analyses every song from sanagamam amazingly! I knwo its old but it
seems interetsing.....chekc it out guys:
http://arvindsrinivasan.blogspot.com/2005/05/song-watch-sangamam.html
Sangamam
Sangamam by Raghuman, Vindhiya - Suresh Krishna.
A musical, clean, family movie (can't call it entertainer ;)). This
movie had elaborate PR sessions conducted by Pyramid Natarajan and i
think the music deserved such PR. Apparently, the sales of the album
provided enough funds for the producer to complete his next movie
'Rhythm' by the same music director.
Lets get to business.....
Margazhi Thingal - S.Janaki, Unni Krishnan
The songs opens with a recitation of 'Margazhi Thingal' from
Thiruppavai. This does it for the song. ARR wins over the listeners
already. knowingly or unknowingly - you would already be swaying to
the lilting Sindhu Bhairavi ragam.
Janaki starts of the song with Naveen (who else ?) on the flute.
Simply intoxicating stuff. A brief mridhangam & Ghatam intro sets the
context of the song (it is supposed to a dance number). Is the
mridhangam synth ? A million dollar question. But i have *never* heard
the mridhangam & ghatam produce musical notes to an extent such as this.
What is with ARR, Sindhu Bhairavi and Violins ?. Listen to any of the
songs by ARR in sindhu bhairavi. His violin orchestra is out and what
a terrific job they do !. All the violinists much just be salivating
at the prospect of ARR unleashing a Sindhu Bhairavi. You can see the
violins joining in before the pallavi ends. Can it get any better ?
The interlude is perfectly suited for a dance segment - with
mridhangam & ghatam stealing the show...too lovely. Any one learning
sindhu bhairavi, the essence of the ragam is captured amazingly in 5
seconds between 3.08-3.13.
The 1st stanza is cute and sorry to sound repetitive, but you can hear
how delectable the rhythm at iruvarum oru murai.... That section is
one notable deviation from Sindhu Bhairavi notes, and have seen many
composers use that arrangement in Sindhu Bhairavi as well as in
Keeravani. (As always, any suggestion as to that pattern/enlightenment
welcome :-) ).
second interlude, and its Naveen's turn to charm us in the background
of jathi's with his flawless rendition of Sind...
Unni starts the second stanza. Unfortunately, with such high
expectations set so far, this stanza fades in comparison to the rest
of the song. Unni handles himself well.
As is ARR's style, the song finishes of with Janaki's alaap.
This is ARR's tribute to Sindhu Bhairavi and i can think of the only
other song that comes parallel to it is (Mile Sur Mera from the older
'DD' days. You can keep introducing umpteen subtle variations into
Mile Sur... and would be beautiful)
Rating 5 out of 5 (Could have been 5.2 but for the second stanza)
Sowkiyama - Nithyashree
A perfect opening on Maand greets you with a nice symphony of Veena,
Dhavil & Mridhangam. The swarams by the chorus 'Sa Ga Ri Sa ni Ri Sa
ni dha ni' set the tone for the song to come.
Nithyashree follows with the Pallavi. The notes (what instrument is
that ? synth veena gamakam ? ) at 0.58 & 1.12 accentuate Maand in the
pallavi, which immediately sets in the 'Ghanjira'. Pallavi, unlike the
traditional cine industry songs, but more like ARR's style, explores a
full 2 minute stretch which is quite beautifully done.
Kadri Gopalnath joins in to dish us out a perfect feast in Maand.
After Duet, this has been Kadri's next collaboration with ARR,
obviously to a very limited scope than in Duet. His Sax takes you on a
soulful ride into the interlude with his inimitable sprightly style.
The 1st stanza continues as expected until you reach 'kOdi kaiyyil
enai koLLai iDu, kOdi kaiyyil enai aLLi eDu' which is lovely twist to
the tune that brings in ARR's preferred Maand phrase 'anbu nathane
aNindha modhiram'. You can sharpen your ears and listen to 'suTTu
vizhi kanDale' line from 'Thillana' (Muthu). There are probably couple
of other places that he used this phrase with such melody. (Ofcourse,
it is not copying). One more point to note here is the lyrics by
Vairamuthu. If you just look at the extent of poetic exaggeration, you
would realise
'anbu nathane aNindha modhiram vaLayalagave thurumbena iLaithaen
andha modhiram oDDiyaNamai Aagum munname Anbe azhaithaen'
Translation:
I have been thinking so much (lost my weight)) about you that my wrist
can now wear my ring
Let me express my love, before my waist slims even more, that it will
fit my ring
Chords have been consistenly used in the song, to set the mood and
convey the emotion and they do a wonderful job in anupallavi. Kadri
finishes off the song with a very standard movement on Maand.
