Raasathi Unnai - The Timeless Masterpiece

This song is literally a gem in every way. It has such a surreal confluence of folk infused with carnatic classical that makes it mighty special. It's hard to coin this into a specific genre as the template doesn't really give a picture of a genre perse but however the end result makes this composition truly stand out as a certified classic.

There is a legend which gets associated with this song whereby it's beleived that elephants used to assemble outside the theatre at the village of Cumbum in Kerala standing there with their trunks held high as the song was getting played.

Throughout the song one will get to hear lovely strumming at the background beautifully accompanying the vocal chords along with some lilting arpegio passages. The singer Jayachandran has given his heart out in rendering this number and you can feel the full strata of emotions in the vocal undertone.

My favorite part of this vintage number is the Charanam portion which dances along gregariously and connects back to the Pallavi. This incidentally was also the portion which I tried on the veena. Not sure if I was able to do justice but just even attempting to play this timeless masterpiece gives unbridled joy and happiness.

Un Paarvaiyil - The Stinger and the Stunner!

There are very few compositions that bedazzle, befuddle and bamboozle you in a way that you just cannot but not fall to the trance of it's aural aura. Un Paarvaiyil Oraayiram rightfully falls in such an esteemed category. Every time I listen to it, I'm left speechless at the sheer outrageous audacity in fusing indigenous tamil folk with a pristine hindustani classical ragam like Behag and creating an output that is nothing short of an evergreen masterpiece.

The blend of instruments in conjunction with the flow of melody exacerbates the chiaroscuro and the whole song is structured in a fashion that exhibits musical camaraderie in gregarious proportions.

Attempting a shot at this song mandated to be as nimble fingered as possible with the precision for error being really high with just about 4 inches (approx 10 cm) of area to play with. Not withstanding the field, the quality of the number is akin to a sprawling stadium punctuated with slew of swaras perpetrated all over pitch forked with flowing drives moving up and down. I just tried my level best to beat the googly and come unscathed. Not sure how much I succeeded but it was an experience that left me stung and also stunned :).

Shape of You - Veena fusion!

I tried experimenting with the immensely popular 'Shape of You' from Ed Sheeran's album "Divide" on a string instrument. A major portion of the notes are clustered around particular singular notes. In fact the opening vocal line uses the same note for a record duration repeatedly tempered across various phrases. It might seemingly tend to denote a dissonance but in essence is such a catchy composition. From a classical parlance, it's based on the minor scale of 'Natabhairavi' with more specific usage of Sa Ga2 Ma1 Pa Ni2 Sa making you look it up as 'Suddha Dhanyasi' which effectively can be considered as the derivative of the former (debatable?) by dropping the Rishabam and Dhaivatam. The excitement of playing this track made me attempt a bit of gimmicks here and there. I'm very much a greenhorn in this oceanic field of music and I hope the rendition wasn't all that bad. Bouquets and brickbats both welcome :).