Magical World of Rahman Music – 1

Prerequisite for this Post: To get the full Crux.

A really good set of headphones!!

And an unbiased Music Fan. 🙂

Rahman’s music is like the underwater world of Atlantis — in which the most beautiful and intricate musical elements needs to be explored every single time. His music can be compared to a breathtaking underwater experience since one has to be immersed completely, be in complete solitude and just be surrounded by their elements to fully appreciate every single ripple, every single tune. Underwater, every object seems magnified and magnificent. Similarly through a good sound system, each aspect of his music sounds so magnificent. There are many minute nuances. This is a musical exploration of Rahman’s music alone. This is not a comparison. It is only about the pure magic in Rahman’s compositions.

The exploration starts by looking at each element and going into details of it. It might even look like an experimental dissection of each song, but in the essence its just all about getting lost in the magic and discovering those charming musical portions.

The minute bits and pieces of music with different instruments are used throughout the songs like between lines, or in the interlude and sometimes in places where it’s totally unexpected. It creates a bundle of joy inside that makes us smile even when we don’t want to.

There are some very intricate notes in between lines. For example, In the male version of Nila Kaigirathu by Hariharan,  there will be just two or three guitar notes played. Sometimes there will be just a single note in the stanza, between lines. But it adds so much feel to the song.

Throughout the song, presence of those notes can be felt. In the end, its as if the hints played before were developed and a story is formed, those little little notes are played in continuous mode in the background. It sounds so magical when observed clearly.

Those little cute string, flute, key notes is so embedded in that song, even when someone sings those lines without background scores,  automatically those notes are played in our head. Example Chinna chinna aasai from Roja, this particular music!!! Once heard, you can never unhear it. Even when you listen it without music or when you sing yourself, those little notes come into the mind.

Now a small exercise, listen to azhage sugama from parthale paravasam and see if you can find these type of cute little beauties

Next magic is about the female voice humming. They are invariably present in multitude of songs.  In some songs the humming is so powerful, that at times he just make the female singers sing just the humming alone. There are numerous songs. For instance, chinmayi humming in Nallai allai from Kaatru veliyidai, its so pure and crystal, her part in the song is as prominent as the lead singer. This song also has a lyrical magic to it which is another topic.

And Swarnalatha humming in Enthan Vaanin Kaathal Nilave from Kadhal virus. The song is about love failure. She sets the mood of the song with just the humming and it creates such a powerful impact for what’s to come. Also in Poraale Ponnuthaayi, the humming bring out the melancholy so powerful, that it goes so deep into the soul.

Similarly Sujatha humming in Kaadhal rojave sets the feel of the song. We are already taken into the mood of the song without even hearing lyrics. Such powerful Humming renditions are trademark of Rahman music.

This may seem like a very simple thing but the intricacies in the humming and the mood it sets for the song are such an exceptional aspect to Rahman’s compositions. There are umpteen songs to this effect. This is an extensive list, there are countless songs. (A separate link to those wonders
https://priya13491.wordpress.com/2019/09/09/beauty-of-female-humming-in-rahman-music)

We just touched the tip of an iceberg, there is more to come in next episodes. 🙂