"MSV CLUB" - The Discussion Forum of MSVTimes.com

[N Y MURALI]

LIKE CARNATIC MUSIC ORIGINATED FROM THE SOUTH HINDUSTANI MUSIC ORIGINATED FROM THE NORTH. HINDUSTANI MUSIC ALSO HAS THE CONCEPT OF RAAGAS BUT THERE IS A SLIGHT DIFFERNCE FROM CARNATIC MUSIC. THAT IS IN HINDUSTANI MUSIC YOU WOULD FIND 2 RIS OR 2 MAS MIXIED IN A RAAGA AND THEY ARE PRONOUNCED AS THE SAME SWARA. FOR INSTANCE IF YOU IF YOU TAKE RAAGA KALAYANI WHICH HAS THESE SWARAMS (SA, RI2, GA2, MA2, PA, DA2, NI2) YOU BRING IN MIX WITH MA1. THIS MIXURE OF MA1 WITH THE ORIGINALL KALAYANI RAAGA GIVES A DIFFERENT TUNE. SO THIS RAAGA IS CALLED YAMUN KALANI. LIKE WISE YOU WILL FIND LOT OF RAAGAS WHICH WILL HAVE DIFFERENT MIXTURE OF SWARAMS AND THERE BY VAROIUS RAAGAS WERE ATTAINED. EXAMPLE LIKE RAAGA BAGESHRI, BASANTH, SINDHU BHAIRAVI, KAAPI ETC. SO THE NUMBER OF RAAGAS KEPT INCREASING.. BECAUSE WE HAVE CULTURAL INTEGERATION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH THESE RAAGAS CAME IN USAGE IN SOUTH ALSO.

HERE I WOULD LIKE MENTION THAT MUSIC IS A FORM OF EXPRESSION OF OUR CULTURE. SO WHEHER IT IS NORTH OR SOUHT THE BASIC CONCEPT REMAINED SAME. ONLY THE DEGREE OF EXPRESSIONS VARIED FROM PLACE TO PLACE.

SO LIKEWISE THERE WAS FOLK MUSIC ALL AORUND INDIA FROM KASHMIR TO K KUMARI.

IN THIS CONTEXT A PHENOMINAN CALLED LIGHT MUSIC OR ‘MEELLISAI’ CAME IN TO EXISTANCE. I THING MELLISAI WOULD HAVE CAME IN TO EXISTANCE BECAUSE THIS MUSIC APPEALS TO THE NORMAL PUBLIC. AND CINEMA WHICH CAME TO INDIA IN 1915 AND GOT EVOLVED DURING THE FOLLOWING DECADES HAS GOT MUCH TO DO IN THE EVELUTION OF MELLISAI OR LIGHT MUSIC.

WE ALL KNOW MSV IS CALLED AS MEELISAI MANNAR. WHAT IS MELLISAI? IS THERE A METHOD TO DIFINE MELLISA? I WANTED TO FIND OUT ANSWER 25 YEARS BACK WHEN I STARTED TRYING MSV SONGS. TILL TODAY THERE SEEMS TO BE NO REASONABLE EXPLANATION.

I ASKED A GENTLEMAN WHO HAS A SOUND KNOWLEDGE OF MUSIC. HE SAID THAT CARNATIC AND HINDUSTANI MUSIC HAVE PRE ARRANGED TUNES (THAT IS PRE ARRANGED RAAGA) YOU NEED TO USE ONLY THOSE SWARAMS OF THAT RAAGA. THAT MEANS IT FOLLOWS AN UNWRITTEN RULE. FOR INSTANCE IF YOU ARE COMPOSING A CARNATIC KEERTHANAI IN RAAG KALAYANI YOU HAVE TO USE ONLY THE SWARAMS IN THAT RAAGA. BEYOND THAT YOU ALSO HAVE TO GENERATE THE TUNE (THAT IS THE FLOW OF COMBINATION OF VARIOUS SWARAS OR NOTES) WHICH SHOULD BE OF KARNATIC STYLE. SO MERE RENDERING OF A LYRIC IN A RAAGA DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT IT IS KARNATIC OR HINDUSTANI MUSIC. THERE IS A DIFENITE STYLE PATTERN. I SHALL EXPLAIN BY THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE OF MSV SONGS.

