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9th Chords in IR's Music !!!

Topic started by Vel (@ 202.88.152.159) on Sat Feb 1 09:22:25 EST 2003.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I would like to share an interesting info, provided by my friend Vicky, in a IR Music Group in Yahoo...Share more thoughts on the topic, if you have info..

Hi All..

Karthik Rajagopal has again started a topic that’s very hard to resist, not to comment. The 9th chords in Raaja’s music… Wah !! What a
topic…. When I think about the significance just an extra note (swara) added to a particular root chord to make it a special chord like a 7th or
9th, its unbelievable to notice the moods that they create. For one who understands this, Music becomes a child's play and he/she can simply do
whatever they feel like doing with swaras… Of course, Raaja is among those extremely gifted souls who can play with most weirdest combination
of swaras and yet come out phenomenally successful in thier novel attempts!!! I wonder while composing is there anyone else out there who can visualize at a meta-level, in mind, how does a Dm 9th would sound instead of a D Minor ..

Well, in any 9th chords (Both major ninth and minor ninth) When you add a 'periya Ri' to the root chord, it gives that respective 9th. When I
try to realize what an added feel can this big Ri introduce, Raaja bowls me out for a duck, not letting me to conclude that a 9th chord can be
used only on Such and such situations.. Because he has used it for almost all possible situations in Cine-Music. But when I try to give it a closer look, May be I get off the mark with the inference that, a 9th Chord certainly gives a “Reengaaram idum” effect in your ears… (I really can’t find a good English word for the Difficult Tamil word ‘Reengaaram’.. May be Reverberating or Resounding or Resonating or Rich ????)
Because in a major or a minor chord the gap between Sa and Ga is actually large.. Hence this big ‘Ri’ comes in between like a Norwegian peace
delegation on Sri Lanka-LTTE peace process… So when you play it Sa + Ri + Ga + Pa, It gives that resonating effect…

If Nobel consortium ever introduces a Prize for innovation in Music, Raaja would have bagged it for the way he has handled the 9th chords. He
has exploited the reverberating nature of this 9th chords by playing it in a Guitar thro’ phaser!!! This can be evidently noticed in Songs like 'Uravenum pudiya vanil'... When Janaki sings the pallavi of this song, a guitar (with phaser) simply gives the root minor 9th chord in a
arpeggio style.. Ada Ada.. The fear which one would have when you fall in love for the first time is beautiful expressed by the 9th… The song “ Hey I love you !! I Love you !!” is another example.. The way the song
starts in Cm9th with the phased output of the guitar simply mesmerizes you.. Raaja dedicates the prelude of this song for 9th chords like Cm9th, Fm9th, A#M9th, D#M9th from his fleet… Amazing!!!
(Note: If you don’t understand what a phaser is, it’s a electronic gadget which distorts the output of music by sending sound signals again
and again with a phase lag.. Often its connected with a Guitar… Our traditional instruments like Thambura and Moresingh have a inbuilt Phaser in
them.. A matter of hobour for us to be proud about the sound engineering done by our ancestors I must say!!!)

Raaja mostly deletes the 5th note (or the Pa) from the 9th chord.. I don’t know why, but he always prefers a 9th chord to sound like that… But if you see the end result it produces, its worth giving a second Nobel prize !! All of us only remember the prelude of Illamai Idho Idho Idho as, Kamalhassan slowly walking to a bike, starting it. As the tempo of the prelude increases, He revvvs up his bike and when it reaches a peak he yells “Hi Every body.. Wish you a Happy new year…..” and the song
is off to a Magnum opus.. But did anyone realize that its nothing but Cm9th played without G (Or Pa).. Raaja repeats this trick in lots of
other occasions… During the second interlude starting of the song “ Ooru sanam Thoongiruchu….” In the song “Sem poovae. Poovae” during the words
“Padai kondu nadakkum manmadha silaiyo” a beautiful backing of FM9th (Again without Pa) can be heard.. In the second interlude of the song in
the Telugu chiranjeevi movie which is the origianl tune of hindi song “Dhak Dhak karnae laga” (I forgot the telugu song..), Raaja does it
again… There are whole lot of songs that I can think off…. He seem to have mastered the art of beautifying Sivaranjani with minor 9th … In India
24 hours, for Mohanam pieces he has poignantly used Major 9ths...

The third innovation in 9th chords is using them consecutively on a higher octave followed by the same chord on a lower octave… For example,
"Vaa vaa Anbae Anbae" from Agni Nakshathram… When the second interlude starts, a Piano simply plays Cm9th (in half timings) in a higher
octave.. then in lower octave… For two bars… Then the violin takes over…Next is in the movie Guru .. Between the lines of the song “ Perai chollava” and “ Adhu Gnyamaguma” you hear a chord.,.. Its nothing but minor 9th
played consecutively on a higher octave and then on a lower octave….In the song “ Valiyosai” in ‘ Satya’ in the second BGM before the humming
of Lata and SPB begins, the BGM starts with a E minor 9th chord followed by a half bass guitar piece . In the second bar the same E m9th is
played in a octave higher… Aha!! The effect that it creates is heavenly !!!! Same thing he does it again in the interludes of the song Naan Thedum
Sevvandhi poovidhu… Koodu vittu Koodu payura madhiri, Octave vittu octave payum vilaiyattu!!! :-) I run out of words to explain more…

BTW did you guys know that the all time favorite song of Eagles, ‘Hotel California’ starts with Bm9th. …Surely not a co-incidence!!!!!!!!! Great people think alike… eh??

