Agam's Music

Agam was one among the six winners in the ooh la la la competition held for music bands. The concept of the competition was spearheaded by none other than A.R. Rahman. Agam actually has been existing for quite some time much before the contest started. Their music is an amazing fusion of classical-based tunes wrapped in superb orchestration. I was very impressed on hearing their songs which are available for free download here in their blog. The details about the band members too can be found there. There are 6 tracks:

1. Mystical Abheri-My favourite one, a tamil song, where Reethigowla and Abheri raagaas have been used. The flute interludes are mesmerizing.
2. Path of Aspiration-This song is called "Lakshiya Paadhai" based on Naatai raaga. This too is a beautiful song with a faster tempo.
3. Nothing but Hope-A song that begins in English and moves to a ghazal-like tune in Hindi.
4. Amma-This is a lullaby to the mother, set in Kaapi raagam. It has very poignant lyrics praising the Mother. The tune is so soothing that you will fall asleep if you hear it!
   
5. Brahma's Dance-This is an instrumental piece interspersed with vedic chants.
6. Amma Instrumental-The instrumental piece of the "Amma" song on violin.

One common thing among all the songs are the very meaningful lyrics. This is a fantastic effort from the Agam team. Soon, we can expect another album from them which will be sponsored by KM Music from A.R.Rahman's stable. I am eagerly waiting for it after listening to these songs!

Laptop:Music Review

Laptop is a Malayalam movie which released about 2 months back. The movie sank at the box office but the music of the movie by acclaimed Carnatic vocalist, Sreevalsan Menon, was fantastic! The album had all soft, ghazal-like numbers, which is quite common in Malayalam films. Almost all the numbers are very soothing but there are 2 melodies which were outstanding- Etho Jalashankkil and Maymassame. The first one is a duet sung by Amal Antony/Sonia and the second one is sung by Amal alone. The tunes are so celestial that I am addicted to them and listen to them almost everyday, atleast once. Its pure bliss!
Sreevalsan Menon has already released many carnatic-based albums-the best one that I have heard is Monsoon Anuraaga(compositions in all rain raagaas) which is a brilliant album. I really appreciate Sreevalsan in Laptop because, being a great singer himself, he has not sung all the songs but has given an opportunity to Amal Antony (winner of Gandharva Sangeetham 2006), whose singing is fabulous. I hope and pray that Sreevalsan Menon gets more such chances to compose and Amal gets to sing more. The varnachitram blog has a great detailed review here of Laptop's music.

Ilaiyaraja and Background Scores

One of the greatest contributions of Ilaiyaraja (apart from his songs in multiple languages) are his background scores (BGM's) for movies, whose discussion would need a separate blog for itself! This is no exaggeration because if you see the movies where the maestro has scored music, you would notice that the movie "looks much better" because of the music. I can recount hundreds of scenes from movies where the music has taken the impact of that scene to a different level. You remove the music from the scene and the impact of the scene would not even be half of the original.
Making background music is no easy task. What makes IR special is that he gives equal importance to the background score as he gives to the songs. His BGM's are not just a patchwork which is very common otherwise. Ilaiyaraja's BGM's are characterized by:

1. Grand string arrangements-He has used 75 violins and an assortment of instruments you can think of.
2. Unconventional instrument usage for scenes-In Shiva (Telugu) chase scene he used a mindblowing violin piece for the chase which sounded perfect for that scene. Who would think of using violin for a chase, normally we would use some percussion instrument!
3. Great themes-The theme scores of Ilaiyaraja are so good that they can be released as a separate CD by themselves. The legend has used flutes, guitars, violins beautifully to create some immortal theme pieces. Case in point Mouna Ragam, Nayagan, Punnagai Mannan, Unnakagave Vaazhgiren and many many more.
   

Here is a totally incomplete, only-indicative list of movies which have some stunning BGM's by the Legend.

1. Kadhalukku Mariyadhai
2. Pithamagan
3. Mouna Ragam
4. Anjali
5. Mahanadhi
6. Aboorva Sagodharargal
7. Thalapathy
8. Kaalapaani (Malayalam)
9. Azhagi (what a masterpiece!)
10. Aruvadai Naal

The list is endless and this is just for a reference. Ilaiyaraja's music is an ocean, there are still so many hundreds of songs which I am discovering every now and then which reaffirm my faith that he is indeed the "composer of this century" as exclaimed by none other than Dr.Balamuralikrishna who himself is a legend! I don't think there is any other composer who is so COMPLETE as Ilaiyaraja who has proven his mettle thro' his songs, BGM's and creating tunes in almost every genre of music!

