ILaiyaraaja – Musician with an aura

 
How beautiful is light?

Not an easy question to answer. In fact the question itself is ambiguous and the difficulty in answering lies as much in that ambiguity. There are certain things which are beyond beauty and even the concept of beauty. Surely, Light is beyond everything.

Everything begins with light. Everything began with light. But everything does not end with light, because there is no end to light.

It is not surprising at all that scholars who understood the divine nature of light, have composed verses which show the different dimensions of light. AruNagirinathar was one of those.

He starts one of the verses saying ‘Standing at the peak of the mountain of Wisdom which was formed by the effulgent light’. Imagine a huge mountain formed from the light! He continues- ‘You made me realise the absolute bliss, a state of non-existence in that boundless open space’.

 

ஒளியில் விளைந்த உயர் ஞான பூதரத்து உச்சியின் மேல்

அளியில் விளைந்த து ஓர் ஆன ந்தத் தேனை அனாதியிலே

வெளியில் விளைந்த வெறும் பாழைப் பெற்ற வெறும் தனியைத்

தெளிய விளம்பியவா! முகம் ஆறுடைத் தேசிகனே!!

Light has value. Light has no value. It is beyond value. It is infinite.

This applies as much to music; Music composed by great people; people for whom music is not a way of life; for whom music is life itself.

‘Malaikovil vaasalil ‘ from ‘Veera’(1994) is an example of thousands of compositions which glow like light. So powerful is the effulgence that one even forgets that it is a romantic duet. All one feels is that divinity and needless to say, it is because of the way the entire composition has been composed.

It starts with the percussion alone. ‘ta ka dhi mi/ ta ka dhi mi’ plays the percussion, with an additional stress on the ‘dhi’ in the second half and this itself is enough to give that special feeling. In fact, this pattern continues in the Pallavi and the ChraraNam and therefore is the leitmotif of the composition itself.

But apart from this, what runs as the undercurrent is that primordial sound -AUM- a sound which is full of vibrations, a sound which gives vibrations, a sound which has no religion, caste, class and creed.

We first hear the sound in the higher-octave from the chorus after five cycles of ‘ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi’ by the percussion. Another set of chorus sings in the lower-octave and by now if you do not feel the divine fragrance, you may have to get tested for anosmia.

There is a sudden shift. The tanpura which enters with grace plays in a different shruti. The bells sound in that shruti and the Pallavi continues in the new shruti.

There are songs which changes shruti in between but I cannot think of any song which changes shruti in the Pallavi itself. So seamless is the change that one does not even notice it. Imperceptibly perceptible or perceptibly imperceptible!

Does the first line which takes the ascending swaras (sa ri ga ma pa) of Nata Bhairavi, indicate the climb up the hill?

Does the special instrument which follows the vocals signify the sparks?

Does the resonant folk percussion which plays ‘ta’, ‘ta dhi’ ‘ta’ for every alternate line symbolise the heart?

Does the harmony of the chorus- with one set singing in mid-octave and the other set singing in the higher-octave, show us Life itself?

As if to make us find an answer-or the futility in finding answers- the chorus sings the primordial sound again in the lower-octave. With the resonant percussion sounding ‘ta’ ‘dhi’ ‘ta’ in its inimitable style, the bamboo flute tantalises, while a special sounding instrument moves with relentless assiduity. Playing in two different octaves, the two sets of strings trot up and down showing the lambent light. The leitmotif (percussion) returns now backing a new set of strings which plays in the higher-octave, even as it is dappled in flickering light.

If the ending of the first two lines in the lower- octave swaras, shows us the descent, the bevy of swaras in the second half of the CharaNams, shows us our life can be complex as well. The wispy sound of the small flute towards the end, along with the vocals, show us the incandescent light.

Veda mantras in veena and guitar.. Primordial sound in chorus ..Graceful and beguiling stream of music from the flute..

How beautiful is the light?

Light has value. Light has no value. It is beyond value. It is infinite…