a-r-rahman on S Anand

GarageBand in Phir Se Ud Chala

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:03:44 +0000

A month ago, I was at the theatre watching Ra.One. The movie was terrible, yet enjoyable. But I’m going to talk about something else – a song I heard that caught my imagination.

The song is Phir Se Ud Chala from Rockstar. Around 14 seconds into the video, you’ll hear a guitar start off at the background. That’s what caught my ear first – because I’d heard it before. Listen to this piece below:

Mystic light

I’d created this a couple of months ago with GarageBand on my iPad2. It just plays two Apple Loops one after another.

The first one that you hear – Cheerful Mandolin 07 – is exactly the same background music that you hear in Phir Se Ud Chala. Guess A R Rahman uses GarageBand too!

(The strange thing is, I found no mention of this anywhere on the internet, as of 2 Dec 2011. Thought I’d have a go and be the first… just in case someone searches for Apple Loops or GarageBand in Phir Se Ud Chala from Rockstar.)

Comments

Dinakaran 3 Dec 2011 4:21 pm: http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/in-action/arrahman/index2.html
Viju 14 Dec 2011 4:27 pm: The second loop is from Shauk Hai (Guru). Is this an Apple loop too?
Dinakaran 3 Dec 2011 4:21 pm: It could be that GarageBand came out as a product out of Logic Pro that ARR is using with similar sounds ?
S Anand 14 Dec 2011 9:17 pm: @Viju – you’re right! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1vAu0c96yY#t=152s

A R Rahman songs

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:04:19 +0000

A tribute to our Academy Award winner, A R Rahman. Here are interludes from 25 Tamil songs of A R Rahman. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Steve 12 Mar 2009 7:07 pm: Got 25/25!!! Thanks Anand, enjoyed it very much!!!
Vijay Anand 12 Mar 2009 3:11 pm: I got 24/25. not able to recollect the movie name of July Matham song Only May madham came to my mind
anantha 2 Mar 2009 6:40 pm: Got 22 without struggling. The last three (5, 17, 25) gave me trouble. Got 5 after some humming along and for 17, somehow was stuck on a dubbed version of a hindi soundtrack till I got it. 25 was purely round robin :)
Sriram 2 Mar 2009 7:09 pm: Hi anand, I am one of the big fan of ur site. I scored 21/25. please send me the answers.
srini 2 Mar 2009 10:37 am: Hi thanks again for a good one. I scored more in Raja test than this one.. so you know my age group. Please send me the answers. Can’t bang myself anymore… thanks
S Anand 2 Mar 2009 3:34 pm: Have sent the answers by e-mail.
Akbar 2 Mar 2009 6:23 pm: I scored 20. Really nice one …. thanks.
yeshwanth 10 Mar 2009 4:50 pm: I got 25/25…was struggling for 17..but got it in the end….based on your clue that its a rajini film
Nivi 2 Mar 2009 9:11 pm: 23/25!! and i pride myself that of the things i got, i got everything within the first 5 seconds :)
Hari 6 Mar 2009 4:42 pm: Awesome compilation. I didn’t get 4, 16, 17, 19 and 21. I was kicked when I got 25 :)
subbu 11 Mar 2009 1:41 pm: 23/25 - got 23 and 24 woooo hooooooo
Barath 7 Mar 2009 7:33 pm: Give me clues for 6 and 25
Arun Ganesh 10 Mar 2009 6:02 pm: 25/25 …. had to refer no clues thankfully… this is good stuff.. keep posting more. thank you
Arjun 7 Mar 2009 8:30 pm: Hey, Great man. Thanks for the quiz. We had a lot of fun doing it. By the way, the score is 23! :) What are 17 and 25? I’m totally stumped (but, most probably, I’ve never heard these pieces).
S Anand 7 Mar 2009 8:38 pm: Clues: 6 is a Vineeth film 17 is a Rajni film 25 is a Prabhu film
Dinesh 11 Mar 2009 2:00 pm: i got a 25/25….. hardcore ARRfan…. thank u thanku…. :)
Priya 11 Mar 2009 12:57 pm: I scored 24….But i couldn;t guess which one is the 17th…..
subbu 11 Mar 2009 1:34 pm: 21/25 - didn’t get 16, 23,24,25 :)
Ganesh.V 10 Mar 2009 6:15 pm: HA ha i got 25\25…….pretty much easy……even 25 and 17 Nice compilation……
Vivek 10 Mar 2009 6:45 pm: 25/25, in one go! I’m proud to be a hardcore ARR fan
Rajith Ramnivas 10 Mar 2009 6:51 pm: 25/25 i can answer whatever related to rahman sir.
chetan 10 Mar 2009 10:24 pm: 24/25 !! damn missed the #13 ……….. Guys pls help me out … Which Movie is it?? @S Anand- Superb Man quiz is. thanks for it…..
sanjay shankar 10 Mar 2009 8:25 pm: 25/25 !!! Like Yeshwanth, # 17 took about a min, but got the others within seconds. Thanks for the nice quiz!
AMEER SALEHA 11 Mar 2009 8:04 am: it was quite interesting and as well as it made me to find out some songs of arr which i didnt hear
Vinodh 11 Mar 2009 9:20 am: I got 24/25… I couldnt get the 25th song… someone pls help… :(
amjath 11 Mar 2009 3:00 am: Score: 25 / 25 i got i done it i made it very very gud choice of songs
Ashwin Krish 11 Mar 2009 3:05 am: 25/25! 5 was the toughest for me! Interludes are pretty easy… what is challenging is a BGM quiz. You should post that
Krishna 11 Mar 2009 4:00 am: scored 100%. Great quiz
Mehrun Shiraz 11 Mar 2009 11:19 am: its damn good..scored 24..but dont know number 17..pls send me the answer.
rama krishna 10 Mar 2009 4:36 pm: hi, i score 21/25
musicar 10 Mar 2009 4:43 pm: I GOT 25/25!!! It was an easy test!!! Just the 25th one took a couple of extra seconds! Enjoyed it!!!Thanks for creating it
Prakash 10 Mar 2009 4:28 pm: Bingo. I got 25. Needless to say I am a Rahmaniac! :)
Anil 10 Mar 2009 4:31 pm: Wow ….got 24 on 25 ….all except 25 (but the clues in your comments) got that one as well .. Good one this. My ARR quotient is pretty high :-) -A
Siva 11 Mar 2009 2:07 pm: Got 22/25. Couldn’t find 5, 17, 25. Then found 17 and 25 using the clues. And finally, 5 after many guesses. :(
viji 11 Mar 2009 2:25 pm: hey hi.. gr8 work.. superb.. :) gt al 25 rite.. :) keep posting more :)
Appu 11 Mar 2009 2:49 pm: woow,16 was tough.i got no.6 listening to the rhythm pattern. did it anyway. 25/25 all the way. Jai ho!!! Appu
Anu 11 Mar 2009 3:27 pm: I got 25/25, was thinking hard for 17 but then your clue on Rajni movie helped….very interesting and easy quiz!!!!
sriraman vk 11 Mar 2009 3:44 pm: i got 24/25. what is the answer for song 14?
Sriram 11 Mar 2009 4:20 pm: Awesome! Can you do the same for AR’s Hindi and also the BGM?! Please man!
santhosh 11 Mar 2009 5:36 pm: Hi, really a nice quiz….. Got 25/25 Keep posting :)
Madhavan R 11 Mar 2009 6:16 pm: Cool! Got 25 out of 25 in the first go!!! 17 was tricky but after repeated listens for some 5 or 6 times, I found it…Great stuff; thoroughly enjoyed!
suriya 12 Mar 2009 11:47 am: super songs anand! 5,13,19,24 known BGM.. any clues?
Karthik 12 Mar 2009 7:04 am: Got all right :)
Asuthosh 12 Mar 2009 7:08 am: 25/25 - some old Tamil ones were tricky. The trick is to continue the interlude forward in your mind and it will segue into the pallavi/charanam. Great stuff, thanks!
Rivjot 12 Mar 2009 8:20 am: Please make such quiz for Hindi interludes of Rahman as well. Enjoyed taking this one :)
Amit 11 Mar 2009 8:41 pm: Got 22. (After a lot of hair pulling!). Being a non-tamilian rahmaniac, I am happy. Please send me the answers. (#5, 14 &16) I cannot take these tunes out of my head now…
Prashanth Dappula 12 Mar 2009 2:54 am: Coooooooool, thanks for the quiz. 25/25, had a bit trouble for few seconds recognizing 25th :-), but got it. Thank you once again.
gowrishankar 11 Mar 2009 11:39 pm: got 25/25, nice work
S.Vijai Ananth 12 Mar 2009 12:29 am: Rahmaniac from Malaysian ARR fan club(Rahmania)…..25 definitely……all these interludes sat in the subconscious for too long already……
Rams 13 Mar 2009 5:37 pm: Yippeee…. 25/25 again… for a rahmaniac, it feels good to get them all….
Siddharth 14 Mar 2009 5:53 am: awesome..i’ve got 25/25..thanks anand…great compilation man…
Chandra 14 Mar 2009 5:48 pm: Hi… I too got 25/25. The last one was tough (had to listen to it 4 times), the 13th one was a bit tricky, and I was slightly lucky with the 16th (but caught it even as I was typing it)! Great compilation!! Thanks a lot!
ANANDA CHETANA 15 Mar 2009 5:56 am: I am submitting my answers and I would like to know my score. Please put this in a file that can be downloaded by us and used for quizzing over here. It is a fantastic compilation. Jai Ho gopal
sambasivam 15 Mar 2009 11:32 am: good collections,anand.
Niranjan 18 Mar 2009 10:10 am: Hurray!!!! 25/25 awesome It took some time for song 24 and 25!!! but i got it atlast……
Rajeev 18 Mar 2009 11:29 pm: Hey Anand, Nice work. Even though getting a full score is easy, it makes you feel good to feel proud about the fact that u can identify any song of ARR in a jiffy…..
Muhthar 24 Mar 2009 7:57 pm: Great compilation. and great selection of songs.
rajkumar 4 Apr 2009 5:32 pm: amazing . which song is last one
Akshaiy 9 Apr 2009 11:42 am: Can you email the answers?
arun 15 Apr 2009 7:35 am: good one…feels proud
Muruganandham k 11 May 2009 6:39 am: Me too got 25/25 though 25th is trial & error
priya 15 May 2009 10:07 am: ejoyed alot
Arun 28 May 2009 1:16 pm: Good work dude
Venkata 6 Apr 2009 10:01 pm: Good work. I got an inspiration from this blog and planning to have a game for one of my daughter’s birthday party. Keep up the good work. Can you suggest any tools to cut the interludes from the songs ?Thanks
Chinna 31 Aug 2010 5:16 am: nice compositions of our maestro…… got 25/25 hurray…….. :)
nirmala 26 Dec 2010 1:22 pm: got all correct:)
MICHAEL JACKSON 27 Dec 2010 7:24 am: SCORED JUST 20….:-( …………………..
chirp 1 Jan 2011 1:02 am: Good ones
ravindra babu hyderabad 18 Dec 2010 1:35 pm: konchamkastam telugu ayitei nice pa
Sudhakar Dhanapal 19 Jan 2011 11:09 am: wowww. got 25/25
ramya 12 Dec 2011 6:57 am: plz mail the answers… i got oly 19 :(
priya 31 Dec 2011 12:59 pm: only 23/25 :( … answers for 17th and 25th pls…
A R Rahman Songs | Durgeshgowtham's Blog 28 Mar 2011 11:13 am (pingback): […] http://www.s-anand.net/blog/a-r-rahman-songs/ This entry was posted in Cinema. Bookmark the permalink. ← mobile hacking LikeBe the first to like this post. […]
janu 16 Jun 2012 1:39 am: Managed to get 25/25! I should coz I’m a crazy ARR fan. Had a tough time on 17 coz honestly I haven’t heard it before. Your clue “Rajini” helped doing the gueswork :-)
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 12:55 pm: Scored 16/25
Suganya 29 May 2012 9:11 am: Hurrayyyyyyyyy… 25 found..
ramya saranya 1 Sep 2012 11:31 am: 16th kizhakku cheemaiyile ,17th baba and 25th is uzhavan…. i got 25/25 :):):)
Sai Lakshmi 18 Sep 2012 6:22 am: makes me feel on top of the world to get a 25 on 25… LOVE YOU ARR <3 <3 <3 <3 YOU ARE MY GOD FOREVER <3 GOD OF MUSIC :*
Akila 12 Dec 2012 10:35 am: I couldn’t nail down 3 and 4 though they sound very familiar…. answer pls?
hbqdb 27 Apr 2013 6:52 am: Hoooooooooooooo!!!! 25/25 awesome