A Wednesday-Your story, my story

I recently saw the movie-A Wednesday. It was an awe-inspiring movie to say the least. I am sure most of us have already seen the movie. These kind of movies are what masterpieces are made of! I am so proud that an INDIAN movie, an AUTHENTIC thriller has been so good, when you have every other movie being ripped off from foreign films (not only Hollywood).

The director, Neeraj Pandey's script is so crisp, so taut that the movie is only one-and-half hours long! Thats pretty short for an INDIAN movie, where we have had yawns like Ekalavya :(
The message of the protagonist played by one of the most underrated actors of our era-Naseeruddin Shah is mindblowing!! If STILL you have not seen "A Wednesday" you must see it-your life will change. I have only one grouse against the movie-why have an english title, when it could have been named "EK DIN" or something like that, which definitely would not have sounded wrong.

RAFI RESSURECTED

Mohammed Rafi-the phenomenon continues to live among us through his songs. Sonu Nigam, one of his most famous fans (or should I say devotee?) has done an amazing project, which has released quite recently-RAFI RESURRECTED. Basically, Sonu has collaborated with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) to sing 16 songs of Rafi with a grand orchestral setup.

As expected the result is stupendous! I bought the CD recently & it was worth every penny because:

1. It contains a booklet (about 30 pages) of rare Rafi photographs & a mini-biography of the legend.
2. The CBSO has done a marvellous job of exactly replicating the music for most of the songs and the soul of the song has not been tampered with. Its so nice to listen to live instruments especially in today's age of electronic synth music.
   
3. Sonu has sung with his heart-it shows!

For all Rafi fans out there-for lovers of vintage Hindi music, this is a MUST-BUY. Go get your copy-its priceless!! Let us support such projects by buying the original CD's, that's the least we can do and spread the word too :)

Hariharan-My Favourite Singer

I had an opportunity to listen to acclaimed ghazal singer Shri Hariharan in one of the ghazal concerts recently. The concert lasted for about 3 hrs and we were in bliss for those 3 hrs. The genius of his singing is difficult to describe. Hariharan is a master of Carnatic and Hindustani music. It is so evident in his singing. That evening he sang with so much variety and range that it was mind-boggling to listen to him. Moreover the accompanists in guitar, flute, sarangi, tabla & keyboard were maestros themselves. I can say that he is the best singer I have heard ever. (Though there are many who are close to him like Rafi, Yesudas & SPB) He has some great ghazal albums to his credit like Hazir, Kaash, Gulfam, Paigham et al.
I also follow Hariji's singing in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu & Malayalam. He has rendered some wonderful melodies in these languages too. Music dirs like Rahman, Vidyasagar, Vishal Bharadwaj & Ilaiyaraja have given some immortal melodies thro' him. I have earlier attended 2 of Hariharan's concerts before where he sang tamil songs.
There's a lot to look forward to from Hariharan in the future..a new ghazal album, another Colonial Cousins album, more film singing.....its definitely going to be exciting......

Music Review of Guru-Malayalam movie-Ilaiyaraja

In 1997, Maestro Ilaiyaraja composed music for a malayalam film called "Guru." It had malayalam superstar Mohanlal in the lead role. The music of this movie was simply scintillating to say the least. The unique thing about this movie was that the orchestration was played by the famous Budapest Symphony Orchestra. So most of the songs were recorded in Hungary. This made the music even more magical. It had the following 5 songs:
1. Thatharam-This is my favourite song from this movie. It is sung by M.G.Sreekumar & Chorus. It starts with a beat sound created by a unique instrument and gradually becomes a full-fledged symphony song. the tune and the background music are just what a genius like Ilaiyaraja would compose.
2. Aruna Kirana Deepam-This song is considered to be one of the best songs ever in Indian cinema in terms of it's mind boggling orchestration. It is sung by Padmashree K.J. Yesudas. Ilaiyaraja has used so many instruments in this song that when you hear them in unison, you will be transported to some other world.
3. Guru Sharanam-This is a classical based chorus song which is very melodious and it grows on you after continuous listening. It is sung by Venugopal & Chorus.
4. Devasangeetham-This song is another masterpiece composed like a symphony. It is sung by Yesudas & Jyotsna.
5. Minnaram Maanathu-This is a very melodious song sung by Sujatha. It has excellent violin pieces.
The best thing about this album is that each song is very different and covers almost all the genres like western classical, classical, light music etc. Though Ilaiyaraja has composed 3 songs in Western classical orchestration, each of them is different and great to hear. Any fan of music should not miss this soundtrack, after all it is composed by Ilaiyaraja.

Song Discussion

Today, I would like to discuss 2 songs both of which are Tamil songs.

