I was attending a college cultural program. As I walked onto the grounds I heard this bassy track with EDM like leads being played. Just as my brain began to decipher the track, Shreya Ghoshal’s glorious voice began to sing “Nannaa re Nannaa re”. That’s when I decided that I had to pen down my thoughts regarding the masterpiece of a track. I hadn’t heard it in such a long time and hence wanted to revisit it and understand the song completely.
Well, one never needs to spend a lot to listen to good music. All you need is a phone, an internet connection, a music streaming platform and a reasonable pair of headphones. Then, there are others who want to delve deeper into what the music represents and they end up spending on a good pair of headphones and pay for HQ audio on a streaming platform; that’s exactly what I did. I opened up Apple music and began playing the original track with my headphones plugged in (Not via Bluetooth but a physical 3.5mm jack). A few seconds in and I don’t know why I wanted to switch to the Thamizh version of the track. It almost beckoned onto me. Like a beacon shining in the darkest of nights. It probably has to do with the fact that Thamizh is my blood and heart, or probably the fact that the words made more sense, or probably the feeling that thamizh felt sweeter than wine.
The track began with the detuned cultural stringed instrument that set the vibe. Picture this; crop laden fields with picturesque greenery around, dusky mud filled barren lands tilled and showing off their magnanimity, the over cast clouds, grey and dark breezing past the sky driving cold air onto the fields and finally a train track amidst all this beauty with a train bolting through the region. This is almost the exact imagination that I had while listening to the song. I don’t remember watching Guru. I did; a long long time ago. ARR sir seems to fill the atmosphere between the two headphones with so much life and imagination.
What fills the imagination more are the hisses that we hear sometime around 0:34–0:36, kindling the hissing sounds from a train. The percussions that fill the atmosphere seem to bring to the forefront the sounds of bells around a bullock’s neck as it traverses the ghat roads with their rhythmic repetitions. Then again, this is an ARR track; where is the techno? The firewire synth leads hang on to the first part of the song before they boldly show themselves on the track by minute 1. Just notes for a few bars and then schemes in the tritone chords at the end of the first stanza before the chorus comes in. To be honest, the synth leads took me back to Jana gana mana a few times but hey, it filled in so well. The way Shreya Ghoshal creeps onto the chorus ever so mildly as though she was running up for a jump. The “Nannaa re Nannaa re” with their backing harmonies seemed like a symbolic message. “A voice and a rhythm patch are all I need” might be what ARR probably intended to say.
I listened with a keen intent of deduction just as the chorus ended. The pads oozing into the song at about 1:53 reminded me of the ones used in New York Nagaram. Probably because both the songs ring A minor scale. The woodwinds in the backdrop of the first interlude made me feel as though I was looking while watching flocks of storks and cranes fly into the sky from the fields. The rhythm filling that moment with song and dance as you hold back from waving your hands in the air. The rhythmic sounds of the cow bells still ringing as the interlude ends.
2:34, The Classic ARR greets us. The Synth Pads walk into the picture as though they were saying “I’m back”. To be honest, the pads did feel like short bursts of a breeze that brushed your shoulders as you walked around the fields listening to Shreya ji sing like there was no tomorrow. What truly took me by surprise was his use of the D major chord to bring in that moment of glee into a Minor chord song. A few 7ths and a few Sustain chords. Let alone bringing the best out of artists and singers, he even brings out the best from Chords. At about the 3rd minute in the song the Strings sections make their attendance worth, following forwards into the second interlude.
3:40, just as the second interlude, the very synthy sound resembling that of the cry of a bird wipes across your ears from left to right. The short interlude also reminds us who much ARR sir loved the sounds of Bells. His use of Bell pads is ever so wonderful. It doesn’t figuratively mean that he is dragging you off to a temple of sorts but it feels like a torrential rain turning into a mizzle for just about a few seconds. 4:00, The piccolo flute enters. The first thought that ran across my mind was the story of the PIED PIPER. The pipe plays on taking all the rats along with him and helping them off a cliff. The story taught us a different story. This piccolo flute taught me another story. I don’t mind being a rat to listen to his music. I don’t mind falling off a cliff. For in his music, I find peace, while falling freely into the abyss. Coming back to our song, the piccolo shrills through the final part as though it was a representation of the lightning crashing against another, thousands of feet above us. Yet, making you stare in awe and wonder of how beautiful the world around us is. At 4:43 there is a comet that falls from the sky, with an oooohhhhmmmmmmm sound and another at 4:56; the only two times I recognized that sound in the track. It’s the same sound they play in the movie theatres while helping you understand the bass (DOLBY ATMOS). Hey, there was one more 5:16. Phew. I had to go back to listen to the chorus one more time, The final chorus because there were a few changes with the backing vocals track arrangement. It didn’t sound the same as the first two times. But hey, did I love revisiting this song again.
In my book; A complete mix of two totally different worlds.
