ILaiyaraaja – The Quick-witted Musician

 

What defines a great piece of work?

It should pierce the heart straight, prise it open, go further deep, search for the soul and stir it!

To a certain extent, this can be called subjective as appreciation- and therefore the experience- varies from person to person. But beyond a point subjectivity and objectivity merge and this depends purely on the conditioning, the upbringing and the exposure to great works, which help the person separate the wheat from the chaff.

As an example, look at the following verse:

தலை மேல தாள்- இணைகள் தாமரைக் கண் என் அம்மான்

நிலைபேரான் என் நெஞ்சத்து, எப்பொழுதும் எம் பெருமான்,

மலை மாட த்து அரவு-அணைமேல் வாட்டாற்றான், மதமிக்க

கொலை யானை மருப்பு ஒசித்தான், குரை கழல்கள் குறுகினமே.

 

The great poet Nammaazhwar describes the Lord at a place called Thiruvattaru. Considered to be the longest Vishnu idol in the country, with a length of 22 feet, the idol also follows the katu-sarakara-yogam, an ancient method of idol-making following very strict norms, in terms of the material, the admixture of river sands, the paste and so on. Most importantly, the idol at that temple is made of 16,008 shAligrAmas, a feat which is monumental. Just for information, a shAligraama is found on the banks of Gandaki river in Nepal and supposedly bears symbols associated with Vishnu naturally without any human intervention.

The great poet who was an erudite scholar. composed the verse(in fact, there are 11 verses composed on this deity and these are part of ThiruvAimozhi which in turn is part of the Naalayira Divya Prabandham!) in keeping with the esoteric elements in the idol.

The meaning of the verse goes something like this:

The lotus feet are on my head; the lotus-eyed one will never leave my heart. He is the One who reclines on the snake at this place which has huge buildings like mountains, the One who broke the tusk of the elephant which had gone mad. I worship his feat.

On the face of it, this looks like a normal verse which extols the virtues of the Lord. But scratch the surface and you will experience a scimitar breaking open your heart.

First and foremost, it talks about strength by talking about the fight with the elephant. Recall that the idol is made of 16,008 small stones bound by thick pastes.

Next, it talks about the lotus feet and the lotus eyes. Beautiful contrast- strength and softness!

Now, lotus is also the mind, symbolically. Mad elephant is the symbol of bad thoughts. Contrasts of course, but it suggests that to take bad thoughts away from your mind, you need to meditate. But the clincher is the connection between the first and the last line- His feet on my head and I surrender to His feet.

Life cycle- Starts with feet and ends with feet.

Visishtasdwaita philosophy in a nut shell!

Read the verse again and you will know why I said it will pierce one’s heart. Perhaps you might end up discovering more too in the process. After all, experience is subjective- or is it?

One gets a similar experience while listening to music in general and ILaiyaraaja’s music in particular. Raaga Deepam YetRum Neram from PayaNangaL Mudivathillai(1982) is a classic example.

In fact, it is a classical example too as it is purely based on a classical raga called Hamsaanandi. This popular raga is a shaadava raga with 6 swaras in the arohaNa and avarohaNa. The reason for my saying that this pierces the heart has to do not only with the tune and the orchestration but also with a hidden magic. This magic is too subtle and yet very powerful. We shall see this as we go along.

One should also understand the background. As per the sequence in the movie, an aspiring singer gets an opportunity to sing in a temple and as he starts singing, clouds gather and the crowd disperse. He does not give up and continues singing and the clouds relent by moving away. The crowd is back and that is the beginning. A beginning in terms of his career as a singer.

The composition starts with the akaaram of SPB. What starts as a free flowing akaaram starts following the chatushram pattern as the percussion joins. The akaaram itself is vibrant and vivacious, drawing the sketch of Hamsaanandi in a matter of seconds. The strings move in higher-octave with a ferocity matching the intensity of the rain.

The first line is conceived meaningfully. It starts with the descending notes and then goes to the ascending notes, indicating the travails of the aspiring singer in particular and also of any human in general. In fact, it defines Life itself.

The lines that follow touches the higher-octave swaras like the upper Sa, Ri and Ga, making it a plaintive cry.

The jalatarangam and the tabla tarang move with a sprightly gait in the beginning of the first interlude, perhaps to show the momentum- the rain and the fluttering of the singer’s heart – contrasting elements. The strings play a flood of melody in Hamsaanandi while the flute depicts the angst of the singer by sliding and gliding. The sitar which responds to the flute initially, moves independently after a while, playing a litany of swaras with ebullience.

The first CharaNam is structured beautifully and like the Pallavi, this too shows the genius of the composer. The first two lines touch the higher-octave swaras, with the second line even touching the upper ‘Ma’, a rarity even in normal classical concerts. The sound of the bell in the background makes it auspicious. It is clairvoyant too, a fact we will see in a bit!

The last two lines have the mid-octave swaras going up and down, with the last line ending with the ascending notes- the mark of a genius yet again!

The second interlude conveys myriad expressions. The strings bellow out feelings with impeccable precision. Suddenly, there is magic. The solo-violin plays rather happily. What makes us feel the happiness is the raga, whose name is Mohanam.

How did the raga change?

Hamsaanandi is one of the ragas from where the pentatonic ragas like Suddha Dhanyasi, Suddha Saveri, Hindolam, Madhyamavati and Mohanam can be obtained by keeping one of the swaras as the base. This technique is called Gruha Bhedam, a fact known to people who follow my posts here.

The Master keeps the swara ‘dha’ as the base here and it shifts to Mohanam. The reason for this has to do more with the sequence and less to show one’s capability. The rain stops and gradually the crowd starts gathering again. Mohanam is considered to be a happy raga and is there any better way of showing emotions and feelings?

The backing of the keys carries meaning too as it symbolises the rain drops!

The sitar plays Hamsaanandi now and the feeling of joy is ineluctable.

The second CharaNam is structured differently with the third and fourth line touching the lower-octave ni, the line that follows showing the arohana(ascent) and the following line reaching a crescendo with the dominant upper Sa.

Piercingly beautiful..

As beautiful as the little stones found on the banks of the Gandaki river and as magnificent as the 22 feet idol which reclines with inherent meaning!!

 

 

ILaiyaraaja- Musician with a Purpose

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 3^rd 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…



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