Cinematic Love composed by Karl Marx

Enigmatic Dreams composed by Karl Marx

MY THOUGHTS ON SATYAN MAHALINGAM’S DEBUT VENTURE VIZHITHIRU

My thoughts on Satyan Mahalingam’s debut venture Vizhithiru

1) Stay Awake

Singers: C Sathya, Satyan Mahalingam, SS Thaman, Tha Prophecy and Sharmila

Lyrics: Subramaniam Nandi, Tha Prophecy

The album starts off with the energetic “Stay Awake”. When the song started I felt, “Oh why this vocoded vocals??? Is this going to be a standard template song?”

I was proved wrong with the clever mix of mridangam with a nice techno rhythm with a not so overpowering neat electric guitar base in the song. Amidst the eurogate kind of sequence in the background, around 0.53 minutes, emerges a sparkling retro sounding track with an appealing beat filled with nice FX effects. I could visualize a nice space voyage kind of setup. The singers deserve a special mention with an interesting mix of C Sathya,Satyan Mahalingam,SS Thaman and the Toronto based Rajeevan Sathyaseelan better known as Tha Prophecy. The female singer brings in a subtle dimension to the song. The electric guitar around 1.50 is neat. The kid’s vocal around 3.10 was unexpected. An energetic start to the album.

2) Vellai Irave

Singers: GV Prakash, Ramya NSK

Lyrics: Dhamayandhi, Tha Prophecy

This song could be easily misunderstood as a Harris Jeyaraj number. With an eclectic mix of soothing guitar strums and breezy vocals, this number is very pleasant to listen. An apt choice of singers makes this song an aural pleasure. The beats are also not heavy and sound melodic. The jazzy romantic saxophone in the first interlude is a stunner. G.V.Prakash starts off in a spectacular fashion. The bass drop has been used to nice effect without affecting the song. Sounds western but addictive. Short and Sweet …

3)Paparappa

Singers: Priyadharshini, T Rajendar

Lyrics: T Rajendar

The album gets a kuthu touch through the ever versatile T Rajendar. It is an outright kuthu number interwoven with a powerful trumpet section and not to forget the tapping beat section.  The track somehow sounds déjà vu reminding a few earlier numbers. The composer however elevates with nice atmospheric pads in the background in the appropriate places.

4)Aazhi Alai (F)

Singer: Vaikom Vijayalakshmi

Lyrics: Satyan Mahalingam

Vaikom Vijayalakshmi brings tears with her affirmative vocals. A soul wrenching number that has all in it to stand amidst the times to come. The composer surprises with this superior composition that has all the elements in right proportions. The lyrics deserve applause as it forms the backbone of this song. The composer shows his mettle here that he can pen the lyrics as well. The clarinet/oboe, woodwinds, strings and harp section in the prelude just overflows with emotion. The string section and the entire arrangement deserve a special mention. The string section easily belongs to the top league like you hear in the compositions of A.R.Rahman and Yuvan Shankar. It is more Yuvan here..  A standout number…Hats off..

5) Pon Vidhi

Singers: Santhosh Narayanan

Lyrics: Subramaniam Nandi

Santhosh Narayan sounds more funky than in his own compositions. This song easily belongs to the 80’s. It is a very innovative number with a great arrangement. Arrangement??? This belongs to the acappella genre with only the singers using their voices to emulate the instruments. A casual listener will easily be fooled by the sound design of the song. It appears and pretends to have a nice beat section with lots of finger snaps, choir pad and bass section. But all are only voices which gives us a intoxicating effect all together. Other composers!!!!!!!! Beware!!!!

6) Aazhi Alai (M)

Singers: Alphonse

Lyrics: Satyan Mahalingam

The same song again makes an appearance but this time with singer Alphonse. The singer infuses a different feel to this song. It is a very difficult song to sing. Very effective.

