Ilayaraaja...God in the Making!

here i am writing another post...and again about my favorite topic,music...and again about my favourite musician Ilayaraaja..i guess i cant stop speaking about him..coz there's so much to speak about him...there wont be another Ilayaraaja..i was just watchin a program on ETV, Paaduta Teeyaga conducted by another god SPB..and todays edition was about Ilayaraaja..and the special guest was the maestro's brother Gangai Amaran.for the first time on tv shows some one related to the maestro was called to speak about him..i was really happy after watchin the show..for hella lotta reasons..firstly it was about the maestro and secondly all the info wa coming from some one who struggled with him..Gangai Amaran..and another moment when SPB said there wont be another Raaja..:):)not that people dont know that but its alwasy nice to hear somethin like that about Raaja sir even if its for the billionth time...:):)
so i thought id lie to write somethin about the maestro so that people here would know about him and his godhood...not that he needs publicity but my heart wont be empty until i write wat i intended to:)so here goes the list
1)he is the only indian to rake up a gold medal in classical guitar from the prestigious London Trinity College of Music..Rahman graduated from this school but did not get a gold medal.
2)his favorite instrument as u al might be thinking is not guitar.. its harmonium..and he composes almost all his songs on the harmonium.so imagine how good he might be on this instrument?!:)
3)the first asian to compose a symphony for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra..whose patron is her heiness The Queen.
4)till date the only indian to compose a symphony in Western Classical Music.its named as Symphony no 1.
5)has composed music for approx 900 movies in all languages and has 5 private albums to his credit.
6)released his private album How To Name It in 1986.genre was fusion music.
7)composed another album called Nothing But Wind with Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia on the flute.
8)the only composer who composes the music for all the instruments without the help of any music director.he doesnt have any assistant music director.
9)the only composer to compose music with pencil and book..he doesnt even see the harmonium when hes composing!he has every note in mind!once he composes he never changes it!!
10)known to be the king of Re-Recording!unparalleled in the history of music!does re-recording work in a day..for any composer it takes around 1 month on an avg...so its for u to judge:)
11)known to be one of the fastest composers..took around 1 month to compose the symphony(it took Brahms 13years to compose a symphony)
12)takes around half hour to compose the music for a film
13)the only composer whose background music is a rage and made movies run for 100 days!!want proof?got to youtube and type ilayaaja bgm and ul know how big a rage it is...:)
14)his sons are Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja.both of them are composers and as you all know Yuvan is a rage in Tamil.his lst telugu project was OY! which was a big hit!
15)Raaja is most famous for his orchestrational abilities and for his bass lines..his bass lines are the most meticulously written notes ever!its very hard to play his bass lines on the bass guitar..often called as the god of bass:)
16)also called as naadha brahma,swara brahma,isaignani(knower of all in the world of music)
17)often called a one man show due to his all round abilities:)
18)never attends public functions or concerts.
19)composes in the prestigious Prasad Theatre in chennai
20)also composes in Budhapest,Hungary where he says his inspirations used to compose
21)was awarded the national award thrice and numerous awards were bestowed upon him by various governments
you know ive written all this but i still ive written nothin about him..but then this is all i know:( i wish i could see him live once in my life and fall on his feet..i wont feel bad if my life ended then...i would have been at god's feet:):)
Long Live Ilayaraaja!!
Santosh Ram

Ruckus in the State!

when this turmoil regarding T began i thought it would die down like before..everyone thought the same...but i dint know it would lead to a state where the option of president's rule is being weighed....the politicians are to be blamed for this pathetic state...i wonder what they get by splitting the state like dis...!!!its so frustrating to sit at home coz of some bandh..the whole city is getting paralyzed..just for some stupid ass cause!!
and here i am writing this blog with so much frustration that for the nth time my exams got postponed!!why the hell do they have to spoil students future??!our exams are getting postponed and der is dis fear that we might lose one academic year!:((
wat about all dose students who have plans of pursuing higher studies??do these politicians even think about the people who they are representing ??are they really public representatives??here in the stte we have one of the weakest governments in congress and one of the worst oppositions in TDP...!!its really getting onto my nerves when i think of all this!!i stopped watchin news channels for this reason that i have to see all this stupidity!!the media is no less!!they are aggravating the whole incident by magnifying it!!the media is supposed to be responsible...but the way they are acting is so disgusting!!i just hope this crisis comes to an end and peace is restored again and i can finally write my exams!!:)
cya,
Santosh Ram

