ILaiyaraaja- The Ineffable Musician

 

Can somebody or something go beyond what is generally seen or believed? If this happens, will it happen in real or only in imagination?

While coming across certain works, one can’t help wondering at the beauty of the works and the genius mind behind the creation of the works. ‘Are such things possible?’, we wonder.

One such work is Kamba RamayaNam. Though there are just 4 lines in each verse, it is impossible not to be enamoured of the use of the words and the way these are arrayed to convey not just meanings but something beyond meanings.

Take this particular verse which appears almost in the beginning of the work even before Rama is born. The poet extols Dasharatha, the father of Rama.

People familiar with the story, know that this gentleman was an Emperor respected by one equally for his compassion as for his valour.

The poet wants to show both the qualities in one verse and begins by saying  'Since there is no need for him to use the arrows’. Now, the reader keeps wondering the reason. In no time he/she gets the answer- ‘because he has no enemies’. Why no enemies? It is because he has conquered the world. Fine then. ‘He must have become lazy now and therefore must have lost his strength as there is nobody’, the cynic inside us says this with a tinge of sarcasm. The mind reader that he is, the Emperor of poetry describes Dasharatha immediately be saying ‘ the one with the strongest shoulders’. We are zapped! So now that he does not have to prove himself as a warrior, does he rest on his laurels and whiles away his time in all vices?

The poet continues- Like a farmer whose only asset is a piece of land, and who works very hard to make that land the best, this Emperor too protects his land (his kingdom) and protects his people with utmost care and compassion.

எய்யென எழுபகை எங்கும் இன்மையால்,

மெய்பொரு தினவுறு முழவுத் தோளினான்

வையக முழுவதும் வரிஞன் ஓம்பும் ஓர்

செய்யெனக் காத்து இனிது அரசு செய்கின்றான்.

Not only was the mythological character called Dasharatha was great, but also the poet who uses his imagination to enthral the aesthetes, the connoisseurs, the cognoscenti, and the common man, great. Needless to say, no word can do justice to his greatness.

Coming to think of it, such geniuses do not ‘think’ and it just happens to them.

How this applies to the composer who has been ruling the roost for the last 47 years, is known to many. The fact that his compositions appeal to the erudite as much to the layman, speaks volumes of his greatness, which for all practical purposes cannot be put in words.

Take ‘Koottattile Kovil PuRa’(Idaya Kovil- 1985) as one of the examples. At the surface, it is just a song sung by an untrained singer with a mellifluous voice in a village. But what has the composer done here which has made the song sound as fresh as a daisy after so many decades?

For starters, it is based on a raga called ‘Karnataka Khamas’, which strangely enough has not been used by any classical composer despite being a very simple raga and despite being very close to some very popular ragas-Khamas and Harikambhoji being some examples. Take out the swara ‘ri’ from both arohana(ascending) and the avarohana(descending) from the latter and we get this raga. Likewise, instead of the devious ‘sa ma ga ma pa dha ni Sa’, make it straight- sa ga ma pa dha ni Sa-in the arohaNa and have the same sets of swaras in the avarohaNa instead of all the seven swaras, and you can make out how different it is from Khamas.

Surprisingly enough, ILaiyaraaja has composed many songs in this raga while many others have not even gone near that.

Well, the beauty of/in ‘Koottattila..’ does not stop just with this.

The drone of the Tanpura followed by the sound of the ankle bells, create an electable divine atmosphere in the beginning itself. The fact that the first few phrases of the Pallavi are rendered without percussion and the silence after the first couple of phrases, spread a unique fragrance making the experience mystical.

With just the mid-octave swaras(except for the odd upper Sa in the first line) in the Pallavi, the raga is sketched on the canvas with a dark pencil. The continuous stream of the lower ‘sa’ in the second and the third line(towards the end), makes one see the canvas fluttering in the air with remarkable assiduity.

The wind blows with musical grace. The percussion sounds in Tisram with zeal. Backed by very subtle instruments, the chorus hums. Dappled with the flickers of light, the flute responds. Don’t we see a rustic atmosphere here?

