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…

Nearest Neighbor – Sax and Trumpet

Both the sax and the trumpet are western instruments and in most Indian film song setting only one of them have a place in the song. Almost placing them next to each other is unheard of. 

The clip below (first 14 seconds) begins with the interlude of the song, ‘Sangeetha Megam’ from ‘Udhaya Geetham’ (Tamil 1985). The long call is made by the trumpet and the short response is from the sax. Very clever arrangement that avoids any confusion between the like sounding instruments. 

From 16 seconds, the clip has the interlude from the song ‘Sorgam Madhuvile’ from the film, ‘Sattam En Kaiyil’ (Tamil 1978). Here again the arrangement is a clever one with the long calls by the trumpet and the short responses from the sax. Both the songs features in this clip have completely different melodies.

 Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Sax and Trumpet …

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 …

Nearest Neighbor – Female choir and flute

Flute and female choir is not uncommon. However, when the female choir is in a pitch that is very close to the flute, you are walking in dangerous territory as one of the two components tends to become redundant. This favors the flute more than the female choir, as it is hard to conduct a choir than getting a flute player to play the notes. Why bother conducting a choir when you have the easy way of completing the phrases with flute? Raja has several compositions where he has used this combination next to each other with ease and mostly, his painstaking choir and the flute complement each other as the melodies they play are complementary. This is tough business in orchestration that most composers stay away from.

The first 28 seconds of the clip are from the interlude of the song ‘Halli Lavaniyalli’ from Namoora Mandara Hoove (Kannada 1997). Initially, you will hear the flute and the choir separately playing their complementary melodies. However, towards the end (after 22 seconds), the experiment of merging these two melodies to play simultaneously clearly demonstrates, that they do sound great, when in the hands of the master.

 From 30 seconds onwards in the clip, the interlude of the song, ‘Enna Varam Vendum’ from ‘Nandavana Theru’ (Tamil 1995) plays. The flute plays for at least 10 seconds in the background with the female choir adds phrases in the foreground. From 41 second to til end of the clip is a beautiful arrangement of female choir, flute and violins all playing their parts simultaneously, for about 40 seconds. It is a treat to hear such beautiful work in an area that composers never go. They should, as the master has shown the way.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Female choir and flute …

Nearest Neighbor – Female solo and santoor

 There are very few composers who have used the santoor in South Indian film music and today, this instrument is almost extinct in film music. A beautiful sound, similar to harp in western symphony orchestras, Raja has exploited the instrument extensively. In this post, we will see how Raja uses Janaki again as his orchestral instrument alongside the santoor instrument. This is not just a unlikely neighbor, this is also unimaginable for almost all Indian composers.

The first 18 seconds of this clip is from the song, ‘Maniye Manikuyile’ from the film, ‘Nadodi Thendral’ (Tamil 1992). Raja creates a counterpoint with Janaki’s humming with the santoor thoughout the clip The santoor is the background melody and the flute responds to Janaki’s call. This again in PolyCare, Raja style!

From 20 seconds to 47 seconds of this clip is from the song ‘Mannavane mannavane’ from the film ‘Thandhuvittaen Ennai’ (Tamil 1991) is a pure pot of gold in orchestral terms. The way this song is arranged is with the santoor and the bass guitar doing the background melody. A number of things happen in the foreground. A call from Janaki is responded by the flute followed by the violins. The second call by Janaki and the responses from the flute and the violins are all different from the first. There is a total of 8 melodies arranged as PolyCare by Raja in these 27 seconds, very Indian, but technically Western. The only two constant melodies are the santoor and the bass guitar. Salute the genius!

The last 5 seconds of the clip is arranged as a harmony of violins and Janaki’s voice bridging to the charanam from the interlude.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Female solo and santoor …