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 …