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[N Y MURALI]

Exploring the prowess of Masters Carnatic Classics Part 1.

‘Keylviyin Naayaganey’ The Master Piece from the Master:

I do not know how to start this posting. Let me try so soak myself and pray our master to reveal the truths behind this great master piece.

The song is fundamentally in Carnatic classical style called “ Raagamaligaa”. This involves two or more ragas set for the lyrics. You have to get back to the original raga in which you have set the tune for the pallavi. The transition is very important as it should be cohesive to the over all song.

This is one very rare song in which the Music composer & co, Lyric writer and the director & co have all shown their talent together.

For the benefit of the readers I need to give the story in short to get the real feel of the song and then only the posting can be effectively understood.

‘A young revolutionary thinking man (who lost his mother and taken care by his father) in his early twenties picks up quarrel with his father because of his revolutionary activities. He runs away from home and happens to meet a lady in her late forties who is a renowned Carnatic singer.

Earlier the singer who was cheated in marriage by a man gives birth to a female child. Fearing her image as a renowned Carnatic singe, she grows her female child under the disguise of bringing up an orphan child. The female daughter who now is in her early twenties come to know about the truth and goes away from home.

She incidentally meets the father of the young revolutionary man. Now these two youngsters pick up affection to their respective old opposite gender and want to marry them. They initially resist and try to give advice that this cannot happen but had to give up due to their affection.

Now the father manages to trace his lost son and establishes contact with the old lady. It is then these two youngsters come to know about the relationship that could spell disaster.

So how to close the story with the climax? The untying of the complex relation knots happens by this song.

During one of the meeting recently Mr. K Balachander the director of this movie mentioned about this song. He said he feared that he could not end the climax by way of dialects and hence sort the help from MSV and Kannadasan to help him out by way of this song. He further said they were in Bangalore for the composition of the song (The story of the movie happens in Bangalore during this song). He said he gave the initial line of the pallavi to KD that it should start with a question mark. He in fact hinted the words ‘Keyliviyin naayagane” to KD who accepted and came out with the pallavi starting with those words. He also told that KD suggested 22 charanams and asked KB to select the best suited for the situation. KB said it was a Herculean task for him to choose the best four charnams.

Let us come to the song.
The song starts with a rhythm with mruthangam and gadam combination for about 15 seconds giving the feeling of the kind of emotions going through the mind of all the four parties involved.

Now the pallavi starts as
‘keylviyin naayaganey….
Indha keylvikku badhil yedhaiyaa”

The master composer gives a pause after singing the line
‘keylviyin naayaganey…..
This pause (with a violin counter which sums up the feeling) is to bring the attention of the young man who plays one of the mruthangam for that concert.

And now the singer sings the line
Indha keylvikku badhil yedhaiyaa”. The two lines are repeated again to stress the importance of the words to the young man.

The pallavi and the next two charanams have been tuned in the raga ‘Dharbaari Kaanada’. Why he used that raga? Why not raga “Kaanda”? Go further when we will get the answer. The raga ‘Dharbaari Kaanada’ involves a swaram ‘da1’ (sudha daivasham) which gives the feeling of begging a sort of a kind request. Why should she beg the young man? She could have very well told the young man who proposed the second marriage (that too unconventional to our Indian values) to get out and get last. But the story has been built in such a way that she cares for him and has affection towards him. So she wanted to convey politely by putting a begging request. In fact the line ‘keylviyin naayaganey” lands at the swaram ‘da1’ with a pause gives the feeling of the begging request.

Now come to the first charanam which reads as
“pasuvidam kandru vandhu paal arundhum
kandru paal arundhum podaa kaaLai varum”.

Now with these lines she gives a feeling of self pity ness but at the same time giving lashes to the young man. Now see the lines musically. When the lines comes at ‘paal arundhum’ it goes through the swaram ‘da2’ (sadusrudhi daivadham) which gives the feeling of the self pitiness. In fact the usage of this swaram happens only at this place in the entire ‘dharbari kaanada’ prayogam.

By means of using the ‘da2’ the composer expressed the feel of self pity where as by the sheer power of the words the lyric writer gives the lashes to the young man who now feels hurt.

