SJ – Orchestral vocal instrument - Counterpoints (1980s)

Readers regularly reading this blog will be familiar with counterpoints and their usage by Raja. There were several posts dedicated to Raja’s counterpoints from 2008 onwards. Here is some basic information on musical counterpoints.

 In these posts, we will explore how Raja used SJ as one of the counterpoint instrument. This obviously requires two melodies that need to be playing simultaneously. Sometimes, there are several melodies in Raja’s work and SJ is one of the melodies. Let’s begin our analysis with the tunes of the 1980s. 

Let’s begin with the prelude of the song, ‘Ennathail Edho’ from ‘Kallukkul Eeram’ (1980 Tamil). The track begins with a synthesizer playing at a constant rhythm being the background melody throughout this part. SJ’s humming is composed as a counterpoint along with the bass guitar. This is actually a PolyCaRe composition, as the SJ/bass guitar parts are answered by the flute with its own melody when the background synthesizer keeps playing its repeating melody. The SJ/Bass and the flute parts are different for each phrase. The whole composition is engineered with the lead singer playing an orchestral part for the prelude. It is arranged as a staggered counterpoint by the composer.

Let’s hear, ‘Ennathil Edho’, counterpoint with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument… 

The next track is from the song ‘Isai Medaiyil’ from ‘Ilamai Kaalangal’ (1983 Tamil). There are several melodies in this part and the two main parts are melodies sung by the female choir and SJ’s parts. You will notice that the female choir is given the simple melody that keeps repeating throughout this part. The SJ part has nuances to its melodies as it changes every time. The counterpoint has two distinct arrangements placed back to back. I have included some instrument parts following the SJ part. Observe that the female choir continues even after SJ’s part is over. The SJ part is replaced by the synthesizer playing a new melody and even the background female choir has its melody changed. Brilliant! When composers brag about writing counterpoints, Raja has written several such gems, where he alters both the foreground and the background melody and nobody notices, as the listener is transported to a different world by the sheer strength of the melody!

Let’s hear, ‘Isai Medaiyil’, counterpoint with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument… 

Even within these posts, you can see how Raja used SJ in instrument parts that are dominated by flute in the first and the choir/ synthesizer in the second. I am sure there are a few others I may have overlooked. Feel free to include them in your comments…

SJ – Orchestral vocal instrument - Harmony (1990s)

 The technique was not used by Raja is a big way in the 90s with SJ’s voice. However, I found one example of him continuing this in the 90s too.

The track we will hear is from the song,’ ‘Thanneer Kudam’ from the film ‘Sarkarai Devan’ (1993 Tamil). The harmony is buried inside the charanam and it is used in both the charanams in the same format. The harmony is between the synthesizer, flute, bass guitar and SJ and it is a three part harmony.  Focus on the parts that SJ hums along with these instruments.

Let’s hear, ‘thanneer kudam’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

SJ – Orchestral vocal instrument - Harmony (1980s)

 In the 80s, Raja expanded the use of SJ in several of his harmonies. There are several dozens of examples and I have chosen a few to analyze how he integrated her into his harmonies in this decade. 

The first track we will hear is ‘Azhagu Aayiram’ from ‘Ullasa Paravaigal’ (1980 Tamil). This is such a beautiful use of her voice inside a harmony that it requires elaboration a little before and after her harmony parts. The first few seconds is a harmony that is arranged between the synthesizer, flute and the bass guitar. This follows a long harmony part between the electric guitar, SJ, bass guitar, synthesizer and another guitar with a wah wah pedal. Absolutely staggering piece of orchestration. Following this are harmony parts with the violin, synthesizer and flute serving as a bridge to the charanam.  Such harmonies are impossible to hear with today’s music. Worth every second in gold!

Let’s hear ‘Azhagu Aayiram’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song ‘Raja Magal’ from the film, ‘Pillai Nila’ (1985 Tamil). This track can easily be argued as a C&R track as it has two back to back C&R between SJ and the recorder. However, I chose to categorize it as a harmony to illustrate the final harmony that follows these two C&R arrangements, where SJ is just one part of an otherwise violin harmony. A simple synthesizer bridge connects these parts back to the charanam (this is the part almost every composer today struggles, but Raja has a few thousand ideas that today’s composers fail to study).