7) Kolai Vaall

Singers: Sri Charan, Sunandhan, Vijay Antony

Lyrics: Paavendar Bharathidasan, Satyan Mahalingam

The album ends off with another energetic number sung by Sri Charan,Sunandhan and Vijay Antony. It starts off with a nice hip hop rhythm pattern filled with saw pad punches. The rap section and the super saw along with the string sections takes us back to the eighties. The laser kicks along with effective bass arpeggios and the string runs are very nostalgic. This song has been programmed well. It brings back some of the nostalgic early 90’s sound which is very effective. I never knew Vijay Antony could sing this well.

A very interesting debut by the composer Satyan Mahalingam. 

Kudos for giving us a neat album. Wish to hear more diverse arrangements in his future projects.

TIDE - A dream come true!!!

TIDE

I always wondered how one would compose for a movie. Will the dreamy landscapes and the scope it offers to a composer bring the best out of him? Or.....block the natural thought process that flows from his mind and restrict him to the script? 

It works either ways. Sometimes, a challenging script brings the best out of a musician. Inspired by my online friends like Girish Nair, Sunil Malhotra and professionals like Michael Daniels and silverlight2004db, I decided to work on a concept. I always dreamt of creating a sound scape similar to The Bounty. Its a dream. It will be a sin if I say I would like to compose something like Vangelis..Vangelis will kill me...I would not even qualify to utter his name...

But we can always experiment. Now I am going to explain about the numbers how I managed to compose for this album. Since it was based on sea and ocean, I had named it as TIDE.

1. MAIN TITLES

This was composed depicting a sailor's experience on high seas. I am a hardcore fan of Vangelis. I always wanted to create something on the lines of "The Bounty". The beats, CS80V Brass and the ambience were constructed keeping in mind the Closing Titles of the Bounty. The melody line and the orchestration are original but was designed to sound like 80's classic Vangelis number.

2. THE DUEL

A sailor's life is not complete without a duel. This was composed as an orchestral piece with thumping percussion, horn section and a strong string section.

3. DISCOVERY

This one has a nice ambience. Amidst the roaring sea waves, the sailor is lost and he tries to regain his senses, searching for a way out. Like the seeping light in the dark tunnel, he at last finds a distant land..Sea gulls and fauna fill the air.

4. LIGHTNING STRIKES

This was composed as a thrilling orchestral piece depicting a situation where the sailor sets his oars across the ocean against the backdrop of a violent storm and lightning unaware of the impending danger.

5. THE TIDE

When I started composing Main Titles, I also planned to compose an orchestral version of the same with glaring horns and string section. I thoroughly enjoyed this particular piece because of the impact of Edirol Strings. It really sounded like a cheap real symphony orchestra.

6. ROBOTS BLABBER

This was my dream track which was an odd man out from this album. This was conceptualized some 4 to 5 months back when I thought of composing something I hadn't done before. (i.e) using a vocoder/ speech synthesizer. Had to admit that the legendary Kraftwerk was an inspiration behind this track. The inspiration stops at using computerized voices. Rest of the concept is original. It has its own share of funky drum loops with a nice mix of FL Studio's speech synthesizer voices.The bass also plays a good role in this number. This one took me 2 months to finalize. Initially it was planned out with  a different tune, then I tried to sing and process it like a vocoder voice and then top it with electronic score. Then I finally programmed everything in FL Studio. I had not even touched my keyboard for this number.

I hope you all will enjoy. Feedback most welcome. Next will meet with a dreamy spacey soundtrack...

NOSTALGIA: MEMORIES OF A RAHMANIAC

Hi all!!

I am back to blogging, thanks to my pal Suresh Kumar vide his blog
http://www.backgroundscore.com/2011/08/memoirs-of-rahmaniac-19-years-of.html

This made me to revive my blog again after by long haitus..So impressed with his article, I also thought of penning my sweet child hood memories of the 90's. Actually I really couldn't recollect when i started liking his music, but I can remember, when we all went to watch the movie "ROJA" when i was in my V standard.

It was a very different experience alltogether..I thoroughly enjoyed the movie along with my parents and my sister and the next day, I was discussing this movie with my class mates P.R.Suresh and Ravi( I lost touch with them after the school days). The memories of ROJA is still intact with me..the opening search operation in the dense forest (amidst the blue filter), the beautiful songs, the patriotic Arvind Swamy trying to put off the flames on our national flag and the pulsating escape from the terrorist camp.