YOU ALL WOULD HAVE HEARD A RAAGA CALLED SUDDHA DANYASI. IT CONSISTS OF SWARAMS SA, GA1, MA1, PA, NI1, SA AS AROGANAM AND SA, NI1, PA, MA1, GA1, SA AS AVAROHANAM.

“NEE YE YENAKKU ENDRUM NIGARANAVAN” IN BALE PANDIYA IS CARNATIC STYLE OF SUDHA DANYASI.

“THOTTAL POO MALARUM” IN PADAKOTTI IS ALSO SUDDHA DANYASI BUT IN MELLISAI STYLE.

“NAMMA OORU SINGARI” IN NINAITHALE INNIKKUM IS ALSO SUDDHA DANYASI IN WESTERN ROCK STYLE.

SO TO DECIDE WHETHER A SONG IS CARNATIC STYLE OR MELLISAI STYLE WE NEED SEE THE FLOW OF THE MELODY TUNE.

IN NUTSHELL WE CAN SAY THAT CARNATIC AND HINDUSTANI MUSIC ARE DETERMINED WHETHER THEY ARE IN A SPECIFIC RAAGA AND WHTEHER THEY FOLLOW A STYLE PATTERN OF THEIRS. MEANS THEY ARE REGID TO RULES WHICH IS UNWRITTEN BUT PRACTISED.

WHREAS ALL OTHER MUSIC LIKE FOLK, MELLISAI, GAZAL ETC DO NOT HAVE ANY RULE. YOU ARE FREE TO USE AS MANY SWARAMS AS YOU WANT IN YOUR COMPOSITION. YOU CAN EVEN USE A RAAGA LIKE KALYANI OR A BHAGESHRI BUT IF IT DOES NOT FOLLOW THE STYLE OF CARNATIC OR HINDUSTANI THEN THEY ARE CALLED MELLISAI ONLY.

SINCE MELLISAI DOES NOT HAVE ANY RULE THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN CREATE RUBBISH. THE MELODY YOU COMPOSE HAS TO APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC AT LARGE. MSV NEVER SEEMS TO HAVE LOST THIS ASPTHE GREATEST STRENGTH OF MSV COMPOSITION IS THAT IT IS ALWAYS MELODIOUS WHETHER IT IS LOVE THEME OR TAPANKUTHU OR PATHOS. . THAT IS WHY HIS SONGS ARE APPEALING TO THE 3RD GENERATION PEOPLE LIKE MY CHILDREN.

WE SHOULD NOT UNDERESTIMATE MELLISAI BECAUSE IT DOES NOT WORK ON RULE. ON THE CONTRARAY IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO COMPOSE A MELLISAI BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO START AND WHAT TO GIVE. EVEN IF YOU MANAGE TO DO SO IT HAS TO APPEAL TO THE AUDIENCE.

