SJ – Orchestral vocal instrument - PolyCaRe (1990s)

 PolyCaRe is a Raja specialty, and we covered this in a number of posts a few years ago. This is basically a Call and Response arrangement within a polyphonic arrangement. In other words, it has a background melody and a foreground melody like every polyphonic composition, but the foreground itself has two or more melodies operating in a C&R format. 

You can see more on the definition and the exploration of PolyCaRe here…

PolyCaRe Introduction

Though I did cover SJ being used in a PolyCaRe orchestration by Raja on a few occasion in this analysis 

1. Pagalile Oru Nilavinai (Ninaive Sangeetham)

2. Ennathial Edho Jillendradhu (Kallukkul Eeram)

3. Maniye Manikuyile (Nadodi Thendral)

However, one composition that is reserved for a beautifully orchestrated PolyCaRe with SJ’s voice in the 90s is what we will analyze in this post. 

The track is from the song  ‘Mannavane Mannavane’ from ‘Thandhu Vittaen Ennai’ (1991 Tamil). This 32 second clip is a gem that has no parallel in Indian film music. It begins with a simple melody with a santoor. This continues throughout the 32 seconds as the background melody – no change at all. Now, we need to focus on the foreground arrangement. The foreground is a bewitching melody arrangement where the call is made by SJ and the response is from the flute followed by the violins.  The santoor continues its background melody. SJ sings her second melody and the flute and violins respond one after the other to complete the masterpiece. You can clearly see that SJ is used as an instrument in this sophisticated PolyCaRe arrangement and the major role here is for the santoor, flute and the violins. Such arrangements were never attempted before and after this song. It is easy to think of an orchestral arrangement such as harmony. However, to think of a polyphonic arrangement is much harder. The next level of sophistication is to think of a PolyCaRe arrangement as you must have an endless supply of melodies that fit in. The ultimate sophistication in my view for a composer is to create such compositions, where he can think outside the box – within a PolyCare arrangement, why can’t I replace one of the instrumental piece with a human voice? That’s Raja!

Let’s hear Mannavane Mannavane, PolyCaRe with SJ’s orchestral vocal instrument…