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IR's new albums!

Topic started by RAJAN (@ proxy-122.iap.bryant.webtv.net) on Thu Jan 22 22:20:06 EST 1998.
All times in EDT/EST +9:30/10:30 for IST.

A new Ilayaraja album is a cause for celebration with many among us. Let everyone share in the revelry. Review, discuss or comment on new IR albums.

Check the IR reviews page

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Velaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Wed Aug 9 13:44:12 EDT 2000
  
  haaavv..thookkamaa varuthu..IRvsARR 101 la sonnathaiyE sollikkodukkaraanga..101, 201, 301 ellaam orE subject in different words..
  
  :-)
  
  
• From: Madhan (@ 202.41.117.61) on: Wed Aug 9 14:13:56 EDT 2000
  
  Arul, nichhayamaa naan andha nizhal illai !!
  
  Bug, wait, wait - you have misunderstood me completely - IR is still very much abreast of the tastes of the audiences -
  
  what most probably is bothering him is perhaps the consummate ease with which his best efforts (like GURU) are being put in the backburner as against the popularity of the once-you-hear-and-then-forget-it kind of music that comes from the baton of other composers - I don't want to name them
  
  True, IR is not one to get perturbed by what the press says / or what his detractors comment - he is beyond all that, pursuing music as a penance, or even better as one of his regular involuntary daily activity - for him, composing music is like the involuntary beats of the heart, to put it in a crude way - having said this, we should remember that IR did come up with a GURU, a YATRA MOZHI , a KALIYOONJALU, a HEY RAM etc - the quality of each one of these far superceding those of any other composer that have come out recently
  
  But the way things are being lapped up by people without much scrutiny (for ex. so many albums become popular hits even before their release these days!), someone like IR would definitely ponder over the worthiness of giving quality music - this in fact is a reflection of the accuracy of IR's (grasp of audience's taste) which has not changed
  
  When a Physics professor painstakingly explains Doppler effect in a classroom using some hitherto unattempted creative means and the students are more interested in playing "goli", a certain element of disinterest does set in, as far as the professor is concerned - of course, there are a few students who are eager to listen, but then the professor hardly gets a few hours of lecture sessions. Do you blame the Professor ?
  
  In the film industry, everything including music is a saleable commodity - by adding such a timeless valuable element to this commodity using his sheer creativity, IR has done more than what any other composer has done in instilling, creating , enthusing interest in different forms of music in the most pleasantest, exciting manner never attempted before
  
  Today, as per my claim or observation, as a discerning "listener" of IR's musical "lectures", I see a lack of interest in my "Professor" to use his ever fresh repository of ideas - only due to the shifting of interests by the majority (of the students) towards doing a crash course in C++, JAVA etc to go abroad - a trend that is very much happening even amongst students who are from basic sciences , leaving classic subjects like Maths, Physics and Chemistry and even life science areas like zoology - to pursue a crash course in search of the promised "body shopping" route to the El Dorado of contemporary times - the US
  
  I may not have got my analogies right here - but a sincere attempt nevertheless
  
  
• From: vamban (@ 216.190.255.35) on: Wed Aug 9 14:22:15 EDT 2000
  
  I am thinking of writing the following books
  to make money.
  
  IR, Arr Muzik for MSV Fans
  MSV MuZik for IR Fans
  IR MuZik for Arr Fans
  ARR MuZik for IR Fans.
  
  Dummiesnu potta adika varvuvanga, so polished names :)
  
  
• From: fan (@ 216.190.255.35) on: Wed Aug 9 14:34:29 EDT 2000
  
  Bug, i just read your posting,
  IMHO:IR clearly knows very well the market. I am telling this because few first hand sources told me about this.
  He can do well if he wants to, I feel he has reached a "saturation" point,
  
  Hear "neram piruthu parthen - Time"...one of the best composition i have heard in the past 10 years by any md, musically it is something great, young musicians can learn how to compose using so many instruments thru this song.
  He still has the stuff to do lots of things, Simply he does not want to do it.
  