MUSIC COMPOSERS IN INDAIN CINEMA STARTED COMPOSING SONGS FOR THE MOVIES. THE EARLIER GENERATION USED THE RAAGA CONCEPT.. LATER ON WHEN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY EVOLVED THEY MIXED DIIFFERENT SWARAMS FOR A PARTICULAR RAAGA AND BROUGHT SOME CHANGE IN THE TUNE. THE NEW SWARAMS ARE CALLED SHARP NOTES. FOR INSTANCE IF YOU COMPOSING A SONG TAKING THE BASIC MELODY FROM THE RAAGA SUDDHA DANYASI BY ADDING NI2 AND GA2 AT SPECIFIC PLACES YOU COULD CREATE A NEW TUNE. . FOR INSTANCE WHILE YOU COMPOSE THE SONG IN THE PALLAVI AND ANU PALLABI YOU USE ONLY SUDDHA DANYASI RAAGA AND IN CHARANAM YOU CAN USE THESE TWO ADDITIONS JUST TO GET A VARIATION FROM THE ORIGINAL MELODY. SO THE USAGE OF GA2 AND NI2 ARE CALLED AS SHARP NOTES. I COMPOSED ONE SONG IN THIS METHOD. ILLAYARAJA ALL THROUGH HIS COMPOSITION USED THIS METHOD FOR COMPOSTION. ILLAYARAJA’S SONGS WOULD BE MOSTLY COMPOSED ON A RAAGA WITH ONE OR TWO AND SOME TIMES EVEN THREE SHARP NOTES. THE SAME WAY COMPOSERS PRIOR TO MSV’S TIME LIKE KVM, G RAMANATHAN USED THIS METHOD. BUT EACH ONE THEM HAVE SHOWN THEIR INDIVIDUALITY BY THEIR BACK GROUND MUSIC AND RYTHYM PATTERNS. IF YOU HEAR A SONG YOU WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY WHTHER IT IS COMPOSED BY ILLAYARAJA OR KVM ETC.

WHERE DOES MSV STAND IN THIS? HIS STYLE OF COMPOSITION IS NOT LIKE ILLAYARAJA OR KVM OR GR. HIS STYLE IS VERY DIFFERENT. THIS IS WHAT I FOUND WHEN I STARTED PLAYING HIS SONGS IN HARMONIUM AND THAT IS WHAT I WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU. HE HAS AN UNIQUE STYLE OF COMPOSING WHICH NO OTHER COMPOSER AT THAT TIME THOUGHT... HIS STYLE OF COMPOSITION TOOK THE AUDIENCE TO THE ESCASTY. HIS METHOD WAS VERY ORIGINAL AND UNIQUE. THE METHOD IS SO POWERFUL THAT YOU COULD ASK HM TO PLAY 28 TUNES FOR A SINGLE SONG IN KUMARI KOTTAM LIKE “ENGE AVAL”. THERE WAS NO STOPPING. IT FLOWED LIKE “ATACHAYA PATHRAM”. THIS METHOD OF COMPOSITION WAS SO EFFECTIVE THAT IT KEPT HIM IN THE FIELD FOR OVER 25 YEARS AS AN UN ASAILABLE KING OF MELLISAI. NO WONDER IT ALSO GAVE THE COVETED TITLE MELLISAI MANNAR.

I SHALL EXPLAIN IN DETAIL ABOUT HIS METHOD IN MY NEXT POSTING.
PLEASE BEAR WITH ME TILL THEN.

[Damodaran Pachaiappan]

Dear Mr. N Y Murali,
What an EXTRA ORDINARY piece of writing! I have always wondered about the tunes composed by Mellisai Maamannar that were never used. Unfortunately like the present day MDs, I don't think MSV recorded them on tape. Most ordinary MDs would have suffered a burn out in very little time. But our Musical Legend has lasted for several decades and is still a source of inspiration. This is a testament to his divine gift. No doubt, his style of composition is unique. So unique that many songs that came before him and after him are nearly forgotten but Sangeetha Saraswathy's songs are still being heard and enjoyed all over the world again and again.
Your writing about music - the ragas, the swarams and sruthis - is an eye opener for people like me who have no knowledge of music. It is purely the greatness of Mellisai Maamannar that make people like me with not an iota of knowledge of ragams etc. wake up to his music and go to sleep with his music. Not only that, he has a song to uplift my mood when I am down, he has a song to soothe me when I am nervous, a song to indulge in melancholy when I feel like it, a song to worship God, a song to make me waltz and the list goes on endlessly. I have been listening to MSV's songs for more than forty years, but each time I listen to his songs, I never cease to find something new in them.

Waiting to read more of your posts.

Thanking you
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Dr.Damodaran Pachaiappan