Classical Ilayaraja 13

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 12:00:00 +0000

This is the 13th of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.
I’ve added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.
You could also try my Tamil song search.

A.R.Rahman is the number one copier in the world. My friend is very much convinced on this matter. He called A.R.Rahman as a mammoth recycling bin that takes its own previously tuned songs and polishes it and presents it in a different form. How dare he copy the great kousalyaa suprajaa tune and use it as the interlude music in maargazhi poovE (May Maadham). My friend boils with anger. How dare the freshmen music director of the movie Meendum Savithri (Ravi Devendran) copy the interlude of maargazhi poovE (which is itself a copied bit from kousalyaa suprajaa) and present it in his song. A chain of copying! My friend has lost his peace and is now a terribly agitated individual. His head is hot with anger!

Is it correct to call the flute interlude in maargazhi poovE as a copy of kausalyaa suprajaa? A.R. Rahman has tuned his maargazhi poovE in the raagam Hindholam. Subbulakshmi’s Kausalyaa Suprajaa is in the raagam Sudha Saveri. If Rahman indeed copied willfully, how could he present a Sudha Saveri tune in a Hindholam song?

The concept of Sruthi is very illusory. We know that if we sounded a note with any frequency (X) and another note twice its frequency (2X), then there is an entire octave between these two notes. Be X = 1 hertz, and 2X = 2 hertz, or be X = 100,000 hertz and 2X = 200,000 Hz, there is one and only one octave inbetween these two respective sets of notes. Thus we will have an entire Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa between these notes. So, you can take any frequency (Sa) and play the 2X frequency of that fundamental frequency (upper Sa) and make a shruthi. Additionally if you played X x 2 * 7/12 (read this as X times 2 to the power 7/12) with X and 2X, then, you are adding the panchamam to the two Sa’s and you get panchama shruthi. Instead, if you played X x 2 * 5/12 (X times 2 to the power 5/12), you are adding madhyamam to the two Sa’s and it is called as the madhyama shruthi.

Shruthi forms the territorial boundaries in music. Any swara derives its identity only with reference to the shruthi. A single note when played alone is probably meaningless in classical music without the Shruthi. Shruthi by itself is pleasant music. In katcheris you may often see somebody sitting on the stage and playing the thambura. The thambura just gives the Sa Pa Sa notes to the Katcheri. That is the SHRUTHI!! Ilayaraja has many times just used the Sa Pa Sa shruthi as the background score in cinemas and lilted the audience by the magical effect of the SHRUTHI! Rahman also has used the drone of the Shruthi conspicously in many of his songs and added great melody to the songs (eg: the Panthuvarali song in Rangeela sung by Swarana Latha and Udit Narayan. What a classical piece!!)

The swaras of Sudha Saveri are: Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Da2 Sa; Sa Da2 Pa Ma1 Ri2 Sa. If we played Kausalya Supraja the tune goes like this: Sa Ri Ri (kausalya) Sa Ri Ri (supraja), Sa Ri Sa Ri (Rama poorva), Sa Ri Sa Ri Sa Sa (Sandhya pravarthadhE). The above swaras have meanings only within their respective Shruthi. If you viewed these notes from within the boundaries of a different musical territory, then it might have a different meaning. What if you viewed these notes from the reference shruthi of “Ri2-Da2-Ri2”?! The raagam might change totally. It is like Pandiyarajan and S.V.Sekhar travelling overnight and going to Kerala in Kadhanayakan!! Though Thamizhnadu and Kerala are adjacent states, words might have totally opposite meanings there! If a Thamizh doctor prescribed a sleeping pill to a Malayalee and told him “ee guligai ravilE kazhicho!”, he will be in trouble. Because, “ravilE” means night in Thamizh and morning in Malayalam! See how different the meanings are?!