That is why, I choose to call the first interlude bewitchingly beautiful!

A series of mid-octave swaras move with finesse in the first two lines of the CharaNams, but with the sudden entry of the higher-octave swaras like the 'Ga’ and ‘Ma’ in the third line, the complexion changes. The accidental note ‘Ri’ too enters in a flash and disappears like a lightning. But what follows is more than interesting.

First, it is the sangati in the line that follows in the inimitable voice of SPB, which shows us the beauty of Karnataka Khamas in a trice. Next, is Laya Raaja.

As mentioned earlier, the composition is set in Tisram, the 3-beat cycle. The last line goes in sets of four-

ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi/ ta ka dhi mi/ta ka dhi mi/ ta ka dhi mi/ ta - - -.

That is, 7 sets of 4 with the ‘-‘ in the last segment denoting the ‘kaarvai’ or gap.

7x4 = 28.

Is this divisible by 3?

I shall park this for a while and see the number of tisrams. The number comes to 3 tisrams in keezh kaalam(slower speed). But the ‘ta ka dhi mi’ stops just after one syllable count in the third tisram, resulting in a count of 7. As the ‘ta ka dhi mi’s move in ati mel kaalam(super fast speed), it is 4 times the tisram count. So, now we get that answer to the puzzle but only partially.

What happens to the two remaining count- ki ta?

The song as such starts in ateeta eduppu - that is the Pallavi starting before the taaLam cycle. So the balance 2 accounts for this. Now, 2x4 = 8 and 28+8= 36 which is 9x4.

If all this is confusing, it is perfectly fine. Read it again, do the calculation and if you don’t get it, ask me. Or otherwise, just leave it. I shall come to this again towards the end.

The second interlude has a bevy of jatis in the beginning. Woven around this, the flute and the clarinet move alluringly and shimmer like a lambent of light. The humming of the chorus and the brief swara segment, are subtle, nuanced, and enticing.

Can somebody or something go beyond what is generally seen or believed? If this happens, will it happen in real or only in imagination?

The last line of the CharaNams, answers the question. Well, even if it doesn’t seem to answer, remember this-

Certain class of people and therefore their works are beyond greatness.

Do we then need answers?

 

 

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hVjgm5PB0Pc&list=MLPT

ILaiyaraaja- The Spiritual Musical Scientist

It may sound strange, odd or even bizarre if I say that spirituality is one of the most abused words. Not many, who talk about spirituality, seem to know the real meaning of spirituality.

Is spirituality related to God or belief in God alone?

Is it selfishness? Or is it caring for others?

Is it meditation or other rituals?

Or is it saying My God is great and that Yours is the worst?

Let us look at these verses of Kamban before attempting to answer the aforementioned questions.

கல்லிடைப் பிறந்து போந்து கடலிடைக் கலத்த நீத்தம்,

எல்லைகளில் மறைகளாலும் இயம்பரும் பொருள் ஈதென்னத்

தொல்லையில் ஒன்றேயாகித் துறைதொரும் பரந்த சூழ்ச்சிப்

பல்பெருஞ் சமயம் சொல்லும் பொருளும்போல் பரந்ததன்றே.

தாதுறு சோலைதோறும் சண்பகக்காடுதோறும்

போதவிழ் பொய்கைதோறும் புதுமணத்தடங்கள் தோறும்

மாதவி வேலிப் பூகவனந்தோறும் வயல்கள் தோறும்

ஓதிய உடம்பு தோறும் உயிரென உலாயதன்றே.

The river which originates from the Hills, flows through the fields, gardens, dense forests and is known by different names depending on the place it flows through and the form it assumes. Likewise, the Divine is one, though different names are given by different religions.

There are many inner meanings to these verses, and I do not want to get into that now. What I would like to highlight however are a couple of things and these will be said after looking at yet another Tamizh verse.

அகனமர்ந்த அன்பினராய் அறுபகை செற்று

       ஐம்புலனும் அடக்கி ஞானப்

புகலுடையோர் தம் உள்ளப் புண்டரிகத்து

      உள்ளிருக்கும் புராணர் கோயில்

தகவுடை நீர் மணித்தலத்துச் சங்குள வர்க்கந்

       திகழச் சலசத் தீயுள்

மிகவுடைய புன்கு மலர்ப் பொரியட்ட

       மணஞ்செய்யும் மிழலையாமே. 

