Shamitabh | Maestro | Amitabh | Dhanush | Balki | P. C. Sreeram

[rajaramsgi]

the Shamitabh audio release function was an absolute damp squib - that was not how IR's genius ought to have been showcased to the mumbai film industry.

neither Amitabh (despite his very dignified presence) nor Rajini seemed to have even remotely grasped what IR has done in their own films - Kamal repeated the Hey Ram story ad nauseam!

I was not impressed either. Though Amitabh had less working experience with Raja sir, he spoke better in a nice accent compared to the USELESS inputs given by Rajini and Kamal. Did you guys see Dhoni, Ulavacharu Briyani and Sri Ramajeyam audio releases? Telugu film industry never misses any opportunity to honor our man.

[JamesDap]

Having briefly topped the I Tunes album charts, Shamitabh is still at no.4 and Piddly is at no.8 on the songs chart. Can't say I expected this, notwithstanding the success of the NEPV and Megha albums, given that this is a Bollywood album.

https://www.apple.com/in/itunes/charts/songs/

https://www.apple.com/in/itunes/charts/albums/

[irir123]

rajaramsgi - even those functions were singing eulogies of IR without going in-depth about why and how IR's music is special.

It is IR's strange situation that his music defies the generic 'aahaa oho' appreciation and deserves a more deeper scope in its need for exploration - which the Indian film industry is incapable of doing IMHO

[SVN]

irir123,
Agree. We either eulogize en masse or don't say anything relevant at all.

There's a real dearth of personalities who can express any deep appreciation for an MD's musical output. After Balu Mahendra, perhaps the last man standing is Mahendran, who can express their appreciation of the nuances.

Ironically, the actors in Indian film industry are one of the worst when it comes to communication skills/ public speaking. Even the so-called intelligent actors like Kamal seem to come with zero preparation when they are invited to events. Have you watched George Clooney in some events where he is giving an impromptu speech?

Even on TV/ reality shows, hardly any one is able to talk beyond simple expressions like, 'Super music', 'touching music', 'semma beattu', 'ayyo, chaance illai'..

[Hulkster]

Long time no see everybody! Ignoring the audio function, the songs have evoked different type of responses from many fans.

I was listening to the songs on youtube and when i looked at the comment box, you can see some fans berate thalaivar for composing using synth, techno etc and some who believe he is only composing such songs to reach to the younger generation and normally never deals with such "music". It is quite interesting as thalaivar is one of very few and rare composers who have fans catered to different sides of his output such as one group who purely prefer his simple and soulful melodies, one that loves his use of western classical music especially strings, one that loves the way he experiments with raagams in his songs and many more.

Personally i love the way he composes where regardless of what kind of instrument or genre he uses, they always sound like they are brought up in the thalaivar way. To quote, just listen to the single interlude that comes in the Lifebuoy song. The rhythm and the beats are far from the usual mish-mash of sounds most composers use for such electric/techno genres and thalaivar highlights a simple and addictive melodic rhythm interlaced by techno beats before the techno beats change into a more vibrant mixture of rapid drum beats. This can be easily replaced by a celtic violin, tabla and conga drum yet none of us will notice the difference because they are all members of the thalaivar genre.

Thalaivar has basically shown the past, present and future music composers that it does not matter whether he is using thavil, synthesizer, electric guitar, veenai or sound samples. All forms and instruments of music will adapt to the thalaivar genre as long as they can play seven notes. If his critics had any doubts about his style of composition or his adaptation to various genres of music, this is one big middle finger to all of them. Best still, he composed this hugely complicated album in 45 minutes. Goodness gracious me. They should just ban him from composing music since he is making the english and tamil dictionary run out of superlatives to describe him.

Oh and my favourite song from this album is Lifebuoy. Short but stunning

[irir123]

irir123,
Agree. We either eulogize en masse or don't say anything relevant at all.

There's a real dearth of personalities who can express any deep appreciation for an MD's musical output. After Balu Mahendra, perhaps the last man standing is Mahendran, who can express their appreciation of the nuances.

Ironically, the actors in Indian film industry are one of the worst when it comes to communication skills/ public speaking. Even the so-called intelligent actors like Kamal seem to come with zero preparation when they are invited to events. Have you watched George Clooney in some events where he is giving an impromptu speech?

Even on TV/ reality shows, hardly any one is able to talk beyond simple expressions like, 'Super music', 'touching music', 'semma beattu', 'ayyo, chaance illai'..

