Nearest Neighbor – Sax and Trumpet

Both the sax and the trumpet are western instruments and in most Indian film song setting only one of them have a place in the song. Almost placing them next to each other is unheard of. 

The clip below (first 14 seconds) begins with the interlude of the song, ‘Sangeetha Megam’ from ‘Udhaya Geetham’ (Tamil 1985). The long call is made by the trumpet and the short response is from the sax. Very clever arrangement that avoids any confusion between the like sounding instruments. 

From 16 seconds, the clip has the interlude from the song ‘Sorgam Madhuvile’ from the film, ‘Sattam En Kaiyil’ (Tamil 1978). Here again the arrangement is a clever one with the long calls by the trumpet and the short responses from the sax. Both the songs features in this clip have completely different melodies.

 Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Sax and Trumpet …

Nearest Neighbor – Shehnai and Trumpet

 Bringing a western and an Indian instrument together is nothing new with Raja’s orchestration. However, in a rural comedy setting, Raja uses a trumpet next to a shenhnai and these are tonally very close to each other. Unlike other instrument pairs, Raja ensures that there is a very short interval between the two instruments to ensure that the listener can perceive the difference. 

The clip below is from the interlude of the song, ‘Ooru vittu’ from Karakaatakaaran (Tamil 1989). Hear the nice exchange between these two unlikely neighbors.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Shehnai and Trumpet …

Nearest Neighbor – Male choir and distortion guitar

 Distortion guitar is a rare entity in Indian film music. It has always been relegated to night club settings, or some college settings of music competition. Raja takes this rare entity and uses it next to a male choir, What’s even more intriguing is the song is set to a folk tune!   Male choir is close to a distortion guitar and such out-of-the-box thinking in orchestration has never been attempted before, let alone, in a folk setting.

The clip below is from the second interlude of the song, ‘Marakudaiyal’ from the film, ‘Manasinakkare’ (Malayalam 2003). Hear the nice exchange between these two unlikely neighbors.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Male choir and distortion guitar …

Nearest Neighbor – Female choir and flute

Flute and female choir is not uncommon. However, when the female choir is in a pitch that is very close to the flute, you are walking in dangerous territory as one of the two components tends to become redundant. This favors the flute more than the female choir, as it is hard to conduct a choir than getting a flute player to play the notes. Why bother conducting a choir when you have the easy way of completing the phrases with flute? Raja has several compositions where he has used this combination next to each other with ease and mostly, his painstaking choir and the flute complement each other as the melodies they play are complementary. This is tough business in orchestration that most composers stay away from.

The first 28 seconds of the clip are from the interlude of the song ‘Halli Lavaniyalli’ from Namoora Mandara Hoove (Kannada 1997). Initially, you will hear the flute and the choir separately playing their complementary melodies. However, towards the end (after 22 seconds), the experiment of merging these two melodies to play simultaneously clearly demonstrates, that they do sound great, when in the hands of the master.

 From 30 seconds onwards in the clip, the interlude of the song, ‘Enna Varam Vendum’ from ‘Nandavana Theru’ (Tamil 1995) plays. The flute plays for at least 10 seconds in the background with the female choir adds phrases in the foreground. From 41 second to til end of the clip is a beautiful arrangement of female choir, flute and violins all playing their parts simultaneously, for about 40 seconds. It is a treat to hear such beautiful work in an area that composers never go. They should, as the master has shown the way.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Female choir and flute …

Nearest Neighbor – Female solo and santoor

 There are very few composers who have used the santoor in South Indian film music and today, this instrument is almost extinct in film music. A beautiful sound, similar to harp in western symphony orchestras, Raja has exploited the instrument extensively. In this post, we will see how Raja uses Janaki again as his orchestral instrument alongside the santoor instrument. This is not just a unlikely neighbor, this is also unimaginable for almost all Indian composers.

The first 18 seconds of this clip is from the song, ‘Maniye Manikuyile’ from the film, ‘Nadodi Thendral’ (Tamil 1992). Raja creates a counterpoint with Janaki’s humming with the santoor thoughout the clip The santoor is the background melody and the flute responds to Janaki’s call. This again in PolyCare, Raja style!