Luckily my father got a cassette with Roja and Sooriyan and I always used to listen to Roja and I used to skip "Rukkumani" song. While returning from our school, on the way, one of our school teachers had a very good hi fi system and they used to play " Puthu Vellai Mazhai" very frequently..I always used to hear it and i instantly liked the song....though i never knew about A.R.Rahman.. Then came movies like Puthiya Mugam, Gentle man and I enjoyed all the songs especially "Chikku Bukku Railu"..I was mad after the song sans its picturisations..I became a fan of that bearded dancer..

Then my parents took me to the movie "Kizakku Cheemayile"..The song "Vandi Maadu Etu Vachu" was so loud when we entered the theatre, but i really liked the film's music...My real eye opener was KADHALAN..After that movie, I really became a fan of the composer whom my father said " Yaaro A.R.Rahman am...Romba nalla potturukkan"... I really liked the movie and was really terrified by the Sumo sound that was used for the Malli character (late Raguvaran).

His songs in Uzhavan and Kadhal Desam were also huge hits..That was a classic youthful Rahman trying to give earthly ethnic sounding numbers in the former while he gave a modern Rahmanic sound in the latter. I liked all the songs in Uzhavan. "Pennala Pennala, Kaathu Kaathu, Maari Mazha and Kangalil Enna Eeramo" are still deep impregnated in my heart. Recently, when i heard the song "Sara Sara Saara Kaathu" from the movie "Vaagai Sood Vaa-Music: Khibran", I jumped in joy, as the number brought back my nostalgic memories of "Pennala Pennala". Afterall its ARR sound, I still long for it..I miss that old Rahman... What to say about INDIRA?? Wow..Its still fresh...The melodies, "Oda Kaara Maari Muthu, Thoda Thoda, Nila Kaigirathu" still linger fresh in our minds.. As a school boy, I really enjoyed those songs...Those moments will never come back.

After this i became of a fan of ARR..I used to force my parents and I will literally cry for the original cassette whenever his album comes..I used to follow his news and I used to buy magazines that had his slightest mention. I can remember I searched everywhere for the Kungumam magazine (Mr. Romeo movie review) just to find out what the reviewer had mentioned about his music ..My father used to buy cassette and used to play it as a surprise for me..He bought the originals of "Minsara Kanavu", "Uyire" and we used to record assorted songs in the nearby shop (though the end recording quality will always be abysmal).

One of my favourite songs was "Margazhi Poove" from the movie "May Madham". Till date it is my favourite. That freshness in that song, with its amazing prelude full of bird chirps, amazing belltones, flute and saw lead, I loved that song like any thing. It was like energy booster for me..In the afternoon, after the school shift (half a day holiday), I used to run to my home to see "Oliyum Oliyum" in DD. Most of the times, they would telecast the songs from that movie. Even when playing cricket, I would stop to listen to that song..I loved it....All my friends hated that song.... Thiruda Thiruda music just blasted into the scene...I remember falling in love with the songs and I used to get amazed at the sound quality of the songs...I used to get excited at the "warm pad/soft strings", ARR would have used in his songs...I used to enquire one of my friends who played keyboard...What instrument is that??? I always used to get a lame reply...."Athu keyboard da....:-(

Then Rangeela happened...With his one release, ARR dethroned the greats of the industry...Everyone after his success, started to copy the sounds like A.R.Rahman, they tried to sound like the Mozart of Madras but in vain...Even then, good gems like "Khamoshi-Jatin Lalit" kept coming here and there... After falling in love with keyboards, i pressurised my dad to buy me one..He never got me a keyboard..After much persuasion, he bought me a Casio SA-21 keyboard which was more than life for me..Went to keyboard classes to become a A.R.Rahman and quit after 6 months..courtesy tenth exams...Then i started concentrating deeply into music...Rahman churned hit after hit...Whatever he touched, turned into gold.. I loved his Kabhi Na Kabhi. Minsara Kanavu became a monstrous hit, though the movie was a dud..

