Trends Are Temporary, Raaja Is Permanent: 'Modern Love Chennai' Music Makes Oldies Feel Young

When I was young

I'd listen to the radio

Waitin' for my favorite songs

Waiting they played I'd sing along

It made me smile

Those were such happy times

And not so long ago

How I wondered where they'd gone

But they're back again

Just like a long lost friend

All the songs I loved so well

- Richard Carpenter and John Bettis

The popular chef in Tamil Nadu Venkatesh Bhat, while making some dish on his Youtube channel, often says, 'take this to your room, sit by the window and have it all by yourself.' 

It is a line that came to one's mind while listening to the songs and instrumental pieces that the maestro Ilaiyaraaja has composed for the OTT anthology Modern Love (Chennai), which is to stream from this Friday. For, Raja's tunes in this album deserve to be savoured in the comfort of your room all by yourself, even as you wonder how the man continues to remain remarkably relevant musically some 47 years after his first officially credited film Annakili hit the screens in Tamil Nadu on a typically hot and humid May in 1976.

There are, in all, 18 compositions in the Modern Love album. Out of this, his son Yuvan Shankar Raja and Sean Roldan have two songs each, and one another is by G V Prakash. 

The rest 13 --- including four brilliantly orchestrated instrumental pieces --- are all Ilaiyaraaja's babies, and each one of them have been delivered with poise and panache that are his eternal signatures.

One thought of reviewing the album, going into every individual piece, but after going over Ilaiayaraaja's part, the whole exercise looked daunting and difficult. For, each one of them, apart from being interesting in terms of tune, tone and arrangement, carry a bounce and verve that speak of various loves ---- including Raaja's for music. 

Take for instance Kaamaththup-Paal --- this will be part of Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s episode delightfully carrying the name of Ilaiyaraja's yesteryear classic, Ninaivo Oru Paravai --- what do we say of this piece of joy, a classical symphonic orchestration whose pulsating tempo keeps rising like during a sexual act (befitting its title Kaamaththup-Paal) and reaching the crescendo with a fantastic flourish. 

On social media some listeners suggest that this piece is a hat-tip to Edvard Grieg’s In The Hall Of the Mountain King.  Except for the gradual ascending shift in the tempo, the two pieces also sound different in spirit. 

The way Ilaiyaraaja has coaxed a Westeren symphonic offering to be in line with Indian musical sensibilities is the standout feature.   

The songs and tunes listed under the episode Ninaivo Oru Paravai are full of energy and effervescence that somehow wasn't all that evident in some of his works in the 2010s. 

Probably, the title made him dip into his impossible form from the 70s and 80s. And when you listen to Nenjil Oru Minnal, which is part of the episode named Margazhi directed by Akshay Sundher, you understand that the theory of the title inspiring Raaja to his heydays can be quickly confined to the litter box. For, Nenjil Oru Minnal is even more jaunty and waltzy. 

You can almost see in your mind's eye, Raaja singing the song with a smile on his lips as the tune jubilantly skips around like a deer on a cool, verdant patch of green. 

The song could as well be the anthem for the entire Modern Love series as it effortlessly carries the fervour of the anthology. Even when his not-so-young-voice does not manage to reach the high range consistently, the bouncy tune lifts him and manages to retain the flavour and feel.   

In Aanaal (again in Ninaivo Oru Paravai) in the staccato Spanish riffs --- sung with flourish by Ananya Bhatt --- you espy a similarity to the Vedha song Palinginal Oru Maligai, which was inspired by Alberto Dominguez Borras Spain song Ferensi. 

But you cannot but marvel at the freshness in the rhythms that make you involuntarily tap your feet and snap your fingers. 

It is in the short but monumentally evocative Endrum Endhan, sung with great emotion Priya Mali, you kind of get the feeling that Ilaiyaraaja seems to have thrown the gauntlet to the young composers, and almost saying, 'c'mon guys, better this one with a number that has such a feeling'. 

In a sense, this is a microcosm of myriad solo numbers that Raaja has strummed out for the likes of S Janaki, Chitra or Swarnalatha. So soulful. So skillful. It conjures all those numbers.

It is at that point that one gave up the idea of reviewing all the songs in the album and instead pondered how the great artist is managing himself to be in with the times. In a sense, these days, it is easy to compose for the prevailing 'trend'. There are enough off-the-shelf things available to help one mechanically construct a number that can be attractive to the young set. 

Even if comparisons are odious, just take the GV Prakash Kumar song in the same Modern Love album. The song Kukunnu is instantly catchy and likable. Yet, the Punjabi origins of the tune cannot be truly erased. You cannot help but feel that you're listening to a Punjabi folksy ballad in Tamil. It could be Shamshad Begum crooning, as well. 

But what Raaja does is something fundamentally different. He composes songs for the youth without in any way compromising on his essential grammar and philosophy of music. The songs stick to the first-principles pattern without agonisingly butchering the standard structure that some other music directors are wont to do. The youthfulness lies, as it always should, in the elementary tune not in its funky tonality; in its creative orchestration not in its diligent layering. For God's sake, it is music --- it should flow and not be constructed as a lego set.

It is not as if Raaja went out of mode or fashion in the last twenty years. Yes, his prolificity of hey days wasn't there. But his music had the heft. But it is also a fact that he seemed a bit distracted and his music did not reflect the easy accessibility of the first three decades of his career. But in 2023, Raaja seems to be revitalised as his scores for Viduthalai and Music School would confirm. 

Truly good music will make the old feel young.  It will make one fall in love. Again and again. Modern Love music does it with elegance and ease. Raaja's is what The Carpenters sang  --- Yesterday Once More.