Tremolo 0

Ask anyone, what is the single most factor that differentiates Raaja's songs from the rest. The answer is bound to be "Orchestration".. Or in more simple terms the art of making a (fairly big) team of musicians working in unison to produce the desired results. Or in colorful language, Orchestration its the art of writing screenplay to the story called Melody.

One such tool available to write the screenplay is employing the String Ensemble as Tremolo strings. Wikipedia defines Tremolo as "A regular and repetitive variation in amplitude for the duration of a single note". If that sounded too text-bookish, try this.. I would like to define it as a way of employing the String ensemble to sketch a measure with innumerable bow strokes; Or dividing a bar into notes of minimum perceivable time signatures; Or decipherable atomic notes per unit measure; The strokes have to be so fine, that on casual listening it should sound disguised as a normal sustained long note but on careful listening it is actually made of multitudes of strands.. Simple speaking, Think off Haldiram's Soan Papdi :-)

I would like to start off with the song Maalaiyil Yaaro (Chathriyan):
A casual look at the prelude, and you could be excused for thinking its made of full notes
"Pa ga Ma Pa
Pa Ma Ga Sa "
Prelude of 'Maalayil Yaaro'

In reality, each of the notes specified above are made of tiny flakes of same note lasting for abysmall duration each.. Something like:
Papapapapapapa gagagagagagagagag mamamamamamama papapapapapapaapapa

Listen to the above track again.. there you go!!

Note: As far as I know, the Tremolo time signature is spontaneous and is not a strict derivative of 1/4x lasting notes (i.e., not necessarily 1/32 or 1/64th time signature).. basically its asymmetrical within each count but totally put together lasting for the given notated duration.. You can clearly see that pattern in this track and all the tracks to come...

Same phenomenon is observed all over this song.. I am posting this very short beginning of 1st interlude. There are just 2 bars.. Each starting with pizzicato strings (Technique of plucking instead of bowing a String instrument like Violin.. This is worth another blog post..) and finishing in Tremolo strings..
1st interlude of 'Maalayil Yaaro'

Now look at the background of "Nenjame".. The desired effect is achieved solely by Tremolo:
Anu Pallavi of 'Maalayil Yaaro'

Also in the 2nd interlude some beautiful Tremolo well disguised as full notes:
2nd interlude of 'Maalayil Yaaro'

As in the previous clips, The pattern in which Raaja equates Tremolo effect with the pain of prolonged wait in Love symbolizing the return/ arrival of lover is rather unique ('Pirivaatraamai' in Tamil Ilakkiyam (!!??)). The irking wait for the partner is epitomized by one of the most beautiful tremolos of Raaja... The prelude of Sundari..

Maniratnam's picturization of early morning mist (Courtesy: Santosh Sivan..)
Solo Flute (and Solo Lady on screen)..
A landscape resembling Newzealand-ish outdoors of 'Lord of the Rings' with mountains, lush greenary and lakes...
And Tremolo..
Wow.. Wow.. Wow..
Prelude of 'Sundari Kannal'
PS: Actually you can watch this Tremolo in action. There are two occassions. once in Jeya TV's Andrum Indrum Endrum.. Now let me recap the definition of Tremolo.. A regular and repetitive variation in AMPLITUDE. Watch Raaja in this video from seconds 48 to 52. The Amplitude of Tremolo raises and falls as gestured by Raaja.. !!

A much more pronounced Tremolo in action in this song is noticable in "Raaja Raajadhan " Live show in Dubai.. that can be watched here http://sinnakuddy1.blogspot.com/2008/02/live-show.html --> Video no: 2 --> Seconds from 22:38 to 23:20. What happened was, clearly the Audio technician sitting in the channel mixer hasn't heard the song before and doesn't have enough knowledge of the song..(this might sound preposterous to you.. but take it from some one who has played 200 stages.. A technician who knows the song upfront is a very very crucial part of the stage show where live music is played by orchestra involving more than 6 channels or so.. stage feedback and mixing are two external factors which can make or break a show irrespective of your team's talent and hard work. The show is worth nothing if your sound mixer technician for the day is a stupid like in this case...) So the technician here, saw a hoard of animated violinists and thought that's the main part of the song and increased that channel's volume least realizing its the Flute and Oboe that was taking the lead there.. The result was a cold blooded murder of a beautiful phrase.. All the hard work of the orchestra goes down the drain.. But I was jumping when I saw that because I could hear the Tremolo uninterruptedly and could understand the transitions more vividly.. A horrible gaffe but it brings a hidden area to forefront even though the result is not pleasing to hear..

