What happened to the glorious traditions of classical music in the 20th century? How did film music capture the public consciousness in Tamil Nadu (even India)? What is the significance of Ilaiyaraaja's arrival? These questions form the discussion in the third part of our series.

Though this episode stands on its own, you can listen to Part 1 and Part 2 for better context.  

Key topics covered:

The impact of the world wars on classical artists

Atonality and the recession of western classical music from the public consciousness

Formation of the sabhas and musical theater traditions in the Indian classical paradigm

The scope and space provided by film, a modern medium, for innovation in music

The three phases of Tamil Film Music, and the inventiveness of M.S.Viswanathan

Annakkili and the arrival of Ilaiyaraaja

Participants:

Deepauk

Mahesh

Bala Chidambaram

Musical References:

Ilaiyaraaja - Annakili

Ravel's Bolero

Shostakovich - Leningrad Symphony 7 Movement 2

Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire

Parthu Kadan Kodungal - Gopalkrishna Bharathy

Wagner - Ride of Valkyrie (OST Apocalypse Now, Da 5 Bloods)

Stravinsky - Petrushka

G.Ramanathan - Vaadaa Malare - Ambikapathy

M.S.Viswanathan - Ammammaa Keladi Thozhi - Karuppu Panam

C.Ramachandra - Eena Meena Deeka - Aasha

Wynton Marsalis - Second Line

M.S.Viswanathan - T.K.Ramamoorthy - Unnai Ondru Ketpen - Puthiya Paravai

Additional References:

Ilaiyaraaja Music Academy Speech

M.S.Viswanathan on Charukesi and Ammamma Keladi

Ilaiyaraaja Interview clip

The impact of Sabha culture

Bala's blogposts on music of the  20th century, Tamil film music