6. Other language songs

This week, I want you to relish some of Maestro’s melodies outside Tamil. There are so many good songs he has given in Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu that we are not mostly aware of.

The first song is from Kannada. Geetha (1998) is considered a classic in music by Kannada music lovers. The songs are considered to be ever green in Kannada film music. Each song from this movie is really a GEM, believe me. Ene kelu koduve ninage is sung by SPB and female voice may be Janaki or Manjula (not sure). The song starts with a romantic dialogue which sets the tone for the song. Heroine is going to Ooty for some work and it appears she is joined by hero (Anantnag?) in the dream sequence. The song and interludes flow so smoothly. The charanams have some interesting rhythm like pingpong ball and then nice guitar towards at the end.

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Next is a Malayalam song. There was an interview last year with MG Sreekumar, in Amrita TV. He told about how he used to wait in front of Raja’s recording theatre to get a glimpse of him for a singing chance. Maestro will just smile at him and go in. This has been happening for couple of years! Sometimes, he will ask him ‘how are you’ then say ‘ok, lets see’ and move on. Suddenly, one day he called MGS and gave him a song for Atharvam (1998). The song is Poovai virinju. MGS was very happy that he finally got a chance and went back home after recording. When he sang this song to his brother MG Radhakrishnan (a famous MD in Malayalam) he immediately said this song has the essence of Keeravani and none other than Ilaiyaraaja on earth could have composed such a song. I am happy to present this song for those who haven’t heard this. The song is picturised on Charuhaasan and a young Mohanlal.

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This is a song from Rajkumar (Telugu). I don’t know about the year of release and other details about the movie. This song Janaki kalaganaledhu is set to Suddha Saveri ragam. So it reminds us of other songs like Radha nee enge, Kadhal mayakkam, Sithakathi pookkale, etc. But surely this is an enjoyable song with great orchestration.

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5. My current favourites

Veerathalattu was a 1998 release, which was an average hit, I think. There were 3 beautiful songs in the movie – Padikkattuma (very nicely sung by SJ) and Kadha pola thonum (very emotionally sung by Ilaiyaraaja). While Kadha pola song was publicized through movie trailers, Aala pirandha (sung by Ilaiyaraaja & Chitra) is another sung not noticed much. This is a very sweet lullaby coupled with a the situation of impending danger (like Mannava mannava song from Walter Vetrivel), which is like eating ‘halwa’ for our Maestro. Rajkiran and Radhika dream about bringing up their small kid, not knowing that the food served to Rajkiran has been poisoned. The villain manages to kill Rajkiran in the ensuing fight and Radhika escapes with the child somehow. The interludes portray the situation and is (lot of classical stuff) melodious at the same time.

This is a song from Archanai Pookkal – Kaviriye kaviriye (sung by SPB & SJ). I don’t know about the film (1982 release) and story. But, this is a nice village type duet. The prelude and bass lines are interesting. SPB’s singing (with laughs in between) is very romantic. I have heard 2 more good songs from this movie – Vazhimel is set to Amirthavarshini ragam and Naduchamam sung rustically by Malaysia Vasudevan. Its about the failed love, sync'ing with natural sounds like dog barking. If you get hold of the audio, enjoy these two.

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I discovered this recent gem from Maestro, thanks to Project Gem, which is continuously on my playlist. Japanil Kalyanaraman (1985), which is a sequel to Kalyanaraman (1979), was shot in Expo 85 Japan. As usual, Maestro has composed very special songs for Kamal. Kadhal un leelaya is sung by Maestro, which didn’t grab my attention when I saw the film. Frankly, I don’t know when it comes in the movie. May be, Kamal is drunken and sings about his love. Maestro’s voice has got an inexplicable ‘vaseegaram’. Instrumentation is mild for this soft, soothing melody. Hope you will also enjoy this.

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4. Voice Range & Choral Singing

In Carnatic music, voice ranges are classified like 2 kattai, 2-1/2 kattai, etc which denotes the pitch of the singer.

Something similar to this, Western Classical has classified the voices into four major categories. A typical choral arrangement divides women into higher and lower voices and men into higher or lower voices. Most voices can be assigned one of these four ranges, and this gives the composer four vocal lines to work with, which is usually enough. The four main vocal ranges are:

Soprano (or Treble) – A high female (or boy’s) voice
Alto – A low female (or boy’s) voice
Tenor – A high (adult) male voice
Bass – A low (adult) male voice

There are few subcategories too.

