Illaiya Raja FURTHUR UPDATED - Page 10

Song: Prema Laedhani...(Telugu)
Film: Abinandhana
Scale : Keeravani

Friday, January 17, 2003

This is the fourth in the series of articles celebrating the music of Maestro Ilayaraja, from a technical standpoint. The article treats the Maestro's music as a textbook on music composition and presents certain technical and non-technical nuances in his music that may be of interest to students of music composition and orchestration as well as to listeners with a technical background in carnatic and western classical music.

The content presented in this article is just an observation made by the author. Please feel free to indicate any analytical errors that you may find.

This a pathos song based on a very common situation in Indian films (love failure).It has been handled in the musically innovative way through the unique orchestration that spells out the trademark of Ilayaraja.

This is yet another song from Ilayaraja in the scale, Keeravani (C harmonic minor), one of the parent scales in carnatic music. This article assumes that the tonic of the song is on the word "Prema" in the first line "Premalaedhani". Taking this as the note Sa, the rest of the song fits into the structure of the scale, Keeravani. Mapping this carnatic scale to the western scales fits the song into C harmonic minor.

The composer's ability to create an expectation (for the next phrase or next part of this phrase) in the listener through the use of unstable notes at the end of the phrases (or end of parts of the phrases) is dominant in this song. The use of the unstable leading note of the scale (B/Ni) at the end of the pallavi (joharu'lu'...) and charanam (laekunti'ni'...) (and also in the first phrase of the charanam) are examples that present this feature.

The use of an accidental (natural E) in the charanam (mugabhoyi nee'vunti'vee...), to support the mood of the song sounds natural in many of Ilayaraja's compositions.

The range of the vocals in the song is between the lower G and middle A flat (i.e roughly alto ). Ilayaraja's command in writing polyphonic music is clearly evident in this song. The prelude that begins with the trumpet (or brass?) is followed by a small 3-part arrangement with guitar spelling out the 3/4 meter. The vocals in the pallavi are backed up by the guitar and bass lines (i'm not sure if the bass is on keyboard or bass guitar), once again harmonizing three voices (including the vocals). The repetition of the pallavi introduces the percussion, which sounds a peculiar rhythm pattern, given that this is a pathos song. Thus the song presents a typical "Ilayaraja" kind of exposition.

The first interlude starts off with the winds and leads to the strings (violins) constantly supported by chord progressions. The use of counterpoint while the percussion is in rest, towards the end of the interlude, is a stereotyped pattern that Ilayaraja follows in many of his compositions. This is found in both the interludes of this song (note the imitative nature of the string arrangement at the end of the second interlude). The vocals in the charanam have excellent background support, not only with the bass lines but also with strings and keyboard. The solo violin typically found in pathos situations, finds a place in the second interlude.

Thanks to Maestro Ilayaraja for giving us yet another song to celebrate.

Song: Manasu Palikae...(Telugu)
Film: Swathimuthyam
Scale : Sudha Dhanyasi

Thursday, December 26, 2002

This is the third in the series of articles celebrating the music of Maestro Ilayaraja, from a technical standpoint. The article treats the Maestro's music as a textbook on music composition and presents certain technical and non-technical nuances in his music that may be of interest to students of music composition and orchestration as well as to listeners with a technical background in carnatic and western classical music.

The content presented in this article is just an observation made by the author. Please feel free to indicate any analytical errors that you may find.

This song is a romantic melody based on the symmetric pentatonic scale, Sudha Dhanyasi (S G2 M1 P N1/C Eflat F G Bflat). The calm and sober nature of the characters in the film are perfectly reflected by the soft voice timbre that the singers maintain throughout this song. This song is characterized by a controlled use of chord progressions and mild contrapuntal texture, unlike the composer's usual compositions which emphasis on these elements of harmony. This could probably be attributed to the story of the film which is based on a traditional south Indian backdrop. However, the amazing string arrangements that have been written for this song, represent the ability of the composer to use western orchestration for an Indian scenario.

