Our journey
on uncovering intricate harmonies from obscurity continues…
Poonkaatinodum
kilikalodum (Poomuggapadiyil Nineyum Kaathu - Malayalam - 1986)
One of my all-time
basslines favorite is the song 'Poonkaatinodum kilikalodum' from
Poomuggapadiyil Nineyum Kaathu (1986 Malayalam) sang brilliantly by Yesudas
and Janaki. Basslines is only one part of the story. Listen to the harmony in
both the interludes. Harmony so beautifully written can be turned into a music school lesson.
Prelude:
Harmony
passage 1 (0:08 to 0:18): This is a nice melody line played by the flute in
(A). The guitar plays its melody in (T) and the bass guitar plays its
repetitive melody in (B).
Harmony
passage 2 (0:18 to 0:33): Between 18 and 23 secs, the violins and cellos play
it melody along with the flute in (S). Between 23 and 33 seconds, the violins
take over and the whole harmony now goes to another level. The foreground and
background violins have a dialog while the cellos the bass guitar and the main
guitar continue. What a pleasure to hear this arrangement!
Interlude 1
Harmony
passage 3 (1:29 to 1:45): The instrumentation is similar to the prelude, but
arranged in another nice melody. The violins take up both the S and A parts and
you can hear that clearly with the bass doing its B part. You will notice that
the flute take the S part from the violins and the violins in the A part
continues and it turns it back to the violins that played the S part before.
This type of arrangement requires a solid grounding in harmony and this song
demonstrates that.
Interlude 2
Harmony
passage 4 (2:43 to 3:00): This interlude is arranged differently from the first
one and is also rapid compared to the first. The interesting part is that the
harmony parts get filled with time and the composer keeps playing with the
parts to deliver the aural delight that is greater than the parts. Initially,
you will hear only the violins (A) and the bass (B) playing their melodies with
the flute joining the harmony (S) later.
Harmony
passage 5 (3:00 to 3:14 ): The composer chooses synthesizers in harmony for
this part. The part begins with the
synthesizer playing a simple but constant melody in A. Such a simple melody is
a Raja composition means that it is in prep for a polyphony that is about to
happen. The bass guitar takes care of the B and the violins play their melody
in T. The second synthesizer plays its melody in S to make the harmony
complete. However, the composer ensures the aural pleasure by keeping the
various parts in dialog. Only the A and B part continue throughout this period.
The S and T are alternated to deliver a bewitching melody.
A solid WCM music school lesson material.
Let’s hear Poonkaatinodum
kilikalodum…
Mandhira
Punnagaiyo (Mandhira
Punnagai - Tamil - 1986)
Songs such
as Mandhira Punnagaiyo from Mandhira Punnagai (Tamil 1986) are
the ones Raja fans will brag with each other as 'rare' ones. The obscurity of
this song is non-controversial. I heard this song only a couple of years ago, 3
decades after the song got created! This is a free flowing melody that is
vintage Raja. However, inside this obscure track, as I have come to accept,
Raja weaves harmony as though he is writing a piece of music for a prestigious
Western orchestra. To him, writing such harmonies, as I have repeatedly said,
is a walk in the park.
While there are several harmonies he has written in this song's instrumental parts, I would like to callout two or three really impressive ones.
While there are several harmonies he has written in this song's instrumental parts, I would like to callout two or three really impressive ones.
Harmony
passage 1 (1:21 to 1:45): This starts off as a solo violin part (Alto) and Raja adds
Flute, cellos, violins to take care of the other three parts and if you just
hear these 24 seconds, it is hard to tell if this is film music. Separate this
and you can see how he has found a place for such great WCM work in a
B-grade film.
Harmony passage 2 (3:07 to 3:23): The initial parts are written as simple C&R between the flute and the violins. Do not get fooled by it as that is just a precursor. There are 6 C&R arrangements between 3:07 and 3:19. Now there is a part that he does between 3:19 and 3:23 (part 2) and this has the flute playing in harmony with the violin. Now, you may think that this is business as usual for Raja. There are a thousand songs that he has done this. If you look at this part in isolation, the argument is true. Step back and listen to the song between 3:11 and 3:15 (part 1) . The flute melody he plays is exactly the same as the one 3:19 and 3:23. The second part is however contrapuntal. That is a fugue part cleverly hidden inside several simple C&R parts. The part 2 is an imitation of part 1 but it is contrapuntal.
It is hard to find a composer who would write such fugue parts casually for such B-grade films, unless writing such harmonies is trivia for a genius such as him.
Harmony passage 2 (3:07 to 3:23): The initial parts are written as simple C&R between the flute and the violins. Do not get fooled by it as that is just a precursor. There are 6 C&R arrangements between 3:07 and 3:19. Now there is a part that he does between 3:19 and 3:23 (part 2) and this has the flute playing in harmony with the violin. Now, you may think that this is business as usual for Raja. There are a thousand songs that he has done this. If you look at this part in isolation, the argument is true. Step back and listen to the song between 3:11 and 3:15 (part 1) . The flute melody he plays is exactly the same as the one 3:19 and 3:23. The second part is however contrapuntal. That is a fugue part cleverly hidden inside several simple C&R parts. The part 2 is an imitation of part 1 but it is contrapuntal.
It is hard to find a composer who would write such fugue parts casually for such B-grade films, unless writing such harmonies is trivia for a genius such as him.
Let’s hear
Mandhira Punnagaiyo…