Arrangements for these four voices are labeled SATB (for Soprano Alto Tenor Bass). The ranges of the four voices overlap, but singers may find themselves straining or getting an unpleasant sound at the top or a weak sound at the bottom of their ranges. So although the full ranges of an alto and a soprano may look quite similar, the soprano gets a strong, clear sound on the higher notes, and the alto a strong, clear sound in the lower part of the range.

Choral singing calls for lot of skills (practice, stamina and technical knowledge). There are rules involved in writing choral melodies and arranging choir to SATB format. Choral writing was at its zenith during the Baroque period of classical music (16th century), mostly for religious music in Churches. This kind of arrangement was used in Oratorios during that period. JS Bach and Handel are the foremost composers in this area. Beethoven’s last (9th) symphony is called Choral symphony, because he introduced choral voices in this symphony for the 1st time, which was a sort of revolution in his times.

Choral singing has evolved over a period and have been used a lot in Hollywood films. John Williams (who happens to be a favorite of our Raja) is a pioneer in this. You may be surprised to note the usage of Sanskrit verses in a Star Wars film by John Williams. Its from ‘The Phantom Menace’. There are several Societies which are associations of chorus singers in Europe and US for promoting the music.

A cappella is another form of music containing only voices (i.e. SATB). You may freshly remember Maestro’s a cappella section from Polla vinayen (Thiruvasagam in Oratorio, 2005).

Raja’s songs are always a healthy mix of range of voices, with SATB kind of arrangement. Hear to this song from Maya Bazar 1995 (released in that year). Naan poradhu vandadhu is for a funny situation where Urvasi is a dupe who tries to drive away the evil spirits. The whole song is done only with voices (may be a faint guitar in some places). The voices also mimic the trumpet and drum tones. Rhythm for the whole song is provided by voices only and no instruments. The chorus is just unbelievable.

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There is another obscure movie Karayellam Shenbagappoo (1981) which has good songs from our Maestro. It was based on a famous thriller novel by Sujatha (bearing same name), that I enjoyed reading during my school days. This song - Eriyile elanthamaram is again choral, fused with folk. The situation is that Prathap Pothan sings with a bunch of village children, with his guitar. The second interlude contains some beautiful rhythm usage. Listen to the song and enjoy.

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Anther notable song is Vaanam thottu pona (Thevar magan). These are just examples, but there are more songs in this category like Ooru vittu (Karagattakkaran), Megam karukkayile (Vaidehi kathirundhal), etc.

Maestro has used all sorts of choir / chorus, as instruments in his songs. Note the difference between the chorus in Tik tik tik / Moodupani songs like En iniya pon nilave (singers singing with open mouth like ‘O’), chorus in the opening of Andhi mazhai song, Madai thiranthu song in Nizhalgal, Kathum kadal song in Chinnavar, chorus in various folk songs in Ramarajan movies. Some will be Baroque, some will be Poppish and some will be pure folk (like tha na na or la la) styles.

This is a big topic to discuss and may be you can add your own examples here.

3. Two melodious songs

It is well known that Raja is used to give great music even for dabba movies, as music pours out from him irrespective of film or situation. This movie Pudhupatti Ponnuthayi (1994) starring Vijayakumar, Radhika, etc was a flop but it had great songs. I thought I would present two super songs here. There are 3 more excellent songs. Just try to get hold of the original audio to enjoy all the songs.

The nagaswaram / thavil combo for two of the songs and BGM was played by the famous vidwans MPN Ponnusami & Sethuraman party (who also played for Kovil Pura). He had also used Thiruvizha Jayashankar for another film.

The 1st song – Azhagana nam paandi is sung by Ilaiyaraaja & chorus. This is again an excellent number for an insignificant situation, i.e. title song of the movie. Raja sings about the Madurai and Goddess Meenakshi. Check out how Maestro has effectively used the urumi melam in the interludes. This is one of the rare situations where Raja repeated the interludes, they are very short. Overall a pleasant sounding song to the ears.

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The next one – Maan kutti nee vaadi is a duet between Arunmozhi and a newcomer Lekha. It has a catchy rhythm and the orchestration is soothing.

I request readers to point out the ragas for these songs.

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