The Unheard Years : Raja in the mid 90s

[Sureshs65]

app,

I am not worried about people needing to read it. I am just looking at a backup here. In case forhub crashes some day and posts are not recovered, then we will have a problem!!! I think all your effort needs a back. You don't need to maintain the blog and all. Just copy the posts there (ofcourse this is a tough job though it is only Ctl-C/Ctl-V based) and leave it at that. You now have a back. Unless ofcourse you have a personal backup. (Unfortunately I don't keep a personal backup in any form. I just depend on the site to back it up. Bad I know but I yam basically a somberi)

[app_engine]

Sureshji,
I don't have any backup

I agree it's a good idea to have the posts stored elsewhere...should do ctrl-c/v to the jump drive...too much of a work, considering I'll have to do for 415 of them

mella mella seyyaNum...

I yam basically a somberi

copyright Plum

[Sureshs65]

Song No:14
Song: Vetri Varudhu Vetri Varudhu
Film: Amaithi Padai
Singers: Deepan, Surendar, mano and Chorus
Lyrics: Ponnadiyan
Link: http://www.thiraipaadal.com/tpplayer...9'&lang=en

Thanks to Devaragam for singer and lyricist information.

What a superb revolutionary song. We are all aware of how Raja gave the revolutionary song a terrific fillip with 'manidha manidha'. The violin usage in that song still gives goosebumps to many people. This song is in the same mode. What surprised me was the usage of Mohanam for the song !!! Mohanam, the pentatonic scale, is usually used for melodies. Raja has used it for fun songs and I had written about that in another thread. To hear its usage in a revolutionary song was surprising.

This is a completely chorus driven song. The start is by the chorus and sets the keynote for the whole song. The strings do come and add that extra energy but it is the tune itself that carries all the required energy with it. The chorus does a great job of transferring this energy. The interludes relentlessly keep up the energy. Check out the charanams and how the tune keeps the revolutionary spirit intact and how it ends in the ascend before joining the charanam. The strings play a low countermelody during the pallavi. In the second interlude, Raja moves away from Mohanam and yet it sounds so natural. We should also compliment the lyricist for the words are very powerful. Not sure who wrote it. Was it Muthulingam? Anyone who know details of the lyricist kindly help.

This will be the right time to discuss what VG has been saying in his past two posts. The need for good picturisation for songs to become hits:

The mode of music delivery was changing slowly but surely and it was around this time that the satellite channels started happening. The channels in their initial days, especially the Tamil ones, were dependent a lot on film based programs to fill their time and get instant popularity. The earlier mode of delivering a song was mainly through the radio and occasionally through TV, whenever Doordarshan deemed it fit to telecast a song. Those programs were few and far between.The dependence was on radio and tapes/CDs. TV almost played no part in the promotion of a song. With the satellite channels happening and with directors who were making visually appealing songs, like Maniratnam and Shankar, in fray, people started getting their dose of music from the TV channels than from other sources. With photography becoming more sophisticated and colorful, locations shifting to Europe and the beats becoming more western, these songs were instant hits.

Now, it is not that every movie was directed by such visually arresting directors. Lot of movies were still made in the old style, which contrasted wildly with the new style. It was as if people, especially the youngsters, suddenly discovered a chasm between these two approaches. It was as if most of these new era directors either moved from Raja (Mani) or went directly to Rahman (Shankar). With Raja falling out with Balachandar and Bharathiraja, it meant a few more directors were lost whose picturisation can be interesting. Many of the movies that Raja did, the picturisation was not great. It had never hurt him the the 80s or early 90s but now with the satellite channels coming in was not a factor which could be ignored.