What A.R.Rahman has done is, he has skillfully “copied” the Sudha Saveri swaras and transliterated it into Hindholam as Ga2 Ma1 Ma1, Ga2 Ma1 Ga2 Ma1 and so on. We don’t know if he purported to copy or if it was a strange co-incidence. But, the fact is that a Coke can got recycled and came back to us as a Pepsi can! Sometimes, Coke cans can get a new sticker on its face (with no shruthi change and stuff!) and can be sold as Goli soda locally. That has happened in the background rhythm guitar score in kuluvaliyE (Muthu) song. The same piece comes in Sister Act. Ilayaraja too has got incriminated many times for such blatant similarity of his songs to other popular songs (en purushan thaan enakku mattum thaan in Gopurangal Saivadhillai was called as a copy of dham maarO dham).

Aandholika is a pleasant janyam of Harikaambodi raagam. Its arohanam and avarohanam are Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Ni2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Da2 Ma1 Ri2 Sa. Thyagaraja swamy has got a terrific krithi in this raagam, which is mostly sung as a thukkada in Katcheris. The krithi is raaga sudha rasa. I have heard a story long ago. That Padma Subramaniam had a song tuned for her dance performance in this raagam. At that time Ilayaraja was in someway conected with Padma’s troup to earn his daily bread (probably as a “mike” boy or something!). Then, later he became picked up by “Ms. Luck” after he made his debut in Panchu Arunachalam’s film Annakili. He had lot of chances flowing in his way then. Mullum Malarum is a terrific movie. It must be within first 50 films of Ilayaraja. He gave a great musical support to the director, Mahendran, tuning few totally unheard kinds of lilting tunes then. But, he also got his name spoiled in that movie because of “copying” Padma’s Aandolika raagam tune.

The song is raaman aandalum raavaNan aandalum. That is a very crucial song in the movie. Rajni looses one of his arms in the climax of the song in an accident. The song is actually a tappanguthu. But, in the interlude of the song the chorus sings a bit which goes like “samiyai kumbitta namaku nalladhu thaan varumE”. The tune is supposed to be in pure Aandholika (the same tune that Padma used in her Dance performance earlier). Reportedly she complained in some interview about how Ilayaraja had “copied” her tune. We know that music directors like Ilayaraja and Rahman have got very fertile mind and they have proved it by generation of wonderful tunes. The judgement that these eminant people copied other people’s work cannot be passed so easily. It is in the innermost conscience of these personalities that the secret dwells if they are felon or not. Perhaps, it can never be known to the outside world unless they frankly admit like Anand Milind (“yes, we are fans of Ilayaraja, we do use his tunes in our songs”)!

Madhyamaavathi is a grand janya raagam of Karaharapriya. Perhaps it is the greatest of the pentatonic raagas (oudhuva oudhuva raagam). Its arohanam and avarohanam are: Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Ni2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Pa Ma1 Ri2 Sa. Ilayaraja liked this raagam so much that he has at least tuned 40 to 50 songs in this great raagam. Madhyamavathi is distinct among other pentatonic raagas. It is a very much gamaka oriented raagam. It is like the Thodi of janya raagas. You can just play the notes of the 45 melam (Subhapanthuvarali) in the harmonium and make the raagam evident. Similarly you can just play Sa Ri2 Ma2 Pa Ni3 Sa in the harmonium and make Hamsanadham raagam evident, but, you cannot get Madhyamavathi by just playing the notes in a plain “bland” way. You have to make the notes spicy! Gently make the Rishabham and Nishadham oscillate above their baseline frequency, there comes the unparalled beauty, Ms. Madhyamaavathi!!

Ilayaraja has tuned a great Madhyamavathi in Mullum Malarum (adipEnnE). I think the singer is Jency. Each time I listen to this song it creates an inexplicable feeling in my mind. The song is so romantic, so sexy, so well sung that it directly stimulates some unknown erogenous zones in the psyche. Ilayaraja has reasonably used the gamakas well. This was probably his second Madhyamavathi, the first one being sOlaikkuyilE in Ponnu Ooruku Pudhusu. sOlaikuyilE starts like Pa Pa Ri Sa Ri…. A lofty jump from madhyama sthayi Pa to tharasthayi Rishabam. MaalaikadhirE goes like Sa Sa Ni Sa Ni…..Pa, such a prolonged nishadham. Most of the melody of this raagam resides with the Ri and Ni. The gamakam is absolutely important, period! Look at the beauty of Papanasam Sivan’s opening in Madhyamavathi in “karpagamE kadai kann paarai” - Sa Ri Sa Ri…. Actually the gamakam of Ri encompasses the sadharana gandharam too. It is like RiGa, RiGa…! Ilayaraja’s use of impeccable gamaka adorned Rishabam at the very opening of the song is too classic. It is like Krishnamachari Srikanth sending the first opening ball to the boundary!

Ilayaraja has given few more Madhyamavathi’s in quite pure form. en kalyaaNa vaibOgam in the movie Azhage Unnai Aradhikkiren is one early number. Sridhar’s first venture with Ilayaraja. Vani Jayaram has sung this song. Then, aagaaya gangai in Dharma Yuddham, nee thaanE endhan ponvasantham in Ninaivellam Nithiya, thulli thulli nee padamma (Chirpikul Muthu), thalattu pillai ena thaalaatu (?Achchani), thazham poovE vaasam veesu (Kai Kodukkum Kai), kuyilE kuyilE poonguyilE (Aan Paavam), anandam then sindhum (Man vasanai), azhagiya thirumaganE (Rajarishi), eeramaana rojaavE (Illamai Kaalangal), kavidhai paadu kuyilE (ThendralE Ennai Thodu), malargalil aadum illamai (Kalyaraman), nee kEta naan matEn (movie?) etc. A.R. Rahman has used small bits of Madhyamavathi in the interlude of his song thee thee thithikkum then ([Thiruda Thiruda](http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/tamil/s/movie_name.5473/! target=)). Some singer called Jadhiraja has sung some fast swaras with pungent electric guitar sending shocks of Madhyamavathi vibrations with his voice! (I heard that Mr.Jadhiraja is none other than Rahman himself!) Madhyamaavathi by earlier music directors include ponnondru kandEn, muththukkaLO kaNgaL, aagaaya pandhalilE, etc. Can we forget the great presentation of Devarajan in Swamy Iyyapan hariharatmajam viswamasrayE sung by Yesudoss. It is a divine feast to listen to this slow song.

Madhyamavathi is supposed to be a Mangalakaramaana raagam. Tradionally when we end the katcheri, it is customary to end the katcheri in one of the three raagas: Madhyamavathi, Suruti, or Sowrashtram. Ilayaraja used Madhyamavathi to end the song in one of his raagamaalika songs! enna samaiyalO in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi. The song starts with Mohanam and ends with Madhyamaavathi. When SPB sings ilaiyai pOdadi, Madhyamavathi starts. Of course, each of the raaga change in that raagamalikai is made by the accompanying nadhaswaram.

If we change the kaisiki nishadham (Ni2) of madhyamavathi in the arohanam to kaakali nishadham (Ni3) then the raaga form changes drastically. It is Brindhavana Saranga. It is a bhashangam because of double Nishadham. Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Ni3 Sa; Sa Ni2 Pa Ma1 Ri2 Sa. Some of Ilayaraja’s song in this raagam are fantastic. poongaatrE poongaatrE (Kunkuma Chimizh), kallukuLLE anbin eeram enna (Unakaaga VazhgirEn) are both enthralling songs. I cannot forget how I used to tune to Coimbatore radio station between 10 to 11, Trichi - 1 to 2 PM, Madras - 4 to 5 in the mid 1980’s to listen to these great songs. These Brindhavana Saranga’s are as captivating as Subulakshmi’s Sriranga Pura Vihara or Balamurali’s kamalaptakula. The later songs that he tuned in this raaga are dheyvangaL kan paarthadhu (Pudhiya Raagam) and indha jilla muzhuka nalla theriyum (Priyanka). Brindhavana Saranga by earlier music directors are kattithanga raajavukku, thottilil thodangidum (nilavE malarE). In the latter song MSV has used double Nishadham in the arohanam itself (like Pa Ni2 Ni3 Sa)! It is one of the best songs that he has ever tuned, sung by Vani Jayaram.

