Classical treat:Sowkiyamma

"Rahman is repititive":"Rahman is full techno":"Rahman is more of a sound engineer":"Rahman is an arranger rather than a composer":"Rahman is all Western"
Well after his maden venture Roja and successive albums that followed critics labelled him with all those aforementioned comments. A humble and dignified man as Rahman thought to answer his critics in the best possible manner that he could,i.e.Music.
So come 1999 a Tamil film called Sangamam was released. Well I promised the journey would be full of twists and turns in my earlier post. After a lot of deliberation I picked up this song called "Sowkiyamma"which fits the bill perfectly. Before I begin the following should be kept in mind:

• I have no classical music background so analyzing this song is a risky proposition for me.
• Tamil is not my mother tongue nor do I understand it so the analysis would reflect more of my emotions and feelings associated with this number.

A little bit about this movie: Released in the year 1999, directed by Suresh Krishna and the cast included Rehman(not A.R.Rahman) and Vindhya. The film came as a complete cropper in the box office. It was no less than a disaster. What stood out was the music. After listening to the entire album, selecting one song from it, believe me was an arduous task. Each one is a masterpiece. The reason for selecting this song was the amount of variation in vocals and usage of unthinkable instruments in a classical number.

Coming back to the song: Well this one is based on the Raag Maand. After doing a bit of research I found that this raag has 24 variations and its origin can be traced back to Rajasthan. It is basically an earthy raga used for the folk tunes of India. The folk flavour is eminent as soon as you start listening to the song.

Similar to the introduction of a product in the market this song also follows some distinct processes.

It starts with a female chorus creating an awareness of the flavour of the song. It is folkish and is dedicated to the South Indian classical music.

The 2nd stage comes when Nithyashree Mahadevan begins to sing the number. Similar to the product introduction process it creates a mindshare for this mellifluous number. The voice of this extremely talented singer just transports us to the musical space. Her range and variation throughout the entire song leaves one awestruck. Not only mindshare this song creates an aura which is irresistible to let go off.

Then comes the process of innovation. Well after listening to the number you have to give Rahman full marks in this department. The amount of variation showed in the number is just unthinkable. Just imagine a classical number having interludes of Saxophone , an instrument classified in the Jazz category. This is totally unheard of so I thought I should delve into a little more research. It was found that Rahman collaborated with Padmashri Kadri Gopalnath also crowned as "Saxophone Chakravarthy". Kadri Gopalnath took a bold initiative of playing carnatic music on saxophone. Just listen to the Saxophone bit starting from 2:00 to 2:26. Its not fusion but a jazz instrument being sounded like a classical one. Kenny G should be proud of this piece and may follow the footsteps of Kadri.So this is one lethal combo which just took the critics off guard. Rahman enhances the carnatic music feel by the use of veena and mridhangam in the entire number. Chorus can be so beautiful and made an integral part of an entire song, well this was something not in my knowledge. The way both the singer and chorus complimented in the entire number is absolutely mesmerizing. The variation in the song is another noteworthy thing.The chorus starts, Nithyashree takes over, suddenly the song takes a turn with the introduction of Saxophone, again the vocalist takes over associated with the chorus. Amidst all this mridangam and veena playing in the background. Ohh God so much happening in one song.

Then comes the process of making people use the product or what is known as product loyalty. Well after listening to this number one gets easily addicted and so creating loyalty is no big issue here. In fact after listening to this number it made me do some research on the rich Indian classical music. Its usage in the film context and that too maintaining its essence is really worth appreciating. Rahman has done that successfully and actually converted me into a classical music lover.

Well once the product is successful its important to increase the reach of the product which is termed as product missionary. The song or the entire album should be spread throughout the entire nation. It is certain that the album will surely be accepted by worthy audience no matter where they belong to. Rahman once again proved that music knows no language and has no barriers.

