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An Interview with Vani Jayaram

Topic started by Neel D (@ 24.98.42.169) on Thu Aug 15 09:10:17 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Visit http://www.vanijayaram.com

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Cinema Virumbi (@ 203.197.220.219) on: Thu Aug 29 01:54:05 EDT 2002
  
  Neel,
  
  There's a beautiful saying in Hindi which aptly fits this 'Tamil syndrome of taking local talent for granted'! "Ghar ki murgi dal barabar" (meaning: Even if your mother cooks chicken at home, you'll tend to treat as simple dal only!)
  
  
• From: kik (@ 207.0.105.197) on: Thu Aug 29 23:42:21 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz: It's not a mixed reference at all - she made the exact same point in your interview (IMO she actually emphasized the point). This is why I was wondering why you didn't ask her to hum a few bars/verses from that bhajan since no copy is now extant (highly likely). That the song is a bhajan is news, I thought it was the one replaced by aaja re pardesi.
  
  
• From: AVR (@ 132.216.12.88) on: Sat Aug 31 16:15:21 EDT 2002
  
  
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ ) on: Sat Sep 7 21:42:20 EDT 2002
  
  Kik -
  
  I've been meaning to respond to your query but things have been rather hectic. My apologies for this late comeback.
  
  The detail about the deleted / replaced song in Guddi came right at the beginning of the interview. Also, it was not the original question - rather it was a listing that was part of her answer to the question regarding her "influences in early childhood." Given that it was the first few inaugural moments of the interview it would have been more than gauche to request a quick humming / bars from VJ. Yes, it is an intriguing investigation, and had it come at the end of the interview (as it did in the one translated from Telegu to English by Kaumudi) then the situation would have been different and one could have lingered on it a bit longer.
  
  A long-distance telephone conversation presents its own unique problems and dictates a journalisitically different dynamic. For starters, one cannot see the person, their expression, how the question is received, would they be willing and open for a digression right out in the first few minutes...do they look tired, bored, open to a more rigorous tete-a-tete. Also, when I called her she had just returned from a full day of recording (MSV - some AIADMK Katchchi songs, which she quickly mentioned and excused herself to get a jug of water before the tape started to roll.)
  VJ stressed the 3 songs (in Guddi) point, I believe, not to emphasise the omission of the song, as much as she indirectly alluded to the "politics" that were part of her career in Hindi film music from the get go. Listen again and you will hear the emphasis is on "for some reason" and not the song. This was picked up a few questions later.
  
  Another aspect of the interview is that is was a general exploration of her career in singing thus far. Specificity of ragas, techniques, recording studio epiphanies, differences in MD approaches etc were deliberately avoided. For that I would have needed more funds :-) and she would have needed more time. Both, at that particular moment in time, did not seem feasible.
  
  Yes, it would have been nice to have a more detailed, leisurely and full-of-fascinating-revelations sort of interview. And that might still be possible. As they say, there is always another time.
  
  I have no doubt that you enjoyed the interview otherwise and found the rest of the conversation to be interesting, although you have mentioned it in so many words.
  
  See you around.
  
  (PS: regarding the devotional songs - if you could give me the first lines I might be able to dig up the album titles for you. )
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Sat Sep 7 21:53:01 EDT 2002
  
  typo in the above: "although you haven't mentioned it in so many words" is how that line should read.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Sun Sep 8 05:38:37 EDT 2002
  
  Cinema Virumbi -
  
  Why go to Bombay for a truism (:-) O that wretched irony again!!) when there is an equally appropriate tamizh one:
  
  Kaiyil Vennaiyyai Vaiththukkondu Theruvile Neikku Alaindhavan Kadhaiyai Irrukke!
  
  
  
• From: Cinema Virumbi (@ 203.197.220.219) on: Mon Sep 9 01:13:02 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz,
  
  >>>>>>>Cinema Virumbi -
  
  Why go to Bombay for a truism (:-) O that wretched irony again!!) when there is an equally appropriate tamizh one:
  
  Kaiyil Vennaiyyai Vaiththukkondu Theruvile Neikku Alaindhavan Kadhaiyai Irrukke! <<<<<<<<
  
  I enjoyed this irony wholeheartedly! Honestly, I myself didn't notice this till you pointed out! (BTW, the Tamil proverb is slightly different from the Hindi one!)
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Sep 9 06:37:05 EDT 2002
  
  CV -
  It sure is different (just like kozhi and paruppu :-)) - adhanalethaan equally "appropirate"nnu sonnaen.
  I do enjoy your posts. And it is good to have someone else here that is happy to switch "tongues" when the situation calls for it. I feel less lonely with my mutlilingualism now :-)
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Sep 9 08:12:29 EDT 2002
  
  Neel D -
  I guess the "nativity" bit has once again had the "head in sand" effect. Wonder why?
  After reading Cinema Virumbi's effective coda to the exchange you had with Vijay, I am prompted to wade in (with great trepedition) into these doublespeak waters.
  