The song begins with a wonderful solo vocal in the higher octave ( note that the ri that is sounded right in the first phrase of the solo vocals , is not part of the underlying scale). The solo voice and the chorus accompaniment followed by the strings (violins), veena and flute backed up by the rhythm pattern on the tabla, mark a typical Ilayaraja way of beginning a song.

The first interlude that opens up with the use of the "thavil" (percussion instrument) and an arrangement of strings (interleaved with a dulcimer kind of instrument) speaks of the unusual orchestration skills of the composer. This is immediately followed by a combination of tabla, veena and flute in a sort of contrasting tempo.

The second interlude proceeds like a dialogue between the strings, flute and vocals. It begins with a dialogue between the strings and flute. The vocals are then introduced followed by an harmony between the strings and vocals that produces a romantic mood for the situation. The strings and the flute have a final dialogue before the interlude leads to the charanam.

The pallavi and charanam of this song are interesting with respect to the flow of melodies in them. The pallavi begins on the lower pa and gradually moves towards the middle pa (anuvu anuvu...) and finally touches the higher sa (sumadhanuvu...), and falls back through a series of notes in descent, to start off once again. The flow of notes start from the lower pa and move till the middle pa.(though the higher sa is touched just once). This flow is further continued in the charanam that begins on the middle ni. The melodies gradually move touwards the higher sa (kalala koumudilo....) and finally touch the higher ga (kougilinthaluga...). Note the gradually movement of the phrases from the lower pa (in the pallavi) to the higher ga (at the end of the charanam).

(Note: Also an interesting point to note in the last part of the charanam, is the word "kougilinthaluga", the "ga" in this word matches with the note that is sung , ga (Eflat). A similar feature can be found at the end of the first charanam also. I'm not aware whether the lyrics were written before the song was tuned)

Thanks to Maestro Ilayaraja for giving us yet another song to celebrate.

Song: Vae Vaela Varnala...(Telugu)
Film: Sankeerthana
Scale : Mohanam

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

This is the second in the series of articles celebrating the music of Maestro Ilayaraja, from a technical standpoint. The article treats the Maestro's music as a textbook on music composition and presents certain technical and non-technical nuances in his music that may be of interest to students of music composition and orchestration as well as to listeners with a technical background in carnatic and western classical music.

The content presented in this article is just an observation made by the author. Please feel free to indicate any analytical errors that you may find.

This song has been composed for a joyful situation, wherein the character in the film describes the natural geographic beauty around him. The character expresses his feelings (of surprise and happiness) while sailing in the fast moving river water. Notice that the flow of tunes in this song is "musically" very close to the flow of the river water.

Based on a symmetric pentatonic scale called Mohanam (SRGPD - CDEGA), this song is a perfect example that describes how controlled deviations from a selected scale should be handled, to create variety in film music. This scale originally (according to carnatic music theory) contains A natural (chathusruthi dha). But the composer has made careful usage of A flat (shudha dha) at several places in the song. The pallavi of the song begins with wonderful slides woven with the notes surrounding the higher C. The second tune (Alalu silalu...) is unique in that it sounds both A and A flat, in a sequence.

The charanam maintains the high spirits of the character by beginning in the higher octave. The composers' creative mind can be seen at the end of this tune, which flows down to A flat and finally touches A (natural) before a tentative halt, after which the next tune continues to the middle C.

The amazing note combinations that constantly keep shifting between the two kinds of A, are beyond the scope of any kind of description. These shifts in particular, express the feeling of surprise (as implied by the wonderful lyrics) and happiness in the mind of the character in the film. The charanam ending on the higher E is the most unexpected musical surprise in this song. The lyircs for this last tune in the charanam, being a question (yaedha kae kanuluntae….?), demonstrates the composer's ability to grammatically blend a tune with the meaning of its lyrics.

(Note: I'm note aware if the song was tuned to the lyrics or the lyrics were written to the tune).