With Love - Vicky

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Responses:

• From: Long Live Vicky! (@ 65.176.169.122) on: Sat Feb 1 11:46:41 EST 2003
  
  Vicky, this is another topic that can be written in several volumes. Innovations and stylistic sounds that have been done by Raja I am yet to hear from anywhere else. It just so happens, his tunes have immense scope for so many ornamentaions, and yet you feel the song could not have been done any more or any less the way Raja did.
  
  
• From: isaiosai (@ 68.14.172.141) on: Sat Feb 1 15:13:25 EST 2003
  
  Vicky,
  
  Wonderful! Your write-up is very educative, informative and gives a rare insight into this compositional genius. Looking forward to more such articles on IR's music.
  
  Vicky's website on IR: How To Name It? - http://www.geocities.com/violinvicky
  
  
• From: Vel (@ 219.65.96.88) on: Sun Feb 2 00:22:34 EST 2003
  
  Anyone with more examples (raja's 9th chords usage) can share it here...
  
  
• From: avr (@ 132.216.68.125) on: Sun Feb 2 01:52:26 EST 2003
  
  Vicky!
  
  Your site is straightaway going into my FAVOURITES! Keep up the good work. I shall wait for yout to upload more and more articles. I am currently learning music, and I find your articles to be immensely useful.
  
  Thanks!
  
  
• From: Vel (@ 219.65.96.91) on: Sun Feb 2 04:04:11 EST 2003
  
  Guys...you can contact the author Vicky (who wrote this Raja's 9th) through this mail id...violinvicky@yahoo.com
  
  Happy learning...
  
  In the meantime, can someone give more examples on 9th chords in IR's songs...
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Mon Feb 3 18:36:23 EST 2003
  
  Not sure ..how many listen or care for these things..IR's music atleast now suffers the plight of classical music. Vicky talks about the meticulously written bass lines. Again, this is something people dont notice, I think (listen to the bass line in naadham en jeevanE, vaa vaa en dEvanE) . The beauty of IRs music is that with chord/bass lines his song can be classified as Western music. Remove these they can standalone as indian classical music (although with less gamakams) as they are mostly based on raagams and he sticks to one like a classical composition (keerthanai).
  
  
• From: selva (@ 172.183.120.137) on: Mon Feb 3 20:20:15 EST 2003
  
  The excerpt below is from Vicky's site,
  
  "...One more song to join the band wagon is ‘Karpoora mullai onru’ from ‘Keladi kanmani’. The pallavai again is an agmark Rishivani. As we previously discussed, removal of ‘Dha’ brings a more serious appeal to the melody. The song ‘Karpoora mullai onru’ is the theme song of the movie. If you see, the theme of the movie is ‘padu sentimental’ and the feel is accentuated so much by this ‘dha’ bypassing. This song comes in flashback where baby Neena reminisces some beautiful moments with her mother (Geetha). But when played as a full fledged song it should alternatively reflect happiness and pathos.. So Raaja leaves the ‘sogam’ behind in Pallavi and switches to a jolly mood in the interludes and Charanam.. But the characteristic progression ‘Ga Ma Pa Ni Sa’ of Rishivani (bypassing ‘Dha’) is more beautiful in the pallavi than any other songs......."
  
  Vicky's analysis ends there. One striking feature of IR's music that appeals to me is, joy and sorrow blending together. I first noticed this while listening to, 'chinna chinna vanna kuyil' in Mouna Ragam. In this song, the subliminal theme is , 'Hope anticipates disappointment!'. Since then I have noticed many such compositions by IR. 'Senthoorapuve' from 16 Vayadhinile is another such song. These two songs, besides disappointment, also seem to underline a sense of 'fear' of such hopes.
  
  This is a remarkable acheivement only possible by a person gifted with both deep understanding of emotions and the talent to use music as a language to express it. I hadn't known how music by its character of notes, raagas and thaalams could achieve this till I came across Vicky's explanations. Thanks Vicky.....
  
  PS: Don't assume automatically that I am patronising IR. He is just an instrument of music like many before him and many after him. I enjoy his music because he takes me closer to my roots as much as exposing me to whatever else!!!!
  
  
• From: Swamiji (@ 198.102.112.18) on: Mon Feb 3 20:34:22 EST 2003
  
  (Not sure about missing 'pa' in ilamai-idho-idho song)
  9th chords as the article says adds color. Theres many different types of 9ths. Generally, the 7th note is played with the 9th - you can hear a lot in blues comps. The ninth that vicky talks about is the 'closed' minor-9th. The 9th note is played between first and third to add the semitone(1/2 note) tension. Its been used so many times, so its common to start any minor chord with that just to show off!!
  
  some more examples of minor9th
  Oh butterfly ('arugil neee' part) - closed m9th
  Senthoora Poove (16 vayadinile) - this chord is played with the 7th in the arpeggio. The chord used is Dm7(9)
  Putham puthu kalai - closed m9th
  Uravenum pudiya vanil - closed m9th
  Idhu oru nila kalam (always when there is 'idhu oru') - closed m9th
  Kaadhal Rojave (strings in the intro) - closed m9th
  
  and so many...
  
  
• From: Taha Hassan (@ ) on: Sat Aug 7 02:56:26 EDT 2004
  
  Hey I Want PIANO CHORDS for KAL HO NA HO !!!!
  PLZ PLZ PLZ DO SEND IT TO ME !!!!!
  dewpassion_@hotmail.com
  
  

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