WHAT IS INDIAN SYMPHONY AND WHY IS THIRUVASAKAM IN SYMPHONY SPECIAL THAN OTHER FUSION MUSIC

COMPOSITIONS?

MODERN MUSIC THOUGHTS IN MAESTRO ILAIYARAAJA

“If you are patient enough to read you may learn a lot I guess”

First of all Indian music’s foundations are horizontal structures called melody. Since it concentrates on melody alone enormous experiments were conducted by

many generations, before several unknown centuries, to build up melodic systems and its usage. Western music’s specialty is it’s vertical structures, the harmony but also involves melody. The melody the west uses is different from the Indian melody because of the usage of scales and tones. Though the Indian musicians felt the harmony by mind while they created melodic compositions, they didn’t try to introduce harmony into their music systems and just concentrated on making the

melodic usage more and more complex in its content and easier in its usage and understanding. There are certain ways and methods of music education by which

Indian music education can be learnt in a decade but the to what extent is always a doubt because it has formatted a system for itself which includes all natural sound

substances available in nature (which our ear hears) whereas the west operates on fixed sounds following an uniquely accepted music system all over the world “The

chromatic scale system”. Though music is periodic and involves octaves (stayi), the number of scales (ragas) experimented by many folks is unimaginable and almost the Indian music grammar covers almost all harmonic contents of tones. For example the “Moving tones”(Gamakkam) where different types of shaking the fixed note (in relation to chromatic) takes place where different additions and omissions of harmonic contents may result in different ragas. Infact the truth is Melody is made up of harmony. Harmony is the mother of melody. The melody and harmony are inseparable. It’s a very tough concept to understand but it’s the truth.

Astounding!!! And that’s why to master Indian music it will take almost 3/4th of your life. Not only this there are many more complex rules, which minutely makes

one raga different from other raga. For example the ascending and descending of scales (arohanam and avarohanam). The universal pentatonic scale is referred to

“raga mohanam in Indian music” but to say the truth its different because of some more minute melodic (harmonic) details which chromatic fails to give. Many more

complex rules govern Indian classical music system. As how difficult it’s to perform a grand symphony, it’s very very hard to become a genius in Indian classical

music. Indian classical music is mastered by pundits who will always hesitate to enter the western classical domain as its one another tough music system. One can

hardly point out music composers who are really really into both classical music domains. Maestro Ilaiyaraaja is therefore ahead of all music composers. Western

classical composition and making grand symphony needs brainwork to harmonize the contents in brain and write as score. Mastering Indian classical to the

maximum possible extent are not possible in ones life time of 80 years. Ilaiyaraaja has achieved this in 50 years. “Mel harmony by Ravikiran is great work left for

humanity but still I doubt if Maestro Ravikiran can handle his own western classical symphonic composition and orchestration. Besides these Ilaiyaraaja has almost

touched all parts of the world either jazz, blues, souls, Chinese or German folk all in his film scores.

His non-film albums like “chamber welcomes thiagarajar” is a blow for “Western classical musicians who believe that their music system is the greatest as the notes

played in the composition will make one think if its fixed note or a moving note”. To say one more truth, the absolute pitch musicians don’t play the perfect pitch in

reality. The vibrato which our ear like = absolute pitch+ a slight deviation from absolute pitch. If this slight deviation is not there, we wont like the sound. We like

string effect. What happens in a string section of orchestra? Each string player play notes slightly deviating from the note on the score sheet. All these random pitch

variations add up causing the effect, making us feel the great sound. So its not the argument that we humans like big sounds.

Mozart I love you is based on an assumption if “Mozart plays kalyani rag, I guess. Not sure of it. Watch the mathematical musician Bach playing moving notes.

“I met Bach in his house” is a fusion of Indian rag with Bach’s compositions.