PAA!!

long time guys!!every time i try to sit down and think of writing i realize i don't have that feel to write it...Ive become too moody des days!!i don things only when i feel like...before that really wasn't the case...i guess ive become more soulful des days:P!well neways Ive just come back from the film PAA..and i swear i think i just saw a brilliant film..
Im not here to write the review of the film...im not aware of the finer details of cinema to write a review of the film..so i did watch the film...i watched it only for one man...Ilayaraaja!!I always believed that Music was my Religion and that Ilayaraaja was my only God!!!yea i did and i think many of you musicians out there too think the same...with this film he proved me right again...he truely is God!!hear the music to agree and see the film to say it!!!he is one who can change the mood of the audience with his music and no the scene..watch the film to know wat background music can do to the film...he is one person who could make u cry and laugh with the same tune..!!and he does exactly dat in dis movie...
Balki was right when he said he cant imagine making a film without Ilayaraaja...coz no one else could make the audience feel so much and oscillate their moods within seconds!this movie reminds me of the Mani Ratnam-Ilayaraaja era...where the scene would get tears out of my eyes solely coz of the combo of the scene and the background music...well i gotta mention one thing about the film...Big B was fabulous and so was Vidya Balan...the title should have been MAA and not PAA...=))well Jnr B i thought was wasted or he dint have much of a role...but totally im really happy that films such as des are being made..these are the ones which get the best out of everyone working on it...well as for Balki, hes delivered another gem after cheeni kum...im sure hes already the most sought after director...il be really sad if Raaja sir is not recognised in B town for his work even after dis film...he clearly shows his ability to orchestrate with the bgms...the Udhi Udhi which sounds so playful on the cd has a sad version on the bgm...he stamps his authority on bgms with this work of his...!!i hope this combo of Balki and Raaja sir have movies comin at a faster pace dan before...:)
on a final note...kudos to Big B..his effort was paid off..!!
cya,
Santosh Ram

Rahman..overhyped?

Well south indian film industry can proudly boast of having some of the greatest Composers in the country and world....u want some names??here i go then...Ghantasala,K.V.Mahadevan,M.S.Vishwanathan,Salu Rajeshwar Rao,Chakravarthy,Ilayaraaja,A.R.Rahman..etc....well the people doin the rounds as of now are the great Ilayaraaja and A.R.Rahman.Well Rahaman is more popular in the country due to his recent victory at the oscars...i think thats a great achievement!but the question was did he deserve it for slumdog??i mean i personally heard greater works than that...and i think i heard better works of his..i dont know if i can say they cud win the oscars but definitely not this work of his!and these days every work of his gets a better rating than it deserves.. i think hes too over hyped..i agree hes a great talent and i personally think some of his works are brilliant!!but for me hes a person who changed the music industry completely!for good or bad i do not know...gone are dose days of live recording...its more of electronic music and computerised work..i guess the computer works more than the composer these days...no quality music at all...not even from this man Rahman though i still dont no how he manages to get good revies for his music...i have nothin against him and i think hes a great talent...but i feel his knowledge is limited...just western music and again in that i dont rememeber him doin all the genres in western music...and hes constantly hailed India's best composer...i rally dont like it when i hear dat man!coz i know der is sum1 who i know is worldclass and his knowledge is unmappable!!i hope u know who im speakin about..its none other than Isaignani Ilayaraaja...for us musicians hes god!hes one who tried all genres of western and has composed classical,hindustani,folk music too...well sad that none of works got an oscar like Rahma...but there are things i like Rahman for...his discipline,humbleness inspite of all his success,his hardworking nature, his motive to spread only love..he has this great power to spread love!
Well if a Rahman work is in public it gets a good review even though its bad..i think many a times hes hyped a lot more than he should be...i dont know y but i can remember him only for the reason for introducing electronic music and making it more digital..it would have happeend anyways but he made it happen a lot more sooner....and one more thing people keep sayin that this man will beat Raaja sir...with due repsect to Rahman and his admirers i dont think theyl ever be a day when hes gonna eclipse the Maestro in terms of talent or his songs!
comin to his music i think his work is ordinary with good tunes...his bass work is average..he was good in Roja and all his previous works..he hasnt shown any ability to orchestrate..and his tunes are playable easily(this might not matter for general public but musicians like it when its challenging)...his assets are great tunes and himself!
but being the person he his i still repsect him a lot and many a times i was truely inspired by him and was in awe of him!i wish him luck for his future and i only hope he gets back a few good old things of music recording..
Cya,
Santosh Ram

