hi Thineshan.. welcome back to the party.. u r back with a great mail. Man mohana song sure does portray sheer brilliance of ARR. long live his music
On Jan 29, 2008 11:32 PM, Thineshan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > *Sounds of Heaven* > > First of all, I would like to say hi to this group once again. I > have been an active member, but due to some problems I had stopped posting > for two years (no its not because of this group, I got busy etc). However, I > have been a devoted reader of all the posts here and I have to admit, Dasun > your analysis on Rahman's music and your parallelisms with Mozart - that > both composers have a connection with the universal spirit - are a delight > to read. > > Now to the subject of my post. There are only some things that > instill so great an emotion into your heart, that you feel compelled to > share it with others. I feel honored to post once again and I am even more > honored that my post will be about the song in *Jodha Akbar *that is "the > lesser", "the inferior", more commonly heard "*the weakest!" *Before, I > start sharing my emotions about this song, I would like to mention that I > have no hindi background and I have not read translations or any such > things, all I know is from the picture on my lyrics booklet that it is a > bhajan to Lord Krishna. Therefore, this is a review based on *just *the > music, just Rahman. > > Mann Mohana: > > The prelude is blank with a soft thumping on the mouth of the > ghatam. It shows the void in the character's life, that there is a gap that > needs to be filled. > > When the singer first begins her desperate plea with the words > "Mann Mohana", the melody strikes you. It is as though Rahman intentionally > composed the tune so that the notes rise, rise, rise to the heights of > divinity, to God. After this celestial ascension, she sings Mann Mohana once > again, but this time a much more confined melody as if to personalize > herself with God. > > Then comes the interlude that traverses the classical raaga with > unbelievable ease that it becomes the raaga itself rather than a > representation of it. The beauty of this string arrangement is that it can > be either Western or Indian depending on your perspective. Although, the > instrument is orchestra based, Rahman uses it in a way that it becomes a > voice of an Indian raaga, that's Rahman. In this interlude, the strings > sound as if they are lamenting especially at 2:00. Then comes the reply of a > flute, a voice of Krishna, as if to pay condolences to the misery. > > The same beauty is maintained in the second interlude, after a > heart-melting saranam, the flutes once again replies at 3:00 and then it is > as though the reply of a flute has christened a new found energy. The > strings rather than "lamenting" as in the first interlude, now "jump" with > power and energy. This conversation between the voice of the worshipper > (strings) and the voice of the Lord (flute) shows that this is the language > of the Divinity - music. > > Then, the orchestration becomes a minimum as the singer conveys her > final words to Lord Krishna, a personal moment. And, the way she ends that > conversation with just "Meraa mmhmmmhmmmmm". Wow! That's beauty. It is as > though she has become so close to her faith that she no longer needs words > to express her feelings, that somehow it will be understood. > > All in all, Mann Mohana is a song that creates a spiritual aurora > that soaks you in its brilliant colors. When I visit a temple or pray > whole-heartedly, I become renewed. When I listen to Mann Mohana, I become > renewed. Its sound rinses me like the Ganges River. Its sound helps me soar > high into the sky. Its sound belongs to Rahman, to God, to heaven. > >