Hear “You can't be free” and just you could not believe how Indian tones are harmonized with fixed tonal system. Listen how he tries to avoid fixed notes in weak

accented beats thereby intelligently succeeds in harmonizing the raga with a string quartet. He introduces silence where fixed note can’t be harmonized with moving

note (the gammkam)

“Song of the soul” is an Indian classical jazz-fusion.

The exceptional music composer’s compositions have gone unnoticed. The Illaiyaraja Grand symphony 1 is not released and the reason should be the attitude of

Western classical musicians who could not hear anything other than that tones fixed in the London music conference, May 1939.

I hope folks can now understand who is Ilaiyaraaja and why he is special. There are many in the world that could write music by mind but most of them would be

fixed note specialists. Ask them to write an Asian classical-Western classical fusion, they could not as what they believe as music is that 12 notes and that’s it.

Ilaiyaraaja can write for a total western classical orchestra and also for a fusion orchestra, which means all natural sounds, can be represented on sheet by his mind.

Do you now feel the difference?

If you ask a question “Friend!! Many have did fusion music; my reply would be “sir! Most of the fusion would be fusion of either American and German or Russian

and French all of which are based on fixed tonal system, which is of course quite possible if you could understand the music culture of both domains but this is a

fusion of entirely different systems, which are strongly experimented in the past. Fusing folk with a classical system is great but also not as challenging as this

“thiruvaskam in symphony” does as folk music is not much experimented with much grammatical expectations”. You are free to compose the way you want. You are

free to mould the music, twist it the way you want. Western classical and blues, jazz-fusion is also kindred.

To me Ilaiyaraaja is the world’s best Composer because I think this way: What if Tamil is the world’s highly spoken language and Tamil culture is widely followed

on earth. Mr.Thanikachalam is not going to say Mozart as the best composer and Mr.Parthasarathy is not going to mention “The Beatles music troupe”.

Ilaiyaraaja is the single sole man (not a music band of 4) who does all by himself from composition, arrangement, conducting to sometime even sitting in the console

mixing tracks. His ideas ranges from Indian, western, American to computer music. If you could then argue there will be more competition and more talents, if Tamil

becomes world’s highly used culture, I can take India musicians into account. Nobody in India has satisfied common man, Indian pundits and foreign pundits at the

same time. Give me one great example I will accept my argument and surrender. But unfortunately you can’t even mention one such composer other than ilaiyaraaja

and therefore my argument is proved. Ilaiyaraaja should be seen from different points to understand his genius. He is a special composer of our age and we are

failing to give him the right acknowledgement. For me stevie wonder is great composer and singer and I love his voice in “I just want to say I love you” but my

culture want “yengae sellum indha padai” the maestro’s trademark voice in me. I’m from Indian culture and who is “Schubert for tom”, so is Ilaiyaraaja for

me. Even if you throw out the culture discussion, 900 movies in a span of 25 years. All are not one and a half hour movies but 3 hours. All done in 3 to 10 days

time. Neither Beethoven, Neither Michael Jackson, Neither Beatles, Neither Elvis Presley, James Horner could accomplish this. Leave out our local music

composers; they haven’t touched all classical domains in the world. Don’t bring the old film works inspired by world musicians, which are few in number. That old

ilaiyaraaja is gone before 20 years. Who is ilaiyaraaja now? How did he turn himself to a music colossus?

Ask a foreigner what is Indian music? He replies so naively “sitar and tabla music”. I don’t blame the genius of Ravi Shankar or zakir Hussein. Many argue that

they were the musians who took our music to foreign. My answer to them is “No”. They didn’t take our music to them but they created a “Curiosity in foreigners

about Indian music”. A theoretical explanation before a raga concert in “Ohio concert hall” will never make a foreigner understand our music but a practical

composition made like thiruvasakam in symphony or “you can’t be free” or “study for violin” will achieve it. Those compositions haven’t reached even

Indians and that’s because we are poor souls to acknowledge great composers but future will certainly hail Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s compositions. May be after a

century.