After buying the CD and listening to it for a couple of weeks now, here are my thoughts:
I like it and it is growing everyday.
On a personal note, I like the last piece in the CD.
Questions:
1) What is the target audience?
I am not sure how many non-Tamils would buy it; forget people of a different nationality. In addition, even there...I am not sure if it would reach the B / C centers.
2) Why Symphony?
Based on the audience above, why did they choose to do it Symphony style. Was it to try something new? I am sure they could have organized it in some other local style.
3) Why Budapest Orchestra?
Why not an orchestra from India. After all, many of Ilayaraja's compositions of this nature has been superb (Example - Sundhari Kannal oru Seithi).
I like it and it is growing everyday.
On a personal note, I like the last piece in the CD.
Questions:
1) What is the target audience?
I am not sure how many non-Tamils would buy it; forget people of a different nationality. In addition, even there...I am not sure if it would reach the B / C centers.
2) Why Symphony?
Based on the audience above, why did they choose to do it Symphony style. Was it to try something new? I am sure they could have organized it in some other local style.
3) Why Budapest Orchestra?
Why not an orchestra from India. After all, many of Ilayaraja's compositions of this nature has been superb (Example - Sundhari Kannal oru Seithi).
Many of the tunes IMHO are not pure symphony, but kind of a hybrid with many Indian tones/tunes. They could have organized it in India...why go to Budapest?
Bottom-line, what did they achieve by doing this in this scale in this style?
Bottom-line, what did they achieve by doing this in this scale in this style?
25 comments:
Venkittu sir, I had most of your questions. I wish Ilayaraja did thiruvasagam in the style he did Thiruvembavai in Hey Ram.
But seriously Venkittu sir, on repeated listening.. i have fallen out for that song. IR's songs of late dont impress on first few hears. Mumbai Express was like that. "Poo Poothadhu.." in Mumbai Express is a masterpiece music.
Why Budapest Orchestra? - Thats a good question. But for Sundhari Kannal oru Seithi IR went for Mumbai. It was not like done here.
Im mesmerized by the re-recordings of Hey Ram(I watch it once a week kind of). IR is probably stuck to the pattern. Thiruvasagam - Bavatharini song kaelunga.. you will certainly fall for that song.
thiruvasagam isainna keetu anubhavikkanum.....aarayakkootathu....
btw, i am yet to hear the songs:-)
keerthi,
i could not appreciate ur views on hey ram! and mx. ethuvume kettu kettu thaan pidikanumna.....hmm..
btw,did u hear 'adu oru kana kalam'?
renganathan,
a few songs do not get the attention and appreciation in the wind of songs that get an instant hit.
Hey Ram's BGM is not something you can easily notice, with the depth of the subject and tension of scene.. most of us fail to notice the brilliant violing screaming out in the background. I play the Hey Ram disc, once for a different reason, and observe the BGM.
I had this question, just like what Venkittu sir had.. Why should Ilayaraja go for the Hungarian Orchestra.. So, i listened closely to a few BGMs and they are a masterpiece.
Yes Renganathan, you will like certain songs only on repeated hearing, i have no explanations for that.. but it happens in most of the cases (with me atleast). Mumbai Express, im sure most of us didnt even hear those songs.. still there's good music in it.
Good questions sir. but, enakku answer edhum soldra alavukku therila...naan innum TiS kekkala...btw, Keerthi, 'repeated listening makes a liking for a song' accept pandra maadhiri illa....i could recall a joke, when a doctor says that within a week the patient wouldn't feel the pain as he would get accustomed to it!!!
believe it or not Sundaresan, That doctors joke is the most practical cure.
Do you know how iodex works ?? It just creates an irritation on the skin, that the brain concentratios are dedicated to the irritation than the pain. You yourselves will feel the irritation much annoying than the original pain. Besides, the pain is cured by the massage done during applying iodex. the massage, however can be done even without iodex.( i dont know why i wrote this.. take it as add on information)
Anyways, I understand, you and ranganathan dont agree with me. Of course many may not agree for it. But thats the way it works for me, in few of the songs.