Let’s hear ‘Raaja Magal’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Rojavai thaalaattum thendral’ from ‘Ninaivellam Nitya’ (1983 Tamil). This is a nice violin harmony that SJ is a part of.

Let’s hear ‘Rojavai thaalaatum’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Vaa Vennila’ from the film ‘Mella thirandhadhu Kadhavu’ (1986 Tamil). This is a dense 4 part harmony between the violins(T), flute(S), bells(S), bass guitar (B), and SJ(A), each taking the respective parts and delivering a beautiful hearing experience. 

Let’s hear ‘Vaa Vennila’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the prelude of the iconic song, ‘Vaan Engum Thanga Vinmeengal’ from the film 'Moondram Pirai’ (1981 Tamil). SJ shares her part with a female choir in turn. The harmony has the lead guitar, bass guitar, piano, flute, SJ/choir playing their parts.

Let’s hear, ‘Vaan Engum’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

I am sure there are a few more examples of SJ being used as part of a C&R arrangement in the 1980s. Feel free to include your picks in the comments…

SJ – Orchestral vocal instrument - Harmony (1970s)

 Harmony is an integral part of Raja’s work from the get go in 1976. It continues to this date on every possible genre he touches. It somehow is a non-issue for him to bring it into any type of music he composes. While the technical definition of harmony is multiple voices sounding simultaneously, we are going to see how a ‘human voice (SJ)’ did become part of a Raja composed harmony in the next three posts, one per decade.

The first track we will hear is from the song, ‘Aagaaya Gangai’ from ‘Dharma Yudham’ (1979 Tamil). The way Raja structured the second interlude is nothing short of a harmony masterpiece. You will hear two sets of violins, cellos and double bass playing (foreground and background) initially. This is followed by the guitar and SJ along with the violins still continuing in the background. Absolutely mind blowing. The synthesizer joins the harmony as well. Fortunately, the tune was such a big hit that this interlude is quite popular.  A fantastic arrangement with more than 5 instrument parts (violins, cello, double bass, guitar, synthesizer) apart from SJ’s voice to create a harmony experience. At the time when the song came out, harmony was not something that was widely understood by the film music listener. Raja , definitely, raised the film music listener to the next level, with this work. Way ahead of its time.

Let’s hear, ‘Aagaaya Gangai’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Indha Minminikku’ from ‘Sigappu Rojakkal’ (1978 Tamil). I have included the harmony parts before and after the SJ harmony parts so that it is clear that her voice is another in the harmony. The initial harmony is arranged with a flute,  lead guitar and bass guitar, only to give way to SJ’s humming and it is supported by three  more voices – the lead and bass guitar , synthesizer. This is followed by a beautiful harmony passage of the violins that bridge the interlude to the charanam.

Let’s hear, ‘Indha Minminikku’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Kandaen Engum’ from ‘Kavi Kuyil’ (1978 Tamil). I have included some parts before and after the SJ parts to illustrate how her voice is used as part of a harmony. The initial part is a parallel counterpoint between the guitar and the flute. The SJ part is a beautiful harmony of the violins and her voice. What follows is a simple synthesizer bridge to the charanam.

Let’s hear ‘Kandaen Engum’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Kanmaniye Kaadhal Enbadhu’ from ‘Aarilirundhu Arubathu varaiyil’ (Tamil 1979). This track has three parts but all of them are vocal harmonies with SJ’s voice. The first part is SJ doing both the Alto and Tenor  as a humming as part of the interlude. The next two parts are from the charanam. One of the voices (Tenor) stays as a humming while the Alto parts are executed with words. Musically, the words don’t mean much as it is still a vocal harmony.  While I am not entirely sure, if this was his first vocal harmony experiment, he went on to do greater things with SJ’s voice with ‘Karaiyellam Shenbagapoo’, a couple of years later. While, SJ must have experienced this (most likely) technique for the first time, she was quick in executing it very nicely.