From 20 seconds to 47 seconds of this clip is from the song ‘Mannavane mannavane’ from the film ‘Thandhuvittaen Ennai’ (Tamil 1991) is a pure pot of gold in orchestral terms. The way this song is arranged is with the santoor and the bass guitar doing the background melody. A number of things happen in the foreground. A call from Janaki is responded by the flute followed by the violins. The second call by Janaki and the responses from the flute and the violins are all different from the first. There is a total of 8 melodies arranged as PolyCare by Raja in these 27 seconds, very Indian, but technically Western. The only two constant melodies are the santoor and the bass guitar. Salute the genius!

The last 5 seconds of the clip is arranged as a harmony of violins and Janaki’s voice bridging to the charanam from the interlude.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Female solo and santoor …

Nearest Neighbor – Female solo and guitar

As I mentioned in the previous post, Raja tends to use Janaki’s voice as an orchestral element in his compositions. While flute is an unlikely neighbor, as its tone is pretty close to a female voice, for some reason, female voices also have never been used alongside electric guitar in Indian film music. As always, he is the first to try this combination and it turns out to be a great one. It is hard to play Indian melodies with electric guitar, but today with the accessories, it has got easier.  Both these clips are with Janaki’s voice and the electric guitar in this post.

The first 18 seconds in the clip is from the song, ‘Vaa Vennila’ from the film, ‘Mella thirandhadhu kadhavu (Tamil 1986)’. The Janaki humming is played by the guitar in response initially, and later by the synthesizer playing guitar tones. From 20 seconds onwards, is from the song ‘Poomaalai Oru Paavai’ from ‘Thanga Magan (Tamil 1983)’. Throughout this clip,  the guitar plays the melody first and Janaki hums it back. A very nice marriage of unlikely neighbor that only Raja colonizes!

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Female solo and guitar … 

Nearest Neighbor – Female solo and flute

 Raja has used Janaki as his main female voice for several reasons. One of the reasons is her voice can be used as an instrument along with another musical instrument. In this post, all the songs but one are by Janaki and the musical instrument is the flute. While using female voices for humming is a very old technique, very rarely, composers have used great female voices as instruments and have demonstrated it as an orchestral element.  The female voice and the flute are close neighbors and very rarely they are placed next to each other. Of course, Raja is all about standing out from conventional thinking.

The first 100 seconds of the clip is from the song Edalolaya from the film Anveshana (Telugu 1985). The whole song is an orchestral experiment with Janaki’s voice and the flute. Some parts are arranged as musical notes sang by Janaki and others as humming by her. The flute responds to every note she sings or hums and it is a very clever use of her voice along with an unlikely neighbor, flute. Between 23 and 46 seconds, within this clip, Raja uses the keyboard as the steady background melody with Janaki and the flute as the foreground melody. The foreground melody uses a call and response technique. This is PolyCare at the next level where Raja simply replaces one of his foreground instruments with Janaki’s voice. Brilliant masterstroke!

Between 1:42 qand 2:24 seconds is from the song, Kogile Kooguvaa, from Prem Kahani (Kannada 2009). Here Raja uses Bela Shinde’s voice along with the flute and synthesized keys to place them initially farther and towards the end of this segment, brings them pretty close. 

Between 2:26 and 2:49 seconds is from the song, ‘Oru Kili Urugudhu’ from Ananda Kummi (Tamil 1982), where Raja uses two voices to simulate a flute and towards the end of the clip brings in the actual flute itself to show the tonal difference.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Female solo and flute …

Nearest Neighbor – Mirudhangam-Tabla and drums

 Before Raja’s arrival, mirudhangam was delegated to film music that is heavily Carnatic centric in South Indian films. It was never considered as a mainstream instrument. Raja changed that and gave both mirudhangam and the bass guitar its right place in film music. Raja goes the additional step of using the ‘never’ neighbors mirudhangam and drums as near neighbors. That’s a lot of ‘out of the box’ thinking in arranging music.

