chod dho yaar. when ARR is going up and above with international collaborations and imbibing diversity in music, some lame people will keep on comparing with regional artists.
On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 9:54 AM, Pradeepan R <[email protected]>wrote: > "It has to be said that serious musical work belongs to Ilaiyaraaja." > Atrocious, to say the Least !!! > > On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 7:25 AM, Gopal Srinivasan <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> Jingle-Jangle Morning >> Free of cultural colours, Rahman's music rings to global ears >> >> SADANAND MENON ON A.R. RAHMAN >> >> | E-MAIL | ONE PAGE FORMAT | FEEDBACK: SEND | >> Comparisons are odious. But in south India—and in Chennai at least—you >> can’t duck the over >> 15-year-long debate on the comparative ‘genius’ of A.R. Rahman and his >> musical senior by >> twenty-three years, Ilaiyaraaja. Rahman’s double Oscar haul might have >> been a seamless moment >> of Indian triumph at Kodak Theatre, but in his native Chennai, it reopened >> the old debate. If >> Rahman is ‘Mozart’ to his followers, Ilaiyaraaja is ‘Bach’ to his. >> The connection between the two goes back a long way. In the early 1970s, >> as Ilaiyaraaja was >> trying to find a toehold in Kollywood, working with hit music directors >> like M.S. Viswanathan, >> Salil Choudhury, G.K. Venkatesh and such, he was simultaneously trying to >> compose his own >> music. The instruments he hired for this were from another south Indian >> composer, R.K. Shekhar, >> who happened to be Rahman’s father. >> >> Shekhar passed away shortly thereafter, but the family continued to hire >> out instruments. By >> the early 1980s, Ilaiyaraaja had become the stuff of legend, having >> already rewritten the rules >> of music composition in south Indian films with his dramatic debut in >> Annakkili (1976). As a >> good turn to the family that had helped him on the road to fame, he >> absorbed the barely >> 15-year-old Rahman as a keyboard player in his orchestra. For almost 10 >> years, Rahman continued >> to perform for Ilaiyaraaja, before Mani Ratnam handed him the baton for >> Roja (1992). And the >> rest, as they say, is history. >> >> The hotly debated issue in the south is whether Rahman would have realised >> any of his potential >> but for the wide door that had already been pushed open for him—musically— >> by the pioneering >> work of Ilaiyaraaja. Interestingly, both are proficient in western >> classical harmonies and >> string arrangements. Both have graduated from the Trinity College of >> Music, London, though >> Ilaiyaraaja bagged a gold medal there. For classical Indian music, both >> were students of >> Dhanraj ‘Master’ in Chennai. Both have awesome proficiency on the piano, >> keyboard and >> synthesizer. On top of it, both are versatile vocalists, with a distinctly >> nasal tinge. >> >> Ilaiyaraaja’s over 30-year-long career has seen him compose over 4,000 >> songs in six languages, >> with a dynamic yoking of south Indian folk tunes to western orchestration, >> which brought him >> three national awards. Earlier Oscar entries from India like Anjali (1990) >> and Hey Ram (2000) >> boasted of his music score. Amazingly, he has sung over 400 songs himself. >> Rahman has been in >> the field for roughly half the time of Ilaiyaraaja. He has won four >> national awards and now >> holds on to a Golden Globe, a piece of metal from BAFTA and the two Oscar >> statuettes. >> >> While the similarities between the two are significant, it is their >> differences that should >> interest us. Ilaiyaraaja’s music creates itself around and inhabits >> culturally identifiable >> frames, whether classical, semi-classical or folk. His compositions are >> raga-based and even in >> western classical-inspired numbers, he acknowledges the sanctity of its >> original structures. >> Where he makes a departure is in the polyphonic interludes. A typical >> example would be his >> amazing foot-tapper, ‘Rakkamma, Kaiyye Thattu...’ (Thalapathi, 1991), in >> which he moves with >> panache from a swiftly orchestrated popular folk tune to a serene, quiet >> solo classical with a >> deft, magical interlude of hummed bars. >> >> Rahman, on the other hand, is a cleverer sound organiser and it is his >> artistry with the >> synthesizer that is the hallmark of his music. In fact, Rahman is perhaps >> the finest tuner of >> short jingles that we have, and his early career was built up composing >> advertisement jingles >> for coffee, sports shoes and such. This also included, for example, the >> catchy signature tune >> for Asianet, the first private regional language TV channel in India. >> >> Listening to these, one can construct a fair map of Rahman’s musical >> method. Most of his >> compositions are, in fact, a stringing together of discrete jingles joined >> together by >> counterpoints and contrapuntal bridges. A serious examination of his music >> will reveal the >> carryover of the seductive values of his lineage in advertising. It is >> devoid of cultural >> markers, unlike in Ilaiyaraaja’s work. This, now, becomes his strength as >> it finds ready >> resonance in the globalised entertainment industry, which is constantly on >> the hunt for ‘sounds >> without shadows’. >> >> It has to be said that serious musical work belongs to Ilaiyaraaja. >> Rahman’s forte is packaged >> marketing of catchy jingles. Of course, one hums along. >> >> >> http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090309&fname=Cover+Story&sid=6 >> >> > > > -- > Cheers, > Pradeepan. > > "All you need to do is, decide what to do with the time that is given to > you !" > > >