Right now Iam listening to "Kaadu Potta Kadu" from Karuththamma,. Most of us do not know that such a song exist. But it has got a great lyric content. Masterpiece from Vairamuthu. That song died in the glory of "Porale Ponnuthay.." from the same movie. But off late, iam subjectively listening to few of the music, that never got attention, and few of them are really good.
Venikittu sir, apologies for taking too much of your commenting system.
remember reading in an interview, that it was not based on symphony as hyped in the media
1) no specfic target audience, its was a pleasure trip for IR, every one who kows IR will buy it, they have made money. MP3 format of TIS is a hit (every MP3 cd from richie street has it!)
2)he wanted to try something new, fusion if u mite call it. producers mite not allow him freedom to compose stuff like it so he took this opportunity and composed TIS (this is after all his pleasure trip)
3)india doesnt have a proper orchestra. the ones here are just a collection of classical musicians. its utside india that we have performing orchestra, i mean ppl who do this fora living. being made on a shoestring budget, the idea is to record where itll cost the least, so they zeroed in on budapest.
some info from publicity material.
sir, neengal yean inda pathi ellam yoisikerangal? just enjoy the music and be happy that ppl have allowed IR to compose it and so that we can listen.
neengal indamadriellam yoisika arambichengal na, other musicians wont make experiments music and push the frontiers of popular tamil music.
Narayanji its oratoria form with symphonic orchestration.
At present we dont have any prof. western symphony orchestra here, here in US for every state we have one so that might be the case.
Apparam Sir, I have also tried audio blogging, kettutu eppadi irukkunnu sollungo.
Not yet buy the CD! but I'm now listening to "Samy Kitta" From Dass. Beautiful song. Just sharing.
IR thru Tvsgm:
he has successfully married one ancient tamil literature to a western classical.
hard core western classical orchestra laam india la irukaanu theriyalai. i dont think so.
i think he has done the thir dand most important one at that.
he has introduced interest abt both thiruvasagam and western mucis interest in one stroke to the younger gen.
my amma said,
"Enakku pidikave illa. idhellam naam orru stylela potrundha evlo nalla irukkum?"
but she is missing out a point. according to her there is only one form of music, our own indian style..
indha complicated violin style lam doen't matter to her.
she is not interested to inves time and energy to appreciate such stuff's too.
but i thoroughly enjoyed it and enjoying it.
and BTW IR is the king of film BGM by a distance.
Target Audience
I agree with you, it must be Tamils. If it is only Tamils and that too only a small segment then how do they propose to bread even ?
Symphony
IR calls it Oratorio. Regardless, I don't know why.. but its a novel attempt
Budapest Orchestra
I don't think there is any 'premier' symphony groups in India. IR mentioned in one of the interviews that they went to Budapest because it was cheaper than the other places they looked.
Ram Viswanathan
Haven't heard yet. CDs are available here, but I'm not much familiar with Thiruvasagam, so I don't know how much I can appreciate it.
About the orchestra, I think think what Ram Viswanathan and Vatsan said are right. We do not have a good symphony orchestra in India.
kary:
I appreciate your frankness in coming out and letting your thoughts out, but Illayaraja rocks man! he atleast made an attempt at this... its just a start dont ya think Mr.Narayanan! now that ganesh posted his audio blog, its your turn Mr.Narayanan!
please Mr.Narayanan! (read it like please Mrs.Robinson):P
Hi Narayanan,
I too wonder why IR chose Budapest. But it would have been the wise thing to do..after all he knows better than we do.
According to IR,the composition style is oratorio and not symphony.
Also, apart from the desire to glorify Thiruvasagam, he wanted to prove that he still rules.Hence he chose symphonic format to local style for he has accomplished great many things in local style.
some probable reasons why IlaiyaRaaja might have chosen Hungary
1) just like indians choose somebody from outside to be their cricket coach -- we dont respect the people we have.
2) maybe, "lips are more sealed" in western countries than when they are done in India...and maybe the producers wanted that for this project to create hype/boost sales etc...
