Saturday, February 2, 2019

Intricate harmonies in obscure films/songs – part 10/18


Our journey on uncovering intricate harmonies from obscurity continues…

Idhu Namma Bhoomi background score (Tamil - 1992)

Idhu Namma Bhoomi (Tamil 1992) was definitely an obscure movie and the only relatively known aspect of this movie's music is the KYJ song 'Vaana Mazhai Pole'.

There is a great solo violin score in this obscure movie, which appears initially as a simple 
Carnatic melody. If you hear the first 100 seconds of this clip, you will notice that it is a typical Raja solo violin score. The fun begins at 1:50 and goes on for the next 55 seconds.

The score switches to Western from 
Carnatic and slowly the harmony layers get added (based on the quality of this recording, it is not so obvious if Raja used cellos and double basses, which typically dominate the bass part of a harmony). Three solo violins competing for the listener in counter and also Raja plays with the time if you notice closely - this is tight nylon (rope is too broad) dancing (walking is steady) that a Carnatic trained ear will find it as abaswaram. A western trained ear will tell you that Raja is doing a modulation.

(Here is what modulation in WCM means: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulation_(music))

That's the classical Raja on violin...

https://soundcloud.com/navin-mozart/illayaraja-ithu-namma-bhoomi1992soundtrack-voilan


Oru Kolakili Sonnadhe (Pon Vilangu - Tamil 1993)

I had mentioned about how Raja wites beautiful harmonies for 5 seconds with the same level of commitment as a large score like TIS or OAK. This post will showcase another such few seconds of harmony that few composers write.

Pon Vilangu (Tamil 1993) is another such forgettable film which has a beautiful song 'Oru Kolakili Sonnadhe' by PJ and Sunanda. We will particularly focus on the prelude of this song.

Between 0:00 and 0:10 Raja starts this song as a tremolo strings arrangement and uses 
synthesizers and flute to add an occasional layer to his harmony parts.

Between 0:10 to 0:28, the tremolo strings continue with the flute taking the lead as one of the harmony parts.

28 seconds of pure harmony based melodic bliss to the song, that you can now come to expect of Raja...

Let’s listen to Oru Kolakili Sonnadhe…