Frustrated!!:(

well my title says it all!!im so ruddy frustrated with things!i applied for universities and i dont no da status of of my courier!:(my consultancy guy is not informing me things!the univ of cincinatti is nt updating my application!!says my application is also pending!whereas dats the first thing i did!da next fews days are crucial for me!i just hope things go well..btw i just heard the audio of the Maestro's latest telugu work and i should say the music is pretty good and i think a few more listens and itl b right on top like all his other gems!:) and a few more dayas and i can hopefully write my third review!writing reviews for raaja sir's works is really tough!!it takes lotsa time to observe his music and then to write it all...and idont like reading the other reviews on net coz they hardly talk about wat theyr supposed to!neways il write it now itlsef or mayb il write sumthin else which ive thinkin i wud from a long time...im waiting for my brother to respond to my mails!once he does my tesnion will also reduce!in the mean while i guess il write wat ive been thinkin about from the last few days
Cya,
Santosh Ram

Paa Music Review

As i sit here to write.im listening to the songs of Paa.There has been a lo of hype created about this film by the media for its star cast on and off the screen..for its the successful combo of Balki-Amitabh-Illayaraaja returnig after the success of Cheeni Kum..when i heard about the movie at first about a year ago i was thrilled to hear that it was the maestro who was composing the music the music for the film..Maestro Ilayaraaja has been keeping a low profile since the late 90's..And then he did a few films here and there...Then came this big project with Amitabh Bachan for Cheeni Kum...He gave gr8 music for that film and it was obvious that Balki would retain him for his next film..Even though the music wasnt a success Balki would have got him cause he sayd he cant imagine a film without Ilayaraaja..he says hes god to him..true...very true..he truely is god to every musician and to anyone hwo knows his music..and he does compose like god!
Well coming to the music of Paa, every Ilayaraaja album has somethin special in it and this one too has somethin special in it..the album start off with Mudhi Mudhi...quite a start to the album!!the rhythm is quite different from the usual songs ans so are the chords used..The chords normally harmonise with the vocals but in this song its more like jazz with off beat rhythms.and the chords harmonise only at certain places in the song..the singer is Shilpa Rao..though i would have preferred Shreya Goshal for this song i think this gal has pulled off the song brilliantly!the song starts off with the piano and then the bass guitar.the chord progression is pretty complex for the song...the interlude has a bass solo..well for all budding bass guitarists this is what you call bass tapping!!and followed by a guitar solo which takes you into another world!!the only unusual thing about this composition from Raaja sir is that the bass lines stick to the rhythm unlike in his other songs where the bass plays in the background continously and believe me his bass lines are one of the toughest to play!!Well coming back to the song,its a short one but makes its mark caue of its unusual rhythm style..this song has already topped the charts and is doin the rounds in music channels and radio
Next is Gumm Summ Gumm...well this tune strikes a note with lsiteners down south cause its a remake of the maestro's old hit!that was the golden era of music!well the song starts off with synth instruments playing the tune.The song is sung by the maestro's daughter Bhavatharini and Shravan..surprisingly the vocals sound like deyve been sung by a kid but none of the singers are kids...The vocals have been sung brilliantly by the duo!this one has the trademark orchestration of Ilayaraaja.the song is a fusion of carnatic and western with a beautiful piano solo in jazz style...speaks loads about the knowledge possessed by the maestro!again gr8 use of the bass guitar.though the old one stands out cause of Janaki's vocals but the new version is no less either..a gem out of a gem by the maestro!
Udhi Udhi is next on the listing..this one is another version of Mudhi Mudhi..but its different form it for the instruments used..has great orchestration again,off beat rhythms and great vocals by Shilpa Rao.
Hichiki Hichiki has Sunidhi Chauhan on the vocals.this one has the trademark bass works of the maestro on it.sunidhi's vocals touch deyr peak in this one..the maestro certainly does know how to get the best out of ppl!!the interlude has two of the wierdest solos ive ever heard!it starts wth notes on a minor scale and der is a scale transformation to the major for the second solo..i couldnt realise this until i played it when it sounded wierd!!another gem from the maestro!
Gali Mudhi is a slower version of Udhi Udhi with shaan on the vocals..this one sounds like a sad song..use the same tune for different situations and still make it get all the emotions outta you!this is wat geniuses are about!this one has good orchstration and a very slow song and Shaan has done a great job with the vocals!
The Instrumental is on the violin.. for all the people with a perception that the violin is associated only with sad tunes,listen to this to prove your notion wrong!
Totally a great and different album from Maestro Ilayaraaja..this one surely will get him more work in B-town.the first album in Indian movies with jazz music..he time and time proves again that his knowledge of music is vast...no wonder hes called Isaignani(knower of all in the world of music)!

