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The Rhythm of Raja

Topic started by Vijay Venkatram J (@ 202.54.33.167) on Sat Mar 31 09:28:42 EST 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Dear Friends,
I am starting this thread as of late I happen to hear people saying that "Raja is for Melody and Rahman is for Rhythm"! But in my opinion, Raja is the King of Everything! Because in Rhythm, He has done songs with rhythm instruments only like :

1)"Raja Rajadhi" - Agni Natchathiram
2)"Ilam Nenje Vaa" - Vanna Vanna Pookkal

etc.,etc., I would like to get more of His special rhythms! Please post relevant postings only!

NOTE : THIS THREAD IS FOR TFM FANS ONLY WHO KNOW RAJA'S HISTORY AND WHO DON'T MAKE ANY USELESS AND MISLEADING COMMENTS! PLEASE BE DECENT TOO!

Kindly join Maestro Ilaiyaraaja Fans club at:
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/maestroilaiyaraajafansclub

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: sabesan (@ 64.160.53.157) on: Thu Apr 5 12:33:17 EDT 2001
  
  Begin Digression :
  CF, errr, i never said anything about u or ur taste.... i was just saying about "solla... " movie....
  End Digression :
  
  
• From: Common Friend (@ 203.197.141.183) on: Thu Apr 5 12:56:04 EDT 2001
  
  Sabesan:
  
  
  I'm saddened that even 18 months (or more) of music training couldn't help instil a sense of appreciation or a ear for the unique in you.....
  
  Of course these are by suresh. Since, I addressed my postings to both out you jointly I said that.
  
  My opinions about STM was formed when I was 13 or 14. I have not yet seen the movie. I can understand what you and others are trying to say about the situation - for the sudden transition in the song.
  I never gave a second thought about the song untill now. Since I came to know that it is by IR , I shall give a good hear once again, if I happen to come accross it in TV or radio.
  
  
• From: Common Friend (@ 203.197.141.183) on: Thu Apr 5 12:57:15 EDT 2001
  
  Sabesan:
  
  
  I'm saddened that even 18 months (or more) of music training couldn't help instil a sense of appreciation or a ear for the unique in you.....
  
  Of course these are by suresh. Since, I addressed my postings to both out you jointly I said that.
  
  My opinions about STM was formed when I was 13 or 14. I have not yet seen the movie. I can understand what you and others are trying to say about the situation - for the sudden transition in the song.
  I never gave a second thought about the song untill now. Since I came to know that it is by IR , I shall give a good hear once again, if I happen to come accross it in TV or radio.
  
  
• From: cf (@ 203.197.141.183) on: Thu Apr 5 12:58:01 EDT 2001
  
  
  
  
• From: Common Friend (@ 203.197.141.183) on: Thu Apr 5 12:59:23 EDT 2001
  
  Hey,
  
  Help me to stop this itallics. What should I do?
  
  
  
• From: raj (@ 195.96.165.109) on: Thu Apr 5 13:12:00 EDT 2001
  
  please consider this song,a good example of rhythm in Maestro IR music,,,film:kogilam(or kogulam,i am not sure)song:oru koottiley oru kogilam irandu,,,wonderful melody which was outlooked or abondoned due to the "disastrous storm attack" at the time of its release.
  
  
• From: aruLaracan (@ 134.124.160.10) on: Thu Apr 5 13:47:37 EDT 2001
  
  gOkulam has awesome songs. all songs in this movie are great. mouna raagam mana vITTil is especially so.
  
  
• From: Trend (@ 216.68.113.227) on: Thu Apr 5 13:59:07 EDT 2001
  
  If I'm right gOkulam(Bhanupriya starrer) had music by SAR and directed by Vikraman.I think the movie you guys are talking about is Kolangal.
  
  
• From: M (@ 144.49.154.94) on: Thu Apr 5 14:09:09 EDT 2001
  
  gOkulam MD is Sirpi :)
  
  oru kootil kOgulam iraNdu...(kOlangaL)
  Khusbu, ?? movie!
  
  
• From: Fliflo (@ 146.186.113.254) on: Thu Apr 5 14:20:59 EDT 2001
  
  Hey..Hey...Stop making more blunders....
  
  
• From: sathish kumar (@ 64.210.248.135) on: Thu Apr 5 14:32:49 EDT 2001
  
  when many songs r there to tell,why roam around gokulam, hey ram's background score is beyond match.
  
  
• From: KS (@ 165.122.129.102) on: Thu Apr 5 15:23:57 EDT 2001
  
  Oru kootil is from Jayaram, Khushboo starrer Kolangal. Great acting by Jayaram and Khushboo before the climax fight during their emotional outburst to the media explaining their "relationship"...
  