There are probably hundreds of songs by Raaja employing Tremolo.. I am copy pasting tracks top of my head..

Prelude of 'Kaatru Poovai'(I Love India)

Prelude of 'Unnai naan' (Kannukkoru Vannakilli)

Last but not the least, The superb Pooerukonum Purantharanum from Thiruvasagam

I would like to close with one remark. Often I get asked by my friends, why am I so biased with Ilaiyaraaja..? Well, I am not averse to other composers.. I definitely am a big fan of quality music where ever that comes from (ARR included, for instance..); but there are reasons why my veneration towards Raaja is unflinching..

Let me again quote Wikipedia: "In music notation tremolo is indicated by strokes through the stems of the notes (in the case of semibreves or whole notes, which lack stems, the bars are drawn above or below the note, where the stem would be if there were one)".

Show me another composer in India/ South Asia who is capable of "indicating these strokes through the stems of the notes" and making a bunch of 40 violinists from Chennai play it..locally right here.. Fully cognizant of the fact that 9 out of 10 who listens these tracks where looking at the hero (probably a Murali or a Ramarajan or a xxx) or the heroine (a Bhanupriya or an Ambika or..) and not noticing the Tremolo..

Well, that's definitely a reason good enough for me to revere for..

Trombone 0

My first tryst with Trombone was in the year 02. My manager then, a gentleman by the name of Ben was a trombonist at a local brass band. I accompanied him on a couple of occasions during his practice sessions and attended their orchestra's live show once as well (well.. I had free tickets..!); When I heard the timber of the instrument, the background musics of Tom & Jerry, especially of the types when Jerry is spoiling Tom's beach vacation or when he is meddling with Tom's lady cat etc., flashed in my mind. I was truly fascinated to see such a looong instrument. The complicated maneuvers to produce such amazing notes were equally fascinating.. Especially when performed in unison by a group of them...The instrument is truly one of its kind.. (To orient yourself to it, you can either read the wikipedia, which I found rather technical or you can read a simpler account here . Also Youtube has tons of videos on Trombone solos although most are jazz based that requires an acquired taste of listening. )

While the instrument is usually played as an Trombone ensemble in Brass bands - accompanying the main theme by giving punching phrases lasting all of single or two counts typically during the end of the given bar, the potential of this instrument to perform a solo act is second to none.

Actually Trombone is quite common in the Indian film music scenario. In the background scores, it is usually played together with other brass instruments to convey the de-facto 'Thigil' (suspense) effect.. like when the villain approaches the hero from behind with a Knife !!!! While in the movie songs, its used heavily as well particularly for partying songs, patriotic songs etc., Works of RD Burman employed a great deal of Brass instruments including Trombone. AR Rehman uses it as well (even today in songs like 'Azeem-O-Shaan-Shahenshah') But this instrument has always predominantly been used as part of the larger Brass ensemble. Pathoda Padhinonnu.. (insignificant !!); Whatever limited scope that existed for a solo in the interludes of movie songs was besieged by more flamboyant instruments of the brass family. After all, Baagyaraaj and Balakrishna look much "cooler" pretending to play the Trumpet or Saxophone in the interludes, rather than err.. a Trombone !

My interest on this lovely instrument was revived after I came to know that it was one Mr. Blasco Monsorate from the Goan Jazz circles, who usually plays Trombone solos for Maestro Ilaiyaraaja. Fascinated by the idea of trombone solo in regional film songs, I went about searching for them .. What I found were clips of mere 15 and 20 seconds.. but then to think that in a song of 4 minutes where more than half is vocals, this is rather a healthy proposition of length given the plethora of instruments. Besides, the exercise of extracting them and listening in isolation might pave the way for non-trombone aware listeners to appreciate the instrument.