The use of vocals in the prelude and interlude, the chosen pitch and tempo for this situation, are noteworthy. In this song, the composer shows the importance of a prelude. Note that he brings the listeners to the mood of the song as the song opens up with a wonderful vocal hum and a bass back up. The colorful orchestration of the prelude (vocals, keyboard, flute and tabla) sets the theme for the rest of the song.

The composer fuses the music to the situation in the film with a folk tune in the interlude. The female chorus backed up by a folk percussion, followed by the flute, gives a true "classical telugu folk" color to the song.

Thanks to Maestro Ilayaraja for giving us yet another song to celebrate.

Song: Tarali Radha Thanae Vasantham…
Film: Rudra Veena
Scale : Hamsadwani

Friday, November 29, 2002

This is the first in the series of articles celebrating the music of Maestro Ilayaraja, from a technical standpoint. The article treats the Maestro's music as a textbook on music composition and presents certain technical and non-technical nuances in his music that may be of interest to students of music composition and orchestration as well as to listeners with a technical background in carnatic and western classical music.

The content presented in this article is just an observation made by the author. Please feel free to indicate any analytical errors that you may find.

This song is based on the symmetric pentatonic scale Hamsadwani (sa ri ga pa ni / C D E G B). In the film, the song plays the role of an entertainer for laborers who are cutting down the woods. Hence the song maintains a lively mood, in general. Note the composer's choice of the scale to evoke this mood. This scale does not have any note pairs with semitonal intervals between them.

The song presents a perfect usage of the Hamsadhwani raga in film music. The pallavi features certain important slides (gamakas) in this raga. The oscillation of the lower ni at the end of the first melody and the slides between ri and ga (in the words gaganaala dhaka….) reflect the image of the raga.

In the charanam of this song, the composer shows the scope of a simple scale like Hamsadhwani. He explores a variety of interesting phrase combinations in this scale. The phrases in general, alternate between ascent and descent i.e. a phrase in the descent is followed by an ascent and vice versa. The first portion of the charanam features a straightforward flow of notes in sequence. This followed by the line "prati madhini…." which connects two different phrases in a interesting manner. The first one (Ri Ri Sa ni Sa Ri Ri) lands on the higher Ri and the second one (ri ri ga pa ga ri) takes off on the middle ri. The sudden shift in the octave is unexpected.

The next line that follows (aedhi sontham kosam ….) sounds a surprisingly long interval between notes: lower ni to the higher Ri. The last portion of the charanam (idhi theliyani…). features the dhatu prayogam (phrase with alternate notes in a sequence) thus bringing out the true image of Hamsadhwani. (Once again note the unusual interval between the previous melody and this one!)

A possibility for using these interesting phrases which sway over three different octaves, could be linked to the underlying situation of the song in the film which demands a active mood.

The interludes in this song follow a certain pattern (vaguely analogous to the concept of forms in western classical music). They comprise of a long flute piece followed by a short counterpoint. The percussions do not sound in the first and last few bars of both the interludes. The guitar and bass lines back up the rhythm pattern throughout the interlude (a typical Ilayaraja!). The three-voice counterpoint at the end of the second interlude is lead by a melody on the flute (from a keyboard). The first part of this melody contains a phrase and its variation (towards the end). It goes as follows: B C B- G B- C B B C B- G E -B C D B. Notice that the first four notes are similar in both the phrases. This pattern is typically found in many of Ilayaraja's melodies. The first two tunes in the charanam also follow a more or less similar pattern.

Thanks to Maestro Ilayaraja, for this wonderful musical lesson!.

Niraj / Deepa,

Thanks for those wonderful articles on IR. These are a treat for music listeners like me, who don't know anything about classical music. Do we have one for "Andhi Mazhai" from Raja Parvai?.

I would rate him as the greatest composer I have ever heard.

Originally posted by: kpartha

Niraj / Deepa,

Thanks for those wonderful articles on IR. These are a treat for music listeners like me, who don't know anything about classical music. Do we have one for "Andhi Mazhai" from Raja Parvai?.

