Unusual conversations – an introduction

At times, we enjoy conversations and at others, we do not. Some conversations become quotations that we tend to enjoy repeating. In the world of music, conversations happen between human voices and at other times between musical instruments. Sometimes, it can be between human voices and musical instruments too. In the Indian film music tradition, there are rarely films, that do not have duets, sang typically by a male and a female singer. There are duets featuring same gender voices too. Almost all duets are dialogs or conversations between two participating voices.

In this analysis, we will focus more on conversations between musical instruments. This is universal and has no language barriers such as a human duet song. In the Indian music tradition, jugalbandhis are musical instrument conversations. One instrument makes a call and the other responds.

Here is an example of a fantastic conversation between Zakir Hussain (tabla) and Hari Prasad Chaurasia (flute) in a Jugalbandhi:

 

Several Carnatic kutcheris have instrument ensembles which tend to have conversations between a mirudhangam and a violin or a kanjira , a violin etc. Such musical conversations have inadvertently seeped into Indian musical sensibilities that it has become part of our musical taste regardless of classical or popular film music.

Here is an example of a Kutcheri by Embar Kannan (he plays violin for Raja) and between 12:06 and 14:25 in this you tube video, you can see several rounds of conversations between mirudhangam, kanjira and ghatam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBJgN7yjgYc

In the Western music world, some choirs tend to have conversations between voices.  This is also very common in the pop and jazz world.

Here is a simple demonstration from the jazz world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxg4AP1MKDk

Even with Electronic Music Technology (EMT) and new software tools, producers have been fast to adopt this to the new world of computer software and tools.

 

Conversations in general are exchange of ideas between two persons.  In the world of music, it is exchange of notes between two instruments that we will focus on. These conversations tend to be in a call and response (C&R) format. When the first instrument makes a call, the second one, responds back. It is like the way birds make sounds.

When arranged and written properly, C&R can be very seductive and pleasant to the ears. Almost every film music composer in India uses the C&R as one of their staple technique. Raja is no exception. In fact, some accuse him of overuse of this technique. As with several other myths, this is also untrue. His C&R is so exhaustive and he chooses to use them very seductively in his interludes, it has almost become a sub-conscious aspect to most of his listeners to expect this technique, even if most of them  cannot identify it.

Raja has the unique ability to bring in any mood with any instrument. We saw that in our detailed discussions on ‘Moods of Raja’. Similarly, what sets him apart from other composers is the fact that he has used several instruments in the C&R mode.  These C&R arrangements are unthinkable for most composers as Raja’s unique choice of instruments stands out with every form of arrangement he does. 

So, how do we go about doing this analysis? Firstly, we need to define what usual conversations are. Only when we understand the usual ones, we can go after the unusual conversations.

Unusual conversations – rules of analysis

 We need to have some general rules on what is not considered a conversation within our analysis:

• Musical phrases that alternate between two voices, which is part of the main song. As an example Poomalaiye Thol Seravaa from Pagal Nilavu (Tamil 1985) uses the male and female voices in C&R mode throughout the pallavi of the song

• Musical phrases, where the instrument responds to the phrases in the pallavi or charanam. In other words, as part of this analysis, you will not hear such wonderful arrangements such as ‘Sorgathin Vasarpadi’ from Unnai Solli Kutramillai (Tamil 1990) where the instrumental music responds 16 times to the musical phrases in the pallavi

• A chorus responding to the main singer’s pallavi or charanam phrases. Example, Etho Mogam (Kozhi Koovudhu Tamil 1979)

• One chorus making a call and another responding to the call (this has been already covered under the choir analysis)

One can technically argue that the above phenomenon is also ‘Call & Response’. However, keeping these items out will shift the focus to unusual conversations that Raja has done. The phenomenon #4 will be avoided to ensure that there is no repletion between the analysis on choir and this analysis.

In other words, we will only consider instrument conversations or conversations that involve one musical instrument at the minimum. For example, we can consider a voice making a call and an instrument responding to it is fine.

Technically, we need to define the methodology of identifying a musical conversation or C&R.  Here is the method that we will use, though there is no theoretical or technical compulsion to do so:

1. The call must be made by a single instrument with a small melody
2. The response must be made by a single instrument with a small melody
3. The call must be repeated at least twice
4. The response must be repeated at least twice
5. Neither the call nor the response should be part of any harmony arrangement (multiple voices)
6. Point 3 or point 4 must be valid. Sometimes, the response for the second time may be with a slightly modified melody compared to the first response

The above methodology has been chosen to avoid any ambiguity in identifying C&R segments within instrument music.

Even with all the above rules, one is likely to end up several hundred conversations and this blog has to be converted into an hourly blog which is never the intent. More importantly, with several repetitive segments, it can get boring quickly and it defeats the purpose of this blog - showcasing the genius of Raja.  How do we get to show something unique about Raja’s work in this area?

By filtering out usual instrument conversations.