1. Prelude of Sangeetha Megam..All along I was thinking this is trumpet. But I think this is in fact trombone (while in the last part of this section, a trumpet can be heard, floating out of no where and joining the trombone); The tone of trumpet is clearly sharper than Trombone.
Prelude of Sangeedha Megam

2. A Solo trombone starts at the end of 2nd line (oh..Kannal kaanugayaam) and continues through the 3rd and 4 line in the background
Aruna Kirana Deepam

3. 2nd interlude of "Hey I Love you.." Orchestration of this song is very very trendy.. Even Today
Hey I Love You

4. In the interludes of 'Suttum Sudarvizhi', the Trombone can be heard intermittently amidst the orchestral colossus.
Suttum Sudar Vizhi

5. Here is Japanil Kalyanaraman:
Vaaya Vaaya

6. And "Vaanam Kezhe" (Thanks Ramesh for the find):
Vaanam Kezhe

7. 2nd interlude of "Ennama Kannu".. Trombone solo repeated by trumphets;
Ennama Kannu

There are much more applications of trombone by Raaja. Rock n Roll beauties (Ram bum bum, Vaanamenna Mel irukka), magnum opuses ("Sundari kannal oru") etc., But as I said they were always part of a wider Brass section .. Solos hidden in (even well known) songs was quite interesting (well.. atleast for me!) Hope you liked it as well.. Please leave a comment when you can think of more Trombone solos in Raaja's songs...

And finally...

When Jazz meets Banthuvarali, we are treated to arguably the best trombone solo ever written in India by an Indian and played by another (Blasco):
Is It Fixed

Can you beat that ..?

Chords For Dummies 0

Often while reading musical reviews or discussions of Ilaiyaraaja (or any genre of music that evolved in the past 50 years for that matter) a popular 'hip' word that one comes across is Chord. While a formal definition or a technical description of that word is available all over the internet, you are expected to be musically 'educated' or at least be aware of the basic anatomy of music to understand those references. Getting more confused, you would usually run for cover to your flamboyant 'expert' next door on the internet. Since he is often throwing this fancy word at you and proclaims to no end that "Wow..What Superb Chords..", you ask him "What exactly is this 'chord' thing? Can you pin point?" or "I am terrified by these Major 7th or minor 9th chords that you mentioned? what are they?", you will most likely see faces that resemble a rabbit caught under the headlamps midway down the road and receive "Hee Hee... Oh.. Adhuva..!!" as the answer.

Many years ago as a novice Carnatic initiated when I started hearing these terms, at least that's the response I received from the umpteen number of guys whom I approached thinking that they were 'Genius' (because of the way how they presented themselves and fooled around innocent people with their Jargon laden talks)

That was the time when I was scared to death by the western classical music in general and the concept of Chords in particular.. With no reliable guidance, with no internet and with no means to practice, all I had was Raaja's songs and loads of determination.. The quality of music tracks then was not of as much crystal clear quality as today, nor did I had these super gadgets of "bass boosting" players or "noise reduction" headphones or "rip off" softwares to eliminate unwanted tracks and just listen to the sound you want in isolation. With a worn-out 2 in one cassette player (which, to copy the popular comical Tamil Adage - would not even fetch me any date fruits!!) and with my ears pressed against its speakers in a manner that would put water tight Swiss watches to shame, I would rewind any given Raaja song at least a hundred times just to play back phrases of two seconds again and again until that exotic chord was fished out of the abyss from deep beneath the vocals and rhythm and the recording noise..

I had many such Raaja songs that served as personal companions to overcome my Chordophobia" :-) The lesser known "Vaanengum Thanga Veen Meengal" from the movie 'Moondram Pirai' is one such song..

