Raja's rhythms

[jaiganes]

Was listening to 'How to name it ' umpteenth time..
Suddenly observed one small thing..
The drums and mrudangams.
They never play together in any of the songs.
Even in the crazier Raja mixes - I couldnt observe mridangam with drums or any other western percussion in Raja's songs. Tabla and drums - yes, thavil and drums - yes. but mrudangam and drums - no. any reasons? Arun - do you have any pointers on this?
I was amazed by your playing and general percussion arrangement in uLiyin Osai.
How does Raja instruct percussion players?
Does he give notes/sheets to them as well or does he sit with them seperately and tune their playing to the song's needs as he does in the mayilu song session shown on TV?

[complicateur]

Jai,
Do add the Bongo/Conga combination to the poll. My vote would undeniably have to be for their usage.

[jaiganes]

how do I d that?

[complicateur]

I'm not sure. You might need the assistance of a moderator.

[Sureshs65]

Jai,

I think there are many songs in which Raja has used the mridangam with western rhythm but as usual he melds it so well that it doesn't seem so to many. The two most famous songs which have mridangam beats with western rhythm are 'Andhi Mazhai' and 'Poonkadave'!! In both these cases he uses the right side of the mridangam or the side with the black spot more to get the sharp sound. The toppi part is not used much.

Arun can definitely tell us more.

[Sureshs65]

Infact to me one of the predominant rhythmic sound of Raja of the 80s which made his music so different was this use of mridangam with the western rhythm. I can't think of all the songs but some which come to my mind immediately are from Malayalam films, "Alli Elam Poove" has the combination. So does the Pallavi of 'Tanal Virikkan' (a combination of western rhythm, a few taps of mridangam and tabla), another which starts something like 'Talitezyudiya' (It also came into Tamil later). Another quite popular songs which has the western cum mridangam arrangement is Poo Malarindida from Tik Tik Tik.

[kiru]

I think tabla was the only one used alone. All other rhythm instruments were used in combination. The western drum kit was always/mostly used with the congas. My favorite combo is western drums+mridhangam (another example is in alaigal oyvathillai). Mridhangam used alone (eg sippikkul muthu)is my next favorite instrument. Tabla has been exposed a lot, not just me, the whole audience took an aversion to it, I think. Tabla and flute or Raaja is like western drums + lead guitar to a rock musician.

[Sureshs65]

kiru,

While I do agree there has been lot of tabla usage by Raja, it has also been combined with other rhythmic instruments as well. In recent years, the tabla usage has been greatly reduced, except in places where is makes good sense as in 'Sivoham'. I feel Raja used the tabla for two reasons. One, it does give a local flavor to the songs. Secondly, the table gives a good steady background for the vocalist to take on more complex compositions. For example, in many songs, you will clearly hear the tabla giving a constant beat of say a tisram, like ta-ki-ta while the singer may be singing in a different rhythm, say the standard 4x4 or chatusram. This gives some tension to the song. This also helps the song's pallavi or charanam to have different takeoff points. Too much of rhythmic complication would have made it a nightmare for the singer. That was during the time when live recordings were happening. Nowadays I don't think that is a problem. From what I hear, no singer knows what rhythm will finally come on the CD!!

The mixing of two nadais or gaits (one of the singer and one of the rhythm) and the different take off points are two important aspects of Raja that you don't tired of his songs. I have heard lot of old Hindi songs where I get tired after a few listens since the beat is very constant and the song starts on the beat and there is absolutely no tension. Same happens in the case of many modern songs. While the loops may be attractive at first, after a few listens, due to lack of any tension, you get very bored.

Added to what I said, Raja also introduces a lot of asymmetry in his compositions. In the sense that two lines would go for the whole eight beat cycle while one line may go for only 7 beats and so on. Again, a source of musical tension and breaks the monotony. My feeling is that if you hear the tabla songs of Raja closely you can get an idea of how is mind works. To some extent atleast. This is an aspect which I discovered recently and whenever I hear a Raja song now I have started following the rhythm more closely. Will post if I find something interesting.

[Plum]

Anumanaspadam's Prathidinam Nee Darshanam, whose cause has been much championed by me here before, answers to the mridangam-drums combo raised by jai here.

[crajkumar_be]

Jai
Acoustic Drums + Mridangam playing together - "Ada macham" (Chinna Veedu)

What about "Pudhiya poovidhu poothadhu"? (Mridangam-a nu doubt a irukku, the two "chops" in the pallavi)