Thursday, June 7, 2012

Super Song Thaman!

..........as I write this, a track from one of Thaman's latest "Love Failure" called "Intezaare" is playing in my headphones. Headphones, yes, emphasize that....thats because if you have to truly appreciate Thaman's work, you need to dwell deep into the music, with a hint of focus and a pinch of musical know-how! Putting on a pair of good headfones is the best way to do that. A taste for melody & classy beats surely helps!
          If a bit of gyaan wouldn't offend, let me quote from Wiki that Thaman has practically worked under all the music composers that contemporary Telugu Cinema has come to know. The late Chakravarty garu, the Maestro Ilayaraja, DSP, Chakri, Keeravani, Raj-Koti.... the works. A major addition to his training came under Manisharma, a composer much known for his grip on various instrumentations and expert sound engineering, for a good part of 6 years! I have googled this info before beginning this blog, only to add some solidarity to my impression of Thaman. With that much experience, one can surely be pardoned for expecting him to deliver some amazing music. And deliver, he does, in absolute profundity!
           Of late, Thaman has become a household name in both the Tamizh and Telugu Film industries for scoring the soundtracks of big and quality productions. He has shot to sudden and stupendous popularity! Typically in the Telugu Film Industry, this has happened time and again. Earlier there were Raj-Koti & Keeravani who dominated the soundcharts. Then, the modern & perfect mix of classy and massy beats of Manisharma took over for a good span of time(More on this in my other blog about Manisharma). DSP proved his mettle in melody for quite sometime before mainstream demand sadly turned his lore into run-of-the-mill and bane. Chakri has always filled in the gaps and has also been dominant to an extent but his music is far from what I usually favour. However, the trend of one major composer being indomitable has been intact. Sadly, that often led to the glitter in their very compositions fading off. Thankfully Thaman proved to be the odd one out to be cracking this cliche!
          Not to my surprise, many among the audiences, who usually overlook the finer nuances of music making, have dished out Thaman's music to be repetitive & monochromatic. Often acronyms like Same Song Thaman(for S.S.Thaman) have been attached to his name. Many a sophisticated aspects of his music are completely ignored and in general, the music is underrated. "Too classy" is what some pretentious music critics claim. I beg to differ though and that, alongside a general appreciation for his work, is the reason for this blog here. Let me indulge you more into the finer rivulets that make up the beautiful slipstream that his music is!
          A practice now common with major mainstream composers is an aversion to the use of musical instruments as they were. Compositions of recent times have gained a flavour of techno-gadgetry as most of the sounds, even those of fundamentally bespoke instruments, are usually created using electronic instruments, or the electronic iterations of the bespoke instruments. Furthermore, a myriad varieties of modern electronic instruments are invented every other day & are put to use by composers, technicians, sound engineers, DJs, etc. To a major extent, this trend has led to music being repetitive and banal, with the sounds often redundant. A lack of simple yet charming melody and any whiff of sophisticated arrangements is another repulsive factor here. However, this is absolutely the tricky & 'turn-around' point of Thaman's music. What's interesting is the way he uses these very electronic gadgetry to create fresh and new sounds that are truly enjoyable. Essentially, all such electronic experimentation in his music is perfectly timed and corresponds with the other elements to give a wholesomely good effect. This has always been apparent with his tracks right from Kick's 'Dhim Thana' to the recent Ishtam's 'Yenmelu Indru'.
            To complement these electronic sounds, Thaman usually employs brilliant sound engineering methods and musical arrangements that portray an acquired taste. Well constructed bass is always a given while the rhythms in the undertones (through keyboards or otherwise) are always special, subtle in places to emphasize the ambience of the song while predominant in other occasions to announce an onslaught of gorgeous melody! Striking examples of this are the tracks 'Dhinaku Dhin' from Mirapakay or 'Guruvaram/Adaragottu' from Dookudu. In alignment with the aforementioned electronic trickery and deft mastery over sound engineering, Thaman establishes an astounding foundation of layers for his compositions. Indeed some soul sprinkling there, as a framework is now left open for the main vocals, the melody and the bolstering instrumentation to take over.
           Talk of instruments is not consummate here if a word or two is not shared about Thaman's work on percussions. While he does excel in his placement of pieces extracted from instruments of different types, ranging; from all of the stringed entities to all of the keyboarded entities, from all of the percussions to all of the blow horns; it is his daring experimentation with percussions, both native and foreign that adds a dynamic tinge to his music. This is particularly remarkable when he does fast paced & mass numbers! 'Chandamama' from BusinessMan is textbook material for percussional music with some aspirant experiments there while mass/club tracks like 'Kalasala' from Osthe or 'Tension' from Dookudu are engrossing foot tapping numbers. What bemuses me is how he manages to make mass numbers so sing-worthy which is quite the rarety when it comes to music. Typically, another notable feature is that he lets the instruments garner a certain humble clarity that is simply classy and beautiful. Certainly, this is best observed in songs like 'Yevaro' from Bodygaurd or as earlier mentioned, 'Intezaare' from KSY/Love Failure. To instate it simply, there is no noise!
           Yet in many cases, riffs-raffs as are inspired from the genres of hip-hop, electronic & lounge music exist to give the overall sound a distorted effect. However, what stands out is all the applications essentially cohere together. Each song has ONE distinct sound. Now, the final layer that permeates in is the 'vocals' bit, that is often flooded with voices rendered by the best energetic youngsters in the music industry, who've all made their mark with distinct and enjoyable voices. Case in point here is that the vocals carry with them a simple melody which is always catchy. Always hum-able and always plainly beautiful, so much so as to make you wonder where all that solemn melody vanished years ago only to reappear with Thaman's work! Reason enough to keep the playlist repeating, eh?
           With whatever nano-levels of musical know-how I could garner, and relying heavily on the 'classy' taste of music I presume I've acquired, this is my contention against the argument debasing Thaman's music. A musician should focus on enjoying himself with his work rather than look at the commercial levels of achievement it has gathered. Thaman definitely feels like the boy who stayed back in the chemistry lab just to have fun with the acids & bases (and possibly, and rather quite ignorantly, blow himself up!) not because the teacher (here, the producers) imposed him to.
            Thankfully today though, demand for his music persists as movie makers, with an eye for quality, exist. Much is owed to the experience & understanding of these people with respect to music. I can happily say I'm not alone in the camp then! Here's to the melody, the beat & the occasional electronic riff-raff then, Thaman!