The first 25 seconds of the clip is the postlude of the song , ‘Megham Kottattum’ from ‘EnakkuL Oruvan (Tamil 1984). It starts off as a simple call and response and Raja transforms this into a complete polyrhythym between both these unlikely neighbors. That is a master’s touch in bringing two cultures together in 25 seconds and let them coalesce giving a pleasant musical experience. Between 28 and 40 seconds the second clip is the prelude of the song, ‘Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu’ from Karakaatakaaran (Tamil 1991). Raja arranges the thavil and the drums in a call and response arrangement. Another very strange marriage of South Indian folk and western paradigms. Such experiments are like playing with fire in a commercial situation and Raja creates a commercially hit tune, along with his unique experiment. The last part of the clip is a beautiful colony that Raja creates for several homes for, mirudhangam, tabla, drums, guitar, flute all collaborating to create bharathanatyam music. This is from the background score of ‘Japanil Kalyanaraman’ (Tamil 1984).

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Mirudhangam-Tabla and drums …

Nearest Neighbor – Mirudhangam and tabla

Most popular Indian music of today avoid both these instruments. Mirudhangam occasionally features in songs that are based on Carnatic classical ragam. Electronic rhythm pads have almost eliminated the tabla and even if tabla is used, it gets drowned in the loud folk songs of today in films.  Raja, not only used these two instruments a lot, he has also used them in very unusual situations.  The focus here is not in the usage of these instruments separately, but how these close cousins are used in a single composition.  In this nearest neighbor, Raja, surprisingly uses just one technique, call and response.

The first 8 seconds of the clip is a call and response between the tabla and the mirudhangam in the song, 'Sanga Thamizh Kaviye' from Manadhil Urudhi Vendum (Tamil 1988). The second part of the clip is from the song, ‘Manjolai Kili thaano’ from Kizhakke Pogum Rayil (1978 Tamil). In this song too, the call is from the tabla and the response is from the mirudhangam.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Mirudhangam and tabla ...

 

Nearest Neighbor – Guitar and Synthesizer

Today, most guitar sounds in popular music are actually played on the synthesizer. However, there are some songs, where Raja has chosen tones that are close to a guitar and placed them next to an actual guitar. This requires an out-of-the-box thinking that can potentially backfire. While some may have, this post will include a few examples, where the experiment worked very well. As with all other nearest neighbor examples, there is no one technique that he follows. I will describe them along with the clips. 

The first 18 seconds of this clip is the song ‘Thene Thenpandi Meene’ from Udhaya Geetham (Tamil 1984). The guitar and the synthesizer play the same notes and still you can clearly hear them separately too. Thought he composer places them this way, it is not out of place at all. The second part is from the song, ‘Ponnil Vaanam Poothathu Kolangale’ from Villu Paatu Kaaraen (Tamil 1992). The composer chooses to have the guitar and the synthesizer as a parallel counterpoint, enhancing the beautiful composition. The last part of the clip is from the song ‘Vasantha Nilave’ from Sooryan (Malayalam 2007). In this clip, the composer arranges a call from the synthesizer for which the guitar responds.

 Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Guitar and Synthesizer

Nearest Neighbor – Guitar and Veena

Like the previous example, veena is the south Indian cousin of the sitar and is considered not so wise to place it next to the guitar in most compositions. In some Carnatic instrumental concerts that now have guitar as one of the instruments, they make it a point to avoid bringing veena into such adventures! Raja has done so much work with these two instruments as neighbors, I had a hard time, trying to narrow the clip as it can get very long if all examples are included. I will mention the tracks which made it to this shortlist, but could not be included in the clip you will hear in this post. Like the sitar counsin, the veena has been deployed by Raja with his slew of western classical techniques. 