  In his parting salvo Vijay had this to say:
  >
  
  Even if one ignores the inherent racist bias in the above statement, given the way the paragraph paraphrases all previous points you, me and others have made - the singling out in the "reverse is true" category squarely falls on VJ, UR and the other tamizh singers YOU had enlisted. In other words, what is implied is that tamizh singers were INDEED grossly inferior to the imports.
  I am all for Political Correctness AND Meritocracy, but at times I am baffled (and here I should emphasise my non-tamizh subjectivity and status) by how such glaring generalisations are permitted to fly into the wild blue yonder without a murmur of resistance from native tamizh posters in this forum. That's only a notch lower than the Bermuda Triangle in the mystery list.
  
  CV's "300 km" boundary is a good radius. Consider this:
  If MDs in the Malayalam Film Industry today (even yesterday actually) had a choice - who would they pick? UR, Chitra or Sujatha? Yesudas, Unni Menon or Udit Narayan?
  
  If MDs in HFM had a choice - will they settle for SPB or Sonu Nigam? Alka Yagnik or Swarnalatha?
  
  Sivaselvam's point that as long as singers make the effort to get things "right" there should be no problem with their acceptance is both generous and suspicious. Generous because it espouses a certain linguistic viability. Suspicious because it fails to address the "what about the homegrowns?" issue. In other words, what happens when the "legends" of the north (or the non-tamizh south) are replaced by the up-and-coming "legends" of the north (or the non-tamizh south) -- in the South? What happens to those who are "of tamizh, from tamizh(nadu) and for tamizh"? Are they just expected to settle for - oh, so we missed the train again? Or better still pack up and go home resigned to the reality that the gravy train don't stop here no more (and really never did?)
  I'd be only too happy with this "yaadhum oorey, yaavarum tamizh" dictum if there were proof that this were indeed a two-way street. But all evidence seems to be to the contrary.
  
  There is an ironic truth in the phrase "grossly inferior." What's to say that a whole people can't be made to feel that way about themselves - and ultimately also believe it to be the truth?
  I mean, aren't the meagre postings regarding this issue in this forum symptomatic of this antipathy - and cynicism?
  
  There, I've said it. Now the deluge.
  
  (Typos in the above...apologies rightaway! :-))
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Sep 9 08:13:23 EDT 2002
  
  Neel D -
  I guess the "nativity" bit has once again had the "head in sand" effect. Wonder why?
  After reading Cinema Virumbi's effective coda to the exchange you had with Vijay, I am prompted to wade in (with great trepedition) into these doublespeak waters.
  
  In his parting salvo Vijay had this to say:
  
  >
  
  Even if one ignores the inherent racist bias in the above statement, given the way the paragraph paraphrases all previous points you, me and others have made - the singling out in the "reverse is true" category squarely falls on VJ, UR and the other tamizh singers YOU had enlisted. In other words, what is implied is that tamizh singers were INDEED grossly inferior to the imports.
  I am all for Political Correctness AND Meritocracy, but at times I am baffled (and here I should emphasise my non-tamizh subjectivity and status) by how such glaring generalisations are permitted to fly into the wild blue yonder without a murmur of resistance from native tamizh posters in this forum. That's only a notch lower than the Bermuda Triangle in the mystery list.
  
  CV's "300 km" boundary is a good radius. Consider this:
  If MDs in the Malayalam Film Industry today (even yesterday actually) had a choice - who would they pick? UR, Chitra or Sujatha? Yesudas, Unni Menon or Udit Narayan?
  
  If MDs in HFM had a choice - will they settle for SPB or Sonu Nigam? Alka Yagnik or Swarnalatha?
  
  Sivaselvam's point that as long as singers make the effort to get things "right" there should be no problem with their acceptance is both generous and suspicious. Generous because it espouses a certain linguistic viability. Suspicious because it fails to address the "what about the homegrowns?" issue. In other words, what happens when the "legends" of the north (or the non-tamizh south) are replaced by the up-and-coming "legends" of the north (or the non-tamizh south) -- in the South? What happens to those who are "of tamizh, from tamizh(nadu) and for tamizh"? Are they just expected to settle for - oh, so we missed the train again? Or better still pack up and go home resigned to the reality that the gravy train don't stop here no more (and really never did?)
  I'd be only too happy with this "yaadhum oorey, yaavarum tamizh" dictum if there were proof that this were indeed a two-way street. But all evidence seems to be to the contrary.
  
  There is an ironic truth in the phrase "grossly inferior." What's to say that a whole people can't be made to feel that way about themselves - and ultimately also believe it to be the truth?
  I mean, aren't the meagre postings regarding this issue in this forum symptomatic of this antipathy - and cynicism?
  
  There, I've said it. Now the deluge.
  
  (Typos in the above...apologies rightaway! :-))
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Sep 9 08:15:29 EDT 2002
  
  Sorry for the double posting:
  The omitted quote (which did not apprear for some reason):
  
  >
  
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Sep 9 08:16:06 EDT 2002
  
  My point is none of the singers from other states who sang CHUNK of the songs for IR, like SPS, PS, SJ, Chitra were grossly inferior to the local talent that we had. In fact, the reverse was true.
  
  
  

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