Mullum Malarum has another fantastic song. senthaazham poovil is a kinda try in Bowli raagam (with lot of foreign notes in the interlude). Bowli is one of the early morning raagas. Other early morning raagas are Boopaalam, Revagupti, Malayamaarudham etc. When your cousin is getting married, you are very tired during the night of Janavaasam because you went out with your other cousins and had a “thanni” party and came back to the Kalyana chathiram only at 4 AM to sleep. You have hardly slept for 30 mts, and you hear the irritating Nadhaswaram vidhwan playing “pee pee” to wake up everybody. He is playing one of the above raagams! Boopalam is Thodi janyam: Sa Ri1 Ga2 Pa Da1 Sa; Sa Da1 Pa Ga2 Ri1 Sa. Bowli is Mayamalava Gowlai Janyam with Ga3 instead of Ga2 in Boopalam. I have heard of one good Bowli in the movie called as Kuzhandhai Yesu (kannE vaa, kanmaniyE vaa). I don’t know who is the music director. Recently I heard Ilayaraja’s another (probable) Bowli: kOzhikkoovum nErathilE (movie?). I don’t remember the tune very well. But, the best Bowli came from T.Rajender. salangai ittaaL (Maithili Ennai Kaadhali) was a tremendous success at that time. It is unfortunate that Rajender, a guy with full potency to challenge big time music directors, got lost in the political imbroglio, loosing his place in the cinema. He gave such a wonderful Kaappi raagam in his very first movie (idhu kuzhandhai paadum thaalaatu in Oru Thalai Raagam), superb Gambeera Naatai in Pookalai Parikaadheergal (kaadhal oorvalam ingE). Those are unforgettable tunes.

Madhyamaavathi is closely related Sriraagam (Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Ni2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Pa Ma1 Ri2 Ga2 Ri2 Sa) and Manirangu (Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Ni2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Pa Ma1 Ga2 Ri2 Sa). There is one film song in Sriraagam. thoda thoda vaa mella (Dharma Devadhai) has been tuned by Malayalam music director Ravindran. Two years ago, I heard another Sriraagam song (andhi maalai) that has been exactly tuned in the tune of Thyagraja krithi entharo mahaanu bavulu. That song was in a music album. I don’t know who realised it. But do know that it was someway connected with Rahman. As far as I know, there is only one Manirangu song in cinema. Music director: Ilayaraja! Isai rajanE un illam veenai naanE comes in Kanni Rasi (first film directed by Pandiyarajan). Malaysia Vasudevan has sung in two voices (his normal voice for Prabhu, and Chidambaram Jayaraman’s voice for Janakaraj), accompanied by Vani Jayaram. The fact that Ilayaraja used such rare raagas during his carreer is a standing testimony to his classical interests.

Now, coming to the original discussion about shruthi, look what happens to our Madhyamavathi when you start viewing it from different angles. Increase the reference shruthi by two notes, ie., Ri2-Da2-Ri2, then the raaga changes to Hindholam. Increase by 5 notes, ie., Ma1-Sa-Ma1, then the raaga changes to Sudha Saveri, by 7 notes, ie., Pa-Ri2-Pa, the raaga changes to Sudha Dhanyasi, by 10 notes, ie., Ni2-Ma1-Ni2, then you get Mohanam from the same swaras!! Is it not wonderful! It is like the same man being a son, brother, father, and as uncle to different people by virtue of different relationship.

Mohanam is a nice, melodious raagam. Ilayaraja is a real Mohanapriyan. No other music director in India would have given so many Mohanam as him. Among his hundreds of Mohanam hits we have kannan oru kai kuzhandhai (Bhadrakali), geetham sangeetham(Kokkarako), malarE pEsu (Geethanjali) vaan polE vannam (Salangai oli), kanmaniyE kaadhal enbadhu (aaril irundhu arubadhu varai), poovil vandu (Kadhal oviyam), meenkodi theril (Karumbuvil), naan oru ponnoviyam kandEn (Kannil Theriyum Kadhaigal), abc nee vaasi (Oru kaidiyin dairy), naan undhan thaayaga vendum (Ullasa paravaigal), oru raagam paadalodu (Ananda Raagam), nilavu thoongum nEram (Kunkumachimizh), aathodu kaathaada (Engeyo Ketta Kural), oru thanga radhathil (Dharmayudham), kasthoori manE (Pudhumai penn), ninnukori varnam (Agninakshathiram), kaathirundhEn thaniyE (Rasamagan), idhayam oru kovil (Idhaya Kovil), kukku koo koovum (Valli) etc. Some of the recent music directors seem to be handling Mohanam very well. ManamE thotta chinungi in Thotta chinnungi is a great piece of Mohanam. Oh God! what a terrific rendition by Hariharan! He is an asset to Thamizh music industry. In Kaadhal Kottai, Deva has given two amazing Mohanams (vellarikka pinju vellarikka, I forgot the other one).

In katcheris, the shruthi is constantly vibrated either by the thamboora artist or the electronic shruthi. This reminds us the reference shruthi for that concert and we can identify a raagam with respect to that shruthi. But, in film music, where there is no background reminder of the shruthi, how can we identify the raagam correctly? As discussed above, it could be Madhyamavathi, Mohanam, Sudha Saveri, Hindholam, or Sudha Dhanyasi for the same swaras. And now comes the “nuances” or “raagalakshanam” issue! We can still identify by figuring out the kind of treatment that has been given to the swaras.

While you are singing in one particular shruthi, if you suddenly assume a different shruthi and sing the same swaras implying a different raagam, then it is called as shruthi-bedham. It is a highly scientific game that some muscians like T.N.Seshagopalan relish playing on the dais. He could sing Thodi and do a 1/2 kattai shruthi-bedham and make it sound like Kalyani. The maestro has ingeniously tuned a song recently in which he suddenly assumes a different shruthi in the middle of the song. This is in [vandhaal vandhal rajakumaari](http://music.cooltoad.com/music/song.php?id=200343 target=) (Oru Oorila Oru Rajakumaari). In the Piano prelude he clearly indicates the shruthi initially . He starts the song like Ga3 Ma1 Pa, Pa Pa, Pa Da2 Pa, Pa Da2 Pa, Pa Da2 Pa Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Ga3 Ri…..If you were to call this pallavi as a raagam you can call it as Sankarabharanam. It is pukka! In the interlude he follows the same opening shruthi. But, when the charanam starts, he suddenly raises the shruthi by 4 notes and assumes the previous Ga3 as the Pa and develops a wonderful Charukesi from there on. It is ectastic to listen to this song again and again. Charukesi is the 26th melam with Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da1 Ni2 Sa. His other Charukesi are: amma nee sumandha (annai oru aalayam), siriya paravai (Andha oru nimidam), aadal kalaiyE (Sri Raghavendrar), thoodhu selvadhaaradi (Singaravelan), chakkarakattiku chakkarakattiku (UllE VeliyE), poovaagi kaayagi (movie?), and maNamaalaiyum manjalum (Vathiyaar veetu pillai).

Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Internal Medicine Department,
Brackenridge Hospital,
Austin, Tx 78701.

