It’s been nearly 2.5 years since my last Tune Diving article! So if you want to torture yourself with 4000+ words of musical analysis, go ahead 🙂
My analysis is based on the jukebox version of the song, so from 00:00 of this video (or the video linked above). The version that was released as a single lyric video cut off the first 10 seconds or so – I don’t know why. I wanted to discuss the first ten seconds as well, and hence I’m using the versions linked above.
The song starts off with an ethereal spacious soundscape, almost as if to immediately pull the listener away from the world of reality, and into the world of the song itself. The reverb-heavy pads back up the synth melody, which plays a beautiful high-pitched melody that outlines the key of Eb Major. What really makes this melody beautiful is the way the top note is approached from below – it just feels so delicate, and so tender, almost as if you’re trying to touch a bubble without making it burst. It’s also important to note that this opening section has no bass part, thus allowing the song to float, without any bass instrument to provide the song with a musical floor.
[Supplementary Video 1: sheet music of opening]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7No3ZDdmuaM
As mentioned in the video above, from the second repetition of the melody, an additional mallet layer comes in, which plays a repetitive phrase consisting of two notes. (You’ll hear it at around 0:07).
That mallet layer fades out around 15 seconds into the song, and is replaced by a bass line that almost plays the inverse of the previously heard mallet line. The fact that the bass line is almost an inverse of the mallet layer makes it less jolting to hear, because the mallet line has essentially prepared our ears for the entry of the bass line, given their similarities in pattern.
[Supplementary Video 2: sheet music comparing bass line and mallet line]
https://youtu.be/kQ8HOY7T9gY
(For theory nerds, Omane’s bass line is more accurately described as “alberti bass” – a bass line made up of broken chords usually following the pattern: low note – high note – middle note – high note. You’ll hear that Omane’s bass line follows this for the most part, albeit with slight variations here and there. I actually compare Omane’s bass line with a more traditional “alberti bass” line later on in the article, so keep this concept in mind.)
Of course, we cannot forget the important change that has happened at around the 15-second mark – a key change! While the song started off in Eb Major, the entry of the bass line establishes a C minor tonality – a darker, perhaps even more intense sound. The opening section in Eb Major was this ethereal, floating sound, and as the song comes down to C minor, it suddenly feels a bit more grounding and intense, I’d say.
(It’s worth noting that Eb Major and C minor have the exact same notes in their scale, but they just start on different notes. Both the Eb major scale and C minor scales have the notes Eb, F, G, Ab, B, C, D, but the Eb Major scale starts on Eb and the C minor scale starts on C. Such keys/scales are called relative keys or relative scales.)
It’s not the first time Rahman has done this – starting with a major key in the opening of a song, only to come down to its relative minor key when the melody starts. Take the song Dil Gira Dafatan from Delhi 6, for instance. The song starts off with this majestic opening led by Ash King’s improvisations, in the key of Eb Major (same key as the opening of Omane). Then, at 0:42, the driving string lines come in, now in the key of C minor, which is when the melody truly starts. Almost as if to throw the listener off into a dream world with the soaring opening (led by the brighter major key), and then pull them back into reality as the minor key kicks in. The instrumentation supports this mood change in both songs, with the introduction of the quick banjo/string lines in Dil Gira Dafatan from the moment of the key change, and the introduction of the bass and [later on] the string orchestra in Omane.
[Supplementary Video 3: comparing Dil Gira Dafatan and Omane]
https://youtu.be/1XOuerQmirg
Now coming to the opening melody which Chinmayi sings in Omane, I find it really interesting that Rahman introduces little to no rhythmic or harmonic clarity towards the beginning of the melody. There is at least some melodic clarity of course, as Chinmayi sings the melody in a way which is clear for us listeners to understand. However, there is very little clarity in terms of rhythm and harmony.
(Let me go on a brief detour and discuss “rhythmic clarity” and “harmonic clarity”, which aren’t strictly music theory concepts per se, but concepts I’m making up for the sake of this analysis! I’ll get back to “Omane” shortly.)
Rhythmic clarity can be established in different ways, either by using strictly percussive instruments or by using instruments that don’t solely serve a percussive purpose. To provide an example of the former, a recent Rahman song called Tu Kya Jaane (from the film “Amar Singh Chamkila”), contains a really obvious form of rhythmic clarity by using percussive instruments to establish the rhythmic foundation of the song. The dholak supports Yashika Sikka (the singer), and the dholak explicitly establishes the rhythmic foundation for the song from 0:20 (listen here). The dholak serves the sole purpose of establishing the rhythmic foundation, or the groove of the song.
