> 14a. Are Rahman's songs "too hard to sing" for the common man?
Hi Ajit, I've felt similarly too. There is a degree of complexity in his songs that renders it hard to repeat using simple devices such as hummability or quickly reproducing it on a single instrument. People can manage snatches of it in their bathroom singing, but the overall song is not that easy to render in quick iterations. I think it's also to do with the fact that, as Gulzarsaab keeps re-iterating, people like Rahman or Vishal Bhardwaj do not adhere to the traditional structure of the film song; instead, they often lace the song with complex patterns, which makes them novel and interesting. (This doesn't imply the songs are inferior in any respect or that people cannot appreciate the songs. Or even that this is true of all their output. But many of their songs are so multi-threaded and multi-layered that analysis requires understanding several factors. The genius, of course, lies in making even these complex songs accessible, sometimes by use of a hook in the lyrics, melody, song styles, or even in the voices.) I don't really follow televised music competitions all that much, but it always seems to me that Rahman songs are sung less in these competitions, which to my mind is a simple indicator of this "hard to sing" quality. The songs are tough to master, and often they're not always about the singing (that is, the voice is not always the centrepiece) Some may choose to criticise this aspect, or some may see it as making film music more rounded and "different". But IMO, there's no denying this. Cheers, Ramanand -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Webpage: http://www.it.iitb.ac.in/~ramanand Weblogs: Personal: http://quatrainman.blogspot.com Interrobang (the quiz blog): http://notesandstones.blogspot.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
