viewing music in its entirety
By Anil Srinivasan
The New Indian Express
a nd so a golden age begins. The floodgates are open and we are now firmly on
the mainstream
musical map of the world. And its all down to the inimitable AR Rahman. It is
tremendous,
because this means that the paradigm for listening has shifted. It also means
that there is now
a new standard to aspire for, a greater commitment towards musical aesthetics
than ever before.
With this comes a responsibility to understand the music of this rather
self-effacing, reticent
mind that sits so productively on the shoulders of a man who grew up in the
same magical city
as we did. Rahmans music has always been ahead of the times, each composition
containing an
element that is unique. In fact, the Rahman era has galvanised sound
engineering, spearheading
a movement towards finding a truly global idiom, one that instantaneously
appeals worldwide.
I remember telling friends that to truly appreciate ARRs music, one needs a
highfidelity
stereo system, since his music is not made for ordinary boomboxes. There is
always that extra
timpani that one hears after a stanza, the extra sarangi layer beneath a truly
moving melodic
line. Sometimes, it is a whiff of a theme, played repetitively in the
background that uplifts
the entire song (the guitar in Kabhi Kabhi Aditi from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, for
instance).
Other times it is the use of the strings, played with a sensitivity that defies
description
(the theme from Bombay). In fact, the musical speciality of ARRs music is that
it is
unpredictable, and there is nothing that one can call a signature other than
the entire
envelope of it to view it as a sum-ofcomponent parts would be doing the
music a great
travesty . This is not an ordinary mind, as it works holistically . It is a
mind that views
the music in its entirety. Musically speaking, it would be very easy to point
out that Rahmans
speciality has been his ear for unconventional sound human and otherwise. He
has always put
in a voice that the prevailing convention of the time may have not appreciated
as fully .
Interesting use of instrumentation (remember the singing violin in Pakkadhey
Pakkadhey from
Gentleman or the use of a capella voices in Rasaathi En Usuru from Thiruda
Thiruda) And he does
not stop with just bringing in this element. There is a treatment to it that
reflects a keen
understanding of audiences as well as musical tonality . For instance, when
Unnikrishnan sings
Katre En Vasal from Rhythm, it is the rustic percussion and desert echo voices
that lift the
song from just carrying a pleasing melody . The use of the moving bass is yet
another feather
to Rahmans cap.
e use of the moving bass is yet another feather to Rahmans cap.
>From the very first song that drifted our way in the early 90s (Chinna Chinna
>Aasai) to the
latest offering from Slumdog Millionaire, the fering from Slumdog Millionaire,
the bass
(guitar, cello or strings) is like a spring unwound restless, energetic and
dynamic. This
feature reaches for the gut, forcing even the most unmusical to start tapping
their feet
unconsciously .
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