As a beginner, You just have to listen to the prelude of this song to get your first direct rendezvous with the Chords..
What you keep hearing in the Prelude of this song until the Flute starts are all nothing but chords.. (Well, the chords continue in the background after the flute starts as well.. but in the first few bars you hear pure unadulterated sound of how a chord feels)

(I already used a term called 'BAR'.. Lets assume a person with little technical background of music hears this song. To initiate him/ her as well as to bolster everyone's basics, lets proceed using some simple non-technical words; So I split this post into two halfs.. Beginner's lounge is the main blog post and I leave the 'technical' stuff separately on the Appendix so that the main post remains lucid)

Part I - Chords For Dummies:

Stage 1: Identify a 'Bar'

The song starts with plain guitar sound played periodically..That is, in the prelude of this song, if you simply start counting 1 2 3 4 along with the song's speed, you will here this. As you go on and hear the prelude you will also realize that there is a repeating pattern to this guitar sound.. And you will 'feel' this repetition involuntarily after every 4 counts..

Hearing that clip again you can recap to be sure that what you heard lasted for 4 counts. This is called One Bar, or rather this lasted for the duration of one Bar. (Please note that a Bar doesn't always last for 4 counts universally in all songs. Songs with 3 counts, 5 Counts, 6 counts and 7 Counts bar are also common in Indian/ World music, although not as common as 4 count based Bars.)

Exercise 1:
Listen to this prelude bit. How Many Bars did you listen?

Stage 2: How does a given Chord Actually 'sound'?

Lets take the same reference bit used for illustration of stage 1. In this one bar of music, you heard a SAME guitar sound through out (although on your 4th count you heard two sounds played fastly. But Lets ignore how that 4th count was divided for the moment)

What you just heard is nothing but a MAJOR CHORD played each time when you counted 1 or 2 or 3 or (the two quick sounds on) 4 . This is an example in isolation, of how a given Chord 'Sounds'.. (a given major chord in this case)
Exercise 2:
Listen to this famous song. Except for the Janaki's voice, what else did you notice in the background?

Stage 2b: Something Extra
Having known how a chord actually sounds, now lets go to the next challenge. That is to identify a slightly more complex 'sound'. "Vaanengum" was the song that helped me grasp the concept of Major 7th chords.. So I would like to continue with it for the illustration..

(For your ready reference, here is the the First bar again.) Now you can already notice that when the second bar starts, the 'sound' of music (!) slightly changed.

Second bar = counts 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 = Guitar in the same PATTERN as the 1st bar.. but the SOUND OF THE CHORD IS DIFFERENT

Agreed..?

What you just heard during the counts 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 is nothing but a MAJOR 7th CHORD..

So dear readers, again as I noted before, the objective here is not to get you technically savvy of a Major 7th chord's anatomy. But just to enable you to listen to a (relatively) 'special' type of chord in isolation. That's all.

Mini coffee break:
So now Raaja conducts a revision to you so that you can understand doubly for sure what you have learnt now .. Because the whole stuff is neatly repeated for you..

So here are the first 4 bars of this mystical song.
You have already mastered the first 2 bars.
Third Bar = same as First bar (Feel the sound of a chord.. note where the bar ends)
Fourth bar = Same as Second bar (You started a new beat cycle now.. What you are hearing is a relatively special chord);
Exercise 3:
Hear to this bit. (This is the prelude of the song "Kiss Me" from the band 'Six pence none the richer')
Please focus on the first two bars. What is the similarity that you noticed with the "Vaanengum" Song?
Additional Q: How many bars did you listen now ? ;-)
Closing Note:
I want to close by saying that, its very easy to learn the concept of chords just by following Raaja's songs.. No other source is needed.. I for one am eternally thankful to Raaja for this..

I am still scared to death by these concepts and by no means capable of dissecting and analyzing each and every chord of Raaja's songs..But now the difference is that at least I know 'what' I am scared off.. I know the face of this mysterious force, as opposed to get chickened out by the fear of the unknown..

I feel this post's objective is met if you also sign off with the same feeling..

Appendix - An inside view:
This is more of an 'Absolute' interpretation of the samples used so that the musically initiated readers can take home more. Please don't bother yourself with it if you think its too much of information.