I really wish, ARR scores for another Bombay and Duet..I read KB was so awe struck by Rahman's compositions, he heaped praises on ARR, and he never failed to mention, that his banner was the first to unearth ARR through "Kavithalaya's ROJA". A.R.Rahman was praised for his mastery in blending the western Sax in his classical compositions. It was probably the only movie where Saxophone was used to the maximum and also liked one portion in the movie, where Prabu will play the old song "Naan Paarthathile" in his sax..and you can find the trademark ARR pad/strings in the background.. No wonder, Duet was one of his best mature scores till date...Iruvar is the best..Bombay was one of the best scores, Indian film industry ever witnessed..The movie and its music became cult classics. The Bombay Theme Music became a global identity of Isai Puyal..It was rated very highly in Western circles.. Kannalane and Uyire songs became huge hits..I also liked the moogish bass driven "Ruk Jao Ruk Jao"..

His northern sounding Kadhalar Dhinam was very good...Then came Sangamam...Man...Gosh!!! Where was this ARR all the time? I first heard "Varaaga Nadhi karai Oram" ...I really don't know how Shankar Mahadevan missed an award...I loved that movie to the core..Such a melodic score..Mazhai Thuli, Muthal murai killi paarthen all became my favourites...I fell in mad with Varaaga Nadhi Karai Oram and Margazhi Thingal songs..His Sowkiyamaa brought back his "Duet" sound as he collaborated with the sax exponent Kadri Gopalnath..

Post Rangeela, I did not listen to his hindi numbers eagerly except for his musically superior albums like "Lagaan, Dil Se, Taal, Legend of Bhagat Singh, Rang De Basanti, Jodha Akbar etc etc...All were classics in their own right. All the movies had good plots and were monstrous hits both commercially and musically. Dil Se   was ARR's entry card to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lagaan had musically superior scores and even had a desi version of the epic "Carmina Burana". Dil Se had great dance numbers and a vintage closing credits. Legend of Bhagat Singh had orchestral magic woven all around it. The symphonic orchestration was mindblowing and RDB and JA were monsters in their own regard. From a synthesizer wizard, Now ARR is more comfortable with live orchestration.

The orchestral capabilities improved big time with each and every release. For a composer who depended heavily on samples and synthesizers in his early period, the late 2000's saw the emergence of a composer who had immense self belief and confidence in dealing with symphony orchestras. Rahman also started composing abroad very frequently. He composed for WOHE, Elizabeth the Golden Age and then Slum Dog Millionaire happened. I personally liked his O'Saya and Dreams on Fire. His musically superior masterpiece Delhi-6 was made a waste with the film bombing at BO.

Couples Retreat and 127 Hours had good musical scores and the musical epic Endhiran topped the international charts for a brief time. The movie went on to become a cult classic. His Pudhiya Manidha didn't click first but captivated the hearts in his re-recording. The symphonic version was used very aptly in the movie. I personally hated the score at first as I was expecting  a pure sci-fi score on the lines of his idol Vangelis' BLADE RUNNER. Anyway the music was a super hit.With VTV and RockStar, he unleased a series of hits to his credit.

But off late, an average fan like me observes that his hit ratio has decreased to a great extent, and the numbers don't linger in our hearts for long.His Rock Star was a great hit. But how many of them remember those songs as some of his hits of early 90's. I am still the same old Rahmaniac who leapt in joy after listening to Rock Star but still yearn for his classic vintage early 90's stuff...

Chariots of Music: The Vangelis Magic

This one scene is enough for my entire life time to state that Vangelis is such a magnificent composer who has brought life to this little clip from his Oscar winning movie "CHARIOTS OF FIRE".

If it was some other composer, they would have employed aggrandized string section and brass section together with hit section. See the beauty of his synthesizer. He steals away the scene...No wonder, our own A.R.Rahman is a great fan of Vangelis.

Its a lesson to any budding musician as how rerecording elevates a scene...
VANGELIS will always remain as an inspiration for me....I am proud to be a Vangelis fan..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfxCcaQQI60

In Love with the Mountains Music by Karl Marx