1.Velli Nilave-This song is composed by Maestro Ilaiyaraja for the movie Nandavanatheru. It has been sung by the magical singer Shri. S.P.Balasubramaniam. It is an amazing song, very different from the normal run-of-the-mill stuff that we hear. The unique feature of this song is the wonderful tune and the combination of instruments that Ilaiyaraja uses. There is a continuous off-beat kind of bass strumming which I have never heard before. The talent of composers is shown when they do something radically different, it can be something very small but its effect will be big. That's called genius and Ilaiyaraja shows through this song why he is one of the best composers ever in India. Mention must be made about the wonderful singing by S.P.B. the emotions he brings to his voice is unbelievable. Please don't miss this one-of-a-kind song!!!

2. Ennuyir Thoziye- This song is composed by another genius A.R.Rahman. This song was not noticed much because the movie-Kangalal Kaidhu Sei, vanished in no time. It is sung by Unni Menon & Chinmayi. It is set in predominantly in Raag Aarabhi. It's so melodious and soothing with the piano counters. According to me this is one of THE best songs composed by ARR, but sadly it did not get the accolade it deserved. The tune in the charanam is so innovative that first you would feel you are listening to some other song. Added to that Chinmayi's ghatkas before the 1st paragraph are too good.

These 2 songs are great in their own ways and they just show what legendary composers are made of. Ilaiyaraja and Rahman are the 2 doyens of Tamil Music (of Indian music itself!!), whose tunes are timeless.

Mohd. Rafi-Legend Beyond Compare

In the 1950's Hindi music was fortunate to be served by a voice which was sheer magic-the voice of Mohd. Rafi saab. There were many factors which made Rafi saab a legend.

Firstly, he had a voice which was so melodious, which was purely God's gift to him. Secondly, he was also fortunate to be born in a family which was into music. He was trained by his father or uncle (I am not sure of it) in Hindustani classical music. Owing to this he had a very versatile voice. Whether it was a classical song, a fast song, a romantic song or a sad song, Rafi saab would do absolute justice to it. When he sang, you could feel the emotion so clearly, such was his involvement in the song.

Rafi saab once held the record for the most number of songs sung in Indian Cinema by a male singer (about 25,000!!! ). The greatest quality of Rafi saab which is spoken about even today by his contemporaries like Lataji, Ashaji was his remarkable humility. It seems he has sung many songs even free for producers, who did not have the money to pay him. Such was the magnanimity of the man. The music dirs who utilised his voice brilliantly were Naushad, Roshan, Madan Mohan, O.P. Nayyar and Shankar-Jaikishan. To pick out the best songs of Rafi saab is an impossible exercise because there were too many.

Today's legendary singers like S.P.Balasubramanian, Yesudas, Sonu Nigam look up to Rafi saab as their eternal inspiration. They have openly declared their respect and love for his voice and songs. Rafi saab passed away in July 1980 but his voice is heard even today if you switch on the radio-it was the golden voice and his time was one of the golden times of Hindi Music. May Rafi saab live in our hearts forever.

Evolution of Tamil Music-Part2

I am blogging again after a month owing to continuous travel. But its great to be back. Here I would like to speak about more music directors who have created memorable melodies in Tamil music.
1. A.R.Rahman-He is the obvious choice after the legendary Ilaiyaraja. Rahman burst into the Tamil music scene in 1992, composing for "Roja." Man what an explosive debut it was!! He took the nation by storm. Until then, we had not heard such a sound that Rahman created for Roja. After that till today, Rahman has clearly shown that he is another maestro. When people compare Rahman & Ilaiyaraja, I just say Raja is like Bradman and Rahman is like Sachin. Both have their unique class. Besides being a fan of Raja, I am a fan of Rahman too. Some say that Rahman has lost his touch but I beg to disagree. He is much better than some 2nd rung composers who keep composing fast songs all the time, delivering nothing but trash. Rahman has created so many magical melodies that, we need another blog to discuss them. Besides his music, what I admire about him is his remarkable humility. If you go to www.rahmantimes.com, you can read his life story, which is so poignant and touching. He has faced so many difficulties to become what he is today. He definitely deserves this and more. I just pray that he keeps giving us great music all throughout his career.
2. Vidyasagar-I feel he is one of the most low-profile and underrated composers of today. His music is a wonderful combination of the orchestration of Ilaiyaraja and the techno-melody of Rahman. Vidyasagar has given amazing music not only in Tamil but also in Malayalam and Telugu. What I like about him is that his fast songs too are quite catchy and melodious unlike theother noisy ones. His melody songs are a class apart. I saw an interview of Vidyasagar in Asianet during Onam and was impressed with his simplicity. Many of his melodies are classical and they still appeal to the common man. Like Ilaiyaraja, he has also taken classical music to the masses. His Malayalam melodies are quite different from the Tamil ones and they show the other side of this great composer. He has the unique skill of having Carnatic keerthanas with wonderful orchestration in many of his movies. I still wait for every music release of Vidyasagar, as I feel he is another genius.