This is very important line which has been brilliantly presented both by the lyric writer and the music composer. Because the entire song lyric has been set as a series of questions and the answer happens not by words but by actions which the director wants for the climax.

Action no 1:
The young man feels embarrassed, hurt when he hears the word after many descriptions (thaalikku melum oru thaali undaa? etc). The young man walks away from playing the mruthangam once he hears the word
‘kadai eppadi ?
adan mudiveppadi ?”

You could hear the beat of mrudhangam stopping in the song. The singer sings the line again but without the rhythm showing the man walking away and stand in a corner of the dais with tears in his eyes when a solo violin expresses the motion musically.

Action no 2:
Now she stars the pallavi again since one of the mruthangam players still plays with the gadam the song continues with the rhythm.

Now it is only rhythm (thani awarthanam) with the combination of solo mruthangam and gadam for next 34 seconds during which action 2 happens. The lady’s deserted husband now comes back. Standing in the entrance of the balcony he hands over a piece of paper to a small boy to be handed over to the singer who is performing. Other audience would think that he has made a special request for a song. But the deserted husband has sort apology from her for having cheated her and mentions that he is very much there in the theatre to ask for the apology. Having known that her deserted husband is back she starts the second charanam.

The second charanam goes
“Thalaivan thiruchaanur vandhuvittan mangai
dharuma darisanathai they..dugindraal”

Please note here the tune and compare the same with the first line of the first pallavai ‘pasuvidam kandru vandhu’ and you will notice these two first lines are different in melodies highlighting the usage of the swaram ‘da2’(sadusrudhi daivadham) only at the first charanam to infuse the bavam as mentioned above.

Before taking anything further see how beautifully the lyric has been written. KD has used an ‘uvamai’ (comparison) from the story of the ‘Venkateswara and Padmavadhi Thayaar Thirukalyaanam’ to high light the situation.

For the benefit of the readers who are not aware of this story I give the story in brief. The legend goes like when the marriage between Lord Venkateswara and Padmavadhi Thayaar goes on at lower Thirupathi. At that time there was a misunderstanding between the two and Lord walks away in anger and goes above the hill and stationed there. The story goes further that Padmavathy Thaayar still waits for him and that is why we see the Lord Venkateswara atop the hill and Padmavadhy Thayaar at lower plane called ‘Thiruchaanoor’. So the lyric compares that story with this situation as she sings those lines.

As the line goes by, Our master repeats the word “they..dugindraal” 4 times and in each time with an extension of the melody and at the last time with an ‘aalabana’ to represent the feeling of the search. A great idea indeed!

This (i.e the lyic and the repeat ion of the singing of the word) has given the director and the camera man an inspiration and they came out brilliantly with their picturisation.

Let us revisit the second charanam once again and see how the characters are placed.
When you see the picture you would notice that the shooting has been done in a theatre (I think it is in a carnatic saba in Bangalore). There is a dais and the people sitting in the chairs have to look upward to see the dais. As the line of the chairs goes from front to back the altitude increases up to the last row. A typical theatre. There is a balcony above the last few rows. So comparing the altitude the people sitting in the chairs are at the lower plane, the dais still in a higher plane and the people in the balcony at the highest plane.

Now if you notice the balcony where her deserted husband stands is at a higher plane than she sitting in the dais. So the director and the camera man have treated the dais to ‘Thiruchaanoor’ and the Balcony to ‘Tirumala’.

Now as the singer sings and repeats the line word “they..dugindraal” 4 times they camera starts scanning line by line searches sideways in search of the deserted husband. Now the camera represents her eyes. After trying 3 times in vain it makes a sustained search at the fourth times when we hear an ‘aalabana’ the camera zooms on the person when the melody comes to an end.
Now the other lines in the charanam goes like
‘alamelu avan mugathai kanbalo’
‘mangai avanodu thirumalaikku selvalo?

Hear our master repeats the second line but only with the word ‘selvalo …? Selvalo.” expressing her emotion of reunion with her husband.

Precursor to Action no 3:
This is the reunion of the mother and the young girl who went away from her in anger.
Hear comes the director’s skill arranging the sequence in the order appropriate. Let me explain that.
As the singer finishes the second charanam and comes back to pallavi
‘keylviyin naayaganey ‘ because of the emotion of seeing her husband that too in pitiable condition she could not continue the song she chokes after the line

‘Indha keylvikku……’ .

