ILaiyaraaja – The Avant-Garde Musician

 

Being innovative or creative is not just an art. Going beyond any stretch of imagination-literally and figuratively- beyond realms of possibility, sensibly with a sense of purpose is creativity. The process of creativity is an experience by itself and can hardly be put in words. One has to experience it to fully understand and appreciate it. In a way, it is like meditation.

Now, this gentleman looks at the sky, at the earth and then at the horizon. His imagination runs riot. Why can’t we possess all things that we see? Why can’t I grab the sky? –he questions himself. Will our efforts bear fruit at all? Will we give up finally? – he continues. And then he says, It is after all the Supreme Power-the Divine force- which is present in the sky, in whatever we see and in whatever we count.

கண்ணில் தெரியும் பொருளினைக் கைகள் கவர்ந்திட மாட்டாவோ?

அட- மண்ணில் தெரியுது வானம், அது நம் கைவசப்படலாகாதோ?

எண்ணி எண்ணிப் பல நாளும் முயன்றிங்கு இறுதியிற் சோர்வோமோ?

அட- விண்ணிலும் கண்ணிலும் எண்ணிலும் மேவு பரசக்தியே.

On the face of it, this may sound ordinary. But scratch the surface, start exploring and you will see a gold mine.

So many beings before him must have seen the horizon. But how many did even think of ‘grabbing’ it? Coming to think of it, ‘horizon’ itself is an illusion. We chase that illusion known in Indian Philosophy as ‘Maaya’ and give up finally. But the moment we see the existence of the Supreme Power and the fact that it is present in space, on the earth and in all beings, we realise that we go after things which are not real while forgetting that things which are real appear unreal to us.

One can go on and on about these 4 lines but this short summary is enough to show the genius of Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharati; and to give a sample of ‘creativity’.

Creative people set examples and lead the way for others to follow. They chart their own course and travel on uncharted path. They create a niche for themselves. Needless to say, ILaiyaraaja is one such genius.

It is not uncommon for music composers to use different ragas in the same composition. Called Ragamaalika, such compositions give one a taste of different ragas within minutes- at times within seconds. But what ILaiyaraaja has done in KaNNanai KaaNbaaya (Manithanin Marupakkam – 1986) is something unique and not tried out generally by normal music composers.

There are three ragas, with each one related to the other. In some of my earlier posts, I had written about the different swaras and their variants. Essentially, there are seven swaras with sa and pa having no variants. The other 5- ri, ga, ma, dha, ni- have two variants( I am confining my discussion to normal variants and not going to the concept of vivadi here).

 ‘KaNNanai KaaNbaaya’ starts in one particular raga. One variant of a particular swara is changed in the second charaNam and one variant of the original raga is again changed in the next CharaNam. Thus there are three different ragas related to each other in terms of the structure, but different from each other in terms of the sound and the mood.

The beginning of the composition sees Laya Raaja in full flow with the mrudangam -along with the subtle ankle bells- playing different patterns in tisram. It ends with 4 tadheenginnathom giving a stately edifice to the composition. It is precursor to what is in store.

Chitra starts the Pallavi in pure HindoLam with the sympathetic strings welcoming one and all with unbounded enthusiasm.

The violins and the flute decorate the first interlude with simple but powerful swaras in HindoLam. The melody unfolds with discernment and shines with radiance.

The first CharaNam is rather short but one sees some variegated patterns of the raga with the second line even touching the higher octave swaras –Ma Dha and Ga- not an usual spectacle one gets to see in film music. The akaaram after the first line is meditatively classical.

The second interlude sees a sudden transition- as far as style is concerned- to western music. The exuberant guitar moves with an unmatched tonal smoothness while the keys bend, jump, prance and dance without in anyway deviating from the raga. However, something happens just before the end of the interlude.

HindoLam is a pentatonic raga with 5 swaras in arohaNa(ascending) and avarohaNa (descending). The swaras are- sa ga2 ma1 dha1 ni2. Just at the end of the first interlude, the variant of ga is changed to ga3. In Carnatic music parlance, ga2 is SaadharaNa Gaandharam and ga3 is Antara Gaandhaaram. When this happens, it gives rise to a new raga. And this raga is called Sallaapam.

I have written and even spoken in many forums about this raga and how it was ILaiyaraaja who used this first. This raga is known by the name Surya in carnatic music circuits as coined by a carnatic musician sometime during the early ‘90s. However, as per the traditional raga texts, this raga is Sallapam and it was ILaiyaraaja who used this first way back in 1982 in ‘Thai Mookambigai’. This is anyway an aside but not irrelevant here.

Going back to KaNNanai.., the second CharaNam is in Sallapam. Note that the second CharaNam is different from that of the first CharaNam in terms of the structure too.

The following interlude goes back to HindoLam. The guitar and the drums give caressing overtones with the flute ambling with elegance even as the guitar keeps repeating the melody.  The keys move with spontaneous spirit and with an unmatched grace.

The next CharaNam sees yet another change. The variant of ni is changed (from kaisiki nishadam-ni2 to kaakali nishadam-ni3) making it Chandrakauns, a raag more prevalent in the Hindustani system of music.

Three different ragas separated by just small variants and yet evoking different emotions..

Are these separate or are these connected?

Are these like the horizon?

Wish we found answers to such questions.. and if we find the answers, we will know what creativity is all about.

 

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