One song at a time - 30. Thamburu Kulir

(Raveendran Master)

One particular aspect which makes me go listen to a composer often is the way he deals with raagas. To me, the more imaginative the music director is in dealing with a raaga, the more new ideas he is able to showcase, the more respect I have for him. In this regard, Raveendran is one music director for whom I have high regard. He was very good in dealing with various raagas in a very original fashion.

Raveendran ruled the Malayalam film music in the 80s. He has given songs which will always stay with the Malayalis. Songs like 'Harimuraliravam' and 'Pramadavanam' are all time classics now and some of the movies he worked like 'His Highness Abdullah' and 'Bharatham' had his music as their mainstay. Ravenndran's effort is even more laudable for he was in an industry which was quite adept in dealing with Carnatic ragas. Music directors like Dakshinamurthy Swami, Devarjan Master, M G Radhakrishnan et al have dealt wonderfully with various ragas. Raveendran was able to lay a very unique path for himself and gain the adulation of the film goers.

(In the music directors of this generation (including Rahman) I don't see this aspect of trying to show us a new face of the raga. They are all very good in using the standard phrases and coming up with good orchestration, catchy rhythms etc and in ensuring people have an immediate connect. The one music director whom I think has this ability now is Sharath. Again a Malayali.)

Today lets look at one lovely song, from a film called 'Soorya Gayathri'. I did not know the film name when I first heard this song sung by a singing competition contestant. I was stuck by the way the tune changes so well in the charanam and immediately search for more details about the song. This song is a very melodious one. I thought the song was based on Bouli, the morning raga. One web site gave the raga as Revagupthi. (Since I honestly haven't heard Revagupthi enough to distinguish it from Bouli, I would request someone who knows the difference between these two ragas to comment.) Anyway, Raveendran conjures up a wonderful mood in the pallavi itself but the charanam takes the cake. Listen carefully to the first charanam. After the first two lines, when Jesudas goes, "kaatu mulam thandil" observe how the raga color changes. Sheer genius. The overall handling of the ragam is amazing. No surprise that I keep returning to this song often.

I am now going to give you two versions of this song. First the song as sung by Jesudas in the movie:

Now listen to this performance by the singer named Roopa. (I had posted her performance of 'Gangai Karai Mannan' earlier.) I heard the song first time in her voice. I love this version for one reason. The place where I mentioned that raaga changes color is made even more explicit by her in her rendition. I went 'Wow' when I heard it for the first time. Very well sung.