Hear our master steps in his own creative ideas. As she chokes the mruthangam and gadam players reminds her of her responsibilities by playing the rhythm differently. She tries again by singing
‘keylviyin naayaganey ‘
‘Indha keylvikku……’ .

Again the mruthangam and gadam players remind her but in vain.

Her daughter picks up the thread where she left by singing
“badhil yedhaiyaa”.
(This is when most of us would get socked in emotion and has tears in our eyes-guaranteed).

As she is singing she walks up to the dais and sits beside her mother.
Now both of them together sing the pallavi as the real Action 3 takes place.

I mentioned before how the director set the action sequence in order pf appropriate. He could have very well made the reunion of daughter and mother sequence before the husband’s episode. But this sequencing helped him by bring the daughter to sing.

Action No 3:
Now the ‘Ragamaliga’ effect takes shape as the melody changes from the raga ‘Dharbaari Kaanada’ to the raga ‘Hamsanaadham’ with a solo violin piece which shows the color of the raga.

Hear comes some important information. Why should our master use this raga and not other raga? Incidental? Well it may be true. But some very strange facts have emerged from this.

Once about 6 months ago I was reading a book about Carnatic ragas. The book contained some articles in which there were description of some ragas and what bhavam those ragas present. Hamsanaadham was one of the raga described and it was mentioned that this raga gives the effect of ‘speed’ or say ‘fast pace’ (it was written in Tamil and the word mentioned was ‘viru viruppu thanmaiyai tharum ragam).

Now with this information see how the tempo of the melody was set in when hear the third charanam in this raga.

Mother: ‘oru kannum maru kannum paarthu kondaal….?’
Daughter: ‘paarthu kondaal….?’
Mother: ‘avai ondrodu ondru sollum seyidi enna ah …?’
Look at the pace of the entire 3rd charanam which goes like a Shadapti Express.

OK. The melody is set in a fast tempo. But why fast tempo? I wanted to find an answer for that also. As far as I could conceive my perception is

Generally the male releases their emotions then and there. But female are not like that. They normally suppress their emotions. But when they release it is the suppressed emotions flow like a river. If you compare revealed male emotions to the speed of the river Ganga at Rishikesh the female emotions is like at Haridwar. If anyone wants to feel that go to Haridwar and take a dip at river Ganga.

In the same way in the song situation the two female characters who met each other allowing their emotions to run like the river Ganga at Haridwar.

Now tell me whether the usage of the raga Hamsanaadham is appropriate or not?
(I understand that this is the first appearance for Smt. B S Sasireka. She matched line to line with Smt. Vani Jayaram).

The entire charanam is sort of a question and answer unlike the other charanams which has questions and the answers are all in actions.

Look at some of the questions the mother puts to her daughter

‘kanne un kaalam sendra kadai enna…?’

Whenever our master composes he uses the swarams (either ri, ma, da, ni etc) for suspense (‘thokki nirkkum thanmai) and uses the swarams (either sa or pa) for the next line emphatic completion.

(Example is the song
‘mouname jaadaiyaai oru paattu paada vendum’ in which he sustains the word ‘vendum; with the swaram ‘ri’ and in the next line
‘naaname paarvaiyai oru vaarthai pesa vendum’. Hear for the same vendum he is emphatically completes it with the swaram ‘sa’.)

Hear also he adopts the same method. The line
‘kanne un kaalam sendra kadai enna…?’ ends with the swaram ‘ni2’ in the raga Hamsanaadham.

The answer comes in the next line

‘unnai kaana pizhaithirundhen veru enna.” Which ends with the swaram ‘sa’.

Now the next line.

‘udal eppadi..?’
‘munbu irundharpadi.’. Same technique.

The closing lines of the charanam.
‘manam eppadi……?’

Here the greatness of KD is shown. He could have very well asked ‘manam eppadi’ and then ‘udal eppadi’. But KD knowing the human psychology knows that once the body is healthy then the thinking has to be healthy. So by arranging the lines in that way the mother gets the answer she wants. The daughter replies

‘nee virumbum vazhi.’