I would rate him as the greatest composer I have ever heard.

partha ji,

thank u .....i got so influenced by Niraj ..that i was searching and found these....these articles are from a telugu movie site...so there is no mention of tamil songs....sorry.........

but all the songs mentioned above are just superb....the song from geetanjali...gives u goose bumps if u listen......my fav is "tarali raada tane" for the wonderful music and lyrics..........

Originally posted by: adwarakanath

👏

Nadabramha!!

Can someone please explain the Carnatic Raaga, and terms like 'Pallavi, Charnam, Thillana, Thalam, Thaanam' etc?

My mom always defines a performance in three words -

Raaga, Thaana, Pallavi (Ragam, Thanam, Pallavi...we're kannadigas...we don't use the 'm')

hi abhi....

i dont know much about music...but the i found the meanings of the following ...may be they can help...

pallavi (1) - meaning sprout or bud (or leaf) in the comparison of a song with a tree, it is usually the first section of a song, which may be repeated again after the anupallavi and caraNas. It is usually short (1-2 lines)

pallavi (2) - a musical form (sabhaa gaanam) in which a phrase or line is taken in raagam taanam pallavi (RTP) for expounding the raaga and words, to do neraval and manOdharma sangeetam

raaga (1) - a particular type of Indian scale, containing a defined combination of swaras (especially which is pleasant to hear). It is very similar to the Western concept of mode (see mode) - a set of notes with defined relationships with one another. For example, the Western major scale is equivalent to (but not exactly because of gamakas) the shankaraabharaNam raaga, while the minor scale is equivalent to the keeravaaNi raaga. Scales such as harmonic and melodic minor, as well as scales that omit some notes or vary the order of notes are also raagas. One characteristic of all raagas is that they are not dependent on the starting note. Just as C major and G major are still both major scales, shankaraabharaNam is also shankaraabharaNam whether one starts at C or D. No two raagas have the same structure, but there are potentially hundreds of thousands of possible raagas, of which over 5000 have been used

taanam - the second section in a raagam taanam pallavi in which the raaga is elaborated rhythmically (traditionally without rhythmic accompaniment) using the word "aananta." Taanam may be performed as a raagamaalika as well.

varnam - one of the most important pieces, often the last in the early training period of music. Varnam is the link of abhyaasa and sabhaa gaanam. It gives the important sancaarams of the raaga and is good for practice. It is a composition with given swaras set up in the following form: pallavi, anupallavi, muktaayi swaram, caraNam (upapallavi, ettukaaDi pallavi, or cittaipallavi), and successive citta swaras (caraNa swarams or ettukaaDi swaras) that are sung before returning to the caraNam. The pallavi, anupallavi, and caraNam are sung usually without the swaras and with only the brief saahitya in concerts. Varnams are often the first piece in the concert because they are fast and grab the audience's attention. They are useful for practice and are sung in multiple speeds, from slower to faster. There are 4 types of varnams: taana varnams, pada varnams, padajati varnams, and raagamaalika varnams.

if u want to know more try this link.....

http://www.geocities.com/promiserani2/glossary.html........😊

Originally posted by: N Sinha

Thanks Deepaji for above links

thank u niraj and thank u for taking time out and posting these articles here........😊

Originally posted by: kd286

partha ji,

thank u .....i got so influenced by Niraj ..that i was searching and found these....these articles are from a telugu movie site...so there is no mention of tamil songs....sorry.........

but all the songs mentioned above are just superb....the song from geetanjali...gives u goose bumps if u listen......my fav is "tarali raada tane" for the wonderful music and lyrics..........

I have listened to all the above songs + Idhayathi Thirudathe (Tamil) which was Geetanjali in Telugu. Definitely, among the best of IR compositions. I wish that Mani Ratnam & IR combination continued after Dalapati, but we would not have got ARR. Sometimes, bad events turn out for good.

As for lyrics & music go, I would vote for Kannadasan-IR or Vaali-IR combination in Tamil from IR era.

Thanks once again for sending us those links.