3) Dont know where he did his original symphony - if it was also in hungary, maybe he chose it because it was familiar territory..
my hope is this - Tiruvasagam is very difficult as such....the words are very beautiful no doubt but any knowledgeable tamil person would find it extremely difficult to practice......as much as kambaramayanam/silapathikaram gets chosen in academics, only few from tiruvaasagam will be chosen if any......
so, regardless of how its done, if it takes the bite out of tiruvaasagam (meaning TIS makes it easier for us to understand/practice/cherish) then I would say that it has succeeded in its pursuit...
I have not listened, so I ask -- did he do it with shades of carnatic music here and there?
sir t in symphony is pathbreaking in my opinion.that is why i think it was done in this scale...it will take indian music to the world stage...it makes me proud 2 be a tamil...where ever tamils live in the world this album will be loved.bottom line-there is 1 sun,1 moon and 1 isaigyani!!!
neenga sonna madhiri pizza hut-il sarkaraipongal sapidra feelings kagavo ennamo?
I liked it. I dunno how it would have come if it were composed here. I'm sure the Budapest Orchestra had a lot of influence on this one.
this could also attract the attention of many westerners, hopefully. thats only good for our culture.
Narayanan
The target audience is not restricted to Indian alone. I am not sure why you think many non-Indians wouldn't buy it. If you think you like it, tell your colleague who has similar tastes. I had met a few people in Arizona [ where I studied ] , non-Indians who knew more about Pt. Ravishankar, Zakir, Pt. Shivkumar Sharma than I did. I know a lot of Indians who are big fans of Khaled [the "didi" fame, the song was even copied in Arunachalam] and he sings in a language we don't understand. Even if a few thousand CD's [ I am sure it will sell more ] are sold outside India, it will surely worth the effort.
Why Budapest? Here is the answer by Illayaraja himself - http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2215/stories/20050729003510400.htm I agree he could have done it in India but lets give the benefit of doubt to the composer because he is the guy who is sloggin his ass. This question should probably be directed at all these Indian film makers who pack their bags, go abroad and shoot mindless songs.
Why Symphony? Symphony in a lot of ways in considered to be a crowning glory of a composer's career. It requires knowledge, finnesse and imagination to conduct such a huge orchestra. As a man who many still think was the uncrowned King of Indian music, Illayaraja can choose what he wants to do and do it in a large scale. I am not sure whether we asked similar questions when Peter Jckson decided to make Boyhood tales in such grand scale.
What did they achieve by doing it in a broad scale? I again think it is a combination of the composer's desire to imagne and execute on a broader canvas trying to bring worldwide attention to a small town in South India. I don't think it is wrong to dream big as long as you don't stamp on other's feets in your quest for glory and dominance.
PS: I haven't heard the symphony yet.
Hi Narayanan,
Just saw your blog posting. My thoughts on Thiruvasagam
1.Target Audience: It can't pull someone who listens normal Film music. Experiment like Vande Matram by Rahman created flutter. Still a big question of reaching "Mr. PothuJanam"!!
2. Why Symphony??
As mentioned in few comments above.. in HeyRam, few bit of Thiruvembavai in modified version was ok. Raja does splendid versions of various spiritual verses, example is "Dhalapathi- Kunitha Puruvamum". Symphony would have been to project the G.U.Pope's translated version of Tiruvasagam..but i heard few verses of the translation.
The entire project is a milestone to Ilarayaja. Don't know how far it achieved the purpose.
Regards,
Subbu
nekku therila.. havent listened yet.. have ordered though..
Very good questions. Symphony itself is a western classical music style. With something as unique and tradition rich as ThiruVasagam, why go for something outside the traditional Indian classical music. Indian classical music is rich enough to allow for tremendous improvisation and instrumentation.
That said, I love Nothing but Wind and Raja's orchestra driven pieces. I love his BGMs and Hey Ram is pure gold. I will probably get my copy of the CD sometime I see it in stores here or from India.
Folks,
Thanks to each one of you for your comments.
I have to tell you guys that I love listening to the CD a lot.
So, please don't hesitate to add this to your music collection.!
Raja Rocks.!
Nari, I could not find a copy in Pittsburgh. Is it Ok, if I request you to snail mail me one?
Thanks in anticipation
Post a Comment