One Song at a time: 44. Aayiram Paadasarangal
(Devarajan)
An important aspect for which music is used in films is to create a 'mood'. While most of the time, the mood is an emotional one, sometimes a temporal mood is sought to be created. Our classical music has mapping of ragas to both emotional moods and temporal moods. By temporal mood, I mean the ragas ability to evoke images of a particular time of day.
For me, this mapping has been problematic. I believe lot of this mapping is culture specific and in many cases your mapping may not agree with the traditional mapping. For example, no one would have a problem if Subhapanthuvarali is mapped to sadness. But to what mood would you map Kalyani or Thodi? Many say Bhairavi is a raga of sadness but I find it one of joy. S.R.Janakiraman, after singing a Mukhari song asks, "Where is the sadness in this?" He was referring to the oft repeated assertion that Mukhari is only fit for crying!!
If emotional mapping can be so problematic, you can be sure the temporal mapping is even more problematic. Ofcourse, we all know that ragas like Bowli and Bhoopalam immediately conjure the images of dawn in our minds but beyond them, there isn't much!! Hindustani music has a time to raga mapping which is quite strictly adhered to by most performers . Does the said raga actually evokes the time of day. I am not convinced. For example, I always associate Hamir Kalyani with the period just before dawn. (Maybe it is due to 'thoomani maadathu') My mother also feels the same. If I am not mistaken, this is an evening melody in Hindustani music.
Film songs of yesteryears mostly strive to get the emotional aspect correct but there are quite a few songs which try to evoke the temporal aspect. Some examples that come to mind include Sathyam's two superb compositions, 'thellavaraka munde' and 'tholi sandhya velalo' both of which take you to a seashore when the sun is just rising, Shankar Jaikshen's wonderful, 'yeh shaam ki tanhaiyan' which evokes the dusk hour, S D Burman's 'chand phir nikla' which evokes the early part of the night. To this I would add the song we will hear today, Devarajan Master's 'aayiram paadasarangal' from the movie 'Nadhi', which evokes a late night mood.
Devarajan Master was the uncrowned king amongst the Malayalam music directors during the late 60s and the 70s. He has given many many hits which have become part of Kerala culture. (The first song of his I heard was in post graduate days. 'chakravarthini ninakku ngyan' which is a very popular song. ) Devarajan used many ragas with his own stamp on them and created delectable melodies. In this particular song, he uses 'Darbari Kanada' to create the night mood. Right from the start the orchestration builds up the ambiance nicely. Jesudas's ringing voice at his prime, clinging to the sruthi, adds beauty to this atmospheric melody. One of the songs where the melody and the picturization match up very well.
Whichever time of the day you are hearing it, Devarajan Master will take you deep into the night.
Comments
I can understand those two songs coming to your mind. I think the song which is in the same spirit as 'aayiram padasarangal' is 'kalyana then nila' which also gives us a late evening ambiance.
Superb comment. I like your interpretation Bhoopalam and Malayamarutham.
"Hence, one can adhere to timings as well as come out of them as long as the beauty of the raga is not damaged."
Excellently put. I fully agree with you on this.
I agree with your issue of mapping problems. I think it is a science by itself. Imagine, Bhairavi is sadness for few while it is devotion for few others. I always associated Kalyani is festivity and traditional celebrations, although I cannot quote the example through which my brain mapped that raaga to those emotions. For many Sivaranjani is sadness (oh my wife dislikes this raaga a lot :-)), which i agree, going by the aarohana-avarohana but at the same time, i feel that it can be presented in a non-sad way.
And in this song, did you feel "night" mood because of the arrangements (in many cases, I think it is the arrangements that add to the desired effect rather than tune, unless the tune is very Peelu/Ahir Bhairavi etc oriented; there are exceptions).
Very nice one.Keep them coming.
cheers,madhu
Oh, No! Why she dislikes Shivaranjani? If it were so, then what about Revati (Hindustani-Bairaagi)? Ghantasala in his Bandipotu film changed this notion and tuned 'Vagala Raanivi Neeve' in Shivaranjani only as a teasing song. While MSV did first for 'Naan', Kodandapani restructured the duet song to 'chaladaa ee chotu' (Nenante Nene), another good example of Shivaranjani. When MSV did 'ee teega puvvunu ee komma tetini' (Maro Charitra) in Revati, its Hindi version (tere mere beech me) fell in the hands of Shivaranjani. Both are for Happy moody fellows.
Suresh, sorry for the u-turn from darbari to shivaranjani.
This is no U-turn. It is a lovely discussion. Afterall we are talking about raagas and the mood they create. I am sure Kamal will be happy to show these examples to his wife and change her opinion :)
There are very few instances where she likes Sivaranjani - when it is masked! :-) She feels even Tere Mere Beech (Beach :-) ) mein also reeks some sadness, which I dont contest - because I admit I dont like that song myself. She however likes "Abbanee Theeyyani Dhebba", Ilaiyaraaja's sivaranjani (which I dont like again - I rate his Vaa Vaa anbe Anbe higher than that - but my wife find Va Va Anbe sad again). Perceptions :-)
But my wife spooked out on the sivaranjani traces in "Kanulu Kanulanu Dochaayante" (ARR's Thiruda Thiruda)!
I presume her aversion towards Sivaranjani is because our composers have done it to death with all Sad songs (Dost Dost na Raha, Jaane Kahan Gaye woh din etc). Also because of the way the raaga sends vibes.
Not sure about Bairaagi - never had a discussion about that raaga till now. need to explore.
What a lovely post. Excellent examples as well. Infact I was planning to feature a couple of these songs in my blog. 'jummandi naadam' for sure. You can expect that in the near future.
Thanks again for your wonderful comment.
I also read with interest all the comments.I am surprised that Kamal did not mention 'Adi Aaathadi'for Shivaranjani.
And that Revati/Bhargi Bhairav discussion also makes no mention of Raaja's wonderful revatis.I request Mr.Venugopal to listen to 'Kanavu Ondru Thondruthe', 'Soolam' 'Amma azhage' and the 'Kazhugu' theme.
Nice comments which can provoke a good discussion. On my part, I like a lot of Devarajan's songs other than this. I haven't heard much of Madhuri's song though I know she has sung a lot for him. My favorites have more been the songs he gave to Jesudas, Susheela and Leela. That he is a musical legend in Kerala cannot be denied. But I agree with you that musical tastes can also differ.
Excellent examples of Shivaranjani and Revathi. All those songs are amazing songs.
Yesudas - as usual - is flawless.
And thanks for 'sangamam' song. Lovely one.