MUSICAL FRAMES OF MAGIC - 2 - SONGS ON SEA MOTHER, FISHERFOLK AND FISHES

This post is the second in the series on well made movie songs.

You can read through the first at Musical Frames of Magic-1

In this post, I have picked up three boat songs considering the music, the camera work, the lyrics of the song and the expressions of the actors. Another factor is that the focus on the actors is less and it's more on the theme of the song or the environment of the song as a whole. It's that way that art gets more prominence and it really does not matter who are the players in that piece of art.

The coming together of great artists always brings out great work. The movie Chemmeen which is very popular among South Indians was the first movie from South India to garner the President's gold medal. It not only won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film but also the Certificate of Merit at the Chicago International Film Festival and a Gold Medal at the Cannes Film Festival for Best Cinematography. I have not picked up the very popular songs ‘Kadalinakkara Ponore’ or ‘Manasa Maile Varoo” as songs for my writing as in these the focus is more on the actors than on the song as a whole. Besides this, the songs do not delve into the fisherman's daily life on the sea.

Although Shri.Thakazhi Sivashankarapillai's story had an absorbing script, the movie would not have attained its cult status, but for the music of Shri. Salil Chowdhury, the direction of Shri. Ramu Kariat, the cinematography of Shri Marcus  Bartley, the lyrics of Shri.Vyalar Ramavarma, the voices of Shri.K.J.Yesudas, Shri P. Leela and the choral singers and the stunning performance of the actors. Marcus had already made waves with his work in Maya Bazaar. But for the British presence in India, Chemmeen would not have had the magic touch of Marcus. Very much like I mentioned in my previous post on songs, here also the focus on the hero or the heroine is reduced to a miniscule level and the overall natural environment gets the focus.

I request you to search for the song “Puthenvalakkare”. In this song the focus is on the Chaakara season where fishes come in abundance. 'Chaakara' is a natural phenomenon that happens in the sea along Kerala's coastline. A natural wall is formed by the sand at a distance away in the sea. Fishes that are trapped on the wrong side of the 'wall' are doomed to end up in the nets.  For the fisherfolk, 'Chaakara' is a much awaited event! And it is a time of relative wealth too. They don't have to go very far into the sea. This song describes this season and the different fishes the community wants Sea Mother to gift them.

Watch from timestamp range 0.22 – 0.31 and the aerial shot between 0.47 -0.49. Watch 1.21 – 2.05 in one go and you will see how beautifully the song fuses with the picture. The activities of the fishing community and their emotions, the rustic body language of Shri Satyan and Shri Kottarakara Sreenivasan Nair, two of the best actors in the Malayalam Film Industry then, while on their pursuit of fishes, the beauty of the sea, the waves and the clouds and the melody of the song. The beauty of the song lies in the way they merge the fishing activity shots with the interlude as it plays after each line of the song goes by. It’s pure magic. Most of these shots are like paintings. Listen to how the paragraph begins with ‘Chaakara’ and how it closes with “Onamayeee”. This is pure divine touch. God has been in there with the crew.

The second paragraph also follows the same pattern. Watch from where it begins with "Chaakara" again and till the finishing shot when the song plays “Eelayaaa” at the very end. Such a beautiful way to close the song and then it slowly fuses into the murmur of real seashore life.

Each time "Chaakara" plays I get goosebumps. 

The next song that deserves our attention is 'Pennale Pennale'. Please select the YouTube post where the song begins with seagulls in flight and there is almost no music but just beats becoming progressively louder with music joining in. In specific, I request you to view the frames between 0.00 – 0.26 where the song makes such a beautiful beginning. Freeze it when fishermen get onto their boats and you will see a marvelous painting. I have no words on the beauty of the opening shot. Then comes 1.20- 2.11 where the paragraph begins with "Manathu parakkena...", 2.47– 3.12 and 3.43 – end to see the magical work of the camera. When I pause the YouTube at points in this range, I get a feel as though am seeing several oil paintings. And when we switch on the music in this range we can feel how much the music is in sync with this divine painting. The beauty of the music lies in its fast dribble of strings and the flute. Watch the close shot between 2.56– 3.03 which gets you much closer to the water and the boat. 

All these shots are coupled with a very deep poetry where the morality of the wife is brought in vis a vis the way the sea mother treats her husband who is out in the sea fishing. There is one story of a pure wife who kept prayers and how her fisherman husband, even when caught in the storm, was saved by the Sea Mother.  The next paragraph is on the story of a wife who went immoral in her ways while her husband was out fishing. There came a storm and Sea Mother took him into it and took his life. The beat of the song is superb as it involves as mentioned earlier, the fast dribbling of stringed instruments and quick flashes with flutes. You get that feel that you are on the boat and dominating the waves whenever that dribbles comes in. One should listen to all Salil Chowdhury songs to understand the genius in him.

The third song is “Kadaloram Kadaloram” from the movie “Anandha Raagam”. Such an excellent score by Shri.Ilayaraja  where he also sings with Shri.K.J.Yesudas. The song is too melodious with lyrics penned by Shri Panju Arunachalam. The song opens beautifully with crimson and golden hues. The entire song is about the assurance Sea Mother gives. The timestamp range 0.00 – 0.28 is beautifully shot by cinematographer Shri.V. Prabhakar and merges well with the shenai and drums being played. Listen to how Shri.KJY belts out his lowest base voice at places. Shri.Ilayaraja joins very well in tandem with him and that gives us a song that we would want to listen to again and again. The great piece of work comes with the camera shots almost at the level of the water. But the paragraphs of the song always seem to have the same scene with the two actors rowing the boat and with the sea all around. There could have been some variety here as this brings in visual monotony. 