The first 12 seconds of the audio clip is the interlude of the song ‘Kamalam Paada Kamalam’ from Moga Mull (1995) and these neighbors are on a call and response relationship as designed by the composer and it is such a pleasant combo. Between 15 and 30 seconds, the call is made by the Veena for which the guitar responds beautifully in the interlude of the song, ‘Velli Nilave’ from Nandavana Theru (1995). Between 32 and 48 seconds, is the first interlude of the famous Carnatic song, ‘Alai Payudhe Kanna’ from the film Ethanai Konam Ethanai Paarvai (1983), where the guitar and the veena participate in a traditional Carnatic format, where some of the swaras are played by one instrument and continued by the next. Between 51 and 1:12 seconds, it is the beautiful counterpoint being played by these strange neighbors in the interlude of the song, ‘Oru Chiri Kandaal’, from Ponmudi Puzhayorathu (Malayalam 2005). Only Raja can think of a counterpoint between these two instruments! Between 1:15 and 1:43 (end of the clip), is the title score of the film Aavarampoo (1989). This is a full-fledged counter melody that goes on for 28 seconds and Raja chose to use it as a title score for a film! He perhaps wanted us to take notice that such neighbors can take on the title of a film! 

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Guitar and Veena …. 

Nearest Neighbor – Guitar and Sitar

 

Guitar and sitar are both string instruments and they are rarely placed next to each other in Indian music. Doing a counterpoint with these nearly close sounding cousins is generally ruled out. However, none of these things seem to deter a composer such as Raja. Both the examples in this post are examples of how well he handles the sounds of these two instruments, not just placing them one after the other, but also composing counter melodies that play simultaneously. 

The first 14 seconds of this audio clip is the famous prelude of the song ‘Nilaave Vaa’ from Mouna Ragam (1987), where the guitar and the sitar play their melody simultaneously and most of us can hum along! The second example is the second interlude of the song, ‘Poove Semboove’ from 'Solla Thudikkudhu Manasu (1988). Between 17 and 26 seconds, it is a guitar that repeatedly plays the melody. From 27 seconds onwards, the sitar joins the arrangement and starts its own melody, with the guitar playing its repetitive melody. For the 5 seconds between 27 and 32, there are three things in play apart from the percussion. The background guitar melody continues, with the foreground now shared between a calling sitar and a responding second guitar. This is PolyCare, which is typical of Raja’s work. It’s almost like placing two unwilling neighbors next to the third.  Such things cannot be imagined by composers before and after him, let alone execute it.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Guitar and Sitar  …

Thanks to Usha Sankar, for showcasing a few more tracks where these neighbors feature:

1. Sutha Samba Pacha Nellu from Annakili (Tamil 1976)
2. Sugamo Aayiram from ThunairuppaaL Meenakshi (Tamil 1977)

Nearest Neighbor - an introduction

We will stay musical and not get into deep statistics. Nearest neighbor in the world of statistics is about the point in a given data set that is closest (or most similar) to a given point. Unlike statisticians, most musicians and specially composers avoid nearest neighbors when they compose popular music. In other words, it is considered risky business to bring two instruments of very close tonality next to each other. Easy neighbors are very tonally different. Example, violins and flute or guitar and saxophone. 

Readers of this blog, should have by now got accustomed to Raja, who defies conventional wisdom in anything he touches. The nearest neighbor phenomenon is something you find in several of Raja’s compositions and he has no problem with these instruments of close tonality being next to each other. One of the major exception to this analysis will be Raja’s percussion. Tonal nearest neighbors in percussion is such a long list that almost every other Raja song has them. A dholak and a tabla, or a ghatam and khanjira next to each other is something every Indian classical music lover has heard in many concerts. I will only cover some freaky nearest neighbor combos in percussion such as a western drum and a tabla, Mirudhangam and tabla, or mirudhangam and drums

When others shy away from such experimentation, how is it so easy for Raja to do such bold adventures? In my view, his training in WCM helps him to seek out such adventures as he has such a mastery over melodic structures. If your melodic line is identical and you use two very close sounding instruments, your experiment is bound to fail. However, when you have the ability to arrange different melodies is such a way that even the tonally close neighbors can sound very pleasant when placed next to each other, or even played simultaneously, you have a winner. It is about how you craft the melodies adjacent or overlapping each other. That requires an enormous grasp over the theory and practice of musical systems (he does it in all types of music).  In all these nearest neighbor constructs, there is no one technique that Raja follows. It is a mixed bag of techniques that are dependent on the composition itself. These nearest neighbors could be part of a polyphonic, CaRe, PolyCaRe, and even be part of a polyrhythm experiment.

