These days a lot of good things are happening for the ‘City of Banyan Trees’ – VADODARA( Click here to know more about 'BARODA' ) also known as Baroda. On 02.10.09 kids of Baroda (I prefer to call it as Baroda as it spells easy for a non-Gujarati like me) as a prelude to the mega event of Marathon to be held in Baroda on November 22, 2009, Bank of Baroda as main sponsor( www.bankofbaroda.com ) has created a Guinness record of ‘Longest Canvas Painting’ in the world which measured 4.2 kms in length and we are proud that my elder son Prajwal as a member of ‘Team BOB’ (Bank of Baroda) brushed in his own way to be a part of history. Watching kids handling the colors was a real treat, children when left to demonstrate their skills in the right environment will definitely do wonders, as the bright, beautiful & vibrant colors on the canvas are the proof of their thoughts – pure and innocent. The theme of the historic event was ‘Traffic Awareness’ and the observation of kids especially on the issues pertaining to traffic hazards made me wonder, their perception should be a lesson to adults. One that impressed me most is a painting depicting a most common scene in our country attending a cell phone while speeding on a bike, highest number of accidents in major cities is due to this attitude of bikers and major responsibility lies on the authorities to create awareness among citizens, unfortunately the careless attitude of these responsible authorities is the main culprit.
I remember when the transformation was under way in Andhra Pradesh during Mr. Chandrababu Naidu as CM (…..he enjoyed being addressed as CEO, AP Inc), motorists when caught jumping traffic rules were taken to a big convention hall and there begins their hard time. Traffic defaulters are made to watch a 1-2 hrs educational programme on traffic needless to say about the penalty imposed almost Rs. 500/- as penalty for not wearing Helmet, driving without license, zebra crossing etc., it is hell for someone who is in a hurry to attend an important meeting or an interview, valuable time is lost as well bucks too. Now atleast we can some regularized traffic in Hyderabad thanks to authorities and a visionary Chief Minister.
Truly the menace of traffic default can be addressed firstly by creating awareness among common public and secondly by imposing heavy penalty. Whats your say ?
(This is in continuation to my earlier post… Thanks to my friends who have responded with their encouraging comments to my post, though they are masters in this subject)
..In the early 90’s critics said that the Golden period of Ilayaraja is fading away and a new soundwill dominate the film music and people who master the art will survive, I happened to be one of many music lovers who were eagerly waiting for that Oracle to come true.Techniques initiated by Maestro Ilayaraja was humbly followed by his contemporaries, his style is a rare fusion of Indian and Western Musical elements that none in Indian Film Music has ever dreamt of, that was the era of Anthara – Mukhada in North India and down South Maestro Ilayaraja was drenching South Indian Film Music with the showers of his Melodious compositions quenching the thirst of good music for Music lovers and stunned the ‘Masters of Music’ with his never dreamt of fusion experiments with native and world music, R D Burman has once said “This man’s music is 50 years ahead of time’.Techniques in Sound Engineering come and go. Sound, introduced by Raaja might be out dated now but his Music is still afresh, I strongly believe that some of his very early compositions if mastered with today’s Digital Sound Techniques would have created a rage all over the world forget South India, I would say unfortunately - ‘Ilayaraja’s Music was far ahead of his times, than the technology prevailed at that time in our country’. New breed of Music Composers of today heavily depend on Technology than their senses, they are so dependent on Machines as if they cannot survive without them , do they lack confidence in their ownself ? I feel pretty confused on hearing certain compositions - Who is actually controlling Music? a Machine or its Composer !!!! these days it has become a fashion to hear an high decibel Sound of a Loop rather than melodious Sound of Music, I really pity for such scores but it’s the era of Pizza’s, Burger’s, frankies and what not prefering a traditional dish like a hot Idli or a Chole Bhatura is considered to be old fashioned. A few weekends ago I have been to a Restaurant and to my shock there was a dish displayed on Menu “CHINESE IDLI”, till today I am searching for the answer? When did Chinese taught us Idli making?and yeah there was an another shocker..."CHINESE SAMOSA" too.
