More on Music

Today I was watching Sudha Raghunathan on jaya TV’s Maarkazhi Utchavam. Like many other s from the Carnatic fraternity, she was asserting with great pride and conviction that Carnatic Music will remain the same forever.

Can’t help pondering if Carnatic Music will ‘remain’ if it remains the same. Why is there is such resistance for change? Why do the songs have to be in a language alien to the common man? I can understand that there will be intricacies beyond the comprehension of non-experts but why should even the language be far removed from the ground. There are so many laymen like me, who are willing to listen to vocal music, even if we can’t understand ragas behind it, if only we can understand the lyrics.

Cricket evolved from a ‘gentleman’s game’ to the common man’s religion only after efforts were made to reach the common man through shorter version of the game. Otherwise the game could have died a slow death.

Hope Carnatic Musicians learn this before it is too late.

I am sure there is no dearth of Tamil poets who can compose lyrics within the boundaries of Carnatic Music and probably even extend the boundaries. The subject of music need not be restricted to God and spirituality. There is more to music than just God. Love, society, nature,….

May the music flow…

Illayaraja..thiruvasagam

I am not a music freak. Music is not an integral part of my daily routine.
I am not relegious. Hymns hardly move me.
Nevertheless Thiruvasagam is running non-stop on my laptop for the last 24 hours. It is nothing short of a miracle. A musical marvel. Madhipariya Manickam.
Illayaraja dreams of achieving immortality with this rendition. It is not a wayward dream.

Last when I was glued to the music system, was when I listened to Raja’s Bharathi. I thought that was his best. This is even better.

If a godless creature like me can see the divinity in his music, I can imagine the tears flowing down the eyes of the profusely pious. It is bliss.

This just goes on to show that given great lyrics, Raja can transcend to a different level. It is a pity that he has got nothing better than the Vaalis and GangaiAmarans for the most part of his musical journey. It is a pity that he fell out with Vairamuthu, when both of them were at the zenith of their skills.

Now that Bharathi and Thiruvasagam have shown him a path, tread often by others awfully, but transformed into a terrific terrain by Raja, he should bring out the hidden gems of Tamil literature in a way only he can do.

Immortality guarenteed. For the lyrics and the music.