  I once mentioned he needs to concentrate more, I was fried alive for that statment, but still it holds good.
  
  
• From: e.hari (@ 199.67.140.20) on: Wed Aug 9 14:50:12 EDT 2000
  
  Madhan,
  I dont think Hey ram songs are that great to be included as one of his best. IMO, time is a very good album from IR and niram parthu is a amazing song, despite a poor rendition from sujatha.
  
  e.hari
  
  
• From: Krishnan (@ 171.69.70.75) on: Wed Aug 9 15:11:02 EDT 2000
  
  Well said Madhan.
  
  
• From: Swami (@ 208.237.135.21) on: Wed Aug 9 15:35:09 EDT 2000
  
  fan,
  I'm totally with you. I don't know why he's not doing it. Whenever I hear songs like "Pon veliyile" from YatraMozhi, "Shiva Malli poove" from Friends, "Guru Charanam" from Guru, it irks me. Why the hell is he not coming out with numbers and arrangements like those? Is it because the directors did not ask them or is he getting vexed on monotonous situations. Maybe the best solution to this would be to stop composing for films, for a year, and then come back totally recharged.
  
  
• From: Viswa (@ 136.182.2.221) on: Wed Aug 9 15:44:10 EDT 2000
  
  Well, a lot of water has flown under the bridge here... but perhaps not as much as is the case with IR's music of yesterday and today.
  
  By IR's standards, the music he gives these days sound poor in quality - my doubt is, if IR does go back to the 80s style orchestration etc. will they be received ?
  
  I am not saying that IR should continue to score music the 80s way to continue to scintillate. Well, his style in the 80s was different from that in the 70s - his orchestration patterns changed (evolved, if I may say so), his treatment of percussions changed, and so on. Basically, he was still setting the standards for film music. He was said to be ahead of his times in the 70s (e.g. "uRavugaL thodarkadhai"), and blazing the trail at a heated pace in the 80s. By these stds, I find his music in the 90s to be disappointing. When I say the recent IR songs have been disappointing, in a sense, it is to compare them with the standards set by himself earlier.
  
  I agree with you in that I see him giving a lot of synth-based music, perhaps cater to the taste of the people in the 90s.
  
  Guys,
  Where his choice of instruments and the orchestration patterns seemed so perfect in every song and would surpass your expectation consistently with every interlude, every nuNukkam, they sound so predictable and mundane in a majority of today's works, save for a "Guru" or a "Yathra Mozhi". To use a short synth interlude for "Ennai thAlAtta varuvALO" is an example in point.
  
  He has to contend with the tastes of the audience in the 90s and later, we say. Yet, is'nt it true of any decade ? Well, he was able to set the standards in the 70s and 80s. As to why he's not doing it today - well, perhaps he is either unable to carry on further, or plainly not interested in doing so. I'd rather believe it is the latter.
  
  Of course, I don't expect IR to carry on at that level for ever. After all, he is human too, and is affected by age, stereotypes, recognition, etc. And neither would that deny him the status of an all-time great (if not the best ever) MD in India.
  
  But what I started out asking the DFers here was, have they noticed any of the changes that we have discussed here in his music, do they feel the same way about it as I (and some others like PeeSoo, Shankar, etc.) do, when they call all those recent songs amazing and vintage stuff !
  
  
• From: Viswa (@ 136.182.2.221) on: Wed Aug 9 15:55:03 EDT 2000
  
  Oops, the initial part of my posting was a response to Madhan. Madhan, thanks for your response.
  
  Shankar, sorry ba ! Inikki kaNdipA mailaren.
  
  PeeSoo, romba naaLukku appuram naama ingE sandhippom nu naan edhir paarkalai :-))
  
  
• From: raaja (@ 216.234.161.71) on: Wed Aug 9 15:58:08 EDT 2000
  
  hi motorola guy that is raja,
  rajathi raja eppavum naan raja.
  