Comments

asd 4 Feb 2007 9:23 pm: Biased huh?
anand 5 Feb 2007 4:54 am: mind blowing..
packiaraj 20 Feb 2007 10:21 am: excellent selection from isaignani ilayaraja.
Anonymous 20 Feb 2007 10:28 am: isaignani is always excellent.he is not made but born musician.whenever i listen to his music simply i forgot myself.
Anonymous 20 Feb 2007 10:33 am: please dont compare isaignani with man made a.r.rehman
Kiran 22 Feb 2007 3:33 am: Whatever it is music is music. I know music and i know playing flute. But a lay man doesnt cares technicalities involved in it. (Marghazi poove) is a beautiful song. Though he borrowed it makes sense…. So, feel the song, its lyrics w.r.t to the movie’s environment, it matches!
udayar Rajendra 2 Mar 2007 9:59 am: kannirasi is not the first film by Pandiyarajan, Aan paavam Paandiyarajan’s first film
sundar 4 Mar 2007 11:09 am: Kannirasi was Bhagyaraj’s first movie in which he plays an anti-hero character…. BTW your detailed analysis of shruthi is very good
sRIDHAR 18 Mar 2007 9:35 am: excellent work pl . go on doing some more!1KEE GOING WE NEEDE SUCH GOOD REASEARCH FOR THE MUSIC LOVERS THANKING SOM MUCH FOR U TAKEN EFFORTS SUCEED THIS THANKS11 REGARDS FROM SRI -gERMANY
Murali 4 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: Hi Friends, I too agree with you all but not really. I am big fan of Raja and his songs. I play only Raja’s song in my Keyboard. But raja too copy stuff from Mozard, Bach and Bethoven. Coping is not important but one should variations. In that scenario both AR and Raja does excellent job. If you think I am not right. Just listern to Mozard or Bach Synp and Listern to some Raja songs (like Chituku chella chituku or any songs start fast/allegro ). Let enjoy there creations !!!
R. Srinivasan 4 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: @Anand, A bad comment about ARR…… You fired ARR as if Illayaraja didnt copy any songs…. illyaraja have stolen a piano piece from a frech composer and used it in the mouna ragam movie…. piano piece name “Le Cocou”…. so mate better analyze both sides and give comments… here after dont write rubbish about ARR (One legend)…..
dilip shekar 4 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: uabfgyasdo & srinivasan ,
nice comment my dear (sons)children.
Venkat 28 Apr 2009 3:19 pm: Srinivasan’s comment on IR about “Le Cocou” is incorrect. They are diffrent ragas with not much similarties. Dr. Ramakrishnan’s article is not about knocking one music director over other but it is about dissecting music with primary importance to IR style of music. I am incompetant to comment on the intricacies of the articles but had a great time reading them.
Naveen Kumar 7 Jun 2009 6:47 am: Every musical instrument have some specific way and methods to play it. It may sound similar if they are played as prescribed method. So, My point is, because of same sound of the music we should not come to the conclusion that it is copied. Best example of copy is a song from the recent movie “Kathalin vilunthen” - “Unakenna naan” which is litrally copied from “Rihana - Unfaithfull”. But Raja & Rahaman’s composition may not look like that. Sometimes it may sound similar but if you feel the music you can get the diffrence.In “Margali poove” it is the usage of the tune it is not copied, As in “theepidika” from “Arinthul Ariyamalum”. So you guys don’t spoil the name of the legends. Don’t listen to music the rather feel the music then, you may know the talant of these lengends.
Bhaskaran 25 Jun 2009 9:06 am: Hi all, There is no musician in world without inspiration. We should Realize this.Even mozart n beethoven should hav got inspired sum where and if u clearly notice in mozart’s music…in many place he himself got inspired in his music and used a repeated peices many places… In same way Ilayaraja,Rehman, gets inspiration with some with music.. Without this no musician could come up..But there is huge difference between copying and inspiring…Comparing to others theirs inspiration level is low. But Ilayaraja Purely, greatly, gives all of music upto his traditional way…And the arrangement of instruments too same…Purely tamil cultured music…Thats the only Reason he his king of south…King of Music…King of Creativity…Musicians may realize how he gives importance to songs, bg’s going back songs…Re recordings….Similarity will be ther in all kind of music…If u ask Tamil traditional musicians to compose in purely western style…So he starts lisenting western to get sum idea…Without that how can it Happen. So obviously inspiration starts over ther….
simran 12 Feb 2010 7:15 am: It seems all composers borrow. Puccini borrowed from earlier composers, Lloyd Webber borrowed from him and later worked with AR who borrowed from other earlier Indian composers! It’s just one long chain of borrowing!
kk 17 Nov 2010 5:50 pm: i think ur mad…both are legends…dont compare with each other…they have their own syle of composition…for every song basic structure is there…that not copy… fool can u make a sentence without vowels…know ur knowledge..befor u comment..and one more thing..in the world no man is fool to accept ur concept…
Vignesh 2 Jun 2011 4:56 pm: Superb!! I’m totally amazed!! blown out!! im really iimpressed with ar rahman’s variety!! i must confess that i’m a gr8 fan of ARR!! semma depth of field!! good work!! :) :)
Ravi kumar 16 Oct 2011 8:49 am: Hi Friend, This is Ravi. I read your blog. You have done a wonderful job. But I have a small suggestion. I saw the song malargalil aadum was listed under Madhyamavathi. Actually this composition has a great mystery behind it. The song is actually in Mohanam. Please read my blog to understand it better. http://ravikumarv.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/magic-of-raja-a-lil-bit-of-this-and-lil-bit-of-that/
arun 8 Feb 2011 6:59 pm: “That Mozart’s work continued to influence Beethoven is an uncontroversial claim. To give one example, the role played by Mozart’s 40th Symphony in the composition of Beethoven’s Fifth can be documented from Beethoven’s sketchbooks, where Beethoven copied out a sequence from Mozart’s work that he adapted into his own symphony”……….this is from wikipedia. “copying” is a derogatory word and taboo to us lesser mortals. “real” creators like them never “copy” they try to OWN and POSSES their predecessors’, their role models’ works. they get addicted, obsessed, get jealousy, feel inferior (all artists would agree with these traumas). the troubled soul vents the pent up emotions by composing a piece of work which blatantly reflects the defeat. it is so beautiful to read our genius’ minds while listening to these so called “copied” songs. answer me this…abc nee vaasi or endha poovilum vaasam or any other “copied” pallavies might escape the vigilance of “music illiterates” but not that of the music critics. raja or rahman know this for sure. still they allow these songs for public listening expecting negative criticisms. actually we must salute them for their courage in accepting that “there is always someone above me and i am still learning”. (again these attributes will fit only to real music creators not to those music merchants). nadi moolam, rishi moolam adhodu “unmayana kalaignarin” isai moolamum parkamal irukkalame. nalla isaiy padaippugale aridhagivitta soozhalil, semmayana isai kalanjiyathai aiyappattodu aruthu parpadhai kuraippomaga. aruthu parthal dhan enna? pon muttai nichayam irukkum anal vathu dhan marithu pogum. Avar Vazhumbodhe vaazhthuvomaga. let us have positive outlook towards those who really deserve it, let us see the bigger picture just like the author of the article.
A.r.rahman 27 Sep 2011 11:34 am: Dae ennaya copy adikiraen nu soneenga.dae neenga ennatha da kilichutaenga.nan oscar vangitaen. Neenga ippadi vetti paechu than laiku…
S balakrishnan 19 May 2012 3:06 am: A.R. Rahman music is coffee from the vending machine and Ilayaraja music is pure Thanjavur filter kaapi
Prabhu S 11 Oct 2012 10:39 am: Hello Anand, Thanks for posting the superb article. For music lovers like me who are not trained in the classical mould, this article is a curtain raiser and teaches us some very basic things about classical music. We should really appreciate the author of this post, Mr.Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan, and no doubt, he has done a lot of research on the classical background of film songs, especially Ilayaraja’s songs. Great work.
vijai ananth 21 Oct 2012 6:44 pm: S.balakrishna, un filter coffee thanjavurkku mattum thaan laaiku, vending machine ulagatthirke siranthathu….filter kaapiye neeye vacchikko…..
Karthik 20 Mar 2015 2:40 pm: Hi, I thought Muthukkalo Kangal & Pon Ondru Kanden were Brindavana Saaranga.
ex-ARR fan 27 Feb 2016 3:25 am: In the INDIAN(tamil flim) akudangu nuu edapotta music ditto copied from love of common people

Classical Ilayaraja 8

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:00:00 +0000

This is the 8th of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.
I’ve added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.
You could also try my Tamil song search.

