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Impact of TFM on other communities

Topic started by Nirupama (@ 209.153.226.35) on Fri Jul 24 00:46:10 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Ravi: Thanks for your prompt response. With your suggestion, I am starting this new thread.

Hi Friends,

I'm Nirupama from Vancouver, Canada. Since I visit this site quite often and have found out your passion for tamil film music, I thought this bit of information will be interesting for you.

With a help of a friend who hosts a hindi show on radio, I started my own radio show for tamil film music. Since there are no other tamil radio shows in Vancouver, I thought tamils living here might appreciate this. But to my surprise, I received many calls from non-tamils(White Canadians, etc) inquiring about this strange yet wonderful eastern(or fusion, rather) music. The show is only three-weeks old, and every week I've been getting these phone calls. I've described this type of music to the best of my abilities, but still their curiosity is overwhelming.

Some of their comments in their own words are:
"Hey, I love this music! What is it called?" , "This is great! Where is it from?" , "I like traditional Indian music, but what you're playing sounds very interesting!" Some even asked me for the film and song names.

In order to find out more about their music preferences, I tried playing songs from different periods, styles etc. What do guys think about this? Any guesses on whose music style or what type of tamil film music they like?? I'll talk more about that later.....

Nirupama

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Nirupama (@ mut-53-0609.direct.ca) on: Thu Oct 1 18:35:05 EDT 1998
  
  Hi friends,
  
  I have some interesting bit of info. from the radio show. For those of you who are familiar with this thread might be able to guess what I'm getting at. It's been a while since I received any responses from the non-indian listeners. This week was an exception, where two of them called in. One guy wanted me to adjust the volume control for the song, "Sandhosha Kaneere" from Uyirae. He said it was too low. I kept the level at a moderate volume because I thought the interlude sections were a bit loud.
  
  The other caller certainly took me by surprise. Now, please don't curse me for playing this song. I don't know if any of you like this one - "Nadanakala Rani" from Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar. I know that the lyrics are absolutely horrible and I also felt that Bhavadharini was a misfit in that song. Anyway, the first question he asked me was where he could find this soundtrack. He said that he liked it very much (I forgot to ask him why!), and made me spell out the name of the movie. He was listening to the show while driving home. I remember "Kattana Ponnu" being another hit among the listeners from last month or so.
  
  The constant challenge I face is with the selection of songs for the show. When somebody responds to a classical song and another person for a pop or folk number, I don't know what I should be playing the next week. Do you think it is better to keep changing the tempo, the mood, the type of music to observe the changes in the responses? Or, should I just stick to a certain type of music for 2 -3 weeks in a row and see what happens? What do you think?
  
  
• From: balaji (@ schubert.crhc.uiuc.edu) on: Thu Oct 1 20:35:44 EDT 1998
  
  someone wanting to buy "nadanakala rani"???? unimaginable. then ur show should be a medley of all numbers, with no judgement or categorisation whatsoever.
  
  
• From: Nirupama (@ mut-53-0750.direct.ca) on: Thu Oct 1 20:53:43 EDT 1998
  
  Balaji,
  I do follow a 'theme' every week for my show. In the last week of the month, I usually play all the latest songs, mostly taken from the Top 10 charts. Although, 'Nadanakala Rani', was not a recent release, I just threw that in as part of the show because of its catchy rhythm (which actually varies throughout the song). Also, we have to keep in mind that the people I'm referring to here have no exposure to TFM at all, and factors such as lyrics or even singing does not matter to them. They just listen to the tune, the structure/orchestration mainly.
  
  
• From: mannAru (@ ns.arraycomm.com) on: Thu Oct 1 23:16:20 EDT 1998
  
  Nirupama:
  
  Neenga 'theme'-udan little background for the song-um explain panuneenganna makkal innum konjam appreciate pannuvAngannu ninaikirEn. Having a theme every week is a very good idea. May be u can try 'songs in same raga' when trying classical songs.
  
  my 2 cent worth.
  
  
• From: The Fan (@ spider-to054.proxy.aol.com) on: Fri Oct 2 00:14:52 EDT 1998
  
  Nirupama
  
  Great show. Keep it going. We are listening like in 'Contact' movie!
  
  
• From: aruvi (@ spc-isp-tor-uas-87-20.sprint.ca) on: Fri Oct 2 00:29:39 EDT 1998
  
  Hi Nirupama!
  
  Well wishes for your radio show. Is yours the only tamil radio show Vancouver. Because I thought there would be a couple of more. I was reading the thread. I like your idea of having a theme at each show. I am from Toronto. Right now, I want to ask you something. How exactlty do you feel about TFM being praised by Non-tamils. Especially since, most tamilians are accusing that TFM has lost its quality, songwise not technically.
  
  
• From: Nirupama (@ mut-53-0462.direct.ca) on: Sat Oct 3 00:04:43 EDT 1998
  
  Hi, Sorry for the delay in my response!
  
  Mannaru,
  Yes, I do give a brief description of the song sequence. Sometimes it is an explanation of the lyrics, sometimes it's on some technical aspects or on the background of the artistes. I also wanted to do a show based on one single raga, but I need to do some good research first. I have briefly touched upon the raga Keeravani once in my show.
  
  Aruvi,
  I think you even have a 24 hour tamil radio station in Toronto, right? But, that's not the case here. We have enough Hindi & Punjabi shows in Vancouver, but none in Tamil. Recently they started a new show which deals mainly with the Sri Lankan political issues. Not much emphasis is given to music.
  