Altogether, this song once again has been devoted to the ragam Maand
in exploring its beauty. Once again ARR ambles home easily.
Rating 5 out of 5
Alala Kanda - MSV & Hariharan
MSV starts off this song and you are immediately reminded of 'ThAi
nilam thandha varam thAvaram' from DD days by MSV :-), more out of his
voice than anything else. But for the odd harmonium, the song is
bereft of any musical instrument (ofcourse, rhythm pattern) and still
with the deft use of kaapi'ish notes ARR manages to bring a subtle
melodious touch to the song. Only ARR.
Rating 4.4 out of 5
Varaga Nadhi - Shankar Mahadevan
This song announced the big time arrival of Shankar Mahadevan to music
industry down south. Even though he had been regular in ARR's musical
journey, this was his first solo with the maestro.
As is ARR's wont, the song starts off with alaap by Shankar with
shades of Yaman Kalyani. Tabla sets quite a fast paced rhythm for the
song with harmonium backing the voice. (seemed to follow the style of
late Nusrat....). Shankar carries with him this modern bhAgavathar
style of singing, nice and fresh nonetheless that immediately caught
your attention. kannil varum... brings oozes Yaman Kalyani....
Interlude.... a typical ARR piece, very nice chorus and chords - once
again it teases you to join the tune, only to evade you like the river
babbling all over the rocks in its bed, with unexpected turns. Simply
Wonderful !
the first stanza is nicely done and once again, ARR teases you only to
keep you wanting more. Listen to 'parandhu vandhu.....virundhu kudu'
at the end of this line, there is a chorus hum, which when extended to
a note lower can then be used to finish off the previous lines 'nee
enna.....nizhala pidichikitten' -almost evoking a 'vasaanthi' feeling
Listen to 4.25-4.28 that is the closest to what am
explaining('Kurukku' from Mudhalvan). (i.e., sing nizhala
pidichikittaen with the hum going lower by couple of notes from the
virindhu kudu line)
Second interlude, ARR is back to his flute ways - does'nt look like
Naveen is on there...but it is excellent with a melancholic touch, the
same feeling evoked by the hum (as said above).
Second stanza is very similar to the first one, with minor differences
of chorus and the song finishes off on a bit more sombre note than it
promised with its opening. Once again, a expectation that can only be
set by ARR.
Rating 4.6 out of 5
Mazhai ThuLi - MSV, Hariharan
The song opens to what is called 'thArai thappaTTai' rhythm base and
Hariharan alaap'ing :) The pallavi is very normal with the twist to
Kaapi'ish notes occasionally bringing in the softness to the song.
Interlude. A brief string piece, quite nice adorns the interlude.
'thaNiyile meen azhudha' has lotsa power chords backed into it and is
quite wonderful one must say. The lyrics is well done and just before
the anupallavi starts, ARR tries to bring one more violin/chord
arrangement (This man never ceases to experiment !). Second interlude
is once again brief and MSV steps in with superb ease and changes the
tone of the song to a more mellow one. The line 'kalaikoru tholvi
kidayathu' is the story of the movie in one line ;p
Rating 4 out of 5
Mudhal Murai - Srini, Sujatha
Sujatha's magical voice opens the song with the air howling. Once
again mridhangam/ghaTam form the rhythm pattern.
The pallavi is so simple, cute and oozes melody. I don't know why, but
it is all so simple and i don't feel like detailing the pallavi !
Interlude has lovely synth flute arrangement, only to be interrupted
by ARR with his customary alaap (remember Roja? who can not ?) and a
lilting bells/flute arrangement.
Sujatha is simply adorable when she goes 'kAlgilal kidandha salangayai
thiruDi'...catch the rhythm pattern there, it appears only once but
IMHO it is so wonderful. Srini comes in with melodious voice and the
song wanders into the world of melody, cutsy sankarabharanam notes.
(Which, IMHO, is one ragam that has never brought the melody via
carnatic song, film music seems to bring such melody from Sank...)
The second interlude is a thaniAvardhanam by Ghanjira/claps and then
synth flute - ARR is at his best when he does these kinda
arrangements. Second interlude is once again excellently done, but
Sujatha hijacks all the honours. Their combo (not duet, but solo) has
produced one more melody that i enjoy... 'Nee Enge' from Taj Mahal.
Vairamuthu won National award for the this song
Rating 4.8 out of 5.
There had been rumours that ARR himself constructed the theme of the
movie,the songs and then sold his idea. Not sure how far it is
true...but songs are wonderful and soulful melodies-did not get their
deserved place in the history of melodies due to the pathetic movie.
Overall Rating 4.7 out of 5
posted by Arvind @ 5/10/2005 08:24:00 PM
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