1. The First bar of Vaanengum is actually a F# Major chord.
(To be specific, one can feel this chord already relates to the Aadhara Shruthi of the song.. so this chord is nothing but the the Root major of the song.. i.e., the song's key signature is F#). To be more technically correct its played with the omission of the Major third (i.e., A#) on one track and with the inversion of "5 + 1 + 3" (instead of "1+3+5") in another faint track. The bass is played on the alternating half count and is touching the root note F#.

2. The Second bar of Vaanengum is actually the M7th of the ROOT. i.e., its the F# Major 7th chord which in turn is nothing but the F# Major chord + its 7th note on the major scale which is 'F'. (Major 7ths are also noted as M7th for simplification). As a matter of fact the prominent chord sound that you heard in the bar appear more like the minor triad of the Major Third (i.e., A# minor). Its the bass which still anchors at F# which reassures the final Major 7th delivery (i.e., Bass of F# note + the A# minor traid = F# Major 7th)

(Extended) Stage 3 : Chord progressions:

Now lets go to the next step called CHORD PROGRESSION, which is not exactly worth loosing your sleep right now if you are a beginner. On the other hand, now that you know how a chord sounds, you may still follow this section to merely know the "Changing of Chords" in a bar/ set of bars.

Fifth Bar = G#m G#m G#m F#/C# = minor Triad of the major second (i.e., G# minor traid for 3 counts) and the root F# major on the last count of this bar. (Please note that the last F# major is notated as F#/C# since its played with the inversion of 5+1+3 suggesting that its F# major chord played with the inversion of bass note as C#) .
So this is Second Progression Down

Sixth Bar = B B B C# = Perfect Major fourth on first 3 counts and perfect Major 5th on the last count.. So right from the beginning of prelude the progression can be (roughly) summarized as: F# - G#m - F# (With the emphasize on A#) - B - C# .
This is a lucid Fifth Progression UP that loops back to the root when the flute starts..

This is relatively a heavy topic.. So lets park it for now..

Key for the exercises:

Exercise 1:
4 bars

Exercise 2:
Chords.. Chords.. மேலும் Chords:-)
(To be exact, the chords that you heard are of the sequence:
Am F A| A Dm - F|Em G C Am|F E Am||)

Exercise 3: The similarity between Vaanengum and Kiss Me is that:
First Bar = Root Major chord
Second Bar = Root Major 7th chord
i.e., the chords of the opening two bars are of same make. Even though the key signature of both the songs is different (Vaanengum is F# and Kiss me is D), similarity can be clearly felt in respective 'relative' descents. Kiss Me's progression is: Root - Major7th - 7th - Major 7th (i.e., D - DM7th - D7th - DM7th). So if this helped you to make the 'connection' and 'receive' the 'sound' of a major chord and its major seventh together, then you cracked it..
Additional Q: There were 8 bars in that original Exercise 3 question.

Note: we discussed about just the Major7th in this post. We didn't touch upon the dominant seventh (a.k.a 'THE' 7th) type of chords (that I mentioned in Kiss Me's progression); There are various types of chords and each of them has a distinct character. We just touched upon two (popular) variety. Thats all.. If there is enough interest, lets see if we can extend this exercise to each of the known types using Raaja's songs.

I met Bach in my house 1

Deutsch should have been definitely tougher for Raaja to learn. So when he wanted to communicate with a German he chose a much simpler language. Especially when the person in question is arguably the greatest Western Classical Composers of all time...

Raaja composed Two Extra ordinary tracks in his album "How to Name it", probably his most popular work outside film music together with "Nothing But Wind". In that, He envisioned a meeting between Himself and Johann Sebastian Bach. He named the tracks, 'I Met Bach in My House' followed by 'And We Had a Talk..'; Like any other Raaja follower, these tracks are etched in my mind since the school days. And I always wanted to listen to the original compositions by Bach, so that I could understand Raaja better. But only recently did I managed to get my hands on it!!

