Guitar based PolyCaRe arrangements in 199x –interludes

We will continue the journey on PolyCaRe arrangements of Raja, with his compositions based on guitar as the background melody instrument. In this post, we will particularly focus on his interlude compositions in the 199x. As we made it very clear in the definition, the PolyCaRe arrangement not only requires a background guitar melody, it also requires two call and response melodies in the foreground played according to our rules of CaRe arrangements.

Let’s first start with the prelude of Raasaleela Vela from Aditya 369 (Telugu 1991). This segment, which is part of the interlude has guitar as its background instrument. Here is how the segment is structured:

Song	Film	Year	Background instrument	CaRe - Instrument1	CaRe - Instrument2
Raasaleela Vela prelude	Aditya 369	1991	Guitar	Violins	Synthesizer

1. The first 3 seconds of the clip starts off with the guitar playing its simple repetitive melody
2. Between 4 and 8 seconds, the call is made by the violins and the response by the synthesizer. The guitar continues its background melody when all this is happening in the foreground
3. Between 9 and 13 seconds, the call is again by the violins but with a slightly different melody and the response by the synthesizer is also slightly different from the earlier synthesizer melody

This is a simple PolyCaRe 101 for sure. It still follows all the rules we have defined and has four polyphonic compositions arranged one after the other. The foreground melodies can stand on their own feet as simple CaRe arrangement. The background guitar melody makes them polyphonic and hence PolyCaRe.

Let’s hear the prelude of the song Raasaleela Vela…

The next interlude we will analyze is Gingila Gingila from an obscure movie Thaai Mozhi (Tamil 1992). This segment, which is part of the interlude has guitar as its background instrument. Here is how the segment is structured:

Song	Film	Year	Background instrument	CaRe - Instrument1	CaRe - Instrument2
Gingila Gingila	Thaai Mozhi	1992	Guitar	Trumpet	Guitar

This interlude has guitar in the background and the foreground but is easy to tell one from the other as the melodies are distinct.

1. The first 4 seconds of this clip has two melodies arranged in counter – guitar and violins, very typical of Raja’s work from many interludes
2. Between 4 and 8 seconds, while the guitar melody continues in the background, there is a call from the trumpet for which the electric guitar responds
3. Between 9 and 11 seconds, the trumpet makes another melodic call (different from the first) and the electric guitar responds differently the second time

The foreground melodies can stand on their own feet as simple CaRe arrangement. The background guitar melody makes them polyphonic and hence PolyCaRe.

Let’s hear the interlude of the song Gingila Gingila…

The next interlude we will analyze is from the song Raakamma Kaiya thattu from Dhalapathi (Tamil 1991). The prelude of this song is a very popular one and we will take a view at it from a PolyCaRe perspective. This segment, which is part of the interlude has guitar as its background instrument. Here is how the segment is structured:

Song	Film	Year	Background instrument	CaRe - Instrument1	CaRe - Instrument2
Raakamma prelude	Thalapathi	1991	Guitar	Solo Violin	Violins

1. The first 4 seconds of this clip has only the guitar play and that will continue till the end of the clip. This is the background melody of this arrangement
2. Between 5 and 20 seconds, there are 8 calls and 8 responses of different variations arranged one after the other. The call is by the solo violin and the response is by the group of violins

In effect, there are 16 melodies riding on top of the background guitar melody in those 20 seconds.  The foreground melodies can stand on their own feet as simple CaRe arrangement. The background guitar melody makes them polyphonic and hence PolyCaRe.

Let’s hear the prelude of the song Raakamma Kaiya Thattu…