  
• From: aruLaracan (@ 134.124.160.10) on: Thu Apr 5 15:33:49 EDT 2001
  
  oops! that WAS blasphemy. yes, i meant kOlangkaL :-)
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.149.4) on: Thu Apr 5 18:52:43 EDT 2001
  
  BTW, all young people who have heard only ARR when in the crib or in school !! - to listen to the rhythm in IR's songs, you should have good stereo equipment. A full-range speaker with a highly resolving CD player will do the trick. Now you can hear the bayan of the tabla or the bass, the main two which maintain the rhythm in many of IR's songs. (Well..Srinath would say, bass should be felt not heard).
  
  (BTW. modern synth drum kits were made to address this very specific issue - Ability to be reproduceable even on ordinary consumer stereo(specifically car stereos)).
  
  
• From: prakash (@ 172.136.124.151) on: Fri Apr 6 12:24:30 EDT 2001
  
  i was watching an interview by anitha a nd pushpavanam kuppuswamy-anitha says that raaja is the best when it comes to giving original and new beats.
  
  
• From: eden (@ 210.214.5.246) on: Sat Apr 7 06:08:09 EDT 2001
  
  It Anitha's cert' really needed to understand this plain fact / naked truth?:-)) NOM
  
  
• From: k (@ ) on: Tue Sep 7 20:33:55 EDT 2004
  
  refresh the thread
  
  
• From: k (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Tue Sep 7 20:42:54 EDT 2004
  
  Quite recently, in some threads, the issue of the 'monotonous tabla beats' in IR's songs came up in another thread. I myself feel, IR, did a good number of songs with just tabla, no nice bass guitar, orchestration etc to make the song interesting to me (and probably to many others). To me, it felt like the overall 'content/complexity' of these songs seem to be low compared to other IR songs.
  Anyways, we need to understand how IR used any percussion to provide 'rhythm' in a song.
  Since I am hardpressed for time, I will just throw up some questions and some exercises for readers.
  
  Exercises
  ----------
  1) Give examples of drums(one or more) +bass guitar
  
  1a) Give examples of tabla+bass
  
  2) Give examples of tabla+one note harmonies (I will help with one example thaalattu maari pOnadhe).
  
  3) Give examples of tabla+strings (I will help with kalyana malai kondadum pennE).
  
  Questions
  ----------
  1) Is rhythm == percussion ?
  
  2) What is rhythm in indian music ?
  
  3) what is rhythm in western music ?
  
  4) what is rhythm in african music ?
  
  I think once we go through this exercise and answer these questions, we can easily identify the 'monotonous tabla' songs of IR.
  
  
• From: k (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Thu Sep 9 13:09:41 EDT 2004
  
  >>1) Give examples of drums(one or more) +bass guitar
  
  Here are some in this category -
  1) aadungal paadungal - guru
  2) thavikkuthu thayanguthu - nadhiyai thEdi vantha kadal
  3) paadavanthathOr gaanam - ilamai kaalangal
  4) A B C nee vaasi - oru kaithiyin diary
  
  >>1a) Give examples of tabla+bass
  
  1)thangach changili - thooral ninnu pOchu.
  
  >>2) Give examples of tabla+one note harmonies
  These songs are also accompanied by guitar chords and even some light bass guitar backing (eg. oorai therinjukittEn - padikkathavan).
  
  In tabla, the left hand drum is the bass drum (bayan), the right hand drum is the dayan. The dayan keeps the time. As a thumb rule, if you do not hear the bayan that much, then you can say that the bass guitar plays the rhythm. But many a times, the bass guitar is used to accentuate/highlight the the complete table.
  
  Category 1 is the POPULAR song variety. Right from those days to the current oor urangum nErathil in kanna unai thEdugirEn with synthesizers this technique has been used by rAja.
  
  1a, II and III form the rest of the bulk. There are hundreds of songs in these categories.
  
  Category III is reserved mostly for laid back, slow, pathos melodies.
  
  I think I should add two more categories
  
  IV) Guitar rhythm
  1) mEgam karukkaiyilE
  2) raasavE unnai naan - thani kaattu raaja
  
  V) Pure tabla/mridhangam melodies
  This is reserved for classical style songs. Even though many classical type songs have been accompanied by bass guitar. Lately, the classical songs use only the classical arrangements (mridhangam/ghatam).
  1) amma endrazhaikkaatha - mannan
  2) song from ivann
  
  I am trying to explore the various rhythm arrangements and their usage for different situations, even though IR defies classification. For eg, a song might fall into 2 or 3 of the categories mentioned here (eg. thaazham poovE vaasam veesu).
  Once we understand the rhythm accompaniment, I will try to explore, when the rhythm accompaniment is simple, what other techniques IR resorts to embellish the song. Most of these would fall into 2 or 3. I will discuss this later with more examples.
  
  
  
  

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