Now, Bach being a stellar figure in Western Classical Music, had distinctive contrapuntal composing techniques that changed the music for good, for ever.. As admitted by Raaja himself, The influence of Bach on him is significant. So having heard both the original and its Raaja adoption (I've published both of them in the next blog), I couldn't help but to stretch my imagination on this extra ordinary rendezvous.. For me, The timing of this fantasy and its setting is even more interesting.
Because in 1982-83, Raaja embarked on his maiden tour of Europe, not to treat his eyes but his soul. There was one place which definitely wouldn't find its place on a Tourist's essential itinerary of Europe, which he was particular to visit. And that was Leipzig, the place where Bach spent much of his life and composed most of his master pieces. What better place for a musical inspiration than the same Church where Bach used to play, conducted his Orchestra and staged his compositions. In his memoirs 'Sangeetha kanavugal' written after this trip, Raaja explains how determined he was to visit Leipzig even if it meant piercing the Iron curtains of the then German Democratic Republic. As he visited that Church and sat in solitude, even if its only for a few minutes, He explains the powerful emotions that took control of him by some divine force. He could feel Bach there...

Having visited Bach's domain first and have had a celestial talk, Raaja was obviously waiting for the moment that they could meet again. And the innovative tracks of 'How To Name It' are the outcome of the return visit of the Great German Virtuoso to No. 38, Murugesan Street, T Nagar...

Its a tale of two Musics.. Western and Carnatic.
Its a tale of two Cities.. Leipzig and Chennai.
And above all..
Its a tale of two Maestros...


Here is how that imaginative musical conversation between these Musical Gods would have transpired.

And We Had A Talk..... 0

Raaja: Vanakkam Thiru Bach
Bach : Freut Mich Herr Ilaiyaraaja
Raaja: I am honored to have you here. I never imagined this meeting would take place. No words can express my joy.
Bach: The pleasure is mine.. I felt very much the same way when you took particular interest to visit me in Leipzig.
Raaja: Yes, your music has been a great source of inspiration to me from the early days when I started learning Western Classical Music under my Master, one Mr. Dhanraj.
Bach: I have listened to some of your works too. Especially the tracks like the Background score of the movie Johny. Its hard for me to believe why such quality music is not known to many outside your home state.
Raaja: Yes. Probably because here in India, Doing music in Cinema is considered the ultimate, and given that my movies are mainly regional, the scope is limited.
Bach: I see.. You mean, the only opportunity that exist for you to express your musical views is through the small window of Cinema...?
Raaja: Yes.. But I take that more as a challenge than a constraint. For me everything is music. There is only so much that I could spin and yet I have to produce a sugar candy that looks exciting to people every time. That's a real challenge.
Bach: Yes. I see your point. For me too, music needs no foundation and has no barriers. Irrespective of its form or cause, there must be an end purpose. The Life, The Feel and The Emotion that the notes evoke on a listener shouldn't be a passing cloud. It should stay at the hearts of the people for ever.
Raaja: Yes. I could feel that passion in all your compositions and that's the benchmark I strive to achieve in all my songs too..

Bach: OK.. As and when I was coming to meet you, I wrote this Prelude for violin.. Its the 3rd Partita that I've written in as many days.. This is how it goes...
PartitaIIIPreludio

Raaja: (Speechless).. What can I say. This is master class. E Major, isin't ?
Bach: That's correct. Now I would like to understand your music too. Can you explain it to me.
Raaja: I am too small to explain music to a man like you.
Bach: Come on. I have traveled so far to meet you and you plan to send me back empty handed !
Raaja: Now you are putting me in a fix. Let me see.. Ok I will take the same piece that you played me now and try to explain the Raaga based system of Indian Classical music.
Bach: Exciting.. I am waiting..
Raaja: hmm... Sa.. Pa.. Sa... (Hums the beginning of violin Prelude that Bach played..) hmmm... Sa ni sa pa.. ga pa.. sa ri sa ni sa pa ga pa...
You See.. that captures the Bhavam of a Raaga called 'Hamsadhwani'..
And then the place where you switched the melody to Harmonic minor, I see a natural blend of our 'Keeravani'.. Midway through you eased out the grip for a brief time, right? I see a place for 'Bageshwari' there.. And then we can go back to Keeravani and Finally the place where you close with E Major, I can bring back the original flavor of Hamsadhwani too.
Bach: Fascinating.. So shall we blend both of it together..? Why don't you bring out the essence of Hamsadhwani with my melody as a base and demonstrate it...
Raaja: Excellent idea.. I can also show you the other Raagas I mentioned by super imposing vocals mid way through the passage. Here is what we can do. I will start with a rendition of Hamsadhwani; Then you can join me with the prelude..
Bach: Lets start...