Let’s hear,’Kanmaniye Kaadhal’, harmony with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

SJ – Orchestral vocal instrument - Call and Response (1990s)

 The C&R journey from the 90s continued into the 90s as well. However, the pace of SJ being used in this orchestral format came down significantly during this decade. We will see a few examples from the 1990s.

The first track is from the song, ‘Maniye Manikuyile’ from ‘Nadodi Thendral’ (1992 Tamil). This is a PolyCaRe clip with the santoor playing the background melody throughout the clip. The call by SJ is responded by the flute and while the flute responds, the santoor continues in the background with its simple melody.

Let’s hear, ‘Maniye manikuyile’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track we will hear is from the song, ‘Oru kunguma sengamalam’ from ‘NaangaL’ (1992 Tamil). This is a complex C&R arrangement – it has two back to back C&R arrangement with proper guitar chords. This is not just one more humming as it happens quite often in Indian film music. The initial call is by SJ with the guitar chords and the response is from the tabla. The second call, a different melody, from SJ is responded to by the flute with its own response. You have to pay attention to the further synthesizer and violins, playing  a C&R, after the SJ C&R ends.  This is to illustrate, how deeply buried is SJ, the instrument inside the Raja orchestra. Such is the thinking of a musical genius. You will never find such an arrangement by any Indian composer.

Let’s hear, ‘Oru Kunguma Sengamalam’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Oru Raagam tharaadha veenai’ from ‘Unnai Vaazhthi Paadugiraen’ (1992 Tamil). This is a simple back to back C&R arrangement. The initial call and response is played together between SJ and the violins. The second C&R is a proper division of responsibility between SJ and the violins where SJ makes the call and the violins respond. The violins are used to bridge the C&R to the final charanam in typical Raja style.

Let’s hear, ‘ Oru ragam tharadha’ , C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

I am sure there are a few more examples of SJ being used as part of a C&R arrangement in the 1990s. Feel free to include your picks in the comments…

SJ – Orchestral vocal instrument - Call and Response (1980s)

 While discussing ‘unusual conversations’, I had indicated that Raja used the C&R technique extensively in the 70s, 80s and 90s. As SJ sang for him during just three decades, Raja has used SJ’s voice as part of several Call and response arrangements. In fact, SJ as an orchestral instrument, has been most used in the C&R format than others.

Within the decades, in the 80s, Raja used her voice in this orchestration technique the most. We will see several examples in this post. They are simply in the alphabetical order. 

Let’s begin our journey with the prelude of the song, ‘Endhan Kannil Ezhulagangal’ from ‘Guru’ (1980 Tamil). This is a C^R arrangement with SJ’s voice and the flute. The flute plays the exact melody that SJ uses to sing ‘pa pa pa pa’.

Let’s hear ‘Endhan Kannil ‘C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song ‘Isai Medaiyil’ from ‘Ilamai Kalangal’ (1983 Tamil). Observe that the initial humming by SJ is part of an overall harmony arrangement with the guitar. The response to SJ’s voice is played by an electric guitar.  You can see how Raja exploits her voice in this orchestral arrangement with various instruments.

Let’s hear ‘Isai Medaiyil’ C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song ‘Kiliye Kiliye’ from ‘Aa Raathri’ (1982 Malayalam). The initial tune is played by the bass and lead guitar and SJ responds. The response to SJ’s voice is done by a flute. It is a 3 instrument combo C&R in which SJ is one of the instrument.

Let’s hear ‘Kiliye Kiliye’ C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Mettioli Kaatrodu’ from the film ‘Metti’  (1982 Tamil). This requires careful analysis. The long initial humming is part of a harmony arrangement where the guitar plays the chords and the bass plays a counter melody. Interestingly, the response is another beautiful violin melody that plays twice. Raja wants to embellish this further. He follows this with another Call from SJ and the violins respond with a like melody. Total exploitation of SJ’s voice as an orchestral instrument with violins.

Let’s hear ‘Metti Oli’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Ore Murai Un Dharisanam’ from ‘En Jeevan Paadudhu’ (1988 Tamil). Only Raja can think of another beautiful way of using SJ in a C&R with flute that is completely different from ‘Endhan Kannil’. The instruments are the same, the arrangement and the melodies are completely different. The call is made by SJ and the flute. The flute plays the exact melody along with SJ. The response is a flute melody which is different from the SJ melody. Such innovations come so easy for the genius.

