Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Kaatrai Konjam (Neethaanae En Pon Vasantham)
This is not a review, just an early word
Melody is vintage Ilaiyaraaja - lilting, breezy and romantic. Ilaiyaraaja gives the melody an extremely dense orchestration and yet it all feels so astonishingly tender and light.
Saxophone, Electric Guitar, Bass, Strings, Solo Violins, Chorus (Male chorus for a change), Piano, flute, oboe, Clarinet, Drums – you name any instrument that you associate with romantic mood, you have it in here. Yet, none of it knocks your ear drums harshly. I haven’t heard such an intricately orchestrated song (there are such orchestral pieces in background scores of Ilaiyaraaja’s recent films) in a while. It is not just in the interlude (as expected, interlude stands on its own as a mini symphony with its own motif and its variations), even the vocal portions are heavily supported by the orchestra with layers and layers of instruments playing phrases and doing magical things that is surprising, intriguing and enchanting.
The unique quality of such Ilaiyaraaja melodies is that though it is so soft and even predictable at times, it never feels slow, stretched or boring; there is an inherent implosion of energy that keeps me hooked.
Sound mixing is amazing. Especially I like that they didn’t chop off the strings that sustains on a note and fades out ever so gradually until it reaches its logical death, even after the section for which it was added ends and the next section begins with Karthik proceeding to sing the next stanza.
The sound of smooth Orchestral Rajaazz is so refreshing and the voice of Karthik goes beautifully well with this genre so much so that his voice becomes a part of the overall sonic texture. It sounds like what Kaadhal Kavithai (one of my all-time favorite Ilaiyaraaja album) songs would have sounded it if they were recorded with a live symphony orchestra and had absolutely no synth elements.
Those who get to listen to this stuff live at the audio launch are blessed souls. I don’t know yet if I can make it to the audio launch.
Can’t wait for the CD!
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11 comments:
can you please tell where you listened to the song? thanks
awesome orchestration.Thanks for your post...especially the prelude..really it is brilliant....
"It sounds like what Kaadhal Kavithai songs would have sounded it if they were recorded with a live symphony orchestra and had absolutely no synth elements."
Yes! I had the same feeling.. :)
Super Man........loving it.......Vinodh
This is What the sound I expected from Thalaivar Since Rahman's Arrival. Thalaiva U r Great as Always.
How did you get this mp3 with good quality ??
i too felt the same what the 3rd guy commented. raja always raja.long waited treat
Apart from the extent of orchestral 'intervention', what stands out in IR's music is these orchestral instruments are used in a way that suggests they are interacting/communicating with the singer. Like the saxophone (or is it oboe) interjections in the charanam of the song. Ilayaraja is a master of injecting spontaneity in orchestral music, a quality not normally associated with Western classical, which is rigidly scored and performed.
Madan - About Sax-voice conversations, I guess it is there in Opera form of western classical music, where there is lead vocal and the orchestra is there to mainly support to the lead melody sung by the vocals.
There is usually not much interaction between the instrument and voice even in opera or arias. They accompany the singer, yes, and play some extended sections but what I like about Ilayaraja's style is there is a great degree of interdependence between the voice and the instrument. When Karthik is singing the lines, "thalli thalli ponaalum...", the oboe interjections depend heavily on the singer singing his portion properly. There is absolutely no break between the singing portion and the oboe interjections and yet, they are not playing simultaneously but one after the other. It is possibly influenced by baroque era music, when orchestras were somewhat smaller and there was more emphasis on such tight co-ordination and dialogue. You can hear this kind of approach in jazz and rock music but they rarely use such a wide array of instruments as Ilayaraja.
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