I Met Bach In My House

(After the composition finishes, Bach leaps to Raaja and gives him a gentle Hug..)
Bach: Brilliant.. Brilliant...
Raaja: Only because of the base you provided me.. I am having Goose bumps... You see ..
Bach: Yes.. Yes.. As I said, Music has no barriers. Indian classical Music is amazing.. The Raagas really bring out various colors and follows such great patterns so religiously. I am also totally floored by your innovation to reduce the tempo of my piece.. you started slowly.. and then you built it up..
Raaja: Yes, we call it the Aalapana or Aalap in Hindustani music...Thats usually the way to start.. Then the normal song is in a more followable and soothing tempo, although in certain compositions like Varnams and Bhajans, during the later half of the song, we will normally speed up the tempo and sing in what we call "Moonam kaalam"
Bach: Yes.. Its conceptually the same as what we call movements although the execution is different.. We do have slow, Moderate and Fast movements.. we call it Adagio, Andante and Allegro..
Raaja: That was a great experiement..
Bach: Come on, Lets do it again. Which one shall we take this time?
Raaja: Your Bourree in E Minor has been one of my favorites. Shall we take that ..?
Bach: You mean the one that I wrote for Lute ..?
Raaja: Yes.. the same one.. Can you please play it for me? Then I will try to mix it up with an Indian melody.
Bach: So here you go..

Bourree in E Mino

Raaja: This is one of a life time composition from you. There is one and only Bach. Someone is yet to be born to compose like this..
Bach: (with a wink) May be he has... Ok.. Come on.. now its your turn..
Raaja: hmm... eh... ok..
Bach: What is it..? what is bothering you...
Raaja: Nothing serious... its that again this is a bit faster for the Indian style..
Bach: yes.. thats because its a Bourree.. Its composed for Dance..
Raaja: But I see a brilliant contrapuntal melody if we can play it a bit slowly.
Bach: What are you waiting for..? Go ahead..
Raaja: Ok... (Hums) Hmmm... Pa Dha.. Pa ma ga ri sa.. This time you start.. I will catch up..

And We Had A Talk

Bach: (With tears in eyes..) Scintillating...
Raaja: I was a bit nervous because I positioned your track in the background. Probably the violin was a bit loud ...?
Bach: No .. No.. Its unbelievable how a Western Dance solo track can evoke such a sentimental feeling with an Indian Melody on top. This is brilliant. I liked your simplicity of merging just a solo violin together with the Bass track.
Raaja: The cue of Bourree and the path that it paved for me is indispensable.. and yet you are complimenting me ..? We have a saying in my mother tongue Tamil, "A pot that's brimming with water never spills and makes a splash".. You are such a perfect example of that..
Bach: No No.. When Music takes center stage, everything else is irrelevant. I am not alone.. There are thousands of great composers all over the world and one life is not enough to enjoy all the musics in the world.

(Now Vicky is disturbing you.. The background setting is changing... Both Bach and Raaja are walking along a long winding road.. Imagine a audio/ visual fade out in your mind... and we are zooming out as the blog approaches its end.. !!!)

Raaja: Its the same philosophy echoed by our saint Thyagaraja, who lived around the same time as you.. He said "Endaro Mahanubhavulu.. Andariki Vandanamulu"

(Zoom out.. And they become a shriking silhoute from the back.. )

Bach: Yes.. a very noble thought indeed...
(Zoom out....)

And the walk continues ....