Let’s hear ‘Ore Murai’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Pagalile Oru Nilavinai’ from ‘Ninaive Oru Sangeetham’ (1987 Tamil). The orchestration gets even more complex though I have categorized this song under C&R. It can be easily categorized as a PolyCaRe composition with SJ’s voice as one of the instruments.  The track begins with the violins in the background playing a melody throughout the first part and the flute joins in the foreground with a lead melody in counterpoint. SJ’s voice responds to the flute while the background violins continue. I cannot think of any composer using SJ’s (or any other female voice) in such a sophisticated arrangement in Indian films.  The violin plays the same melody with a minor twist after SJ’s part.  SJ ends the PolyCaRe parts with her final rendition of her melody repeating the flute melody. The following part is a traditional C&R between SJ’s voice and the guitar.

Let’s hear ‘Pagalile Oru Nilavinai’ C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song ‘Ponvaanam Panneer thuvudhu’ from ‘Indru Nee Naalai Naan’ (1983 Tamil). It begins with gushing violins followed by 4 musical C&R phrases between SJ and the flute.

Let’s hear ‘Ponvaanam Panneer’ C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song ‘Poo Maalai’ from ‘Thanga Magan’ (1983 Tamil). It is a very relaxed melody C&R exchange between the electric guitar and SJ. Please observe that it is not the same melody that they exchange, but has variations in every phrase.

Let’s hear ‘Poo Maalai’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Sumam Prati Sumam’ from ‘Maharishi’ (1987, Telugu). This is heavily orchestrated part with the guitars (lead and bass) backing both the call and the response. SJ’s call is answered by the flute followed by a complex C&R where SJ is answered by the synthesizer, but the flute plays along with SJ in her part.

Let’s hear ‘Sumam Prati Sumam’ ,C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the famous song, ‘Thumbee Vaa’ from ‘Olangal’ (1982 Malayalam). SJ’s call is answered by the synthesizer, There are two separate melodies that SJ and the synthesizer exchange. The bass lines that are overlaid on SJ’s voice has the Raja harmony elements screaming at us!

Let’s hear ‘Thumbi Vaa’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song, ‘Uruginaen Uruginaen’ from ‘Anne Anne’ (1983 Tamil). Raja tries out SJ in a C&R arrangement with a saxophone. The experiment turns out to be fantastic.

Let’s hear ‘Uruginaen…’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the famous song, ‘Vaa Vennila’ from  ‘Mella Thirandhadhu Kathavu’ (1986 Tamil) where the C&R arrangement has three back to back parts. The first part has two phrases that SJ sings for which the violins respond. The next part is a beautiful exchange with the electric guitar and the final parts are an exchange with a synthesizer.  In a single interlude, SJ’s vocal instrument is made to work with three different instruments by the composer!

Let’s hear, ‘Vaa Vennila’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

The next track is from the song ‘Vaanuyarndha Solaiyile’ from ‘Idhaya Kovil’ (1985 Tamil). The interaction between SJ and the flute is completely different. The flute responds to SJ’s call. But it does not repeat the melody line. It has its own short musical response.

Let’s hear ‘Vaanuyarndha Solaiyile’, C&R with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…

I am sure there are a few more examples of SJ being used as part of a C&R arrangement in the 1980s. Feel free to include your picks in the comments…

SJ – Orchestral vocal instrument orchestration types

 Let’s get into the methods Raja has employed in using SJ as an orchestral instrument in his compositions. Most of the techniques must be familiar to this blog’s readers as these are staple Raja techniques. What is unique is the use of the female voice within that orchestral structure. My research revealed at least 40 compositions where there is a conscious deployment of the female voice into an orchestral structure. However, I could have missed a few and readers are welcome to bring them up as they see fit.

Call and Response

As we saw in the ‘Unusual conversations’ set of posts, this technique was used a lot by Raja in the 80s and the 90s. SJ was his dominant female voice and Raja used her voice while deploying this technique as an orchestral instrument, the most, among all techniques.