It must be pointed out that some tonal neighbors are widely accepted in film music that I will not touch upon. Examples, are, Flute and flute, Synthesizer and synthesizer, guitar and guitar. 

Here is how these Nearest Neighbor (NN) posts will be structured:

1. NN – Guitar and sitar: Tonally very close, this post will showcase the guitar and sitar being next to each other and perfectly delivering quality music
2. NN – Guitar and veena: Again, tonally close, these are seldom used next to each other till Raja started experimenting with these instruments being placed next to each other
3. NN – Guitar and Synthesizer – While the synthesizer’s tone can be close to several instruments depending on the pitch  and the various built-in tones you chose, today, several compositions (including some of Raja) are played on the keyboard. While it gets a bit harder to tell the difference, there are compositions, where you can. Placing them by design next to each other has been deliberate by the composer
4. NN – Mirudhangam and tabla – while these have been used in Jugalbandhis, they are rarely used in film music, until Raja
5. NN – Tabla and bass guitar – tonally very close, they are rarely placed next to each other
6. NN - Tabla and drums – While the sound of these two percussion instruments is different, many composers have used these percussion instruments (includes Raja) for one part of the song and moved to the other instrument for the second part. However, rarely these two instruments are placed next to each other.
7. NN – Female solo and flute – female tonal range of some singers is very close to a flute and Raja has used them in his music
8. NN – Female voice and electric guitar – Some electric guitar tomes mimic the female voice range and placing them next to each other is risky as the listener may mistake one for the other. However, by constructing creative melody lines, Raja has some songs where he keeps them together and still makes them distinct
9. NN – Female voice and santoor – Santoor is an instrument with a distinct sound. Placing a female voice that has a tone close to it is something only Raja has experimented
10. NN – Female choir and flute – tonally matching a female choir and flute is very hard and risky and Raja does this too
11. NN – Male choir and distortion guitar – tonally very close, few can think of placing them next to each other
12. NN – Shehnai and Trumpet – tonally very close, from two parts of the world, Raja has used them as neighbors successfully in some of his interludes
13. NN – Sax and Trumpet- this is almost counterintuitive. Even these unlikely neighbors are placed next to each other.
14. NN - Bass guitar and Cello –Both these instruments have a very low tone and generally is delegated to a support role. There are some songs where Raja has placed these two very similar sounding instruments next to each other with interesting melodies for each of them
15. NN – Flute and Synthesizer – While the synthesizer’s tone can be close to several instruments depending on the pitch and the various built-in tones you chose, today, several compositions (including some of Raja) are played on the keyboard. While it gets a bit harder to tell the difference, there are compositions, where you can. Placing them by design next to each other has been deliberate by the composer
16. NN – Sitar and bass guitar – This is a very strange bedfellow as bass guitar, a staple Raja instrument stays behind most instruments elevating it then come to the forefront and be next to another foreground instrument. Even such experiments have been possible for Raja
17. NN -Pizzicato strings and Bass guitar – Another strange set of bedfellows as plucked strings at lower tones can sound very similar to bass guitar. Placing these two instruments next to each other requires very distinct melodies that not only makes it pleasant but also easy to hear
18. NN – Veena and synthesizer – Raja does some compositions where he chooses tones on a synthesizer that are very close to a veena and places them next to each other
19. NN - Veena and sitar – Veea and sitar have tones that are different to the most discerning ear. However, Raja has created fantastic melodies and placed them next to each other that makes such close cousins distinct
20. NN - Trumpet and electric guitar –  There are several 80s and 70s track where Raja used the tones of an electric guitar that is close to a wind instrument such as trumpet and also dared to place them next to each other

All the categories are strange bedfellows that can never be seen together, with the exception of Raja’s music. In the posts that follow, I will provide detailed examples of such nearest neighbors.  If you dig through other composer’s work, you may land on a few near neighbors, but definitely not 20 such nearest neighbors. Many such neighbors have multiple compositions as well.  Feel free to add your additional observations as Raja’s body of work is very huge.