Maestro Ilaiyaraja New Albums 2011 - Hello Jaihind / Sri Rama Rajyam

[anegan]

Very sad day today to know about Chithra's loss

It is very painful to hear that Chitra lost her daughter. May the lord give her all the strength to get through this tragedy.

[raj_musing]

Wonderful post KV! I was just sitting back and enjoying your write up!

Infact one thing to admire is his passion for music has never come down even a bit and his consistant search for excellence continues even in this dreadful atmosphere...

I would be more happy to see him coming with more innovative instrumentals in the line of HTNI, NBW etc...than composing for film music in this kind of market.

[baroque]

It is very painful to hear that Chitra lost her daughter. May the lord give her all the strength to get through this tragedy.

chithira .......en bommukkutti ammavukku
சித்திர சிட்டுக்கள்.... என் பொம்முக்குட்டி அம்மாவுக்கு பிலிம்
சித்ரா has sung a composition for ஸ்ரீ.இளையராஜா for a similar situation .
சுஹாசினி- சத்யராஜ் couple lost their daughter at the end of this song scene .

losing a child is a terrible experience.
very sorry chithra.
hang in there, cope with it the best you can all those horrible feelings...
shock, pain, guilt...
eventually you will endure the situation & find ways to honour your child's memory.

love,
vinatha.

[raagas]

KV,

Aptly put. I agree with you. That was yet one more guess-map of the change in his thoughtware over the years. It could be true. Or may be there is something more. I too felt that he is kind of trapped between schools of thought. But i admire the way he still holds unto his own school of thought, despite changing the robes of his songs. Yet, i would like to highlight one thing. Change is inevitable. Whether the change is good or bad is a subjective issue. But I feel that artists, as time progresses, must put an effort to be little more accomodative in their views about change. I am talking about views, not the artist's ability to adapt to change. thats a different game/topic. I admire R.D.Burman in this aspect. He too has seen some of the best music taking shape in front of his eyes. And he too produced some great music. And when he hit an all-time low, in 80s, due to Bappi Lahiri wave... he was still optimistic. He did not criticize the disco wave. He had every right to, given that he has seen his father - one of the Greatest Composers, do some outstanding music and seeing/interacting with other legends. Despite the disco wave, RD kept encouraging people/instrumentalists to try new things, try synthesizers, push more and get more experimental. I know it is difficult for IR to accept such kind of tolerance levels in his opinions. but just saying. Yet Ilaiyaraaja must be appreciated for his spirit. So many composers came and went in all these decades. But this man continues to charm us. And his contemporary-ness gets into amazing form sometimes.

And yes, atleast you are agreeing that there are contradictions, ironies and sarcasms. This is what I have been underlining many times - that IR fans(not all) should not be denial mode but just treat things objectively. Having admired his work over years, having an objective opinion doesnt dent admiration at all (if fans are mature enough). and this should be applicable to anyone, not just fans of a particular composer.

Just curious: if the same album Ponnar Shankar carried the name "Harris Jayraj" or "ARR" or "GV Prakash"(i know that this album is uniquely IR, but just consider a hypothetical situation) - i bet a lot of IR fans would have pounced on the album (while appreciating some songs at basic level) cribbing about synth overkill, synth violins etc. They would not even consider speculating reasons such as "did composer have budgetary constraints? did the director want exactly this deliberately?" etc. Since it is IR, there is sympathetic guesswork about 'compulsions' etc? if it were other composer, would there be any such considerations? by now, the opinions would have had fireworks in them This is something I find weird. Evaluations are never without labels/biases (not just IR fans, but fans of every composer). There are only optimists(who see justifiable reasons behind flaws) and pessimists(who undermine a music, even if it has interesting stuff, by taking potshots at something or other). I rarely come across realists (just listen and decide, without any bias coming from the name of composer and over-analysis/speculation).

Back to Bavani Varugira... I like the way milliblog karthik termed this - genre bending. absolutely.

[V_S]

KV,
Just curious: if the same album Ponnar Shankar carried the name "Harris Jayraj" or "ARR" or "GV Prakash"(i know that this album is uniquely IR, but just consider a hypothetical situation) - i bet a lot of IR fans would have pounced on the album (while appreciating some songs at basic level) cribbing about synth overkill, synth violins etc. They would not even consider speculating reasons such as "did composer have budgetary constraints? did the director want exactly this deliberately?" etc. Since it is IR, there is sympathetic guesswork about 'compulsions' etc? if it were other composer, would there be any such considerations? by now, the opinions would have had fireworks in them This is something I find weird. absolutely.