Here see how our master played his part of genius. The line
‘manam eppadi……?’ ends with the swaram ‘ma2’ (pradhi madyamam) on a higher octave (uchha sthayi) which shows the importance of her question and the same technique of the suspense he adopts.

The daughter’s answer is even shriller as she sings the line
‘nee virumbum vazhi.’
She goes to the upper ‘pa’ (the normal limit of human voice) and thus our master has emphatically solved the problem of the story with the higher ‘pa’ (panchamam).

Action 4:
Now as most of the complex problem solved there only one left. That is the reunion of the son with is father.

Hear again the combination of the lyric writer, composer and the director & co came up with a brilliant idea.

Now see the lyric.

‘pazhani malayil ulla vel muruga
sivan pallandu yengivittaan vaa muruga’.

Again the ‘uvamai’ of Lord Murugan’s story when he goes away from his father.
Again the director using the altitude of the theatre to give visual effect. Until this charanam the young man who stopped playing the mruthangam was standing in the corner of the dias until this line is sung. So the son who is standing on the dais is at a higher altitude compared to his father who is sitting in the front row which is the lower plane.

He looks at the singer when she finished the line and obliges when she sings the second time by climbing down from the dais.

As a walks he hesitates a little as his ego does not allow him to do so.

The singer goes to the next line
‘pidivaadham thannai vidu thiru muruga konjam
piriyathudam pakkathirumuruga’.

Compelling him with a request (you have to see the bhavam when she sings ‘pidivaadahma thannai vidu’) he goes to the seat next to his father’s and sits there.
There ends the climax.

But our master did not end there. He continues
‘piriyathudam pakkathirumuruga’
‘thirumuruga’
‘vel muruga………………’
The master has completed the word ‘vel muruga………………’ in higher ‘pa’ (panchamam) which is emphatic completion.

Look at the lyric play by KD.
The word ‘pakkathirumuruga’ can be pronounced in 2 ways. That is ‘paaka thirumuruga’ and ‘pakkathu iru muruga’.

Our master completed the last charanam with the raga madhyamavathi. Why ? Of course many of knows a typical Carnatic Katcheri ends with the raga madhyamavathi. But I wanted to know why people use raga madhyamavathi for the last song of a katcheri. I was searching for the details. Luckily I got the answer from the same book I refereed to earlier. It is mentioned in that book that each raga contains a melody which creates some sort of vibrations. Some may be good and some may be bad. Each raga expresses a bhavam or emotions. For instance a raga mohanam expresses happiness the other raga ‘muhari’ expresses crying. For some of the ragas there are some effects. For instance if you sing the raga ‘Aagiri’ you wont get food for that day. Some ragas can be sung in morning time (example Boopalam). Some ragas has to be sung only in the evening(example Vasantha). Most of us would have heard the song from the movie ‘Sampoorna Raamayanam’ in which these details comes.

Now coming to the point about the raga madhyamavathi what is the character of that raga. The book mentions that this raga has the tendency to remove the ill effects generated. That is ‘Raga Dosha Nivardhini’. That is why this raga is called as ‘MangaLA Raga’. So when Carnatic musicians who happen to sing many ragas in the katcheri complete the performance with this raga. ‘Raga Dosha Nivardhini’.


This suits well for the movie also. Because the young man and the girls proposes to their elders who happened to be their opposite parents have inadvertently created a ‘dosham’ and the raga madhyamavadhi settles the same in the right way.

Does our master knowingly kept the raga madhyamavathi in mind about these finer details in mind. If you ask him pointing these details he would show us his finger upwards towards the heaven which is very true.
The fact that it came from heaven holds true because it had all the natural characters in it. Because in the entire song he comes back to the pallavi after every charanam. But not when madhyamavathi charanam happens. He stops with madhyamavathi.

No better explanation can be given to prove that it came to him from the creative god. Once the situation is briefed to him he gets soaked in emotion and submits himself to the creative god. He ceases to be M S VISWANATHAN THE COMPOSER THE MELLISAI MANNAR etc etc. His ego is gone. In that trance mood creative god offers him the ideas and he presents it to the director, lyric director etc. it is up to them to accept it or reject it. He does not impose. If it is rejected he offers another one which also comes from the creative god. Once accepted the same creative god helps him to polish like a typical sculptor chisels out the sculpture.

