Although politically incorrect and replete with somewhat insensitive terminology, we tend to have this “high-art” / “low-art” classification to artforms - notably music.
For instance, Deva’s roadside “gaana” is treated as low-art in comparison to many of Raja’s choice tunes involving complex orchestrations and deft handling of Carnatic scales (raagam).
Spend any length of time being a fan of AR Rahman’s and you tend to be in circles where Yuvan’s music is seldom talked about and, if at all, mostly in a bad light. This is not to say all fans of Rahman’s music dislike Yuvan’s music but a vocal majority considers Yuvan’s to be sub-par at best.
And it shows in many of the songs. Yuvan’s collaboration with most directors is generally for “mass-appeal” movies, catering to a smorgasbord of audience-types. So the music, as a result perhaps, tends to be “mainstream”, clichèd and lacking nuance that one can expect, say, in Rahman’s creative outputs.
Album after album, Yuvan shows no inclination to handle raagas (unlike his father – the OG Raja) or to introduce layers of nuanced sophistication or have a distinct imprint of his style in his songs. It is technically hard to spot Yuvan’s style if at all it exists.
So, to me, it’s a natural surprise when he comes up with some songs so technically brilliant that I have to listen to them on repeat sometimes.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, they involve two non-mainstream directors who are a class apart.
One of the first songs of Yuvan that made me sit back instantly and take notice of – many years after the song had been composed, released and forgotten – was this one.
Songs that marry an Indian-classical raaga-based melody to picturesque Western backing and rhythms happen rarely. (Sure, there’s a motley of songs that attempt such marriage but they don’t meet the perfect-marriage criteria).
That Yuvan managed to accomplish this is a surprise given he has not produced something similar before or since.
And to pick bahudāri of all!
Then there are these two songs. One of them weaves magic – and cheats by involving senior Raja’s voice – and the other is a rhythmic explosion. They don’t have much classical-dependency as the previous song but somehow, there is a unique, non-mainstream-Yuvan touch to these.
As I write this, I’m also inclined to mention that this other song is also a masterpiece from Yuvan’s stable and you will then notice a pattern emerging.
Yuvan’s best, nuanced, thematic and layered work seems to emerge when he teams up with folks like Ram, Vasanth, Ameer etc.