Everything in this world is meaningful. If we cannot find
the meaning, there is surely something wrong
somewhere. No, I am not talking about difficult
words and dictionaries. It is
about each and every happening in
the world and concomitantly in our life.
The link between a happening and why it is happening is hidden
most of the times resulting in our cursing everything and everybody-mainly things and people we don’t like.
But Nature’s Law
is such that any effect is because
of a cause. I don’t want to list out
things here and just quote one example from Nature and move on.
In fact, in my post
on ‘Aa KaNulalo’ (ILaiyaraaja-The Perspicacious Musician
posted on the 3rd of March
), I had said about the formation of clouds
and subsequently quoted a Thiruppaavai.
Now, let me go to the next step in the process and ask ‘why
does it rain?’
Even a school boy or girl will be able to say the answer: ‘Warm air turns the water from rivers, lakes, and oceans into water
vapour that rises into the air forming clouds. As these clouds rise higher, the
air gets colder, the water vapour in the clouds becomes very heavy and therefore falls back to the earth as
rain.’
This is of course basic
science but can one miss the philosophy
in this?
Water
from the Earth comes back to the Earth after undergoing a process.
Now, for a moment let us see what happens if the
law/rule is flouted (isn’t this
common in our country anyway?) and the clouds decide to hold back the water?
The great poet ThiruvaLLuvar
thought about this 2000 years back
and said ‘ If only this happened, even
the mighty ocean would lose its value’
நெடுங்கடலும் தன்நீர்மை குன்றும் தடிந்து எழிலி
தான் நல்காது ஆகி விடின்.
Though it appears to be a verse on the rain in general, there is more to it than meets the eye. Consider
the Ocean as the Universe, the water vapour as great virtues and the clouds as people who have these virtues.
If people who ‘have’, fail to share it with the
ones who need it, the Universe
begins to lose its riches and value. Then why blame the Nature for the calamities when the
fault lies with us.
Here too, doesn’t one see the Cause and Effect?
People like ThiruvaLLuvar
were however like the natural cloud which
never fails to give back. ThiruvaLLuvar had talent in abundance.
He channelised his talent and energy
and composed 1330 verses solely in
the interest of mankind. Since it
was done with a determination and
with a disciplined focus, the verses
are still alive and are being quoted
by people across the globe.
Though he did keep the verses short, he never compromised on the poetic beauty. He was flamboyant
too and occasionally indulged in word
play. But here too, he did it meaningfully
with the result that not only was the verse meaningful but also it was beautiful.
The verse
‘துப்பார்க்கு துப்பாய துப்பாக்கித் துப்பார்க்குத் துப்பாய தூஉமழை’
is
an example. Since I had already explained this verse in one of my old My Journey
posts in the previous community,
I am not getting into this now. All I can say is that whatever he did, he did
it with a basis and for a cause.
Same is the case with ILaiyaraaja. With his abundant knowledge
and natural talent, he has been consistently giving us some extra ordinary
compositions and taking us to
greater heights. At the same time, he has experimented
with some new ragas- ragas not used by
any musician- and has mesmerised us
too. What is great about this is
that he has done this with sound reasoning
and with an objective.
For example, take the case of ‘Thogai ILamayil aadi varugudhu’
from ‘PayaNangaL Mudivathillai’ (1982). Most of you know
the sequence in the movie. The lead character, a person with a great voice but without any recognition
at last gets an opportunity to showcase his talent. Now, how should
the tune be? In a raga considered to be auspicious? That is what ILaiyaraaja does. The prelude and the Pallavi are in Hamsadhwani.
But hang on. What is that alien swara
‘dha1’ in the last line of the Pallavi? Is it an accidental note?
Doesn’t it appear in the interludes
and in the CharaNams as well? Then
how can it be a case of the rather usual ‘alien
note creeping in in a film song’?
What ILaiyaraaja
has done here is something unique.
The raga which has ‘sa ri2 ga3 pa dha1 ni3’ is a raga
called TharaLam and is a janya of Sarasangi. There are no known classical
compositions in this raga. The Master wanted to welcome the singer with the traditional Hamsadhwani first. He found his story to be unique (in a way
reminiscent of his own). ‘So, why not use
an unknown raga’, he must have thought and must have added the ‘dha1’. This in effect gives a mystic
feel to the composition as a whole.
He does not stop with this alone. He
conceals some swaras in a piece in the
first interlude and in a segment in the CharaNams to make it sound like another raga, a morning raga at
that. After all, is it not a new dawn
for the singer?
Let us look at all these now one by one .
The soft, sedate and the subtle Flute sounds like a cuckoo. The Guitar and the Bass Guitar move with pulsating weight
giving a short pause for two beats
in between before leading to the Pallavi.
The Pallavi
is finely etched with the mandra sthayi(lower
octave) ni3. and ‘pa.’ mingling beautifully with madhyama sthayi(mid-octave) swaras of Hamsadhwani. The Guitar piece
appearing for just one beat at the
end of the first and the second lines, sounds refreshingly
beautiful. The change in the Chatushram
pattern in the third line with the percussion sounding only the ‘ta ka’ gives it a different shade while the introduction of ‘dha1’ in the last line (kalyaaNam) changes the complexion totally.
The first
interlude sees a melodic progression. The specially sounding Guitar sounds with precision. The percussion sounds ‘ta ka dhi mi’ in mel kaalam.
Yet another Guitar sounds sustained
notes with panache. And this rather funny sound appears four times-first as response to the powerful phrasings of Electric Guitar and later as a reply to
the melodic Keys. The Keys then go on a trip with intuitive
impulses.
A kind of magic
awaits us then. The Flute plays the swaras ‘pa dha1 pa’ and have the
contours of Bowli, the morning raga. The intense Bass Guitar welcomes this new dawn and then combines with the Guitar to guide us to the first CharaNam.
The CharaNams
are inundated with rich, imaginative and innovative ideas.
The first and
the third lines have the swaras of Hamsadhwani only while the second
and the fourth lines go to TharaLam after the Hamsadhwani trademark ‘pnSGR’
appearing in the beginning..The first four
lines are adorned with the stately Sitar.
The fifth line is rather long but
what follows then is magical again.
The following line
has mainly the ‘pa dha1 pa’ ‘ga pa dha
pa’ and ‘ga pa’ giving it the Bowli flavour yet again. The laya pattern is interesting too (as
ever) with the Chatushram going in mel kaalam as
‘4 - - 4 6
4 4 4 4’
with the ‘-‘ indicating a gap.
The last line
has 4 ‘ta ka dhi mi’ s in keezh
kaalam with the swaras going as janta(two) in the first two ‘ta ka dhi mi’ s and as three
in the following two ‘ta ka dhi mi’s.
The rhythmic mobility continues in the second interlude as well with the percussion alternating between mel kaalam and keezh kaalam first and then alternating between playing and keeping quiet even as the rapturous Sitar
plays some intricate phrases. The percussion
maintains a stoic silence again when the Strings
dazzle in Western Classical mode and
shows up when the Sitar is back with
the Strings playing just for one beat. It is mel kaala chatushram in
full flow for 2 cycles. It suddenly
changes to Tisram first in keezh kaalam (4 Tisrams-one per each
beat) and then in keezh kaalam (8 Tisrams-two per beats). The Flute plays some leisurely oscillations
to provide a contrast.
Cause
and Effect- Is it melodic or
philosophical?
It is for you to decide…