Compare this with the idea of composing with a set theory in composing. Those do not gel together. The idea like ‘Aaarohanam’ (upwards directions of swara arrangements) etc etc can be novel. But they hardly express emotions like this.

You have to allow yourself to the creative god and only look as the recipient. The product would be like a natural mango which blossoms from a flower, becomes a mango ripens at the right time. That natural mango will sell on its own. It does not require push.

Whereas a mango juice which is again made up from the natural mango need to be bottled, labeled, branded, advertised, pushed and monitored. As long as the brand value remains it sells. When a new more powerful brand comes with a better technology and brand value it loses out. A bitter loser indeed!

Finally to conclude, I never thought I could write so much of this about a single song in which our master has composed in a classical Carnatic style. I myself have mentioned that in the case of Carnatic classical style Mama Scores better.

But this is one of the songs which showed many values. There could be many. Let us see one by one.

Regards,

N Y MURALI

[madhuraman]

Dear Mr. Murali,

Though a subjective assertion, the current posting of yours is easily the best. It is full of spirit-kindling expressions based on how you enjoyed each syllable in word or note.
Even more revealing was your inevitable submission to MSV's mastery over 'Ragas', for, not long ago you had made emphatic analyses of 'Chords approach' for composing songs. Infact, that won you the title "Chords Mama" from no less an analyst of the stature of Mr.Vatsan. Ironically, at one stage Mr.Vatsan endorsed of your insight into studying MSV.
The conclusion from these instances could be that MSV is simultaneously multifaceted and the facets keep changing in hue and confluence with just no jerk in form or presentation.

I am proud of the analysts of a forum that I am associatted with and simultaneously sad of my poverty in thought and music concepts and nuances though sadly I also attempt to write things shamelessly. I honestly feel sad of my poor pieces that have eroded into your precious time. Hope friends do not hesitate to pardon me for all this.
May God Lavishly Bless you All.

warm regards Prof.K.Raman Madurai.
_________________
Prof. K. Raman
Mumbai

[msvramki]

Dear Murali,

What a writeup ! Fantastic !

Every atom of bhava that was conveyed musically by Sri MSV in every millimeter of the song is expressed so beautifully by you !

How neatly it matches with the text book meaning of Ragas expressing different emotions !

I bet MSV would be last one in the human race to get to know of the existence of such a book , leave aside his 'patience' to read and understand the book, if at all he had got one and read !!!!

As you have rightly said, the Isai Pravaaham that is showered on Him by the Ultimate make him give like this and there is definitely no other explanation for creation of such an emotion packed song !

You deserve a DOCTORATE from MSVTIMES.COM for coming out with such an analysis !

But don't stop with this - there is huge ocean waiting for your plunge !

All the best
Ramki
_________________
isaiyin innoru peyar thaan emmessvee.

[Vatsan]

NY Mama, the emotional content of the song laid threadbare is all I can say. Personally was not aware of such intricate dynamics interlaced within the song. I will need to hear the song once more to appreciate MSV's class and high quality of your atomic analysis. In any case, I could feel the emotional highs, lows, sudden spurts, juggles, questioning prods musically expressed, through your writing.

Choice of appropriate ragas is an eye-opener, especially the Hamsanadam and the Madhyamavati pieces. Truly spirited Hamsanadam, statement making, full of declarations and intense prods and great observations on your part as well. Good stuff !!!!

Now, really, I cannot imagine any award committee that can empathize with the protagonists in this song, their whims and the emotional burden each character carries in this situational song. Certainly cannot imagine how each and every letter in the lyric has been awarded the most befitting musical phrase with reference to the context, and how these have been strung together by this reservoir of swarams and phrases dripping with feelings, somebody by the name MSV !!!!

Had MSV tuned the song in ABCFDW-Kurunji the 74.5th Melakartha, with the first 2 stanzas in the aarohanam and the next 2 stanzas in the avarohanam of !@#@#-Varali (the 80.2nd Melakartha) he certainly would have been showered with encomiums and National awards. Moreover, MSV would have had to score tunes that resemble dried leaves run over by a mad man fleeing from an asylum, completely broken up, dislocated , much like a spurious pop-corn of musical phrases. MSV's "inability" in this regard pleases the musical Gods more than the award committee