Rhythmic clarity can be established by instruments that wouldn’t conventionally be considered “percussion” instruments, too. Take one of my favourite songs from the past year, Rathamaarey, for example. There is no strict percussion instrument when Vishal Mishra (the singer) starts singing. Instead we have the guitar, which is played in a way which provides both rhythmic clarity (and harmonic clarity too). The way the guitar is played allows the listener to feel and understand the rhythmic groove of the song.
Harmonic clarity comes from instruments that help establish the key of the song and the chord progression/patterns of the song too. This can be done in a variety of ways. Rathamaarey, the example I gave previously, does this at the start of the song using the guitar. (So yes, the guitar helps provide both rhythmic clarity and harmonic clarity at the beginning of the song). The instrument that helps provide even more harmonic clarity, though, is the bass. That is the conventional role of the bass – to be the base or foundation of the harmonies in the song. The bass generally makes clear the movement of the chords, and to be the glue that holds the song together. In the case of Rathamaarey, you’ll see how the bass line follows the chord progression by frequently using the note root of the corresponding chord. The presence of a solid bass line helps the listener understand the overall song much better, because the bass is outlining the harmonies/chords in the song.
[Supplementary Video 4: demonstration of Rathamaarey’s bass line]
https://youtu.be/orqln5TzS-M
So now, back to Omane. The reason I discussed rhythmic clarity and harmonic clarity is because there is actually very little of either when Chinmayi starts off her melody (at 0:26). One could argue that the bass line provides a little bit of rhythmic clarity as the bass line is a repeating figure, so the start of each repetition would signify the start of each beat.
That is true to an extent. However, the lack of a drums/percussion groove or even a guitar/piano/etc foundation (for example), makes it such that there isn’t a ton of rhythmic clarity when the melody starts. It’s difficult to feel the groove, for instance.
The same lack of clarity is also there in terms of harmonic clarity, because the bass line does not really outline any sort of chord progression. The bass line is centered on the note C, which is the root note (or “Sa”), and hence perhaps provides a small amount of harmonic clarity by helping establish the key of C minor. But the bass line here is just a repeating figure, almost operating as a second melody, rather than a harmonic base/foundation. Most bass lines based on the Alberti bass pattern (like I mentioned previously, the bass line in Omane here is based on the Alberti bass pattern) will generally help outline some sort of chord progression or harmonic movement. Comparing a classic Mozart “alberti bass” pattern to the one in Omane, you will hear the harmonic clarity Mozart provides that Rahman doesn’t.
[Supplementary Video 5: comparing Mozart’s alberti bass with the one in Omane]
https://youtu.be/WKiBNZc3wEQ
Now, you could argue that the bass line repeats over and over because the chord stays the same – it stays at C minor. That is certainly a plausible argument. But the synths in the background provide further confusion. If the chord is the same and it stays at C minor, why is the synth in the background moving around, changing notes, as if to signify a changes in chords? There is no clear answer to this question. That is the point of this synth after all, to add a healthy level of confusion for the listener. Instruments in this song that are expected to provide harmonic clarity, like the bass and soundscape synths, aren’t providing much clarity in the opening section of Omane.
[Supplementary Video 6: showing how the synth note changes provide confusion amidst a repetitive bass line]
https://youtu.be/X3wNngkzOfI
To clarify, when I talk about the lack of rhythmic and harmonic clarity in the opening of the song, it is not a criticism. It is the exact opposite of a criticism – I think the lack of clarity is the whole point of the opening section! The rhythmic and harmonic uncertainty helps add an air of mystery, which gives the song a healthy level of uncertainty – it leaves the listener wondering, “where is this song going?”.
It’s worth noting that there is a tiny level of rhythmic clarity that is added with these loud “boom” sounds from 0:39 in the song. Still though, I’d argue that its impact is relatively minimal, and there is still a strong sense of mystery stemming from the lack of rhythmic and harmonic clarity in the song.
[Supplementary Video 7: showing the boom sounds]
https://youtu.be/jmTsb2KIVZE
The level of mystery heightens with the entrance of the quick string lines from 1:04. Here, we have this lilting melody sung beautifully by Chinmayi, with very little rhythmic or harmonic clarity, and suddenly the song throws in these fast, dramatic string lines out of nowhere? What’s going on??
Well, I tried transcribing the strings to see what is actually going on. (Mind you, it’s really difficult to hear exactly which string instrument is doing what, so this transcription is just for a general idea/overview.)
