NY murali elaborates MSVs composing style - its as enjoyable as masters melody Dear Friends, I mentioned in one of the earlier post that there are some songs which has a greater composing value gets buried because of other songs of in a particular movie by MSV. The subject song identified is ‘oorayiram naadagam aadinaal’ youtube/watch?v=NUhQoq5i3ZE The reason for writing this post is to unearth the buried values in this song. Before discussing about this song we need to understand how MSV views each composition of a song. MSV mentioned many times that he never kept any raga in mind . it is really a pity that MSV himself never declared as to on what basis he does his compositions. If you ask him at best he would show up his hand towards heaven. So we have to live with the fact that as fans of MSV we still ponder over that mystery. But sometimes he himself had mentioned as to how he composes. Very popular version is the one he says ‘Music is in the lyric itself and my job is to bring out that’. This is a subtle way of telling how he composes. In another interview he mentioned that ‘We discuss about the song with the directors and the lyricist. The directors explain them in detail about the story line, the situation in which the song has to placed etc. While they describe the situation I am able see a picture in my mind and there is music in that picture which runs in my mind and I am extracting the same’. These are two very different versions which can confuse us. But if we see the inner meaning there is clarity. In the first instance he said it is lyrics. In the second instance he said it is the scene described. Which is true? Both are true. The fact is that the scene which is acting, the lyrics which is the language and the music which is the sound are all relative to each other and one depends on the others. That is why we say in Tamil as ‘iyal, isai, naadagam’. These 3 are like the three sides of an equilatelaral triangle. I have explained the reason why these 3 are interrelated to each other was explained in my earlier post. The fact is that MSV extracts music which is in relation to the other two aspects could be one of the reasons why his songs stand with time. And this is also one of the reasons why MSV always say that music has to be within the lyric and the situation and it is not the place for the musician to show his skill. Now this song perfectly fits the above mentioned aspects and that is why I said that this is one of the great compositions. We are not privy to the information as to what was discussed before the composition of this song. The director CVR can explain at some moment. But we could guess as to what could have been discussed. The logic is if MSV keeps the scene and the lyric in mind for the composition, then we could derive what could have been discussed from the song itself. I always try to analyze MSV from his songs as proof and try to reconstruct as to what could have influenced him rather than depending on other human beings verbal version. So let us try to reconstruct the discussion that had taken place some 40 years ago. CVR would have briefed a the story line like ‘There is an actress who is famous but she feels very unhappy that she could not find privacy. She wants to be freely moving around places and move with others but could not do so because of her popularity. When ever she tried to be in social contacts with others were ridiculed as image building. In this circumstance when she was going for an outdoor shooting to a hilly area she misses her group and had taken shelter with a young man in that hilly region who does not identify her as an actress but a normal woman. The story goes like she had to accommodate the young man by acting like his wife in order to avoid marrying the gentle man’s daughter who brought him up. The man who brought him up accepts her as his daughter in law and asks the young man to take the girl around the Tea Estate of his. It is when this song is placed.’ Now let us imagine as to what MSV would have felt in his mind the discussion went. He would have visualized the hilly region with the fresh greenery back ground. The lady had her feeling suppressed would have let all her emotions off by seeing the natures beauty. She would have found herself like a child running, jumping up and down, exclaiming. All these feelings would have been felt by MSV if he were to be in that girls place. Now let us how the song came out. Again we are not privy to the information whether the lyrics came first or the tune. But let us assume that the lyrics came first as this will put MSV in the most disadvantageous position. The line came from KD is ‘ooraayiram naadagam aadinaal poomaalaigal medaiyil soodinaal’ We are not sure whether these lines came on the first attempt or the n’th attempt. But MSV would not have approved any line other than or similar to the one above. Many of us are not aware that it is MSV who approves the lyrics. He is the only one who has the guts to reject a line given by KD. But in this case he has approved these lines. Why did he approve? The reason is that it perfectly conveys the story is one thing. That the line ‘ooraayiram naadagam aadinaal’ conveys that she is hiding herself from an actress and acting as a normal woman from the young man and that she is acting as a wife to him is one meaning. The other subtle meaning is that she had acted such kind of roles 1000 times in movies. The second line ‘poo maalaigal medaiyil soodinal’ is the one that conveys the meaning that the girl having got introduced to the young man only for few hours but decided to act as his wife and that such kind of acting as an house wife many times in the stage earlier is the subtle meaning. But why should MSV