DhooL.com Song Of The Day

Song of the Day # 984

From: bb on:  Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:03 pm

Song of the Day: maargazhi maadham from panchami.

http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/984.html

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- Saravanan writes:

Malarndhum Malaraadhavai # 12

‘maargazhi maadham’ from panchami
Sung by T.V. Gopalakrishnan & S. Janaki
Lyrics by Gangaiamaran
Music by Ilaiyaraja

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A Tamil youth comes to Kerala in search of employment. There he finds livelihood, and then finds love in the form of a lively local lass. Communication between them is limited to looks, smiles and gestures, until she learns Tamil. (A forerunner to Cheran’s Autograph?) In his ‘en jannalin vazhiyE’ Vairamuthu reveals this much of the story of ‘panchami’. In a chapter titled ‘uRangi kidakkum mottukkaL’, Vairamuthu lists down few songs that he wrote for movies that were never released. And it is in this context that he mentions the movie ‘panchami’ and the song ‘udhaya kaalamE nanaindha mEgamE’ which the girl sings soon after mastering the language of her lover, exulting in the lines ‘mozhiyin kadhavu thiRandhadhu, vizhiyil vidiyal pularndhadhu’ Laments Vairamuthu, ‘panchami’ padathilum kooda naan sEmiththu vaiththa kaRpanai selavazhikkapadAmalE irukkiRadhu’.

If Vairamuthu can be filled with regret that a single song written by him was frittered away for this ‘panchami’ that was never released, then one can imagine the dismay of Ilaiyaraja, for he had lovingly crafted 4 exquisite songs for ‘panchami’, only to see them squandered, his painstaking work falling prey to the financial tangles of a wretched producer who could not find funds to complete what he had commenced…

Wait, Ilaiyaraja’s labour was not wholly lost... for fortunately for us, we had with us in those times ‘thamizh sEvai iraNdu’, and by fetching for the songs of ‘panchami’ repeated airtime, the good old radio station was the soothing salve to Ilaiyaraja’s disenchantment. And from the tea gardens of Nuwaraeliya to the concrete mazes of Madras, the songs were requested for and listened to with great pleasure, till time took them away in its merciless stride.

Incidentally, way back in 1976, there came a Malayalam movie titled ‘panchami’ starring Prem Nazeer & Jayabharathi, and it had some wonderful songs composed by our Mellisai Mannar MSV.

From the EP record of the Tamil ‘panchami’ (Omega Movies), we come to know that that the songs were recorded in 1981. The songs were:

1. panikkaatRin kuLumai written by Gangaiamaran and sung by S. Janaki
2. maargazhi maadham written by Gangaiamaran and sung by S. Janaki & T.V. Gopalakrishnan
3. udhaya kaalamE written by Vairamuthu and sung by P. Suseela
4. maalai veyyil written by M.G. Vallaban and sung by Malaysia Vasudevan


‘udhaya kaalamE’ is a song with a delightful prelude and heavenly interludes sculpted around the dulcet tones of Suseela. ‘panikaatRin kuLumai’ has Janaki weaving a wondrous warp on Ilaiyaraja’s psychedelic tapestry. Malaysia Vasudevan brings to life in his idiosyncratic levity the lines of M.G. Vallaban in that jaunty ‘maalai veyyil paadum sindhu sindhu’.

That leaves us with this sumptuous spread in Kamas ‘maargazhi maadham munpani vELaiyilE’. Kamas, they say, is the raga that is best suited to portray Sringaara Rasa, the aesthetic emotion that conveys love tinged with sensual longings, the enthralling amalgam of the ecstasy and agony. Is it then any surprise that Raja laid Kamas as the path to tread this sensuous journey on? The song appears to be a composition for a dance recital, with Sringara Rasa as the motif of the piece. The danseuse recalls with a wistful pang a winter tryst with her lover, and sighs over the current spasm of separation even as she yearns for those joyous intimate moments to cross her threshold once again….

The sprightly anklets, the mridangam, veeNai, violin, flute… Ilaiyaraja ushers in the ethos and ambience of a dance stage, and composes a Kamas that is no less in allure than the Kamas compendia of yore including the legendary ‘brOchEva’ of Mysore Vasudevachariyar, ‘sri swaminathayya’ of Dikshitar, ‘sujana jeevana’ of Thyagaraja or even ‘oru naaL oru pozhudhu’ of Papanasam Sivan. Surprises never cease when Sishtla Janaki is around… for a singer with negligible training in classical music, she serenades the intricate nuances of Kamas here like a seasoned stalwart. And understanding the mood of the composition, she cajoles into her rendition the entire realm of Sringara- coquetry, secretive exchanges, sighs of delirious joy, pangs of separation- they all find surreptitious space in her song. Ilaiyaraja invites his Guru to sing along with his prima donna, and the revered Tirupunithura Viswanatha Gopalakrishnan fits in with finesse, his trained tones resonating with casual confidence.

The sensual thus soars to become the sublime in the chambers of the Maestro…



* * * *

‘maadhagaLil naan maargazhi’ Lord Krishna is said to have declared. It may well suit our singaara Chennai, for the staid city rouses itself to pulsating life this month. A pleasant, mildly cold climate fills the denizens with joy. One gets up to ‘gOkulathil pasukkaLellaam’ and ‘geethai sonna kaNNan’ drifting from some neighbourhood temple, and comes out to see attractive kOlams bedecking the gateways of most houses, even apartments. The appetizing whiff of delicious pongal wafts from the kitchen, but wait, you cannot partake of it until you have had your bath and the neivedhiyam is done. The pages of the December 1st edition of ‘The Hindu’ are filled with the mind-boggling itineraries of the myriad Sabhas…the city is treated to a month long sumptuous feast of music and dance. Magazines vie with each other in reviewing the concerts, the crowd, even the fare offered in the canteens…. Shankara Hall and Chettiar Hall across the road put up their famed annual sale of cassettes and CDs. Christmas, New Year…the associated holidays and revelries, followed soon by Pongal… movie releases of our favourite stars, family get-togethers, the test matches at Chepauk, the All India Tourist Trade Fair in the Island Grounds… “Oh, to be in England now that April’s there!’ exclaimed a wistful Robert Browning in his ‘Home Thoughts from Abroad’. Chennai and Margazhi would hold just as good…

Tags: Ilayaraja , S.Janaki

Malarndhum malaraadhavai

- udhaya kaalamE from panchami: http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/403.html

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