Music, to be precise ‘Classical, be it an Indian, Western, Latin or even Opera has a Divine string attached to it, ‘Chords’ of such Music is a ‘Cord’ that linksemotional and physical levels of a Human being, a Composer is said to be ‘Genius’ only when he awakes your mental, emotional and spiritual senses with his Musical compositions and I believe no other composer can take you to such a level with a Musical score except ‘Ilayaraja – The Musical Saint’, hearing his “JANANI – JANANI” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlj3Uor2R8g) is like practicing aYoga Mudhra it cleanses your mind and keeps you afresh for that day, show me one such score of others.No matter what type of advanced technology a composer handles, no matter what latest instrument he plays….whats the use if a composer’s score doesn’t fulfill your musical thirst!!!! Emotionally.
The greatness of Ilayaraja is his adaption to technology, he never allowed technology or its soft wares to dominate his Music, and He always controlled the machine I always discuss confidently with some of my best friends who try to justify that IR's Music is out dated...I proudly say to them "Even Machines kneel before Maestro, because he commands & controls them, show me the other one who can do that...." this sentence should be the final nail for the end of discussion. He is still giving us a clean and wonderful Music, critics who has predicted his doom in the early 90’s are in awe for his latest comeback with wonderful hits in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, I wonder how a man of 65 years is still holding his fort so strongly for 30 years of Musical journey and still making waves in the contemporary Music and a guiding spirit to GenX Music Directors. A true music follower in India cannot ignore the fact that it was Ilayaraja who had laid a foundation and showed a new way for the contemporary Music Composers to explore and experiment in various music forms, some blindly imitated him and were successful., some camouflaged him, and a few learnt and mastered his techniques, used their own talents, ventured out and are famous eitherway it is only Ilayaraja who stood as a Lighthouse, ARR has rightly said that "Ilayaraja Sir's Music is beyond awards like Oscar"...a talent can only appreciate a real talent. Time and Tide wait for none and only the time can judge Music’s reverence to a Composer and today - “Ilayaraja is the only God, if Music is Divine”.
Ilayaraja once said that “Music for me is something that must take the listener to a different sub-conscious level, and Mind must be engulfed by the melody and must make you ask the question Is there a connection with this and me…?”, what a wonderful quote. No other Music Composer can stake claim to this statement, when “Maestro Ilayaraja” proved that he can take people to that level with his numerous compositions.
Truly, while hearing to some of his compositions, unknowingly we move into a different state of mind may be just for a second…on a particular interlude or a prelude, may be on a counterpoint. There are many instances of our heart skipping a beat on a specific instrument being making a call and another responding, in the song "Om Namaha..."from the film Gitanjali, we observe or even feel a kind of trance being created by the Orchestra, its not the picturisation that is sensual, but its the tune and Orchestration that created the magic. The Rhythm, the synthesized beat of heart, 1st interlude and the 2nd are the best examples to support this statement.
Ilayaraja entered into the film world with a bang and his ‘Annakilli’ is a phenomenal success, no contemporary Music Composers in India is as successful as Ilayaraja, though A R Rahman hit the Music world with a Storm and gained the popularity as well a National award for his debut ‘Roja’, there is a wide gap of situational difference between the emergence of these two greats. Firstly, Ilayaraja broke the monotony of film music and ARR continued it, secondly, technological advancement and media, thanks to the liberalization and globalization Indian techies were atlast recognized globally, and ARR’s emergence in the National arena is a good example of how a person can sell his product if ventured out at the right time and at the right place, thirdly, approach - though Ilayaraja has laid foundation to the process of daring experimentaion in the world of Music and many of his scores were pathbreaking trendsetters, he is more strict to the grammar of Music and ARR a bit liberal to it, you may find some inspired or even adapted tunes in the compositions of ARR eg., Lobo's-The Kube Land was used in his National award winning score “Merupu Kalalu”O Vaana Padithe.... for the number “O Vana Padithe…”, a serious introspection into the song Varaha Nadikkarai from the film Sangamam will give you an impression of the sufi song Dama Dam Mast Kalandar though ARR is a genius, as his Slumdog proves , he trails “Maestro Ilayaraja” in originality.
At times, I feel that ARR killed the tune and did a Phoenix thing to sound, some times it is reverse, that’s the genius adaption of sound engineering. It is mentioned in the Biography of A R Rahman ‘s “Musical Storm” , that he purportedly told S A Rajkumar, that a mere song or a hit number cannot overthrow Ilayaraja, it needs a different sound and a big force, because Ilayaraja is such a genius every time he used to hit back with a thumping tunes to the awe of listeners.
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