[Supplementary Video 8: transcription of opening strings]
https://youtu.be/l3wOfQbP2zQ
(Note, for those who care: For the sake of simplicity, I’m assuming that the four string parts are Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, and Cello. In reality, the string configuration might have been slightly different, and in fact, there perhaps may have been more than four parts. This transcription, as I mentioned previously, just provides a general overview. I will proceed with my analysis assuming that my transcription is correct though, because I think the main ideas are generally correct.)
The answer of “what’s going on” with regards to the strings here is actually simple – nothing, kind of. Or at least, nothing that adds much more rhythmic clarity or harmonic clarity. In fact, the string parts mimic some of the characteristics of the bass part we discussed previously. We talked about the bass line being repetitive, and only establishing the root note, C. Well, the string parts kind of do the same. The cello part plays only the note C, albeit in a way that provides a little bit of groove and rhythmic clarity. The violin 2 plays these meandering repetitive figures, but that does not add any clarity with regards to chords or anything like that. Violin 1 plays these high-pitched filler lines which simply serves as decoration, and the viola comes in sporadically to add extra emphasis to certain notes. While the strings add flavour and decoration, there’s still a strong sense of mystery to the song at this point, with a definitive sense of rhythmic and harmonic clarity still lacking.
Rahman finally provides a little bit more clarity, thus decreasing the sense of uncertainty and mystery, when Vijay Yesudas comes in with his vocals at 1:19. Finally we have…chords!! Ah, finally, a long awaited chord progression played by the string orchestra, just to give the song a little bit of grounding harmonically. If Rahman had kept the song too uncertain and difficult to understand, listeners would tune out, and hence it is important for him to provide moments of relief, of relatively more clarity/certainty harmonically. Even in terms of percussion, while it is minimal, there is a tabla tarang part providing some sort of base rhythmically. Hence, this is a moment in the song of relatively low levels of mystery – the strings provide harmonic clarity, and the minimal tabla part provides at least a little bit of rhythmic clarity. The drama briefly comes back in with the quick tremolo string lines, which eventually leads us into Chinmayi’s return at 1:42.
Chinmayi’s vocal return at 1:42 also sees the entry of the first clear percussive layer in the song – the shaker! The shaker plays fast, 16th note patterns, thus matching the speed and intensity that the strings bring to the song. This is the first time in the song we have rhythmic clarity, something in the instrumentation that allows the listener to clearly understand the rhythmic groove in the song. The bass continues to be extremely mysterious, playing the same repetitive Alberti bass pattern the whole way through. The strings play a similar role as they did during Chinmayi’s previous section – the strings serve as decoration or flourish for the arrangement, adding a sense of drama to the song. Slowly, though, the strings utilize smoother lines that are less dramatic and choppy (more legato than staccato, if that’s easier to understand). The lack of harmonic clarity still remains, but the strings have become smoother as the song transitions towards the interlude, which features smooth and open string parts.
Speaking of the interlude, let’s move on to the interlude. When analysing this interlude, it is important to understand the role of the interlude. The role of this interlude is to provide a bridge into the next section of the song, which is the part sung by Rakshita Suresh (at 03:06). Rakshita’s part is quite different compared to Chinmayi and Vijay Yesudas’ opening portions. Firstly, Rakshita’s part is in a different key (G minor instead of C minor). Secondly, Rakshita’s part is much simpler in terms of arrangement/instrumentation compared to Chinmayi and Vijay Yesudas’ section earlier on in the song. Rakshita’s part features a simple tabla groove, bass, and a harmonium following the vocal melody, while the earlier parts in the song featured a collection of unusual bass lines and intense/complicated string parts. How can the song bridge the two contrasting parts of the song smoothly? The answer lies in the interlude.
There is a clear textural transition between the earlier parts of the song and this interlude (at 02:12). The first chord of the interlude is an open, expansive Eb Major chord, which provides not only a change of key but also a significant change in texture and feel. The repetitive bass lines take a break, and the bass plays a very minimal role at the start of this interlude. The strings, from quick and dramatic lines earlier, now form long and expansive phrases. The texture of the vocal delivery also changes – Chinmayi and Vijay Yesudas’ vocals earlier seemed more hushed and withheld, while Nakul Abhyankar’s (and Suryansh’s?) vocals are a lot more open and expansive. The openness of this section, and the presence of long and expansive sounds, provides a stark contrast to the quick and precise string and bass lines which dominated the earlier parts of the song. In essence, the significant contrast and openness in this interlude, helps take our minds off the sounds we heard in the earlier parts of the song. It allows the song to move towards something new.
