Friday, August 2, 2019

Intricate harmonies in obscure films/songs – part 16/18


Our journey on uncovering intricate harmonies from obscurity continues…

Yaarkku Yaarendru  (Ajanthaa - Tamil/Telugu/Malayalam - 2007)

Nothing can get more obscure than the song I will discuss in this post.

The tune is average, but the harmonies are done so brilliantly. This is the song - Yaarkku Yaarendru from Ajanthaa (Tamil/Telugu/Malayalam 2007). 


For whatever reasons, Ajanthaa did not deserve such intricate harmonies. But, how do you argue with a guy who says, it's not a big deal Let's get back to the song.

Listen to the prelude - a combination of violins with keys and flute. Nicely done.

Next, hear the first interlude from 1:20 to 1:30 - the violins play the melody that imitates the flow of water on a slope and an ascent. The flute does the final ascent playing its part. This is a regular harmony theme of Raja and he has done in many songs and I would like to use this track to highlight this technique of him. It's all about the gushing violins and 
cellos and double basses  taking care of the initial ebbs and troughs and the finishing is normally done by the flute. That's top bread.

Between 1:31 and 1:40 on the same interlude, this is harmony arranged with the flutes and only pizzicato violins.  This is the meat in the sandwich.

The bottom bread is the 1:41 to 1:44 done with the same ebbs and troughs with the flutes and gushing violins. One hellua harmony sandwich :-)

Let’s listen to Yaarukku Yaarendru…



Rokkam Irukkura (Kaasi - Tamil - 2001)

A number of songs in Kaasi were hits and it will be unfair to call it obscure. However, this movie musically is known for two things - folk and a full Hari album for Raja.

Percussion and singing take the top spots in this film's songs and not harmony.

However, Raja cannot keep harmony away even under these circumstances.

Hear the segment between 3:16 and 3:42

This is a clean 4-part harmony with violins (S and A) and flute (T) and the double basses and the cellos take care of the B part. If you listen to only this segment, you cannot tell it is a song from Kaasi.

Another walk in the park…

Let’s listen to Rokkam Irukkura..



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