Harmony

During the entire career span of 23 years, Raja successfully used SJ’s voice as part of his harmony compositions. It is still puzzling how SJ adopts her voice to a Western technique when she had no formal training in that school of music.  One can only wonder about her ability to hear and grasp what a composer wants out of her voice

 Counterpoints

Throughout his career, Raja made use of counterpoints in his music and during SJ’s years of singing for him, he turned her into one of the orchestral element in his counterpoint composition, at times. This is an interesting use of the female voice that few have attempted

PolyCare

While Raja’s use of the PolyCaRe technique (Polyphony + Call and Response) is legendary, he has used SJ’s voice as part of  PolyCare compositions as well. While the technique itself represents one of the highest sophistication levels of orchestration, it is equally amazing that SJ adapted so easily to even this technique.

Strumming

Strumming is staple technique of any guitarist. However, Raja uses SJ’s voice instead of a guitar strum beautifully in his interludes!

Various

The category ‘various’ does not mean a catch all bucket. More than one technique has been used by Raja throughout a song when he used SJ’s voice as part of his orchestration. There are a few songs just dedicated for this. It will be unfair to keep them under the other categories and repeating the song. This is perhaps the category, where he fully exploits her voice having written a detailed score and decides to replace instrument parts in several areas with her voice.

A word of caution.  Some of the songs discussed in these series of posts may have been discussed before. Some have parallels in the topic of ‘Nearest Neighbor’ posts.

We will analyze these posts by decades, where applicable.

SJ – the Raja orchestral vocal instrument

Most Indian film composers exploit the voices of talented female artists very well. Given the range of the female voice, many of them have done one thing consistently in the last 70 years – humming. Lataji, Ashaji, Susheela, or Janaki have been used by several composers for their fantastic ability to hum and carry the song with aplomb. The current crop of composers have used Chithra and Shreya continuing with the tradition. One thing you will notice is the way Raja composes music involving Lata or Asha. He will somehow bring in a humming element into it as that is language independent.

 Let’s begin with some beautifully haunting humming by female vocalists: In the 60s, the Lata solo of ‘Naina Barse Rim Jhim’ in ‘Woh Kaun Thi’ by Madan Mohan was a rage.

During the same time, the Susheela humming of ‘Nenjam Marapathillai’ for MSV-TKR from the movie with the same name was equally a big rage. 

 In the 70s, RD Burman exploited Lata’s humming capabilities with his famous Sivaranjani based song, ‘Maire Naina Saawan’ from Mehbooba. 

Raja did use Lata in his 80s work, but never had a song which began with the haunting humming, his predecessors had taken advantage of. He did use Janaki’s (will be called SJ going forward) voice for its haunting humming capability in several compositions. Some top of mind examples:

1. Annakili Unnai Thedudhe from Annnakili (1976) 
2. Kandaen Engum from Kaatrinile Varum Geetham (1978) 
3. Kaatril Endhan Geetham from Johnny (1980) 
4. Dhoorathil Naan Kanda from Nizhalgal (1980) 
5. Mouna Ragam manaveenai from Kolangal (1995) 
6. Paadavaa Un Paadalai from Naan Paadum Paadal (1984) 
7. Ponnil Vaanam Thoovuthu from Villu Paatukaraen (1992) 
8. Puththam Pudhu Kaalai from Alaigal Oiyvathillai (1981) 
9. Raasaave Unnai from Aranmanai Kili (1992) 
10. Vaa Vennila from Mella thirandhadhu Kadhavu (1986) 

Having said that, few composers before Raja have also attempted to blend musical instruments with female voices as they come close with some instruments such as flute. The 60s song of SJ, ‘Singara Velane Deva’ exploited her voice being on a very close timbre match with the nadaswaram instrument. That will not be our focus in this series of posts. We will focus on Raja’s use of SJ’s voice as an orchestral instrument. In this situation, it does not matter, if it is an electric guitar, or a bamboo flute, a synthesizer or even a saxophone. She was his debut singer in 1976 and sang for Raja for 23 years till 1999. In my view, there is no parallel to the way Raja exploited SJ’s voice as an orchestral instrument in Indian film music. 