Now that our ears have been divorced from the sounds of the earlier sections of the song, Rahman slowly prepares our ears for Rakshita’s section. The first thing Rahman does is introduce a slow, half-time tabla groove at 02:27, somewhat similar to the tabla groove that pops up in Rakshita’s section. The slow tabla groove is also accompanied by a simple bass line that fits in much more neatly with the tabla and string parts (compared to the bass line earlier which seemed to have very little connection with the other elements of the song). These two elements – slow tabla groove and simple bass line – continue into the female chorus, and helps smoothen the transition into Rakshita’s portion.
There is also a harmonic transition that needs to be made, from the current key of Eb Major, to the key of Rakshita’s portion, which is in G minor. How does Rahman transition from Eb Major to G minor, you may ask? By simply throwing a V chord right before the key change. In other words, by using an authentic cadence! The V chord of G [harmonic] minor is D Major, and that is the chord right before we head into G minor. Watch the video below for further details, or if the past few sentences did not make much sense.
[Supplementary Video 9: explanation of authentic cadence]
https://youtu.be/HMZZm879TAs
The melody too, during the last “tha na na” phrase, switches to a melody hinting at D Major, perhaps more accurately characterized as a Mayamalagowlai-esque phrase in the sruti of D. Again, this ultimately helps set up the authentic cadence with D Major (V chord) and G Major (I chord).
[Supplementary Video 10: showing melody of end of female chorus]
https://youtu.be/dsfH7nlDMq4
And finally we have reached Rakshita’s section, in the key of G minor! This section mimics the oppana style of music that is typically performed in Muslim weddings in Kerala (thanks @pnamblat on Twitter/X for the info here!). In the film, this section of the song is picturized by scenes of Najeeb and Sainu’s wedding (the main character and his wife), which explains why this section of the song mimics a wedding style of music. The melody and arrangement is rather simple and easy to digest. The tabla lays out the main groove, and the bass plays a neat bass line which fits in cleanly with the tabla groove. Unlike the bass line in the opening parts of the song, this bass line cleanly outlines a chord pattern too, which makes the song harmonically easy to understand. Rakshita sings the melody and the harmonium simply follows her. There is thus a lot of rhythmic clarity, harmonic clarity, and melodic clarity in this section of the song, something that cannot be said of the opening parts of the song.
[Supplementary Video 11: sheet music of bass line and melody]
https://youtu.be/TVds947JyAo
The oppana section of the song is not too long, lasting just around 45 seconds. After the oppana section, the song goes back to the melody which Chinmayi sang towards the beginning of the song, in the key of C minor. So, of course, we need to go from G minor (the key the oppana section is in), back to C minor. The way Rahman does this is by centering the melody of the ending part of the oppana part around the note C. Both the melody and the bass line are centered on the note C. This helps the listener adjust to the key change into C minor, as their brain is already feeling the note “C” as the center.
Look at the sheet music below to see what I mean.
Then, we go back to Chinmayi’s melody, which is largely a repeat of melodic ideas we heard earlier on in the song. In the interest of keeping this analysis under 5000 words (LOL), let me skip to the orchestral section that ends the song.
(I tried my absolute best to transcribe the ending string parts, and I think my transcription captures the general idea of what is going on. But forgive me, after a point it is near impossible to figure out precisely what instruments are playing what notes, so we’ll have to settle for this rough transcription for now! There are certainly some notes missing, some notes that are assigned to the wrong instrument, etc. But I do believe this transcription captures the general idea.)
[Supplementary Video 12: transcription of ending strings]
https://youtu.be/1ZnLbUdjH5M
Particularly when listening to the ending of this song, it is important to understand the film context as well. Najeeb, the main character, is stuck in the deserts, desperately longing to be with Sainu, his wife. Yet, of course, that is an impossible task at this point in the movie. Najeeb is held under slave-like conditions, with no means of communication to his family. Hence, the ending of the song carries a sense of hopelessness, and even a sense of his sanity slowly but surely falling apart.
The orchestral ending starts off sounding quite pleasant. The first string melody mimics the synth melody we heard in the very beginning of the song, and the ending also switches to the key of Eb Major, just like the opening. Hence, in the opening few seconds of this ending, it starts off on familiar grounds; nothing particularly jarring or disturbing.
[Supplementary Video 13: common opening theme between opening synth melody and strings melody here]
https://youtu.be/N8-k5SAfTlU
The first noticeable moment of dissonance comes in measure 4 of this outro, where we have a D7 chord. This utilises an accidental – a note outside the key, in this case, of Eb major – in the melody part, as the melody has an F#. However, even this doesn’t sound too odd, as we’ve heard a D Major chord in the key of Eb Major already in this song. You may recall that the chord right before the song went into the oppana section was a D Major chord (remember we talked about D Major being the V chord to set up an authentic cadence?). Hence, while the utilization of the accidental does add tension, it is still a familiar amount of tension.