I have a sneaking suspicion bordering on conviction that Kamal is very much capable of articulating about IR much better than what he is doing now - but is restraining himself for reasons only known to him. Gautam Menon, Mysskin & Bala (to some extent) come across as the other directors who are capable of speaking about IR's music much better than most others.

As for the others, even Bharathiraja is incapable of speaking abt IR's music the way it deserves to be spoken about; Mani Rathnam is all 'vazha vazhaa kozha kozhaa' - I or any other decent IRfan can speak much better abt IR's music impact in Geethanjali or Nayagan, than MR can.

[JamesDap]

Long time no see everybody! Ignoring the audio function, the songs have evoked different type of responses from many fans.

I was listening to the songs on youtube and when i looked at the comment box, you can see some fans berate thalaivar for composing using synth, techno etc and some who believe he is only composing such songs to reach to the younger generation and normally never deals with such "music". It is quite interesting as thalaivar is one of very few and rare composers who have fans catered to different sides of his output such as one group who purely prefer his simple and soulful melodies, one that loves his use of western classical music especially strings, one that loves the way he experiments with raagams in his songs and many more.

Personally i love the way he composes where regardless of what kind of instrument or genre he uses, they always sound like they are brought up in the thalaivar way. To quote, just listen to the single interlude that comes in the Lifebuoy song. The rhythm and the beats are far from the usual mish-mash of sounds most composers use for such electric/techno genres and thalaivar highlights a simple and addictive melodic rhythm interlaced by techno beats before the techno beats change into a more vibrant mixture of rapid drum beats. This can be easily replaced by a celtic violin, tabla and conga drum yet none of us will notice the difference because they are all members of the thalaivar genre.

Thalaivar has basically shown the past, present and future music composers that it does not matter whether he is using thavil, synthesizer, electric guitar, veenai or sound samples. All forms and instruments of music will adapt to the thalaivar genre as long as they can play seven notes. If his critics had any doubts about his style of composition or his adaptation to various genres of music, this is one big middle finger to all of them. Best still, he composed this hugely complicated album in 45 minutes. Goodness gracious me. They should just ban him from composing music since he is making the english and tamil dictionary run out of superlatives to describe him.

Oh and my favourite song from this album is Lifebuoy. Short but stunning

Well, there's a good reason for the catering to the youth argument. IR himself used to lament how easy composition had apparently become with the advent of computer technology. Even as late as 2012, he told an audience that the violin is a very difficult instrument and nobody wants to take it up when all it would take is pushing a few buttons on the keyboard to win accolades (even imitating the words used in music reality shows like "unbelievable"/"fantastic"). Dripping with sarcasm, in short. I am not sure how much his own rhetoric would have resonated with the IR who composed the title track of Vikram. He had boxed himself into a bit of an elitist corner. This album MAY be an indication that he is coming out of it. He has tried to keep the flag flying for orchestral music because no new composer really has taken over the baton from him in that regard. Maybe he finally got fed up of waiting.

[venkkiram]

I see 'நேற்று எந்தன் கனவில் வந்தாய் நூறு முத்தம் தந்தாயே' (காற்றை கொஞ்சம் நிற்க சொன்னேன் of NEPV) in Chaal Phillum Hai Dhaal Phillum Hai Fully Phillum Hai Yeh Ada (Ishq E Phillum). Raja magic rules!

[SVN]

Ishq Phillum video
http://erosnow.com/#!/music/watch/10...ial-video-song

[Hulkster]

Well, there's a good reason for the catering to the youth argument. IR himself used to lament how easy composition had apparently become with the advent of computer technology. Even as late as 2012, he told an audience that the violin is a very difficult instrument and nobody wants to take it up when all it would take is pushing a few buttons on the keyboard to win accolades (even imitating the words used in music reality shows like "unbelievable"/"fantastic"). Dripping with sarcasm, in short. I am not sure how much his own rhetoric would have resonated with the IR who composed the title track of Vikram. He had boxed himself into a bit of an elitist corner. This album MAY be an indication that he is coming out of it. He has tried to keep the flag flying for orchestral music because no new composer really has taken over the baton from him in that regard. Maybe he finally got fed up of waiting.

I feel that the papers have misquoted him. Thalaivar is not against computer technology. In fact he appreciates how much it has helped in terms of music composition and is always constantly looking at the latest technology in terms of how it can be used in his compositions.

The issue here is that composers are using computer technology for every single situation where live instruments have been almost erased from the composing map of India. Consequently, this has reduced the composers' understanding of various composition techniques related to live instruments (which means that they will never grasp the beauty and difficulty of composing using a live orchestra) and has made them over dependent on technology. That is what thalaivar is completely against.