It will be a delight to explore how the composer exploited her instrument timbre voice and how she performed as a vocal artist, in ways unknown, before their collaboration.

What exactly is the difference between humming and the female voice being used as an orchestral element? Most humming are great fillers and composers have always kept it separate from the orchestral elements. The only orchestral element that plays along the humming, at times, are rhythms. The rest of the orchestra takes a back seat. 

When a female voice is used as an integral orchestral element, it must actively engage with the orchestra and also do its part when called for, by the composer. It is surrounded by the orchestral instruments that dominate the section – the female voice just adds color to the otherwise instrument composition.

No wonder, Raja always mentioned SJ as the most intelligent singer he worked with. To sing a composer's composition is one thing; to become part of a composer's orchestra is another. She was able to effortlessly blend with Raja's intricate Western compositions though she had no formal training with Western music.

Nearest Neighbor – conclusion

 In this analysis journey of nearest neighbors, we explored several instrument pairs and how Raja has been quite path breaking and innovative with instrumentation in his orchestration work. Several instrument pairs were not even thinkable to most composers till Raja showed them the possibility. Even with synthesizer dominated tones, very few composers are experimenting the same way today. Part of the reason for Raja’s music’s longevity is this exploratory instrumentation and wonderful melodic structures behind each such instrumentation that has been carefully chosen by the master of orchestration. 

I am sure there are other examples that I may have missed. Feel free to add them as your comments to the posts.

Nearest Neighbor - Trumpet and electric guitar

 Placing an electric guitar next to a trumpet is rare, though these two instruments have been used independent of each other in several music phrases by composers prior to Raja.  It never occurred to composers that these two instrument parts next to each other can be very captivating. This is the last of the Nearest neighbor parts post and we will explore several Raja examples in this category as he has used this combination a lot.

The clip below has four tracks. The first track (29 secs)  is from the interlude of the song, ‘Ennodu Paatu Padungal’ from ‘Udhaya Geetham’ (Tamil 1985). This is a nice call and response arrangement between the trumpet and the electric guitar  The second track (31 to 47 secs) is from the interlude of the song, ‘Sorgam Madhuvile’ from the film, ‘Sattam En Kailyil’ (Tamil 1979). This is a very early on experiment with these two instruments, when Raja was a young composer. The third track (49 to 1:09 secs) is the interlude of the song, ‘Vaanam Keezhe Ponalenna’ from’ Thoongathe Thambi Thoongathe’ (Tamil 1983). This is part of the magnum opus in orchestration by Raja and he places both these instruments in counter to each other, with the violins playing the harmonic parts. There is a lot going on in these 20 seconds. The fourth clip (1:11 to 1:34) is from the interlude of the song, ‘Vaazha Vaikum Kadhalukku Jai’ from 'Aboorva Sagodharargal' (Tamil 1989) with a slow paced trumpet and the electric guitar playing its parts in C&R. 

Let’s hear the nearest neighbors – Trumpet and Electric guitar…

Nearest Neighbor - Veena and sitar

 In most situations, we are left to choose either the North Indian sitar or the South Indian Veena. Why should we be limited? Raja places them next to each other – this is a suicidal mission from traditional thinking. They are beautiful cousins as Raja demonstrates them with his work!

The clip below has two tracks, both from Telugu films. The first track is from the interlude of the song ‘EE Chaitra veena’ from the film 'Preminchu Pelladu' (Telugu 1985). It begins with a simple veena melody which is responded by the sitar. The flute joins the arrangement and it is a beautiful Carnatic harmony of these three instruments. The unlikely neighbors veena and sitar are indeed great neighbors as Raja demonstrates here. The second clip is from the song, 'Rangulalo Kalavo' from the film 'Abhinandana' (Telugu 1989). The arrangement is a call and response between these two unlikely string instruments of the North and the South. 

Let’s hear the nearest neighbors – Sitar and Veena…

Nearest Neighbor - Veena and Synthesizer

 A synthesizer tone that is close to a veena is placed next to the veena itself and the melodic arrangement is just bewitching, Raja style. This style of near neighbor placement shows the musical rebel that Raja is. The veena plays its Sriranjani notes and the synthesizer plays its western notes and it is hard to separate one from the other. 