The interludes however, come in as a refresher between these. I repeatedly watch actor Shri. Sivakumar’s expression when he shouts ‘Heyyyy’ twice at the end of the two paragraphs. It’s very good and suits the character. There is something about his body language that goes well with pastoral roles.The strong winds that brush against the towel turban on his head matches with those shouts and arms stretched out in faith. Shri Sivachandran supports the scene very well. Don’t miss the end from 3.30 to the finish. It’s superb with fast paced drum beats, fishermen joining the boats in a pattern and the sun shedding out its crimson to dark red hue. It's a divine painting.

Enjoy these songs when you have some real time. Am sure it will be a very satisfying experience.

My next post will be on songs based on the sea with focus on the actors.

You can have some more taste of my writing through my books. Visit them at:

A Pearl From Every Oyster - India Link

Indelible Eternal Etchings - Poetry- USA Link


A Pearl From Every Oyster -USA Link

MUSICAL FRAMES OF MAGIC -1- THE MAGIC OF THE "SENTHAZHAM POOVIL" SONG

It's my deep interest in music and art that has driven me to dedicate this series "Musical Frames of Magic", consisting of pieces of writing,  in appreciation and awe of some songs created in various languages. This series will continue, not as a continuous flow but as posts that will come in between the potpourri that I normally keep posting.

It is my interest to take such beautiful creations to all my readers, irrespective of the language they like or use, as music has only one language. I have not put any focus on the lyrics here. But still, for the inquisitive minds, let me summarize, that the essence of the poetry in this song, is the beautiful comparison of nature with the features of the woman, with whom, the character who sings, is in love with. My focus here, is only on the music, the camera shots that have been taken and the performance of the characters.

My first pick is the Senthazham Poovil song from the Tamil film Mullum Malarum. Singing while I drive is something I enjoy, but I won't recommend that you try it out, unless you have a very good control of your eyes, so that you don't take them off the road, while you sing :)). And I end up singing this song many times when I drive.

This song is the result of an ensemble of great artists like the high impact director Shri. Mahendran, the God sent poet Shri. Kannadasan, the natural musical genius Shri.Ilayaraja, the excellent supporting actor Shri.Sarath Babu (see him singing in this song and we can clearly understand how he subtly fits in so well), the breathtaking cinematographer Shri. Balu Mahendra, the actress who could don any powerful role, Shri. Shobha and the celestial singer who mesmerized many, with his heavenly voice Shri. K.J.Yesudas. All except Shri. Sarath Babu have garnered National Awards, sometime in their career. It could be because he was really unlucky. The great superstar of Tamil movies Shri. Rajinikanth, is also a part of this movie, but not this song.

When many greats come together, there is a large probability of a great outcome and this is very much seen in this song. I believe if Shri. Rajinikanth was the character singing this song, the visual impact of the character on the whole song would have been different and not so subtle, considering the weight he carried in the industry. And that positioning by Shri.Mahendran made this song all the more beautiful, as the viewers have no superstar or hero to get their eyes locked on to, but just the overall beauty of the screen and the song itself. I strongly believe, that even if Shri. Mahendran, tried to recreate this song, some beauty of the original would get lost. Such is the art that has got captured. 

When the song takes off, we have the initial humming which is  so melodious and mesmerizing. I have heard many singers trying to match this, but never being able to reach the purity of this rendering. The flutes take over and we are shown a narrow path through which the jeep travels...really breathtaking impact. 

Watch the facial expressions of the characters in the first chorus..it's so natural...there is emotion and a "let go" of ego by the character who sings, who is actually holding a respectable job and forgets his position and sings while in the company of working women of the estate where he is the officer. Of course there is a romantic inclination that he has for one of them and those inclinations travel between them through this song, like fine subtle threads. This makes the song all the more beautiful.

The shenayi takes over in the first interlude. Please keep your eyes glued to ensure you don't miss the beauty of art here. The shenayi ..watch the moutains...and then the flutes..through the canopy ...the chirps of birds...and then some great momentum in music as the jeep takes those sharp turns. This is simply mind blowing. Some scenic patches come through in the first paragraph as the character sings.

Watch the second interlude..where you see the jeep encountering a herd of sheep. We hear a combination of flutes and the violin while some beautiful landscape scenes slip by...so well crafted. In the second paragraph as the character sings, there is a beautiful bend that the jeep takes on a road that is at the edge of the mountain....breathtaking.

The song continues and the third interlude and third paragraph has more focus on the heroine. This is the only patch where art sort of takes a small backseat.

The finishing chorus again has such a beautiful crimson red sunset with silhouette of the heroine beautifully shot.

Right through, the celestial voice of Shri.K.J.Yesudas keeps us enthralled. 

I would drop my busy activities any day to listen to this song, anytime it gets played anywhere. Hope you all will take five minutes of your time to enjoy this mind blowing master piece.