South Indian classical music has got an excellent treasure of superb names. Most of the raaga names seem to be Sanskrit derivatives. Even though there are some Thamizh equivalent names for raagas such as Sankarabharanam, nobody uses them. Ki.Veeramani is probably very sad about this. Maybe, Vairamuthu has some plans like translating all the raaga names into Thamizh as he tried translating Thyagaraja’s ’nee dhayaradha’ in Sindhu Bhairavi movie as un dhayavillaiyaa (if only Ki.Veeramani was ready to fund the project, from the 5 lakh rupees that he got for perpetrating the deeds of thandhai Ee.Vae.Ra. Periyar, from Selvi Jayalalitha). Alternatively, Ki.Veeramani may get somewhat sensible and appreciate the high-level idiocy in trying to translate the proper nouns in raaga names. And he may rather to encourage a lower level of idiocy by goading his clan to replace all the Sanskrit sounding sounds like ‘ksha’, ‘jha’ etc in all the raagas to their Thamizh equivalents and then accept the raaga names. Then, Shanmukhapriya would be called as Dhanmukapriya (as Vibhishanan in Valmiki Ramayanam became Vibidanan in Kamba Ramayanam)!

Some raagas seem to follow the first, middle and last name system! The only difference is, you don’t give a space between the first and last name. For example, Kalyani has a first name (which is commonly omited), and that is, ‘mesa’. This mesa helps in identifying the number and position that it occupies in the melakartha scale. While there is no dearth of names, for some unknown reason, there is lot of repetition in naming the raagas. Thus you have Mohanakalyani, Amirkalyani, Yamunakalyani and so on. In this case, the above said raagas are all ‘DNA’ testified offsprings of Kalyani. But there are some other unrelated raagas that have common last names. For example, the Ranjani group of raagas. We have Ranjani, Janaranjani, Mararanjani, Megaranjani, Sivaranjani, Karnaranjani and so on. Of these, Mararanjani is the 25th mela raagam. Ranjani, Janaranjani, Sivaranjani, Karnaranjani are janyams of the 59th, 29th, 22nd and 22nd melams respectively. See, how unrelated they are!

Unlike the Ranjani group, some of the Bhairavi raagams are indeed genitically related. In this group we have Nadabhairavi, Bhairavi, Sindhu Bhairavi, Ananda Bhairavi, Salakabhairavi and so on. Of course, there are other few Bhairavis like Ahir Bhairavi (the Hindustani equivalent of Chakravaagam) which are not related to the above said Bhairavi group.

Nadabhairavi is the 20th melakartha raagam. While it is such an important raaga in the western music (the C minor scale), its importance is completely undermined in our music. The fecundity of Nadabhairavi has been fully exploited in carnatic music to get innumerable janya raagams which are commonly sung, while the parent raagam has become totally ignored. There are not very many keerthanais in Nadabhairavi. But in cinema music this C minor scale is the supreme king. Probably one third of all the cinema songs are set in Nadabhairavi scale. Ilayaraja has scored countless songs in this scale. None of them is classical. So, even though one might know thousands of these songs, he might not be able to identify the Nadabhairavi raagam when sung in the classical sadas! Some examples for the songs in this scale would be kannE kalaimaanE (Moonram Pirai), kalyaaNa maalai (Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal), engirundhO iLamkuyilin (Brahma), raakku muththu raakku (Yejamaan), ennulE ennulE (Valli - what a song!), then thenpaandi seemaiyilE (Nayagan) etc…. A.R.Rahman’s chandralEkhaa (Thiruda Thiruda) is another fantastic example of the C minor scale. In many of these songs, the music directors tend to present a hybrid by incorporating Da2, and Ni3 usages. Ilayaraja, who is known for his very minimal deviation from the chosen scale, also seems to enjoy presenting an (expected) vagary of occasional Da2 and Ni3 usage in these songs.

Bhairavi is a major ‘gana’ raagam. It is a sarwaswara bashangam. Thus the aroganam is that of Karaharapriya and the avarohanam - Nadabhairavi! Hence you could call it as the janyam of either Karaharapriya or Nadabhairavi. However, since it is more closely related to Karaharapriya (sanchara-wise), it might be appropriate to call it a janyam of Karaharapriya, with a reduced daivatham in the avarohanam (from Da2 to Da1). The movements of Bhairavi have got a very powerful quality to evoke a gloomy mood. It is much worse than Subhapanthuvarali (the raaga which is oft used in the cinema for sad situations - a very ’light’ one when compared to Bhairavi).

For a guy who daringly ventures into the bermuda triangle of classical music, that is, the rare vivadhi raagas such as Kanakangi, Bhaavani etc, it is a kind of surprise why Ilayaraja so far did not bother to touch upon the greatest of all the janya raagas, Bhairavi, in at least one of his songs. Even in his classical music albums like the ‘how to name it’, I don’t remember there is any Bhairavi piece. On the contrast, MSV has tried Bhairavi twice (as far as I know) in cine-music. Both of them are excellent. They are ‘oru puram parthal midhilayin mydhili’ (the second charanam in the song adhisaiya raagam in the movie Aboorva Raagam. MSV says that the rest of the song is set in some vague raagam called as mahathi); The second Bhairavi that MSV gave was thiruppaarkadalil paLLikondaayE (Swamy Iyyappan). What a lovely song! What an unbelievable classical presentation of the essence of Bhairavi! What a marvelous rendition by K.J.Yesudoss! You have to enjoy this song atom by atom (anu anuvai rasikanum!) There is no doubt that the ultimate classicism in carnatic music lies with few raagas like Bhairavi, Thodi, Sankarabharanam, Begada, Karaharapriya and Kalyani etc. The ascendency in the scale of knowledge and performance of even the classical musicians would be evaluated by the critics according to the mastery and proficiency that they show in handling these raagas. Such is the weightage that a raagam like Bhairavi deems from the purely classical people. Ilayaraja miserably failed in this aspect.

There was a wonderful opportunity recently for him to handle Bhairavi. That is, in the movie Moga Mull. The author of that book Thi.Janakiraman, writes pages about this great raagam. In the novel, he actually writes few paragraphs of just Bhairavi swaras alone, and about the beauty of those swaras. This he writes in the context when the hero Babu and his friend Rajam sit in the Kumbakonam public park and listen to the Bhairavi raagam broadcasted in the park radio. Since so much emphasis was given to this raagam in the story, I was lead to believe that the director Gnana might have told Ilayaraja and got a superb Bhairavi song. But, alas! There was just a small piece of re-recording in Bhairavi alone, that too, Bhairavi varnam, when Babu’s music master Ranganna teaches music to his disciples. Thats all.

Mukhari and Husseni are raagas very closely related to Bhairavi. Though it is generally said that Mukhari is the apt raagam for gloomy mood, perhaps Bhairavi suits more to such a situation than the former. Cinema musicians have preferred to use Sivaranjani or Subhapanthuvarali for sad situations than Bhairavi or Mukhari, probably because of the terrific gamakam involved in these raagas. Too much of gamakam and cinema music don’t go together! However, MSV has taken a shot at Mukhari too, in two songs: vaadaa malarE thamizh thEnE (Ambikapathy), pOgaadhE pOgaadhE (Veera Pandiya Kattabomman). I have not heard both these songs. But have heard people say that they are very good Mukharis.

Ananda Bhairavi is a fantastic raagam. It is a sharp contrast to Bhairavi. As the name indicates, Ananda Bhairavi does not have a sad quality like Bhairavi. It brings ‘aanandam’ to the listener. It is traditionally used in real ‘mangalakaramana’ situations. During the celebration of marriage occasion, when the bride and the groom sit in a swing and play ‘oonjal’, there is a kalyana sampradhaya song. That is ‘ponnoonjal aadinaalae’! The raagam is Ananda Bhairavi! You should have listened to that song, to appreciate how pleasant it is, particularly when a group of ‘maamis’ sing this song in an early morning muhoortha schedule! It will even make the father of of the bride who is performing a ‘dowri’ kalyanam, lacrimate due to aanandam, forgetting all the sufferings he had to go through to perform the marriage.