Reginal Barricade

Regional barricade or bias or wateva u call it is now the buzz in India now..Damn wid it man!!when will ppl start sayin deyr frm India and not from a certain state or so?!!this is the case wid Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh...Well in both the states its a diff story with almost the same touch and similar kinds of culprits...In Maharashtra its abt only Marathis and here in AP its about the separate state of Telangana..Who is anyone to ask sum1 else to go out a certain state ?this country belongs to everyone and dey have the right to stay wherever they want to!!this is the era of globalisation and look where we are!!still in the same old era of regional issues!theses are reasons why our country isnt progressing as fast as we thought it would be!
We have regional parties so that they could concentrate more on the developement of the state and not on the country as a whole.And all that these regional parties do is to create this kind of a feeling which is not required amongst us!When a person goes abroad they would ask him which country he is from and not which state he is from!!All that these parties wanna do is divide and rule!Its such a sorry state of affairs in our country and particularly in my state AP.Yesterday students got canned by the police which resulted in a bandh and postponement of my exams:(:)this treatment recieved by them was for the Telangana movement..Why want a separate state and y create dis regional bias ?cant v jsut live in harmony and peace?if it isnt this it has to be about Hindus and Muslims!
In a few years dey would ask to detach the state frm the country and make it a separate country!i really wudnt be surprised if they did dat!i think all dis should be put end to real fast and we should concentrate on other important s\issues such as the environment and poverty!We as ppl need to elect better representatives who would voice out our concerns.i guess its become too serious...:)well btw my exams got postponed for the 2nd time and dis extends for another month or so..:(well il take leave with this...
Good night
Santosh Ram

The First One!

well my first post after a long time.:)..i was wondering wat id wanna write about...well before that id wanna let u guys know sumthin...i started blogging again after i got inspired...well inspired by the gr8 Big B..!yea...true..im a big fan of his blog...i guess from a novice hes become one hell of a blogger!!u gotta read his blogs to believe me!and he blogs everyday inspite of his busy schedule and he always writes it in the late hours just before sleeping....Man u gotta be really passionate about this to do sumthin like dat!!!Kudos to him!!!after reading his blogs and following them late night just like him i thought it was time for me to get back to blogging myself...Everyday i get this urge to start writing, but today i got down to business...u know that feeling really has to cum outta u for you to start doin nethin...let it be nethin music,stories or poetry...that feel has to be there for you to do that..atleast this is the case for me...!
well so i already mentioned in my post before that i wont be sticking to one topic...it wont b just music(around which my life revolves)..id wanna diversify and write about nethin that cums to my mind..so well here i start off and i hope i stick to this inspite of my busy(:P) schedule!
cya,
Santosh Ram

Revamp!

hey !
ive been inactive since my last post...actually really inactive for sum1 who really likes blogging!!but then this time im making sure i wont be inactive for a long time again!and this time il b posting abt everythin that comes to my mind and i wont limit it to music...i hope itl b a thrilling experience..:)
cant wait nemore!!il start right today considering der is no more better way to express thoughts than to write dem down.!!
cya!
Santosh Ram

Hail MJ

Firstly R.I.P KING OF POP...u will be missed by everyone...from being da kid next door to da superstar and den to being mocked by everyone MJ has faced and seen everythin...from superstardom to virtually nothingness...he was supposed to be back with da biggest comeback concerts of all time but it wudnt b.....one of the greatest performers of all time he scaled heights dat none ever cud...when elvis died ppl dint expect another sun to rise so fast...dat sun was none other dan MJ...and dat sun rose higher dan da previous one...dat fame wasnt temporary...wasnt shortlasting....he crossed all barriers for a black man...his album 'thriller' is still da highest selling album of all time...'beat it' changed da music scene forever.....a gr8 humanitarian and a sum1 who cared for da environment.....itl be sad if hes remembered for sumthin other than his music or his services for mankind and da music industry...hope hes left in peace in his death atlst....hail the KING OF POP!!!!!