Contrast the success, or lack of success, of the song I posted today with the tremendous success of 'thamizha thamizha' from 'Roja'. ( I know it is not a apple to apple comparison because 'tamizha tamizha' starts in a melancholic fashion and then proceeds towards the crescendo, whereas this song hits the high notes right from the beginning and sustains it. Also one is about patriotism and another about revolution. Yet for our purpose it is relevant I think) Musically you cannot explain the difference in the success of the two songs. You can explain it easily if you see how Maniratnam has used 'tamizha tamizha'. The movie was a major hit, the patriotism in the song was the medicine everyone needed for their inability to solve the Kashmir problem, and the song happens at a very crucial stage and is lovingly picturized by Mani. Whereas this song from Amaithi Padai, as far as I know, didn't make it to the channels. Times were indeed changing and Raja, as usual, was worried only about how his music would fit into the movie and not on how it got delivered. While in the 80s, many songs with pathetic picturisations or from flop movies, became hits due to constant airing by Radio Ceylon and AIR, it was not so during the TV era. TV medium was a celebration of success and was generally unforgiving towards failure. That is why many late 90s songs and even the 2000s songs of Raja remain unheard till today.

[Sureshs65]

BTW, can anyone pickup who all were part of this chorus. Can't pick up the singers.

[Devaraagam]

Suresh it's from Mano and chorus. Here is some facts, this song was not telecasters because manivannan used this in the film title. Moreover Muthu mani was not there in the movie. ( might be removed by manivannan as to movie quickly to showcase villan sathyaraj.)


I remover in one interview manivannan was mentioning that one point of time he moved from ilaiyaraja then he got realised that his style of making got changed as he use to keep more space for music so then agained he roped with IR until aandan adimai. In amaithipadi too, he used very extensively the music of Muthu mani in the bgm.


Let's back to your view, I got surprised as you selected this song for discussion because this was wildly ignored by the people , I can say complete amaithipadi songs and I gave attention to this particular song 2 months back dedicadly as I felt nice peppy there on it

[Sureshs65]

DR,

Thanks for the info. As usual you have string fundamentals in 90s Raja I could sort of make out Mano but there other voices there, especially when they sing solo. Not sure if credits were available on the CD. Do you by any chance know who the lyricist was? Didn't know this was a title song !!! Same reason why songs like 'Kaiyil Veenai Endhum' and 'Ellorum Sollum Paatu" didnt get televised.

[Devaraagam]

Suresh, few corrections, I was mentioning Muthu mani instead of solla vidu vennilave song .

Here is the info required by you fortunately they mentioned lyric writer.

http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/album/T0000512.htm

Singers Mano, deep an and an. Surendar
Lyric by ponnadian

Below link is a bonus for you to understands ponnadiyan. I was recollecting to verify am I having correct person in my mind.

http://www.nakkheeran.in/users/frmArticles.aspx?A=7621

[Sureshs65]

DR,

Super. Many thanks for the info and also for the Ponnadiyan link. Am updating the credits in my posy.

[Devaraagam]

I feel IR used lot of lyric writer when compare to singers

[Sureshs65]

Song No: 15
Song: Munnam Seidha Thavam
Film: Vanaja Girija
Singers: SPB, Janaki
Lyrics: Panju Arunachalam
Link: http://www.thiraipaadal.com/tpplayer...9'&lang=en

This song was a late discovery for me. When I posted it here and also on twitter I realized that many people hadn't heard this and that was a surprise for me. The song from 'Vanaja Girija' which everyone had heard was 'othaiyile'. I think 'Unnai Edhirpaarthen' also had some play time. Folks have to tell me if this was heard often those times. Atleast in Hyderabad we did not.

It definitely surprises me that this song did not become more famous for it has almost everything that folks were looking forward to those days. An incessant rhythm, like the loops that we being used those days. Raja is not stranger to loops, not only the computer generated variety but the standard acoustic variety as well. The excellent and vigorous beat in the background forms a great contrast to the melody. The interludes are also constructed in very interesting ways. The charanams, as usual for Raja songs goes one step beyond the pallavi in its melodic quotient. The short bursts of violins in the charanam supporting the melody is typical Raja. The second interlude is terrific as well. A very fresh song from Raja.

So why is it that it not become as big a hit as the musical suggest that it should? Anyone has any ideas? What was it in those times that people did not appreciate this song? Was it that the movie didn't do well? Or was it because the singers were the same old singers? In one recent blog I read a comment which said, "Rahman liberated us from the tyranny of Janaki's voice". I know Janaki fans will be up in arms but that was probably a sentiment many youngsters of those days shared. Maybe those youngsters have different opinion now but that was probably a perception in those times.