Ilayaraja has given two Ananda Bhairavis so far. The first one came in Rajni’s Raghavendra. The situation is: Manorama sings this song humouring Lakshmi, who develops an affair with the Raghavendra (future swamy). That song starts like: parthalae theriyadho naeku, adiyae sarasu… The second Ananda Bhairavi that Ilayaraja gave came in Sridhar’s Iniya Uravu Poothadhu. The situation is: the heroine (Nadhia) or somebody gets pregnant and the ’thozhiyar’ crowd sings this song (during valaikapu?). The song starts like chittu pOlE mottu pOlE piLLai vara pOraan kattil mElE. Both those Ananda Bhairavis were good ones. Look, he has used the raagam to suit happy occasion in both the instances! Mangalakaramana situations!

Ananda Bhairavi is one unique raagam in carnatic music. It defies the general grammer that regulate the structure of all raagas! We know that there are 12 (normally) definable swaras in an octave (from lower to upper Sa). They are Sa, Ri1, Ri2 (Ga1), Ri3 (Ga2), Ga3, Ma1, Ma2, Pa, Da1, Da2 (Ni1), Da3 (Ni2) and Ni3. If you count in terms of the number of individual swaras considering each of them seperately (like Ri1, Ri2, Ri3, Ga1, Ga2, Ga3 and so on), then you would say that there are 16 swaras in an octave. Of these 12 swaras, we use almost all the swaras in Ananda Bhairavi. The ’namkevastha’ arohanam and avarohanam of this raagam is Sa Ga2 Ri2 Ga2 Ma Pa Da2 Pa Sa; Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga2 Ri2 Sa. But there is much much more than this arohanam and avarohanam. You have Ga3, Da1 and Ni3 proyogams in this raagam. You can use Pa Ni2 Sa prayogam. With so much of bashangam, it looks as if it is very ungrammatical. Yet, it follows perfect grammer of its own, that define its raaga-lakshanam. Ga3 and Da1 is mostly used in making Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da1 Pa sancharam. Ni3 is used in making Da2 Ni3 Sa Ga2 Ri2 Ga2 Sa sancharam. In short Ananda Bhairavi typifies the purely aesthetic hallmark achievement of carnatic music.

Recently, Thamizh cinema music has got two more Ananda Bhairavi additions, from the now very famous Deva and Rahman. Deva’s one is konja naaL poru thalaivaa in the movie Aasai. Hariharan has sung this song. It is a great piece. Superb job by Hariharan. Look at the way the gamakam of gandaram is used in this song. Katcheri type of gamakam in a cinema song! Yet, it seems that this song has become a big hit! A welcomable change in Thamizh cinema music! In this song the lyricist (Vaali?) says ’thEnaara paalaara paanja en kaNNukuLLa’ to indicate what a visual delight the heroine’s beauty is! Look how he is crossing the gustatory (taste) and visual sensory modalities! How can honey flowing into the eye give any pleasant sensation? Perhaps we should not look at a poetic usage from the scientific stand point of view! Then he says ‘dhEsiya kodi pOlE poththi vachchEn nenjukkuLLE’! What an atypical analogy to indicate the preciousness of the heroine to the hero!

Rahman’s Ananda Bhairavi is the song mettu pOdu in the movie Duet. Prabhu and Ramesh Aravind sing this in a light music concert. It is a fantastic song. Rahman has used this raagam in a very intelligent manner. The song starts like Sa Sa Sa Ri2, Sa Sa Sa Ri2, Ri2 Ma1 Ga3 Sa, Ri2 Ma1 Ga3 Sa, Sa Sa Ri2 Sa. Look at the way he uses Ga3 in the begining of the song itself! Classically when you sing Ananda Bhairavi, when you descend like Pa Ma1 Ga3, there is a caveat right at the Ga3 “don’t go any further down”! But Rahman goes further down to Sa from Ga3! In this poor grammatically ungrammatic raagam, what can you say about this usage? When you listen to the song it is so illusory and sounds perfectly Ananda Bhairavish! Intelligent musicians can re-define raaga lakshana! Perhaps this is one instance. I don’t know if classicists will agree with the way the raagam has been used in this song. Vairamuthu’s lyrics is just wonderful in this song. He advises the janatha to achieve success like the tender roots of a germinating seed inside a hard rock (paaraikkul vErai pOlE vetri koLga)! What a powerful analogy to boost one’s confidence to achieve success! Maybe, I could add ‘dinosaurai pOlE tholvi adayaadheer’ (don’t attain failure like the dinosaurs)! One of the theories for the extinction of the dinosaur family is that the females could not bear the weight of the males during mating! What a stupid reason for such a mammoth species to perish and become extinct! Shame, Shame, Shame…!

Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Internal Medicine Department,
Brackenridge Hospital,
Austin, Tx 78701.

Comments

Anonymous 8 Jan 2007 9:05 am: Kalamaadu onnu karavai maadu moonu- Magalir mattum is also ananda bairavi
ramesh viswanathan 29 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: Hello Sir, This was an excellent piece of information about carnatic raagams. I would like to know more about 1. Abheri. 2. Shanmukhapriya. 3. Devagandiri. 4. karnataka Devagandiri 5. reethigowla. there are many more, if you let me know something on the similarl lines will be thankful to you. Rgds Ramesh
A.R.VISHNU VARDHAN 29 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: Hai every body, Any one can send me all songs of MOGA MULL.
dayanandhan 19 Sep 2008 7:38 am: informative post.. hats off..
one clarification:
the song vaadaa malarey thamizh theney from ambikapathy and pogaadhey pogaadhey from VP -Kattabomman are the compostions of Isai Maedhai G Ramanathan.. and not MSV..
pls clarify..
Sai Magesh 18 Mar 2009 9:49 am: Thanks Anand. Nice piece of information. I don’t know carnatic music but I listen. I was listening to “Paluke Bangaramayena” from yesterday and the songs from duet and aasai were coming to my mind. I came here and confirmed that they are of same raaga.
augustine 2 Mar 2010 5:42 am: well done and keep it up your wonderful task in music world

Tamil Songs - 2000s

Mon, 08 May 2006 12:00:00 +0000

The 2000s saw the proliferation of music directors like Vidyasagar, Harris Jayaraj and Yuvan Shankar Raja, while Rahman still continued strong.

Here is the background music from some hit songs from the 2000s. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Kaps 8 May 2006 7:33 am: Anand, All of them were pretty easy. scored 25/25. Can we have some tough / old ones please?
S Anand 8 May 2006 8:33 am: Gosh, I honestly thought no one would get 25/25! Well, 1970s is next, and I’ll making that as tough as I can.
RDX 8 May 2006 1:46 pm: when ar u postin e ans???
S Anand 8 May 2006 4:01 pm: No plans to post answers. You can always mail me, though.
Anonymous 8 May 2006 7:09 pm: 23/25. isai inban. 17 & 19 :-( clue its there on the tip of the finger not able to type
S Anand 8 May 2006 7:29 pm: 17: Madhavan, 19: Ajit
riggy 8 May 2006 8:14 pm: aww…i’m pulling my hair out on this!! 12/25….good one anand..do post more of these!!
aneetaa 9 May 2006 12:38 am: cudn’t find the last one alone….
gayathri 9 May 2006 12:52 am: any clues on the 15th? I cracked the rest … but no idea on the 15th!
kummy 9 May 2006 1:41 am: hurrah i got 25/25
gayathri, its thotti jaya
S Anand 9 May 2006 7:21 am: Actor for the last one: SJ Suryah
Anonymous 9 May 2006 7:53 am: thanks. looks like i missed a particular md s in this and the previous quiz. I am happy i didnt miss any of gods creations ;-) isai inban
zero 9 May 2006 10:20 am: 20/25 :(. I didn’t get 10, 15, 16, 19, 21. and I came dangerously close to getting it right only for 16. Damn this too ;)
sudheer 9 May 2006 1:54 pm: Awesome quiz.. cos its awesome fun.. i scored 16/25… need to sharpen my memory more!!
Ashwin 9 May 2006 3:10 pm: 15/25(that too cheated by typing some popular trash vijay movies).. I am definitely a 80s tamil hippie :)
balaji 11 May 2006 8:50 pm: and i thought i knew tamil songs… sigh got only 15/25
vidhya 12 May 2006 11:29 am: great one! when i started out, i thought i wld nail them.. but then had to be satisfied with 20/25. super fun, it was. thanks
shri 17 May 2006 9:24 am: cudnt find out 10,19,25,15 and 16.any clues pl.?wasnt tht bad.its really enjoyable and u feel so bad wen unable to find out the movie name
PAPPU 1 Oct 2006 7:11 pm: I TS LITTLE THOUGH.CAN U GIVE ANSWERS FOR UNKNOWN ONE?
Ranganathan 25 Oct 2006 11:03 am: Hi Anand… ! Ranga here… Tried this one too… 25/ 25… Great Quiz… ! Thanks…
punitha 16 Nov 2006 10:41 am: great….now i know, i am not that bad…..25/25…….
suresh 2 Dec 2006 4:56 pm: tried hard but could get only 15/25 …. any way i enjoyed
Prin 11 Dec 2006 10:37 am: Got 22 out of 25 - 9, 12, 16 Help with these. Just can’t remember 16 although I can sense it
Anonymous 24 Feb 2007 11:07 am: 25/25.15th was tough though
Senthilkumar.S 24 Mar 2009 9:10 am: nice quiz… got 21/25. very close to the missed out songs…
nazreen 9 Jun 2010 9:39 am: nice all quiz……really enjoyed……
nirmala 16 Dec 2010 10:13 pm: 24 out of 25 coulnt find 19…pls help…gr8 quiz though
Sudhakar Dhanapal 19 Jan 2011 12:14 pm: 25 / 25 .. yahhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhh :)
ramya 16 Dec 2011 5:41 pm: plz tell the ans for 19 plzzzz :{
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 2:22 pm: 19/25
B.Manivannan 26 Feb 2017 5:05 pm: nice to listen