approve the lyrics which any could have been approved by CVR since it perfectly conveys the story. The fact is these lines help him to present the scene musically. How does that happen? Well if we study the language Tamil which consists of ‘kuril’ ‘nedil’ and the letters with the dot on its top. These are grammatically explained in terms of units or called ‘maathirai’. The kuril consists of 1 unit. The nedil consists of 2 units and the letter with a dot on its top is ½ units. Now see how these lines are arranged. In the word (Oo-raa-yi-ra-m) (naa-da-ga-m) (aa-di-naa-l) The units would be (2 -2 -1 -1-1/2) (2 -1 -1-1/2) (2-1 -2 -1/2) The next line (poo-maa-lai-ga-l) (mey-dai-yi-l) (soo-di-naa-l) The units would be (2 -2 -1 -1-1/2) (2 -1 -1-1/2) (2-1 -2 -1/2) Now if we try to plot a graph with these values what shape would you find? When the song started it would have been 0 and taken higher to 2 stays in 2 and comes down to 1 and then further down to ½ when the word ended. Then again it would go up to 2 and comes down to 1 stays at 1 and comes down to ½ when the second word ends and again goes up to 2 comes down to 1 and again up to 2 and comes steep down to ½ when the third word and the lines end. The same is for the next line. Now what does this convey. This shows that the melody goes up and down which conveys that the song happens in a hilly region where only you will see ups and downs. Not only that if there are many up and downs then the region in between is the valley and the Tea Estate is always on the slope of the hills till the valley down. This is a perfect example of MSV explaining that ’The music is there in the lyric itself!!!’ Now a point could arise that the credit after all goes to KD the lyricist and MSV the composer. Well he could have approved the line as you claim it is but the words came from the lyricist. Why are you claiming the credit for the composer? Well the credit goes to KD which even MSV would not deny. In fact he would not claim any credit at all and as usual show his hands at the heaven is a certainty. But there is enough proof in the way MSV taught the song to PS. Look at the way PS deliberately extends the ‘nedils’ in the word. MSV normally calls the ‘nedils’ as ‘Dheergam’. Can this proof be substantiated? YES. For that we need to consider other examples of the same word and see how they are handled. Take the case of the song ‘ooraayiram paarvaiyile’. How does this sound comparing to this song? Well that has been composed by another Music Director and hence we don’t accept that as a proof. Well then take a song of MSV’s himself. The song ‘ooraariram thiruvaasagam’ in the movie ‘Thiruppangal’. How does it sound? So it goes to show that MSV deliberately extended the nedil in such a way that the music has to give the feeling of up and downs in order to imply the location. There are other points which have to be added. Go back to the earlier paragraph where I mentioned as to what MSV would have visualized when the song situation was explained to him. That he visualized that the girls emotion which got suppressed due to her fame as an actress now would be released like a flowing river. Does KD give any lyrics for that emotion? No. So what does MSV do accomplish that. Instead he used a humming before the start of the song. It is indeed that first the emotions flows when you are relived of your pressure which you express in many ways and then you pronounce word is the fact that MSV started the song with the humming. Look at the way the humming is set. You can find similarity with the humming in the song ‘kaatrukkennna veli’. This is a perfect example of MSV explaining that ’The music is there in the scene itself!!!’ Look at the way the emotive expression of the word ‘baavanai kaatinaal’ which he repeats And if you see with the rhythm ad tempo exactly express the mood ‘kudoogalam’ or jumping up and down. Look at the charanam where the lines ‘mella mella killi killi kai edhuthu alli alli kaaleduthu thulli thulli’ ‘kaanum azhagennavo aha kannil kalai ennavo’ All these are set on a different tempo to make the feeling of exclamations, child’s play. We all become child like when we go to hill station and see the beauty and some times verbally express our exclamation. To end the subject let me add one more very subtle point which MSV kept in this song. If you hear the song in total you will notice that there is a difference between the first and the second charanam. In the second charanam you would notice that when the line ‘ilaya magal meyniyinai iyarkkai thaalaatta’ would be followed by a humming. Whereas the same may not be there for the first charanam ‘theyilayin thalai thadavi sellum poonkaatre’ which does not have the humming. Why this difference? Because the catch is there in the lyric. In the first charanam the cool breeze touches the head of the Tea leaves which she may not feel but she describes. But in the second charanam she herself actually feels the cool breeze passing through her like a lullaby. So what does she do? She expresses the cool breeze experience with a humming. Again a perfect example of producing a music which is there in the lyric itself!!! The music pundits cutting across barriers are very much obsessed with ragas, theory, orchestration, technology etc. But for MSV ragas doesn’t matter. Ask him to re do the song with a condition that he should not use any note which he has used in this version and still he come up with another version but would still maintain the value I have mentioned. What matters to him is the musical expression which cohesive to the lyric and the scene and not RAGA.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 09:06:58 +0000
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