
  nan entha website dukku putusu,nan eppathan email putusa open pannen.en yarum tappa ninaikatingge pls,ennaku eppadi chat panrathu kuda thiriyathu, pls help me.enaku yarun friends ellai, nan yarukudaiyum friendsa eruka maden, enaku lonely ya erukathan pidikum.nan oru kolej student.en matiri yaravathu erunthal chat me. ok bye
  
  
• From: rajasaranam (@ 210.214.241.80) on: Thu Aug 19 07:14:49 EDT 2004
  
  gtg brb bye
  
  
• From: Raghu (@ 193.129.245.198) on: Thu Aug 19 08:48:48 EDT 2004
  
  Sumathi,
  
  You can listen to 1980's songs here
  
  www.spbindia.com
  www.raaga.com
  www.dhool.com
  
  if you want songs via email, send me an email.
  
  
• From: jk (@ 130.237.166.79) on: Thu Aug 19 09:55:05 EDT 2004
  
  TFM eras according to me
  50s 60s :golden era
  
  70s:80s: platinum era
  
  90s: 2000:s: Plastic era
  
  
• From: Gyan (@ 4.158.117.57) on: Thu Aug 19 10:45:20 EDT 2004
  
  jk, a small yet costly correction ;--)
  
  50s to 75 - GOLD ERA
  76 to 90s - DIAMOND ERA
  90s TO today - THAGIDU /PITHALLA (not thakida thathami thanthaana)
  
  plastic yera not yet yarrived. yenna yeppam yedhunuu yippom purunjikarthu nallathu ;--)
  
  
• From: sumathi (@ 218.208.229.135) on: Fri Aug 20 00:38:56 EDT 2004
  
  Raghu i'm really happy to see your message,and thahks for your impormesion. i would like to friend with you. how about you.you like to friend with me.1000 thanks for your message.bye
  
  
• From: :) (@ 202.54.137.87) on: Fri Aug 20 01:05:49 EDT 2004
  
  music era 1976 - 1987
  
  
• From: Raghu (@ 193.129.245.198) on: Fri Aug 20 04:51:44 EDT 2004
  
  Sumathi,
  
  No Problem, we are all friends here :),
  
  :) (@ 202.54.137.87)
  
  For once, I agree with you :)
  
  
• From: rajasaranam (@ 210.214.241.208) on: Fri Aug 20 10:28:13 EDT 2004
  
  Raghu r u serious with this sumathi??
  
  
• From: MADDY (@ 203.94.218.195) on: Fri Aug 20 13:59:20 EDT 2004
  
  all u so called "musical know-hows" shuld realise that u r a bunch of a few and we, the lay man who likes to listen to bryan adams followed by ARR followed by Shnkar-ehsaan-loy are millions in numbers and it is we who demand a change in trend from ur musical gurus....we make musicians and not ur philosophical old talk.......
  
  this era is the best as ARR is the most popular indian musician in the world.......neither ur MSV-TKR could do that nor the so-called gr8 IR could imagine abt. it....ok......
  
  
• From: k (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Fri Aug 20 14:38:37 EDT 2004
  
  "all u so called "musical know-hows" shuld realise that u r a bunch of a few "
  
  Maddy, all the people who come to this forum are not of the same age or of same IQ or knowledge. You should understand when you are interacting directly with people you respect them based on their age, title/position, capability role etc. When you are online, you should try to understand what somebody is saying and respect them for their content. Visvesh Obla is a serious poster. You should learn to spot good content. That is what he has provided. If that is the case, you should ask people why they think MSV-TKR is great. You should not impulsively start denigrating a genius like MSV. Do not use these forums just for fun. Use it to improve your knowledge of music, learn from others. This does not mean you should stop listening to your favorite music directors. Just expand your scope. Learn to discuss/communicate.
  I have seen your upper-cased name quite often and most times I thought you were an intelligent young man. That is why I decided to share what I felt about how young people should use these forums with you.
  
  
• From: cc (@ 198.232.250.51) on: Fri Aug 20 14:46:55 EDT 2004
  
  sevidan kadhula oodhiya sangu
  
  
• From: Note Man (@ 24.11.160.43) on: Fri Aug 20 18:01:20 EDT 2004
  
  Speaking about organic fusion, MSV and TKR had a flow which was natural to their elements, like folk music. And sometimes their forays into western music might have sounded strained and artificial (in the purist view), but, the songs were melodious nevertheless due to a natural flow of the tune / lyrics. Now, the point is what is more important for the so-called natural flow of music?
  
  is it the tunes?
  is it the instrument selection?
  is it the natural beauty of songs?
  
  All natural
  
  If its tunes, then only people like MSV/TKR, GKV, VKumar, KVM, IR have had this flow. That probably would remain the best period for music, wherein the audience can feel how the MD had composed the song. A one-to-one mapping if I might say, pathos-to-pathos happiness-to-happiness, the flow was directly from the composers into the audience.
  
  Partially Diluted
  
  A diluted natural flow comes from having the tunes but matching (or mismatching orchestrization)
  E.g., IR's natural elements are wcm and indian folk. Many times we see his songs move fluently between a folk tune and western classical interludes and that is definitely free and natural flow of music.
  
  Also, there are some songs where the songs are not so flowing , e.g, some songs where IR might have experimented with synthesizers just to try them out e.g., songs from Time. even though the tunes were natural. So we are looking at diluted versions of natural songs. Recent IR's songs fall into this category.
  
  Coming to songs nowadays, which usually follow the pop music pattern, although in a reverse manner. In western pop, the lyrics are still the most important aspect. However, in TFM (or IFM), the lyrics are not being given that much importance as the music itself. I wouldn't be surprised if I find new MD's trying out different permutations of beats and then finding a matching tune and getting lyrics written. Much of the naturality is getting lost in the way songs are being structured. Even if the music came naturally to the MD's, there would still have been something natural to the song. But trial and error and experimentation are so rampant that there is hardly anything left in the final product.
  
  The question is can we every revert back to those days of natural composition and beauty? Its a matter of taste. It would be wrong to say most people like these songs as many people hardly pay attention to the songs. They just vibrate to the beats, like snakes moving to a snake charmer's boora. Maybe some new MD should try and recreate that magic and herald a new era of golden music.
  
  
• From: MADDY (@ 203.94.234.15) on: Fri Aug 20 21:32:07 EDT 2004
  
  Ok Mr. K i'll try to be a bit more polite and sensible from now on....
  
  but ppl. here shuld realise that ARR has contributed in changing tfm sounds in a gr8 way.....it is really sad to see that ARR is included in S.D.Burman,R.D.Burman list pretty easily by northies and he finds it very hard to figure along with MSV-TKR and IR by tamils.....that's really unfair......i myself conducted a survey in chennai with my management stud frnd and found that IR's fan base is 53%, while ARR's is just 28-30%........i mean ARR DESERVES TO BE TREATED BETTER BY MUSICAL PUNDITS OF TN........
  
  
• From: Uncle Swam (@ 4.158.114.159) on: Fri Aug 20 22:30:05 EDT 2004
  
  ARR DESERVES TO BE TREATED BETTER BY MUSICAL PUNDITS OF TN........
  
  you mean, TFM dfers. if so, we are trying our best.
  
  

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