Most Raja detractors have claimed that he uses a lot of these three instruments in his interludes:

1. Violins
2. Guitar
3. Flute

So, conversations involving these three instruments can be treated as ‘usual conversations’, even if they satisfy all the rules of C&R arrangement. Conversations such as these (you will hear this for the last time in this section of analysis):

• Violins - Violins conversation. Example - Kanna Unai Thedugiraen - Manadhil Urudhi Vendum (Tamil 1987)

• Violin - Guitar conversation. Example - Raja Raja Chozhan - Rettai Vaal Kuruvi (Tamil 1987)

• Violin - Flute conversation.  Example - Poo Mudithu - En Purushan Thaan Enakku Mattum Thaan (Tamil 1989)

• Guitar - Guitar conversation.  Example - Poo Maalai Oru Paavai - Thanga Magan (Tamil 1983)

• Guitar - Flute conversation. Example - Idhazhil Kadhai Ezhudum - Unnal Mudiyum Thambi (Tamil 1989)

• Flute - Flute conversation. Example - Vana Kuyilae  - Priyanka (Tamil 1994)

If we take out these six type of major conversations, we can uncover the ‘unusual conversations’ that Raja has arranged. The analysis also gets to a manageable size and it showcases the composer’s ability to handle ‘unusual instrument conversations’.  We will still have a deluge to deal with, but quite manageable. The ground rules of C&R will fully apply.

How do we approach the analysis of unusual conversations? We will base it on a lead instrument that is neither Violin, or guitar or flute and cover conversations of this instrument with all other instruments. Here are the categories:

1. Bass Guitar unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with Veena or Flute and the bass guitar
2. Bells unusual conversations. Bells are a special use of a synthesizer (in bell mode) and Raja has used bells extensively in his compositions. We will cover the unusual conversations  with Flute, guitar, percussion, Shehnai, Synthesizer, Violins
3. Chorus unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with Flute, Guitar, violins and chorus
4. Jathi unusual conversations. This is drawn from the traditional bharathanatyam tradition and we will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with flute, violins, mirudhangam and jathi
5. Mirudhangam unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with flute, table, veena and the mirudhangam
6. Percussion unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with flute, percussion, violins, synthesizers, violins and percussion (you read it right, both sides can be percussion)
7. Sax/Trumpet unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with flute, guitar, violins, chorus and the Sax/Trumpet
8. Shehnai unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with Bells, Flute, Guitar, Violins, Synthesizer and the Shehnai
9. Sitar unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with flute, guitar, synthesizer, violins and the sitar
10. Synthesizer unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with chorus, drums, flute, guitar, mirudhangam, Other percussion, Sax, Solo Violin, Synth, Veena, Violins, Voice and the Synthesizer (you read it right again, synth to synth conversations are very common in Raja’s music). There is no composer who has used the synthesizer in conversation with so many other instruments as Raja
11. Tabla unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with flute, mirudhangam, synthesizer and the tabla
12. Veena unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with flute, guitar, percussion, synthesizer, trumpets, violins, voice and the veena. No other composer has created so many veena conversation pieces as Raja.
13. Voice unusual conversations. We will cover some of the unusual conversations that Raja has arranged with flute, guitar, percussion, synth, trumpet, voice, viiolins and voice. ‘Voice’ here does not mean chorus or choir, typically humming in interludes. No other composer has created such unusual conversations with instruments and voice.
14. Other unusual conversations.  As usual, this is a catch all bucket. We will cover unusual conversations such as percussion and water sounds, bird chirps that are part of interludes arranged as conversations, harmonium and guitar etc.

Even taking out the categories that have been alleged as overuse instruments, we can see that there are 14 categories of unusual conversations that have been part of Raja’s long 4 decade career. No other Indian film music composer has such breadth and depth in orchestration.  We are just talking about one technique…

While presenting each category, we will try and combine all conversations between two named instruments into a single clip to avoid too many clips being presented.

As with all analysis, there may be oversight in not including a few clips that belong to the category being discussed. Readers are encouraged to comment on tracks I may have missed.

Unusual conversations – analysis methodology

I have presented the results of various analysis throughout this blog without going into any details about the analysis methodology. However, this time, (with no intentions of bragging) I will elaborate the analysis method as we will try to drive some analysis conclusions at the end of this section. Knowing how the analysis was performed will be a useful context to relate to the results presented at the end.

1. Though Raja’s compositions run to over 4,500, a database of 1.600 songs were considered for this analysis (a 35% sample of the population). The sample set has all the languages set to music by Raja other than Marathi
2. The 1,600 songs covered in this analysis span all the 5 decades – 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s.
3. A scan of the 1,600 interludes is done to isolate ‘usual’ and ‘unusual’ conversations
4. The focus is more on the ‘unusual’ conversations. Every ‘unusual conversation’ is checked for the rules of C&R, and a segment is isolated and recorded in a spreadsheet. A single interlude can have more than one C&R segment
5. For every identified segment, the two instruments involved in the conversation is recorded in the spreadsheet, along with the name of the film and the release year
6. The lead column in the spreadsheet is ensured not to be violin, guitar or flute
7. A pivot analysis is done on the lead instrument to get a list of unique combinations and those become the 14 categories I plan to present. A sorted list based on the lead instrument is kept for reference in creating the clips
8. The collection of data was done over 6 months and the assumption is that the sample database is a close representation of Raja’s output and is good enough for predicting/analyzing trends related to this technique
9. Based on the result set, clips are isolated from the songs and assembled for presentation with the appropriate naming convention for easy cataloging
10. Analysis conclusions are derived from the analysis spreadsheet to have data support to the conclusions

I hope the analysis helps reset some perspectives about Raja and his use of C&R technique in his music, such as:

1. Not everything he has done with this technique revolves around the violin, guitar or flute
2. The breadth and depth of use of this technique can be matched by no other composer, even if we consider his ‘unusual’ conversations
3. Some of the instrument combinations are ‘unthinkable’ before his time, and few composers have tried these even after he has demonstrated them in his interludes