Two ways of composing a song

I am not in any position to preach. Just consider it as my thoughts. I guess thats what a blog is for. I've made several friends on orkut and occasionally I get questions from aspiring young music directors. They want tips or suggestions or guidance. I am not qualified to give advice. So the best they can do is read this blog and take what they want.

Okay. This one is about the song creation.

You can first create a tune and then ask a poet to write lyrics for it
or...
You can give tune to an already written poem.

The former method is the most common practice now a days in Indian film/pop music. There is a lot of emphasis on the rhythmic and musical appeal of a song, sometimes the lyrics take a back seat. Its very evident in some of the malayalam movie or album songs. (or just reminisce the song Mukkala Mukhabla from Gentleman) . I read somewhere that a bulk of the current popular album songs are branded as painkili . I like painkili songs as long as they are poetic and not just a play of words. Listen to Lajjavathiye. Its painkili but so beautifully written. Of Course it is Kaithapram.

You know, even listening to songs that are just a play of words is OK. It is still artistic expression. Its like having ice cream. Tastes good and it gives instant pleasure. But you don't want to eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (Some people may like that but thats a whole different topic)

So, a song is written by filling in the blanks of a tune. There is debate about whether this is bad. I don't think this is bad. Traditional Malayalam poetry follows Vritham which essentially is a tune or a rhythm. When you write following a Vritham you are filling in the blanks. The difference is that a precomposed tune is not as regular as a Vritham. It has a more variations and it takes time for the poet to internalize the music directors tune. My album songs were mostly written after the tunes were composed.

The second way is to compose for a poem that was already written. Can you tune anything? I don't think so. Even pre-written lyrics must follow a certain rhythm in it. Otherwise all we need is newspaper articles to create songs. While in college I remember creating tune for a devotional song. It turned out alright. The author was my batch mate Sajeev V C. Quite a talented guy.

Two years ago Arthi asked me if I can create a song for a Kannada event. The lyrics were already done in Kannada. It was a patriotic + dance number. Arthi translated the lyrics to english for me and I worked on it for 2 days. It was not easy but I did it.

Here is the song.

Even if you don't understand Kannada, you should be able to sense the patriotism in the song. The male vocals are by Madhu Nandagiri. Madhu did the track for the Kunnimanikal song in the album too. The guitar in the beginning was played by Srinidhi (Arthi's relative). He is a master in playing Carnatic on guitar. He is also great friends with Mandolin Sreenivasan. The rest of the guitar and orchestration are by me. The Mridangam was played by Arthi's husband Murali. Quite a cast huh?