Tamil Song Kannan Oru Kai Kulanthai

[Margaret Sigars]

ClassicalIllayaraja - 13

-------------------------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 "kowsalya supraja" tune

and use it as the interlude music in "margazhi poovae" (may maadham). My

friend boils with anger. How dare the freshmen music director of the movie

meendum savithri (Ravi Devendran) copy the interlude of margazhi poovae

(which is itself a copied bit from kowsalya supraja) and present it in his

song. A chain of copying! My friend has lost his peace and is now a terri-

bly agitated individual. His head is hot with anger! Is it correct to call the flute interlude in "margazhi poovae" as a copy of

kausalya supraja? A.R. Rahman has tuned his margazhi poovae in the ragam

Hindholam. Subbulakshmi's Kausalya supraja is in the ragam 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!! Illayaraja 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

pravarthadhae). 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 ragam

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 ravilae kazhicho!", he will be in trouble. Because,

"ravilae" 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 "kuluvaliyae"

(Muthu) song. The same piece comes in Sister Act. Illayaraja too has got

incriminated many times for such blatant similarity of his songs to other

popular songs ("en purushan thaan enaku mattum thaan" in Gopurangal

Saivadhillai was called as a copy of "dham maerae dham"). Aandholika is a pleasant janyam of Harikaambodi ragam. 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 ragam, which is mostly sung as a

thukkada in Katcheris. The krithi is "raga sudha rasa". I have heard a

story long ago. That Padma Subramaniam had a song tuned for her dance

performance in this Ragam. At that time Illayaraja 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 Illayaraja. 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 ragam 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 varumae". 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 Illayaraja had "copied" her tune.

We know that music directors like Illayaraja 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 Illayaraja, we do use his tunes in our songs")!Madhyamaavathi is a grand janya ragam of Karaharapriya. Perhaps it is the

greatest of the pentatonic ragas (oudhuva oudhuva ragam). Its arohanam and

avarohanam are: Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Ni2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Pa Ma1 Ri2 Sa. Illayaraja

liked this ragam so much that he has atleast tuned 40 to 50 songs in this

great ragam. Madhyamavathi is distinct among other pentatonic ragas. It

is a very much gamaka oriented ragam. It is like the Thodi of janya ragas.

You can just play the notes of the 45 melam (subhapanthuvarali) in the

harmonium and make the ragam evident. Similarly you can just play

Sa Ri2 Ma2 Pa Ni3 Sa in the harmonium and make Hamsanadham ragam 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!!Illayaraja has tuned a great Madhyamavathi in Mullum malarum ("adipaennae").

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. Illayaraja has reasonably used the gamakas well. This was

probably his second Madhyamavathi, the first one being "solaikuyilae" in

Ponnu ooruku pudhusu. Solaikuyilae starts like Pa Pa Ri Sa Ri.... A lofty

jump from madhyama sthayi Pa to tharasthayi Rishabam. Maalaikadhirae goes

like Sa Sa Ni Sa Ni.....Pa, such a prolonged nishadham. Most of the

melody of this ragam resides with the Ri and Ni. The gamakam is absolutely

important, period! Look at the beauty of Papanasam Sivan's opening in

Madhyamavathi in "karpagamae kadai kann paarai" - Sa Ri Sa Ri.... Actually

the gamakam of Ri encompasses the sadharana gandharam too. It is like

RiGa, RiGa...! Illayaraja'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!Illayaraja has given few more Madhyamavathi's in quite pure form. En

kalyana vaibhogam in the movie "azhagae unnai aradhikkiraen" is one early

number. Sridhar's first venture with Illayaraja. Vani Jayaram has sung

this song. Then, aagaya gangai in Dharma Uddham, nee thaanae endhan

ponvasantham in Ninaivellam Nithiya, thulli thulli nee padamma (Chirpikul

muthu), thalattu pillai ena thaalaatu (?Achchani), thazham poovae vaasam

veesu (Kai kodukum kai), kuyilae kuyilae poonguyilae (Aan paavam), anandam

then sindhum (Man vasanai), azhagiya thirumaganae (Rajarishi), eeramaana

rojaavae (Illamai Kaalangal), kavidhai paadu kuyilae (Thendralae Ennai Thodu),

malargalil aadum illamai (kalayaraman), nee kaeta naan mataen (?movie) etc.