Well just to conclude I thought that somehow its important to have a feel of the lyrics to better understand the context and the song in particular. After some research I found the lyrics as well as its translation. The lyrical brilliance of Vairamuthu can be gauged from the following:

'anbu nathane aNindha modhiram vaLayalagave thurumbena iLaithaenandha modhiram oDDiyaNamai Aagum munname Anbe azhaithaen'

Translation:
I have been thinking so much (lost my weight)) about you that my wrist can now wear my ringLet me express my love, before my waist slims even more, that it will fit my ring

It is my sheer inability to analyze this melodious number intricately. It is my humble attempt just to pen down my feelings for this song.

Sources:

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2005/03/04/stories/2005030401830400.htm

http://www.indolink.com/tamil/cinema/Music/Reviews/99/Sangamam_191935.html

http://www.kadrigopalnath.com/

http://vmurthy.blogspot.com/2006/08/small-raagas.html

http://arvindsrinivasan.blogspot.com/2005/05/song-watch-sangamam.html

The first attempt

Hmmm...well this is difficult...I have to now choose a song of Rahman and try to discuss it..Well to take the easy route let me take the song "Dil hain Chota sa" from his maiden venture Roja.
Lets first try to visualise the scene in 1992 when Roja hit the screen and of course our ears too. Bollywood music was at an all time low. Nadeem Shravan showed a spark of brilliance with Aashiqui(1990) but then they became too repititive. Like an assembly line they used to compose music with not an iota of innovation be it in rhythm, sound, genre...absolutely nothing. But then the audience had no other way but to rave about these ordinary numbers as masterpieces.
One more thing which became prevalent was blatant copying. Music composers simply lifted tunes of the west (though they humbly call these as inspirations) and fitted it with hindi lyrics. The audience were really treated with some junk piece of music.
Come 1992 and enter a young, humble looking ad jingle composer. Mani Ratnam chose to be different and handed over the mantle of music composing to Rahman rather than his usual choice IllayaRaja. It seems Rahman was on a mission. He wanted to be a revolution and free us from the bondage of some very ordinary music composing. From the entire feel of the music of Roja (be it songs, back ground score etc.) there was something enjoyable happening and we listeners were feeling the joys of independence.
Dil hain Chota Sa: This song was sung by Minmini(nobody heard of her before) and original Tamil lyrics by Vairamuthu which was dubbed in Hindi by P.K.Mishra. From the very beginning of the song we felt that there was a drastic change from the erstwhile ordinary composing. Nobody has ever heard such beautiful usage of bass guitar. It was considered to be an instrument played mostly in the background. Nobody dared to bring it to the fore. Rahman not only did that but made it the soul of the song. The tune was such that it actually expressed the aspiration of a village girl. Nature was just written so beautifully all over the song. You can in fact listen to the discordant sound of a cow at one place which gelled so well with the rhythm. The sound of sticks in the 2nd interlude just highlighted the occupation in a village. The use of flute in the entire song gives a feel of the rustic charm. The beautiful part of this song is the conflict of composition. Nature being highlighted by western style and also the fusion of ethnic sounds was just too much to handle. Listen to the voice of Rahman as well who does a sort of alaap in the 2nd interlude. It was just a spark of his singing ability which has of late flourished like anything.Special mention needs to be given to the voice of Minmini as well. I didnt hear much about her after this song but she just sang it with loads of aplomb.
Beyond doubt it redifined contemporary Indian music. It broke all barriers and made everybody in this world to listen to Indian film music. Music can have so many dimensions: really nobody thought about it. Songs with Indian base, western influence and global appeal...it is like an entire package. Nothing can get better than this.
The journey has just begun and now you will notice unexpected twists and turns very similar to Rahman's style of composing.

About the posts

Just to begin with I would like to mention the type of posts you are expecting here. This blog is solely dedicated to the music genius A.R.Rahman. All the posts will discuss about his vast array of music and also the exemplary personality of this man.
So sit back and enjoy and yes all of you are free to rip apart my posts. I seriously need some feedback as this is my maiden attempt in writing a blog.