  
• From: Viswa (@ 129.188.33.222) on: Wed Aug 9 16:13:53 EDT 2000
  
  AruL,
  Naan madhippavargaLin katchiyai saarndhavan, midhippavargaLin alla ! :-))
  
  At the same time, I would rather
  rate IR by his own high standards, than settle for something less.
  
  
• From: aruLaracan (@ 134.124.160.10) on: Wed Aug 9 16:44:08 EDT 2000
  
  :-))
  
  you are going to think that i am out of my rockers:-).
  
  now-a-days i prefer kAkkaich chiRaginilE, kaNNukkuL nilavu, hey ram and a few songs from kaNNA unnaith thEdugiREn, karisakkAttuppUvE (listen to mAmaraththula Unjal kattaNum mAmarakkuyilE) to padhinARu vayadhinilE, pannIr pushpangaL, that panivizhum malar vanam album (what's the name of the movie??)... everytime i listen to that measured meloncholy of UrurA pOgum indha odambu, the joy i get is unbound! i don't think there has been any better flute play in tfm than in OranjAram usharayyA ushAru (btw, very good picturization for this song) and nAgamaNi nAgamaNi song in kadavuL. of late, especially in the last one year, i feel a great burst of energy and enthusiasm in ir's compositions. ir doesn't give anymore youthful brash compositions; his music of the late nineties is very mature and measured. for example, listen to Anandha rAgam (pannIr pushpangaL), sundhari kaNNAl oru sEdhi (thaLapathi), cuttum chudar vizhip pArvaiyilE (chiRaichAlai) and dhEva sangIdham nIyallO (guru). imo, all these songs have similar musical ideas in them but every song hears to be more mature than the previous one in the list. anyways, this is what i feel. koLvor koLka kuraippOr kuraikka (again kaNNadhAsan :-) )
  
  why do ir's malayALam songs sound sweeter than his thamizh one's? because, malayALam directors know a good tune when they hear one! :-))
  
  
• From: fan (@ 216.190.255.35) on: Wed Aug 9 17:03:10 EDT 2000
  
  Viswa: I am with you on some issues,
  
  Friends these are my opinions, some might like it -- some will not,
  though I am use to it, please don’t trash me! verbally -:))
  
  IMHO:
  Of late, when IR tries something with modern new instruments, he sounds some what confused.
  
  Take the good old song of Anjali or the best I would say is "ninukori varanam"
  He exploited the new/modern instruments with 100% precision,
  
  How was he able to do it?
  
  During 80’s raja had some good keyboard persons around him, they knew very well to tame these monster gadgets to play Raja’s score as composed. Secondly, IR also had great enthusiasm in him to correct them if something did not sound good.
  
  Few well-known DF'ers have told me that they don’t like ennai thalata varuvaiyo,
  But I like that so much for its arrangement and programming of keyboards/drum parts.
  Who ever programmed (playing - is supposed to be an old term) it did a good job in interpreting rajas scores.
  
  IMHO, I have been researching his scores for the past few years now,
  
  Currently:
  
  1. I feel he is not comfortable with technology as he is with real Instruments.
  2. There is no one to help him or to interpret his composition in accordance to modern sounds.
  
  Some of his scores, which impressed me in recent years, were mainly acoustic or real instruments based arrangements. Those done using electronics’. Nop! Sorry I was not impressed.
  
  Many like me till believe Raja’s music is a household property! We want to take care it before it becomes unusable, my humble request to this great composer is:
  
  1. Please accept movies, which wants or demands real grand scores.
  2. Please accept movies from directors who really know your music rather than you personally.
  Finally,
  3. Please come out with private “acoustic based” albums, there are 1000001 fans who wants it, who will buy it. This will also encourage many people to do acoustic music and it will serve as good lessons for many musicians like me.
  
  
  aruLaracan this is for you, i have already emailed you about it but since no work now i am typing this again :)
  
  I would request IR's official fans website to write about his musical scores and arrangements rather than JR.VIKITAN kind of news.
  
  
• From: Gokul (@ 192.190.51.15) on: Wed Aug 9 17:11:31 EDT 2000
  
  aruL, you left out "iLayanilavE" from PVK:-)
  
  

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