It is afterwards that the tension really starts to grow in this orchestral ending, and it introduces a motif that pops up a few times throughout this ending. That motif is a three-note chromatically descending motif, first seen in the Violin II part in measure 6. (Using a three-note chromatic descending phrase, especially in a major key, necessitates the use of an accidental, which builds tension. No major scale has three consecutive notes, so having a three-note chromatic phrase necessarily means you will use at least one note outside the scale.) The descending nature of this motif, combined with its use of an accidental, really gives off the emotion of “falling apart”, almost as if a previously stable structure is slowly falling apart and disintegrating. In fact, for the purposes of this analysis, let’s call this three-note descending motif the “disintegration motif”. (just to emphasize, “disintegration motif” is a completely made-up phrase! Not any sort of legitimate technical term.)
The “disintegration motif” immediately shows up in the other parts too. The contrabass part has a much slower version of the disintegration motif, through its chromatically descending line.Â
Motifs can also be modified and altered, and one such modification that can be made is “inversion” – to turn the motif upside down. Rahman “inverts” the disintegration motif in the violin I part by bringing is an chromatically ascending three-note motif. The consistent use of accidentals despite the change in direction of the melody though, maintains the sense of discomfort and instability.Â
Furthermore, there is a fascinating brief moment of contrary motion (two melodies going in opposite directions), which transforms a consonant perfect fifth (C and G) into a much more dissonant minor 7th (B natural and Ab). This dissonance of the minor 7th is further exaggerated by the contrabass note in this chord, which is a Bb. We thus get a cluster of notes, consisting of Bb, Eb, B natural, and Ab. They combine to simply create a dissonant cluster of sound, rather than any necessarily coherent chord. Â
Of course, Rahman is very clever in the way he uses tension throughout this orchestral ending. Filling the full ending with dissonance after dissonance would not be particularly impactful, because it would get tiring for the listener! So the dissonances come in waves, taking breaks in between each wave. The first big wave of dissonance happens between measures 6 and 9 (between 00:10 and 00:18 in this transcription), with the dissonances primarily being achieved through the aforementioned “disintegration motif”. Then, in measure 10, we have a Eb Major chord – our home chord. This brings the song temporarily back home, and gives the listener some relief from all the tension that was built up.
The song goes through a few measures of relative calm. Between bar 11 and 15 (between 00:22 and 00:30), there are nearly no accidentals – no notes from outside the home key of Eb Major. (You could say, no “odd notes”). Once Rakshita’s voice comes in, though, the tension starts to build back up. The number of accidentals starts to rise again, and of course, we hear the return of the “disintegration motif”.
The ending disintegration motifs are the ones that really feel heartbreaking to me. It really feels like a complete loss of hope, like any sort of sanity within Najeeb has just been completely torn apart. It’s not a feeling that is felt when listening to the song casually, but when I’m immersed in the song fully, I deeply feel the sense of chaos during those final few chromatically descending phrases (last two ones in particular) which you see in the score above.
The song then comes to a bit of an anticlimactic conclusion, in that the conclusion doesn’t sound particularly “conclusive”. We have a chromatically descending line in the violins, with the song finally settling with an Ab Major chord. It’s not necessarily an extremely dissonant chord, in the context of the key of Eb Major, but it doesn’t sound like “home” either. Definitely not a “happily ever after” vibe. It’s much more of a “what now?”
The lack of a “happily ever after” moment is something not only noticeable in the song. I also noticed the lack of a “happily ever after” moment even in the end of the movie. I’m no movie connoisseur so I won’t discuss this in too much detail, but I found it interesting that the movie didn’t end with the joyous moments of Najeeb reuniting with his family, or even his relief when he finally makes it back home. Just like the song, the movie sort of leaves you hanging. Yes, the movie has a slightly stronger “happily ever after” element as Najeeb ultimately escapes the deserts, and we know through the real-life story that he did manage to be with his family again. However, the movie’s ending isn’t quite the fully satisfying end that it could have been. And I like that. It left me thinking, contemplating about everything I had seen in the movie, trying to process all the emotions I felt. “Omane”, as a song, is much the same. The lack of a satisfying ending gave me a few extra seconds to really take it all in, to digest the emotional rollercoaster I had been on. To make me process all the feelings I had while listening to the song. Because, after all, what is music if it doesn’t make us feel feelings?
Cover Picture Credits: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3EOU1nBmvWohjaR4f5u9sp
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