Again very nice write up Raagas. But I think it is plain simple, not wierd. First of all, as you said it is hypothetical. Everybody guess a composers work by the way they have approached the music with their stamp, pattern and style. We ( or I would only say for me) defend IR just because we have seen him use real instruments and live orchestra and that has been his strenghts for most of these type of projects. This is the first project we have seen him doing with synth and even I have expressed my concerns.
On the other hand, for other composers definitely we expect that they should be using live instruements and orchestra atleast for these kind of projects, is that a big sin?

Also I see that most of the time, finding faults on IR fans does not look good, but I also feel there is a vast difference in IR fans perception from 1992-2000 period to the IR fans now. Even seen many IR fans openly accepting other composers music in recent times unlike earlier days. So first of all we cannot generalize something and put 'lot of IR fans' just to be on safer side. And analyzing music without bias is utterly impossible nowadays.

[Querida]

OMG... I could not believe what I read about Chitra's tragedy...after so many years trying for a child and finally being given that blessing only for it to be snatched away so soon....I hope she can survive this tragedy...life is just too cruel at times....

[raagas]

Again very nice write up Raagas. But I think it is plain simple, not wierd. First of all, as you said it is hypothetical. Everybody guess a composers work by the way they have approached the music with their stamp, pattern and style. We ( or I would only say for me) defend IR just because we have seen him use real instruments and live orchestra and that has been his strenghts for most of these type of projects. This is the first project we have seen him doing with synth and even I have expressed my concerns.
On the other hand, for other composers definitely we expect that they should be using live instruements and orchestra atleast for these kind of projects, is that a big sin?

And analyzing music without bias is utterly impossible nowadays.

Not at all a big sin. Even i expect them to. and we all expected IR also to. And hence some of us had concerns (though we are enjoying the album). But i only meant that not many fans have such concerns. Many fans are praise just any album or any treatment to compositions, once they see the name IR. Give the same cd to them, by changing the name from IR to something else, and they will find lot of faults with those very songs.

Analyzing music without bias is uncommon, but not impossible. I dont know why you think that it is impossible. do you think, for example, some of our fellow hubbers liked PS because of bias? or because of the merit of the album. If one is analyzing music with bias - then I cannot call that as an objective opinion at all. whats the point afterall then? Bias takes precedence over merit and if someone is analyzing something, or even IR music, out of bias instead of merit - then it is nothing but sycophancy. And more importantly, an insult to the artist too.

[raagas]

OMG... I could not believe what I read about Chitra's tragedy...after so many years trying for a child and finally being given that blessing only for it to be snatched away so soon....I hope she can survive this tragedy...life is just too cruel at times....

Absolutely. The most disturbing news I have heard in recent times. it upset me.

[Querida]

K_V it really was delightful to read your write-up and analysis

Raagas, as someone who is just enjoying reading this thoughtful debate, kudos to your questions and points. I personally cannot relate to them, but can appreciate.

[V_S]

Analyzing music without bias is uncommon, but not impossible. I dont know why you think that it is impossible. do you think, for example, some of our fellow hubbers liked PS because of bias? or because of the merit of the album. If one is analyzing music with bias - then I cannot call that as an objective opinion at all. whats the point afterall then? Bias takes precedence over merit and if someone is analyzing something, or even IR music, out of bias instead of merit - then it is nothing but sycophancy. And more importantly, an insult to the artist too.

Again this is a big topic. The reason why I said impossible is just because everbody has music listening history and their likes and dislikes. I have never seen just a 'music fan'. He will be having some or other favorite (eventhough he is not fan of anybody). Their itself comes the bias. So eventhough they start approaching the music neutrally, invariably that history just creeps and sits in his brain while listening, which makes him to compare music and to/not to compromise. Only thing we can be true to ourselves little bit, but not 100% and not all the time. Even this is true with reviewers (unless the music is discussed), they have some kind of liking of particular music, trend etc, if the music does not fit in to his requirement, then even it is good, no use for them. Means there is expectation about the composer before listening to it makes them biased. I am not saying whoever (our hubbers) liked PS is because of bias, but because of bias the percentage of likeabality is more, compared to other mds fan or their favorites. So be it PS or whatever soundtrack reviewing neutrally is highly impossible IMHO.