     

Composed by a poet who is supposed to have had the divine blessing at a very young age and whose name itself has a connection with enlightenment, this verse interestingly has two parts and a deeper look would suggest the link between the two parts.

In the first part, Thirugnansambandhar defines a real and genuine Bhakta as the one who controls the five senses and the six enemies residing inside-which are lust, anger, meanness, desire, ego and jealousy. He says such people are full of love and that the Divine resides in their lotus like heart.

In the second part, he describes a wedding. Yes, wedding of the Nature. He sees the temple pond at Thiruveezhimizhalai. The crystal clear water reminds him of a carpet; the huge white flowers, of conches; the Lotus right at the centre of the pond, of the sacred fire; the tiny flowers from the punugu tree which fall on the pond, of the sacred rice.

Seen through the poet’s eyes, this is a wedding!

Now, read the two parts and you can connect and relate the two. I am not getting into the hidden meanings now as there is a joy in self discovery. Moreover, such verses are left to one’s own interpretations.

But I would like to mention the commonalities between the verses of Kamban and the one of Thirugnansambandhar.

Both sing about the Divine. Both see the Nature from a different angle and appreciate the beauty. Both are musical in that melodious language called Tamizh. Most importantly, one gets to know the real meaning of spirituality in the words of both the great poets.

Now, let us go back to the beginning. After all, isn’t it the Beginning which leads us to everything in life?

What is Spirituality?

 Always having a calm mind as crystal clear as a river, loving all, realising that the Divine is one and that it resides within oneself. And yes, worshipping and appreciating nature.

Now, what happens when somebody who is spiritual, also analyses everything and keeps discovering new things from time to time?

Can he/she then be called as a scientist?

And what happens when spirituality combines with artistic sensibility and with science?

Wouldn’t it then result in some beautiful and immortal works?

In my opinion, Kamban and Gnanasambandhar belong to this category.

And in this 21^st Century if somebody is an embodiment of these qualities, it is ILaiyaraaja. That is why, his compositions are liked equally by a layperson as well as by a pundit.

In some of my earlier Geetanjali special posts, I had mentioned that even agnostics and atheists feel the Divine through music. That spirituality runs as an undercurrent in ILaiyaraaja’s music may not be known to many but the fact remains that people get attracted to his music because of this spirituality in his compositions. There are at least two more reasons for his music sounding great. One is the fact that he himself is a connoisseur. Two is his proclivity to doing things which are different and his propensity to experiment without in anyway compromising on the classicism.

The special song of this year’s Geetanjali is an example. Or rather it is just yet another example of his analytical mind and his sense of aesthetics coupled with spirituality.

In ‘Ponnil Vaanam’ from the film Villuppattukkaran(1992 ), there is that sense of awe about Nature, there is melody and there is spirituality. Above all, there is a very different ragam.

There are thousands of ragas in Carnatic music but only some hundreds are used. Out of this, only some are very frequently used. In film music, no other composer has used ragas like ILaiyaraaja not just in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. Though he has used many popular ragas, he has also used some very rare ragas, some of which were never used even by any classical musician.

The raga called Khamas is very popular in Carnatic Music. ILaiyaraaja has used this raga very classically in a couple of his compositions. People who follow Geetanjali will remember the special song of 2009-Maargazhi maadam mun pani veLaiyile- based on this raga. But there is yet another raga whose second name is the same as this raga and yet not many are aware of this raga. What is surprising is that this raga whose name is Karnataka Khamas has 6 swaras in both arohana and avarohana and is not popular despite the structure being so simple. As far as I know, no classical music composer has used this raga. In film music too, it is ILaiyaraaja alone who has used this raga and has composed 20+ songs in this raga.

The raga sounds like Bahudari and I have come across posts in the net which mentions the songs in this raga as being based on Bageshree or on Sriranjani. The connection between the latter and this raga anyway cannot be missed. If the panchamam of Karnataka Khamas is assumed as the aadhara shadja, one gets Sriranjani as per the principles of Graha bedam.