The clip of 18 seconds is pure bliss in the Near neighbor world. It is the interlude from the song, ‘Vasanthe Nilavin’ from 'Sooriyan' (Malayalam 2007). The synthesizer and violin are in a C&R dialog as though they were just designed for this.  I wish the other composers take this lesson and provide more interludes such as this. Real killer!

Let’s hear the nearest neighbors – Veena and synthesizer…

Nearest Neighbor -Pizzicato strings and Bass guitar

 Many of Raja’s compositions use the strings in pizzicato mode (plucked violin strokes).  Pizzicato strings are high in bass and so are the notes of bass guitar. Placing the bass guitar next to the pizzicato strings requires some serious music vision as it is very easy to backfire.

The clip of 14 seconds is pure NN gold with the whole arrangement designed as a PolyCaRe arrangement. This is the interlude of the song, ‘Neelakuyile Unnodudhan’ from 'Magudi' (Tamil 1985). The first 4 seconds is the NN alone with the Pizzicatto strings and the bass guitar in a dialog in a C&R arrangement. Even during these 4 seconds, the violins play short strokes along. This is the well established background arrangement. Let’s look at the foreground next. The solo violin plays a melody with a response from the synthesizer. Remember that the background arrangement continues to make this a PolyCare all along. Following this is the second solo violin melody for which the synthesizer responds. This is a masterstroke of an arrangement and one longs that it lasted for a little more time.

Let’s hear the nearest neighbors – Pizzicatto Strings and bass guitar….

Nearest Neighbor – Sitar and bass guitar

 As we all know, Sitar is a North Indian instrument that was used widely in Hindi film music till the late 70s. RD Burman used it extensively in the 70s. Unfortunately, it went out of use in the HFI. Bass guitar is another instrument that was used off and on in the Indian film music for predominantly club songs and fast numbers. Raja made it as a staple part of his music. While all this is just evolution, Raja placing the North Indian Sitar next to the Western Bass guitar was unthinkable for anyone before his time.  He comes out with flying colors with his nearest neighbor placement.

The clip is from the interlude of the song, ‘Laali Laali’ from 'Swathimudhyam' (Telugu 1985) or 'Sippikkul Muthu' (Tamil 1985) and you will hear the Sitar and bass guitar in a beautiful C&R mode.

Let’s hear these Nearest neighbors – Sitar and bass guitar…

Nearest Neighbor – Flute and Synthesizer

 These days, playing flute tones on a synthesizer has become more a norm than an exception. However, what Raja does is different – he places a synthesized flute beside a real one as its neighbor and creates a brilliant combination.

The clip below has three tracks. The first track is from the interlude of the song, ‘Kathirum Kothi’ from ‘Man of the Match’ (Malayalam 1996). The first 9 seconds are with synthesized flute and violins playing in harmony, at least 3 melodies. From 9 seconds onwards, the bamboo flute takes over and plays an Indian melody for about 10 seconds. The final passage between 19 and 22 seconds is a harmony bridge to the charanam. Keeping synthesized flute beside a bamboo flute requires some boldness and this comes easy to a composer, who can create melodies effortlessly.

The second track is the interlude of the popular 80s track, ‘Un Paarvaiyil’ from ‘Amman Kovil Kizhakaale’ (1986 Tamil). This track uses the synthesizer in the bells mode and is initially and towards the end of the clip arranged as a C&R.  The middle parts are arranged as a pure flute track. This is the flute synthesizer format of Raja that has been replicated by all composers who made their debut after him. This is one NN that is very prevalent in film music.

The third track is from the interlude of the song, ‘Shenbagame Shenbagame (Sunanda/Mano version) from 'Enga Ooru paatukaaran’ (Tamil 1988). Between 55 and 1:00 minute on the clip, you will hear the synthesizer and flute on a C&R arrangement. With tones being very close, except the synthesizer plays discrete notes. From 1:05 to 1:21, the arrangement is a beautiful PolyCaRe arrangement of three instruments, the background melody being played by the guitar with the synthesizer and the flute playing foreground call and response arrangement. 

Let’s hear these Nearest neighbors – Flute and synthesizer…