  I think why most of us feel that the quality has decreased in TFM is due to its drastic change towards international music. More than ever, MDs are following different genres of music from all over the world, at the risk of losing our own identity. They are starting to abandon our classical music & other traditional styles from India. But this in turn might sound very interesting to a foreigner who sees some resemblance to European/Middle-Eastern in our music combined with the usual Indian style. I think this is one reason why songs like 'Ooh la la la' and 'Kattana Ponnu' were received very well by them. They are also appreciating the new style of rhythm & beats given by our MDs (Nadanakala Rani is a good example). This is one reason why MSV and his contemporaries have gone unnoticed. There are exceptions to this of course, if you read the old pages of this thread, you will find out how people have even responded Carnatic-based songs.
  
  Thanks to all for sharing your views!
  
  
• From: Geetha (@ 202.54.81.118) on: Sat Oct 3 05:39:40 EDT 1998
  
  Dear Nirupama,
  
  Heartfelt congrats for a great job..
  
  The best way to introduce TFM is to trace songs from Tamil and Tamil Nadu literature.. How'bout themes that introduce literature and songs asso. with that.. You may find there is a strong correlation between prevalent litt and Tamil Songs.. Read One poetry classic of Vairamuthu and play its Filmi Interludes..Audiences are bound to be bowled over..
  
  
  
• From: Nirupama (@ mut-53-0167.direct.ca) on: Sun Oct 4 22:31:43 EDT 1998
  
  Hi Geetha,
  
  Are you talking about poets like Bharathiyar & Bharathidhasan, whose songs have also influenced TFM? What exactly are you saying about Vairamuthu? Please explain this a bit more. It sounds interesting.
  
  
• From: Nirupama (@ mut-53-0626.direct.ca) on: Thu Nov 12 01:21:53 EST 1998
  
  Hi there!
  
  I happen to browse through the 'ARR for KM' thread and I saw few DFers debating on foreign listeners' interest towards TFM. So, I guess this is the right time to give a quick update on SaReGaMa.
  
  Nov. 3/98:
  Whenever I play the (relatively) new songs I can expect somebody to respond, and I was not too surprised when this caller spoke to me. He (Mike) said he liked the songs with a faster tempo, songs like Kathoram lolakku (Chinna Maapillai - I played this one to show the contrast in IR's style from early 90s to late 90s), Kootu Kuyilai (MVU), Manasa Killi (MVU......IR would've been a huge hit here!!) Unnai Paartha Pinbhu Naan (Kadhal Mannan), Thayya Thayya (Uyirae) etc. It's quite difficult to find out why exactly they prefer a certain song. Their answers are quite vague or broad like this guy told me that he preferred loud, party-like music and said that although this sounded a bit different it suited his preference for music. I also included a few slow melodies such as 'Nee Kaatru', & 'Veesum Kaatrukku'.
  
  Nov.10/98: Rememberance Day (or Veterans' Day):
  I tried to pick out songs that somehow reflected the mood & sentiments of Rememberance Day. I played two songs from a private album, "Pularum Velaiyil" - released in Scarborough, Canada. Those songs were somewhat patriotic and the music is also soft and soothing. I also included "Solladi Bharatha Maatha" & "Marakka mudiyavillai" from Jaadhi malli, "Etho oru paatu"(UEK), "Thenpaandi cheemaiyile" (Nayagan), "Naalai Ulagam" (Love Birds), Ezhisai geethame (don't know the name of the movie) and a few others. A German (Gert) guy called me and expressed how beautiful and soothing this music was. Said it was very relaxing to listen to this music and was curious to find the source. So, that's it for now, I'll be back with more later....
  
  
  
• From: The Fan (@ spider-we053.proxy.aol.com) on: Thu Nov 12 02:00:17 EST 1998
  
  Nirupama
  
  Hello, it is a long time from you. Nice to hear the feedback. I would playing portions of India 24 hours would be dramatic too. I am in love with this album. It is just brilliant.
  
  Best wishes
  
  
• From: pg (@ client-116-37.bellatlantic.net) on: Thu Nov 12 06:54:13 EST 1998
  
  Ezhisai geedhamE is from rasigan oru rasigai music by maragadhamaNi.
  
  
• From: cram (@ 206.103.12.102) on: Thu Nov 12 07:47:55 EST 1998
  
  pg,
  innum UG -a iruntha eppadi? rasigan oru rasigai had music by sangeetharaajan.
  
  
• From: shankar (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Thu Nov 12 08:47:10 EST 1998
  
  cram,
  sangeetha rAjan is none other than ravindran (a mallu MD who scored music for His highness abduLLA)
  
  
• From: cram (@ 206.103.12.102) on: Thu Nov 12 10:12:21 EST 1998
  
  is he? i thought sangeetharajan was a kannadiga chap. btw, the ezhisai geethame song appeared in its mallu version first.
  
  ayyayyo, kannu nirupama, i near;y forgot all that i wanted to say about ur effort in spreading the gospel fo TFM.
  inna maa, intha kalakku kalakkara. i couldn't believe my eyes when i wandered into this thread today (i am relatively new to DF). this is simply great news. a standing ovation to ur exceedingly praiseworthy effort.
  adiyenin suggestion: check out the songs with BRILLIANT starts thread and you'll get tons of ideas on what songs are likely to grab global attention.
  kudos, lady, way to go.
  vattraatha selvame vaazhga nee vaazhga.
  vaLarga ungaladhu naRpaNi.
  
  

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