?Morning Raga? ? a meeting of two worlds. The title of the movie and its caption are apt description of its music. The album of this movie is as refreshing as breeze in the early morning and also it is a fugue of carnatic and jazz music or western music in general. Though movie has got mixed response, the music was unanimously appreciated and that kindled my interest to buy this album. The album has got 14 tracks among which 12 are composed and arranged by Amit heri and the rest by Manisharma.
Fusion for Composers : In film format, it is easy to compose fusion music if it is a completely newly written song set to new tunes by the composer himself. But it is really very tough to escape from the critics when a composer tries his hands in mixing traditional classical songs which serve as a grammar for the form of the music with western music retaining the original verses and the raaga.
For any composer, taking this job is like deciding to walk on the edge of a knife, even a slight damage to classical songs will have a huge impact which will spoil the soul of both forms of music. But I should say, Amit Heri has safely walked out on the knife without any slip.
Kind of Fusion:He has tried a kind of fusion in which two forms of music remain in its original form but when played and performed in synch it evolves into a new sound that widens the reach of both music forms. Neither the Telugu and Tamil verses are sung in western notes nor do the western instruments play classical notes in this kind of fusion.
The usual carnatic style of orchestrations with Gatam, Mirudangam, Violin, Tanpura are replaced by rhythms with Drums, Pads, Guitar, Piano, Keyboard and electric violins in all the songs.
Singers:The major plus of the album is the use of well known, talented carnatic singers like Bombay Jayshree, Sudha Raghunathan, Gayathri and Kalyani menon. As they were well trained in singing these kinds of numbers in Katcheris (of course they would have sung all these numbers at least 100 times in their concerts before) they have done full justice to their part effortlessly.
It is really stunning to listen to the way they reach the line of perfection while putting apt Gamukkas at apt places and also while rendering seamless swara alaps in the songs.
Composers have struck the right chord by not using the full verses of each song. They have used only first 4 or 5 lines of each songs and the rest is filled with swara alaps, jughalbandhis and orchestrations. Because if all the songs have full verses sung in an unknown language, people may lose interest after a point even if it has a soulful tune and innovative fusion.
Songs:The traditional classical numbers used are ?Maha Ganapatin? and ?Jagado Dharana? sung by Bombay Jayshree, ?Thaye Yasodha? and ?Mathey? sung by Sudha Raghunathan and ?Samaja Varagaman? sung by Gayathri. ?Pibare Ramarasam? and ?Thodi alap? sung by Kalyani Menon with music being arranged by Manisharma are devoid of any fusion but pleasant enough to hear in its original form.
Instrumentals :In addition to these songs there are 6 instrumental tracks which are background score pieces used in the movie. I hope these pieces gels well with the mood of the situation for which it is used in the movie. Even all these instrumentals are experimental, good and pleasant to hear. Among them ?Remembering his violin? track with haunting solo violin playing a sad note and ?Charminar? track with divine Veena pieces are pick of the lot.
When you are ready to spend money to buy some mediocre music albums just for the publicity and the hype created, why not try such albums for a change which has more quality music and something fresh to deliver that comes with a low profile. Of course it is worth the money and you won?t regret buying it if you are an open minded lover of all forms of music.