Saara Yeh Alaam / Anandha Raagam

Anandha Ragam from "Paneer Pushpangal" is a well known song by Ilaiyaraaja. People say that this is in the raag "Simmedra Madhyamam". Interesting how IR brings in western classical touches while adhering to the raga.

This song was reworked by IR in the Hindi film Shiva (2006). The saranam melody was changed. But the rest of the song was more or less the same. I am posting the Hindi version below just because the recording clarity is much better.

I like this particular interlude very much since IR develops the interlude on a single line of melody. This is then played on different notes of the scale with some variations. Very nice.

Saara Yeh Alaam by sripathyramesh

Kismat Se Tum

This is a nice song from the Hindi film Pukar. Music by A R Rahman. I think it is in Raag Abheri / Bhimplaas. I like this interlude very much. It touches some accidental notes and later returns to the original scale, which adds to the beauty.

Kismat Se Tum from Pukar by sripathyramesh

Later when "Manmadhan" was released, whenever I listened to Yuvan Shankar Raja's interlude in "Kadhal Valarthen" song, I get reminded of this interlude. Yuvan seems to like this too.

Musical Conversations - ARR

This is a post that I blogged on my other blog. I am just reproducing it below.

A R Rahman has done some nice background pieces in songs which are basically a conversation between either 2 instruments or an instrument and a vocal. These are not question and answer types but more like a real conversation. Listen to 4 such conversations below. Interestingly all of them are towards the ending of the respective songs. It is more like a postlude.

Rahman Conversations by sripathyramesh

The 1st one is "En swasa kaatre" from "En swasa kaatre". Nice conversation of veena and chitra's voice. I love the veena in this piece. The chord and bass backing is also very good. I think this is in Nilambari raga. Please correct me if I am wrong.

The 2nd one is "Azhage sugama" from "Paarthale Paravasam". A nice conversation between piano and violin. Violin is played by Ganesh I believe. I read that it is a mixture of dwijawanti and sahana ragam.

The 3rd one is "Uyirum Neeye" from "Pavithra". Veena and violin converse here in Khamas raga I think.

The 4th one is "Netru Illatha Maatram" from "Pudhiya Mugam". Nice sitar and flute combination. You can also listen to a veena in the third line. This is the same piece played in the first interlude. But in the first interlude it is a sitar and veena conversation. And at the end, the sitar piece is the same, but a different flute response. Flute must be by Naveen.

Let me know if there are other similar songs by ARR. I will also put a separate post on such conversations in Ilaiyaraaja's music. So let me know the relevant song interludes that come to your mind in IR's music.

Ye Rasathi

"Ye Rasathi" is a nice song by Ilaiyaraaja with great chorus and harmonies. Here is the prelude of the song. Nice harmonies, especially towards the end of the prelude. Just amazing. Let me know your views on this.

Ye Rasathi by sripathyramesh

Pootukkal Pottalum

The song "Pootukkal Pottalum" from Kshatriyan is a very nice Waltz song by Ilaiyaraaja. I just love the first interlude. Nice western classical elements in the interlude. The interlude is mainly dominated by a solo violin accompanied aptly by an orchestra. Then the music changes color, takes you to different unseen places and brings you back to the song with the piano rhythm, all within around 30 secs.

Click to Play (opens in new window)

I don't know the technical aspects of this song. I know the song is basically in E minor, but nothing much other than that. Drop in your views of this song in the comments section.

Kannalane from Bombay

The first interlude (can also be called as 2nd BGM) of the Kannalane song from the film "Bombay" is just wonderful. A R Rahman (also the composer of this film) sings the vocals (he basically sings the swaras in Sufi style, I think), with the slap bass, tabla and harmonium providing apt accompaniment. The slap bass is just too good and the bass + tabla combination is always good. The harmonium joins towards the end and the song seemlessly moves into the charanam.

Click to Play (opens in new window)

I recently saw this song being performed live by A R Rahman's troupe. Unfortunately they were unable to recreate the magic of this interlude on stage. This is understandable, since the original song would have been sung in different tracks, especially the male voice in this BGM and then overlapped together. I think both the male voices in this BGM are Rahman's, not sure though.

Prelude from Ivan

Here is a nice prelude from the song "Appadi Paakarthuna" from "Ivan". I like this magical prelude by Ilaiyaraaja a lot. It starts with a piano in Bb minor and after that it changes to a different scale (which I am yet to decipher) and then again does a scale shift to D major and the solo violin accompanies at this point. The song then continues in the D major scale, which is Raag Shankarabharanam.

Click to Play (opens in new window)

Not many would have heard this prelude, since this particular portion is not shown on TV nor played on Radio. Let me know your views on this piece.

Welcome to my new blog !

I would like to share my favorite bgm pieces (also known as preludes and interludes) in Indian film songs with you all. This is more like conundrumofsonata.blogspot.com (by Brindha), but not a quizzing game. Rather, this is just a collection of my favorite song interludes. You might also be interested in backgroundscore.blogspot.com (by Suresh) which is a quizzing game of background scores (re-recording) in films.

I also write about music at http://rameshonmusic.blogspot.com.