A.R. Rahman has used small bits of Madhyamavathi in the interlude of his song

"then then thithikkum then" (Thiruda thiruda). 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 kandaen, Muthukkalo kangal, aagaya pandhalilae, etc. Can we

forget the great presentation of Devarajan in Swamy Iyyapan "hariharatmajam

viswamasrayae" sung by Jesudoss. It is a divine feast to listen to this

slow song.

Madhyamavathi is supposed to be a Mangalakaramaana ragam. Tradionally

when we end the katcheri, it is customary to end the katcheri in one of the

three ragas: Madhyamavathi, Suruti, or Sowrashtram. Illayaraja used

Madhyamavathi to end the song in one of his ragamaalika songs! enna samayalo

in "Unnal Mudiyum Thambi". The song starts with mohanam and ends with

Madhyamaavathi. When SPB sings "illayai podadi", Madhyamavathi starts.

Ofcourse, each of the raga change in that ragamalikai is made by the

accompanying nadhaswaram. If we change the kaisiki nishadham (Ni2) of madhyamavathi in the arohanam to

kaakali nishadham (Ni3) then the raga 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 Illayaraja's song in this

ragam are fantastic. Poongatrae poongatrae (kunkumachimizh), kannukullae

anbin eeram enna (unakaaga vazhgiraen) 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 raga are Penn onru thai aanadhu (Pudhiya Ragam)

and indha jilla muzhuka nalla theriyum (Priyanka). Brindhavana Saranga

by earlier music directors are Kattithanga rajavukku (?movie), thottilil

thodangidum (nilavae malarae). 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. Senthazham poovil is a kinda of

try in Bowli ragam (with lot of foreign notes in the interlude). Bowli is

one of the early morning ragas. Other early morning ragas 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 ragams! 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 (kannae vaa, kanmaniyae

vaa). I don't know who is the music director. Recently I heard Illayaraja's

another (probable) Bowli: Kozhikoovum naerathulae... (?Movie). I don't

remember the tune very well. But, the best Bowli came from T.Rajender.

Salangai ittaal (Maidhili 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 Kaapi ragam in his very first

movie (idhu kuzhandhai paadum thaalaatu in Oru thalai Ragam), superb

Gambeera Naatai in Pookalai Parikaadheergal (kaadhal oorvalam ingae).

Those are unforgettable tunes. Madhyamaavathi is closely related Sriragam (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 Sriragam. Thoda thoda vaa mella

has been tuned by Malayalam music director Ravindran. I think the movie

is Rasikan oru rasikai. Two years ago, I heard another Sriragam 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:

Illayaraja! "Isai rajanae un illam veenai naanae" 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 VaniJayaram. The fact that Illayaraja used

such rare ragas 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

raga changes to Hindholam. Increase by 5 notes, ie., Ma1-Sa-Ma1, then

the raga changes to Sudha Saveri, by 7 notes, ie., Pa-Ri2-Pa, the raga

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 ragam. Illayaraja 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), malarae paesu (Geethanjali)

vaan polae vannam (Salangai oli), kanmaniyae kaadhal enbadhu (aaril irundhu

arubadhu varai), poovil vandu (Kadhal oviyam), meenkodi theril (Karumbuvil),

naan oru ponnoviyam kandaen (?movie), abc nee vaasi (Oru kaidiyin dairy),

naan undhan thaayaga vendum (Ullasa paravaigal), oru ragam paadalodu

(?Ananda ragam), nilavu thoongum naeram (Kunkumachimizh), aathodu kaathaada

(Murattu kaalai), oru thanga radhathil (Dharmayudham), kasthoori manae

(Pudhumai penn), ninnukori varnam (Agninakshathiram), kaathirundhaen

thaniyae (?Rasamagan), idhayam oru kovil (idhayakovil), kukku koo koovum

(Valli) etc. Some of the recent music directors seem to be handling

Mohanam very well. Manamae thotta chinungi in Thotta chinnungi is an 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 ragam with respect to that shruthi.

But, in film music, where there is no background reminder of the shruthi,

how can we identify the ragam 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 "ragalakshanam" 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 ragam,

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 (Oru ooril oru rajaumaari). 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 ragam

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 kalayae

(Raghavendrar), thoodhu selvadhaaradi (Singaravelan), chakkarakattiku

chakkarakattiku (Ullae Veliyae), poovaagi kaayagi (?movie), and

manamaalayum manjalum (Vathiyaar veetu pillai).-Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,

Internal Medicine Department,,

Brackenridge Hospital,

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