Tamil Songs - 1990s

Sun, 07 May 2006 12:00:00 +0000

In 1992, A R Rahman emerged. Ilayaraja may have scored more tunes until the first 3 years of the decade than Rahman did the whole decade. But the decade belonged to Rahman.

Here is the background music from some hit songs from the 1990s. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Blogeswari 7 May 2006 5:10 pm: hi , posting all my entries..
prakash 7 May 2006 6:29 pm: 21/25
thennavan 7 May 2006 6:40 pm: 14/25; actually I know two or three more too but it is like at the proverbial tip of the tongue but am unable to spit it out :)
lazygeek 7 May 2006 6:50 pm: again 25/25
anantha 7 May 2006 7:12 pm: 24/25 with my roomie blurting out the other even before i could try. Honestly i couldnt have got it, i think!
Cipher 7 May 2006 7:38 pm: 22/25 - 1,5,16 theriyalaba :-(
S Anand 7 May 2006 8:16 pm: Cipher, these are the actors who sang 1, 5 and 16. Lots of kids, Kamal (sort-of) and Arvind Swamy. Does that help?
lazygeek 8 May 2006 2:09 am: cipher, semma easyba !!
Bala 8 May 2006 7:00 am: Superb quizes! Thanks.
Arun 8 May 2006 10:38 am: only 12/25. But knew 22-23 of the songs. If you had played a bit more, would have done better, methinks :-) Great stuff!!
Priya 8 May 2006 4:32 pm: Hey, excellent quiz, I know I got all 25 right in the 1990s quiz and all 10 in the 1980s. But how do I confirm, my box deosnt turn green or anything. Is there any other way to track the score?
Ashwin 8 May 2006 4:48 pm: 24/25. I could identify some songs in about .75 seconds. :)Same as priya. Box does not turn green though!
Anonymous 8 May 2006 6:01 pm: 24/25. isai inban. i think its no.18 i am stuck on. Music is familiar was racking my brains for some ilayaraja number then thought maybe its arr by some strange chance. But cant figure. clue pls
S Anand 8 May 2006 7:23 pm: No. 18 is not Ilayaraja, actually.
S Anand 8 May 2006 7:24 pm: Priya, Ashwin: what browser & version are you using?
S Anand 8 May 2006 7:28 pm: Clue for No. 18: the actor is Arjun.
Aravind 8 May 2006 11:04 pm: 24/25. Couldn’t remember the movie for the 25th.
zero 9 May 2006 10:12 am: Anand, The 16th is not playing. Couldn’t get the 6th. Damn! 23/25 :(
Priya 9 May 2006 2:28 pm: I got 25/25….this section was quite easy
Ashwin 9 May 2006 3:15 pm: Anand, I was stupid. I was typing song names
Ashwin 9 May 2006 3:21 pm: one giveaway was that all clips were chronological
P 9 May 2006 4:46 pm: Hi, I am stuck on 14….any clue plz
Ashwin 9 May 2006 6:48 pm: 14 had Nasser in it
zero 10 May 2006 5:07 am: Song no. 16 is still not playing for me.
kummy 10 May 2006 8:18 am: got 24/25 any clue for 10th one
S Anand 10 May 2006 2:55 pm: 10: Vineeth is the actor
Karthik 10 May 2006 5:35 pm: stuck on 25th.. any clues
S Anand 10 May 2006 9:19 pm: 25: Sung by Shankar Mahadevan
SuperStarFritz 12 May 2006 3:20 pm: Got 23/25. Have no idea about 10. 23 I know the song, but can’t proceed from that tune onwards. Thoughts?
S Anand 12 May 2006 9:07 pm: 23: Arjun song.
janani 15 May 2006 2:24 pm: hey again, 18/25 on this one. am getting a tad better.
shri 16 May 2006 3:00 pm: wow.got 25/25.cool.its so nice to play ths one.
Anonymous 26 Jul 2006 2:24 am: couple of songs dont register..especially bombay and kaathalukku mariyaathai
Ranganathan 25 Oct 2006 10:53 am: Hi Anand… Ranga here… How are you ? Came to know about this site… Quite Interesting… I am trying some of the quizzes here… This one I got 25 / 25
karthika 10 Dec 2006 3:44 pm: This site quite is interesting
Prin 11 Dec 2006 10:19 am: Please help Anand, i have done everything from 1, 10-25. Others I need help considering i’m 14 and am a Londoner. Thanks
sorna 31 Dec 2006 5:29 pm: 14 has nasar and revathi
Seetha 4 May 2007 5:52 am: Not able to listen to the 19th one..it says not supported by the s/w :)
Seetha 4 May 2007 6:21 am: Got 24 except for 19 :-)not able to lsiten to t :)
kiran 16 Feb 2009 4:20 am: 25/25. Pretty easy though. (6 was a tricky one, common tune used by Raja in a couple of other movies)
suriya 16 Mar 2009 3:25 am: 23/25…. help me with 6 and 10 plz…
Senthilkumar.S 24 Mar 2009 7:28 am: got 23/25. couldn’t find 1 and 10.
Gopi 27 Feb 2010 6:50 pm: Acheived 25/25
Sujatha 2 Oct 2009 12:17 am: Got 30/30.
Selvam S 7 Feb 2010 6:09 pm: Got 24/25… can any one give clue for No. 1….
Archana 1 Mar 2010 5:12 pm: i got 23/25
ilayaraja 17 Jun 2010 2:40 pm: i got 22/25
Vijay 24 Jun 2010 1:07 am: Nice quiz. Got all right, but needed a bit of help on 18.
Manoj 28 Sep 2010 6:53 pm: Very nice.. 24/25.. 6 theriyala..
TRG 8 Apr 2011 12:15 pm: GOOD I GOT 25/25
Charan 16 Jan 2011 1:03 am: 25 out of 25
ravindra babu hyderabad 18 Dec 2010 1:50 pm: nice quiz romba naalachi tamil songs kettu really superb quiz
Sudhakar Dhanapal 19 Jan 2011 12:03 pm: i got 25/25… yeahhhhhhhhhhhh…. :)
Kannan 24 Oct 2011 11:35 am: Yes. Got 25/25. It’s like cake walk for me.
Shobhana 17 Oct 2011 12:03 pm: hi.. i got 23/25.. missed on 6th and the 3rd.. the rest were quite easy.. can you please help with 3 and 6? thanks
Srikan 11 Mar 2011 10:43 pm: Which name of the song from titel 12?
das 17 Aug 2011 5:23 am: nan 22/25 than
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 1:56 pm: 22/25
Shobhana 20 May 2012 5:25 am: Yay!!! I got 25/25… nice quizzes Mr. Anand. It passes time very effectively..