Let us now look at this song and see how it sounds.

The imagistic brevity of the prelude is striking. It just has the string sound from the keys, the vocals which of course does only the akaaram and the flute. The ubiquitous bass guitar is of course used in lieu of percussion instrument.

Revolving around the panchamam and the shadjamam, the keys produce the sound of the stringed instrument which shines with radiance. It resembles the sound of the bells. Can any beginning be more auspicious than this?

The intrinsically distinctive voice of Janaki starts the akaaram. Like a very obedient child, the flute follows each and every note of hers, meticulously. The movement in the 3-beat cycle Tisram sans any percussion instrument makes the experience special. It is made more special with the sound of the bass guitar which backs the vocals and the flute, with great involvement. The sitar follows and makes our heart tender with its supple sound. Is it pulling the special chords in our heart?

With a sense of composure and poise, the Pallavi starts. And now we see the Laya Raaja. In fact this Laya Raaja who refrained from using any percussion instrument in the prelude, uses the Tabla which first plays the ‘ta ki ta’ along with the first phrase ‘Ponnil’. Immediately the 3 is divided into 6 micro beats and the percussion plays ‘ta ka/ta ka dhi mi’. After this, it is ‘ta ka dhi mi/ta ka’ with the stress on the first and the third syllable with the fifth syllable being played rather subtly. The second, fourth and the sixth are left blank. The morsing which is known for its unique sound is played for every alternate cycle and only sounding the third syllable. This is what is Laya Raaja mandiram!

The first interlude is an ideal balance of depth and sensitivity. To start with, the violins in higher octave touch some notes of Harikambhoji rather innocuously. One sees the contours of western classical music as the strings from the solo violin are sounded with fingers in the background. This technique is called as the pizzicato in western classical music parlance. The beguilingly charming flute gives resplendent shades of the raga with the sitar repeating the melody in its unique way. The flute plays another set of notes before a unique combination of the keys, sitar and the bass guitar illuminates the interlude and guides us to the first CharaNam which itself has a pleasant surprise in store.

We get to taste the beauty of yet another raga in the first two lines. No, the raga as such doesn’t change here. Let me explain. As mentioned earlier, Karnataka Khamas is a raga with 6 swaras. Take the swara ‘ma’ out of it and we get Valaji, a rather popular raga. Here, the Maestro obscures the swara ‘ma’ and makes us feel Valaji.

The CharaNam gathers momentum in the second half with the percussion going in the faster mode. Intensity of feeling.. or is it intense feeling?

We see the subtleties of expression in the second interlude. The keys and the bass guitar join together and ripple reverberatingly. Even as this is on, the flute enters with slim line elegance and moves with zest. It is pizzicato yet again but this time it is more prominent with the strings of the violins sounded with gusto with fingers. The superimposed higher octave violins play with gay abandon albeit with an indescribable passion. The flute intercepts again giving slices of silkiness.

The river dances in tisram in the second CharaNam.

Is water a metaphor for our Life?

Or is it for spirituality?

Ask Kamban or Gnanasambhandar..

Or better still ask Gnanadesikan.

Or keep listening to his compositions.

You will find an answer..

PS: This post and the previous Tamizh post were written exclusively for Geetanjali-2016 and was read out before an invited audience on the 28th of August 2016.

Check this out on Chirbit

ILaiyaraaja-The Instinctive Musician..

One of the many virtues a genius possesses is spontaneity.

A genius does not waste time in breaking his/her head. Yet, the output is something unimaginable.

ThoNdaradipodiyaazhwar, one of the 12 great Vaishnavite saints, looks at the reclining posture of Lord Ranganatha and decided to sing ‘PaLLi ezhucchi ’to ‘wake him up from sleep’.

‘Blowing gently from the East, the wind embraces the jasmine creeper spreading the fragrance. Flapping the dew-soaked wings the swans get up from their flower beds. Oh, the one who saved the elephant(Gajendra) from the poisonous and gory teeth of the crocodile! Please wake up’.

