ILaiyaraaja - The Rapturous Musician

Revelry is one thing which all of us love.

When we celebrate something, adrenalin rushes in, endorphins run around, serotonin jumps, dopamine dances and oxytocin smiles. The positives far outweigh the negatives and probably this is one of the major reasons for the existence of so many festivals in India-especially in South India.

What happens when we celebrate art forms and poetry? Wouldn’t this result in our aesthetic sense getting fine tuned?

But then, are celebrations and aesthetics mutually inclusive or exclusive?

This is not an easy question to answer. Celebrations can be gaudy, displeasing and distasteful. It can also be artistic, beautiful and creative.

Let us see how a great poet celebrates a very important and a significant occasion.

Rama and Sita get married at Mythila. Kavi Chakravarthy describes this Event with panache. Though there are many verses, let me just take 3 of these now.

First, the sun rise:

அஞ்சனம் ஒளியானும் அலர்மிசை உறைவாளும்,

எஞ்சலில் மணம் நாளைப் புரிகுவர் எனலோடும்,

செஞ்சுடர் இருள் கீறித் தினகரன் ஒருதேர் மேல்,

மஞ்சனை அணிகோலம் காணிய என வந்தான்.

It seems spreading it beautiful rays, the sun rises to witness the wedding of Rama and Sita.

Then, he describes the city and the people of the city.

அன்னமென் நடையாரும், மழவிடை  அனையாரும்,

கன்னி நன்னகர் வாழை கமுகொடு நடுவாரும்,

பன்னரு திரைமுத்தம் பரியென தெரிவாரும்,

பொன்னணி அணிவாரும், மணியணி புனைவாரும்.

Young girls and men adorn themselves with priceless pearls and jewels and the city is full of the auspicious plantain trees.

And finally, the wedding:

ஆர்த்தன பேரிகள், ஆர்த்தன சங்கம்;

ஆர்த்தன நான்மறை, ஆர்த்தனர் வானோர்;

ஆர்த்தன பல்கலை, ஆர்த்தன பல்லாண்டு;

ஆர்த்தன வண்டினம், ஆர்த்தன வேலை.

The drums reverberate. The conch reverberates. The veda mantram reverberates. The bees buzz. The ocean thunders. All these say, ‘Long live the divine couple!’

As I said there are more verses, but I have chosen just 3. Look at the contrasts in the first and the second verse. The first one describes Rama as ‘dark-hued’ and Sita as the one who lives on the lotus flower. The second one has the swan (girls’ gait) and the bull (men’s gait). The last one ‘sounds’ the percussion and the melodic conch. It also talks about the ‘bee’(which goes in search of honey) and the ocean(water)- symbolizing living and non-living things.

To imagine that even the bees and the ocean celebrated Rama’s wedding, calls for a profound aesthetic sense. And that is why, we celebrate Kamban.

If this was a poet’s celebration and the celebration of a poet, what we are going to see now is a musician’s celebration. In the former, Kavi Chakravarty celebrated his Hero’s wedding. In the latter, Isai Chakravarty celebrates his hero’s wedding-his hero (or should we say heroine?) being music.

Through almost all his compositions ILaiyaraaja celebrates music and this is reflected in the output. So, what would have happened when he was asked to compose a song for a wedding sequence- a tribal wedding sequence at that. Wouldn’t that have made his creative juices flow and even overflow?

That oozing resulted in ‘Kanni PoNNu Kai Mela’ (Ninaivellam Nitya-1982).

The rhythm, the pattern, the use of apt instruments and a very special raga make us imagine the ecstatic state the composer would have been in, while composing this song.

To start with (and I am going in reverse), let us look at the raga. Theoretically speaking, SaarangatharangiNi is a simple scale. It is a shadava raga with 6 swaras in ascending and descending. The great carnatic music legend Shri.G.N.Balasubramanian, a musician known for many experimentations, once thought of adding a swara (dha) to a very popular raga Hamsanadam. The new raga was christened SaarangatharangiNi. Though it does sound like a Hindustani raag(a lot of resemblance to Shuddh Sarang and not without reasons), it has a unique charm.

ILaiyaraaja used it for the first time in this song(and some more times later on).

Shehani, an instrument (wrongly) associated with melancholy alone, has been used prolifically by ILaiyaraaja in very happy situations. This instrument is ubiquitous in this song (note that it is played in North Indian weddings).

ILaiyaraaja is known to for using very different instruments. In this song, he uses tribal percussion which plays the tribal beats.

And of course there is his most favourite instrument which is called as ‘silence’.

Let us now celebrate the song looking at the nuances.

It starts with the tribal percussion sounding ‘ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi’ for 2 aavartanas(taaLa cycles). The chorus hums now and isn’t this enticing? The dynamic melody matches the rhythmic intensity. It is the marriage between raga and taaLa!

As the chorus continues, we see the resplendent shades of the raga. It continues for 11 aavartanas with a special sound occurring at the end of every second aavartana till the 8^th and then at the end of every aavartana. This special sound which lasts for just one beat, shows how a subtle improvisation can enhance the mood of a composition.

The chorus touches the higher octave and twin-shehnai decides it is time to jump into the fray. It plays the first line of the Pallavi and then goes on. The bass guitar joins the percussion which by now gathers more momentum and intensity, giving a resonant beat at the third microbeat of the fourth ‘ta ka dhi mi’.

The subtle flute joins the shehnai for the last two aavartanas to play a part in the celebrations.

Suseela starts the Pallavi in higher octave. Not many songs have a start like this. There is pause after ‘kai mele’ with only the special sound appearing there. Malaysia Vasudevan repeats the first line and the chorus appears again after the second line, humming in a typical tribal style for one aavartana. And then there is silence for 3 beats after ‘KalyaNam’. Does this signify something?

As if to show the contrast, the male voice, the female voice and the chorus sing the next line boisterously!

With a willowy grace, the shehnai moves in the first interlude. But before that, the resonant percussion sounds ‘ta’ with yet another tribal percussion sounding ‘ka dhi mi’ rather gently. And this goes on for 2 aavartanas. But the beats continue in the same pattern in the background throughout the interlude- when the chorus sings ‘tam tam tam ki ta’ followed by a brief akaaram and then ‘tam tam tam ki ta tam tam tam tam’ for 4 aavartanas, when the flute plays a piece couched in winsome melodic language for 4 aavartanas and when a tribal melodic instrument joins hands with the keys mimicking the humming of the chorus.

The lines in the CharaNams are eloquent with silence playing a role here too. There is silence for a full aavartana after the first and the third line. The vocals(female in the first charaNam and male in the second charaNam) give a repartee in the second and the fourth line. The chorus joins after the fifth line, repeating the min singer’s lines. The last line rolls with musical intensity.

The second interlude is vivacious. For starters, the tribal instrument gives a gripping melody. The strings respond intensely with the percussion-which is intense as well- backing these, playing ‘ta – dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi’. After two rounds, the shehnai wallows in and moves with exhilaration. A host of shehnais and a couple of other instruments join now and then. As if smitten by this, the chorus sings with ecstasy. It is contrast again with the keys sounding with suppleness. The tribal/keys melody appears again and this time the chorus joins in giving the repartee.

Sheaves of melody!

Sun rays, priceless pearls, jewels, buzzing bees, thundering ocean..

Artistic, Beautiful and Creative..

 It is the Celebration of Life!

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