கொழுங்கொடி  முல்லையின்  கொழு மலர்  அணவிக்

      கூர்ந்தது  குண-திசை  மாருதம்   இதுவோ

எழுந்தன  மலர்  அணைப்  பள்ளிகொள்  அன்னம்

        ஈன்பனி  நனைந்த  தம்  இருஞ் சிறகு  உதறி;

விழுங்கிய  முதலையின்  பிலம்  புரை  பேழ்வாய்

        வெள்  எயிறு  உற, அதன்  விடத்தனுக்கு  அனுங்கி,

அழுங்கிய  ஆனையின்  அருந்துயர்  கெடுத்த

        அரங்கத்தம்மா!  பள்ளி   எழுந்தருளாயே.

This is one of the 10 ‘ThiruppaLLi ezhucchi’ verses sung by the Aazhwar and is part of the ‘Naalaayira Divya Prabhandam’.

‘Waking up the Divine’ is of course symbolic as the Divine is always awake. But what should be noted here and appreciated is the description done with fertile imagination. We feel the aroma of the ‘mullai’ flowers, we watch and listen to the flapping of wings of the swans feeling the wetness of the dew, we experience the excruciating pain of the elephant as the wily crocodile holds its leg and finally we feel the compassion and love of the divine.

The contrast-pleasant fragrance/ dew against poisonous teeth/sorrow- cannot be missed. Nor can the poetic usage and description be not appreciated.

It is said that the Azhwar sang these verses in the sanctum sanctorum even as he was looking at the Lord.In other words, he did not sit down, think, refer any tamizh dictionary and then wrote. Words flew from him instinctively.

And yet, the entire verse is a poetic beauty.

‘Arjuna mantram’ from ‘Sitara’(1984) is a musical beauty.

Composed spontaneously by ILaiyaraaja and rendered by SPB and Shailaja, the composition is classical, is folksy shows the contrast, shows the similarities and is melodically superior.

We see a pentatonic raga changing to a sampoorNa raga, a native Andhra folksy tune followed by a rare raga, all seamlessly done.

The composition starts with the divine Omkara.  The sloka is set in AmritavarshiNi, and the omkara being rendered as the ‘Shadja’ at the end of each line ( upper ‘Sa’ before the sloka, and after the first and third line and lower ‘sa’ at the end of second line) symbolically suggests that the PraNava mantra is the basis for everything in the Universe.

With aesthetic spontaneity, the Pallavi moves in Pantuvarali(AmritavarshiNi plus ‘ri1’ and ‘dha1’).The Veena that appears between the two lines shows flashes of brilliance as it shows the ‘chaaya swaras’ of the raga.

The Veena continues its journey in the first interlude as the zestful Jalatarangam joins it with splendour.The dainty flute takes over and the musical spectacle is rounded off with a ‘saval-jawab’ of Veena and Jalatarangam.

The first CharaNam has some enlivening patterns. The first two lines are felicitously fluid while the following lines move like a beautiful breeze.

The raga’s resplendent domain is shown in the akaaram that lasts two full avartanams. The beauty of this segment is the superimposing of the female voice over the male voice with each singing a different set of swaras.

The charming swaras alternate with the dance jatis towards the end.

The song now acquires and aromatic flavour. Andhra folksy tune in Tisram beats. The dainty Shehnai and the dexterous Flute are followed by the vocals. Fertilely imaginative!

The Veena now gives a classical touch playing ‘Karnataka Khamas’. It is a janya of Harikhamboji and avoids ‘ri’ totally. It may be noted that this is different the more popular raga ‘Khamas’ which has some very distinct phrases.

The Veena and the flute have a brief conversation in Karnataka Khamas before the beginning of the next CharaNam.

The CharaNam rendered by SPB gives a soft veneer and is fascinatingly attractive.

With a classical comeliness, the flute moves daintily and the veena nods with awe.

The last CharaNam is invested with considerable ardour with the male voice singing the sahitya while the female voice singing the swaras.

It is astonishingly beautiful!

Music of the ‘Omkara’.

Apuroopa sangeetam..