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Are the days of good tamil lyrics over ?

Topic started by Amma (@ 202.54.43.64) on Wed Apr 22 03:25:49 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Enter computer era and exit good tamil lyrics ? Why is there such a dearth of sense in the tamil songs ? Why does every song have to have words like 'cell phone' and 'internet' ? Will anyone attempt a song without resorting to popular vocabulary to fill in the gaps ? Assure me that this is a passing phase and tamizh shall triumph. As always.

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Responses:

• From: M. Diwakar (@ j50.bkj28.jaring.my) on: Wed Apr 22 11:01:16 EDT 1998
  
  This is a reflection of the way the world is moving these days. I am sure you are familiar with the (in)famous Doordarshan programmes in the morning with the compere chattering away :
  
  Aur ab hum aapko thodi der ke liye chodenge for the News in English.
  
  Such usage is the norm nowadays rather than the exception. It has infiltrated Tamizh too and the film songs are no exception.
  
  A point to bear in mind is that cinema and film music are very lucrative. If the public likes "Telephone manippol sirippaval ivala" or "...BBC seidhi ellam nammai pesudhu", the lyricist is bound to continue the trend.
  
  After all, why change a winning combination - of languages!!
  
  
• From: aruLarasan (@ psiphi.umsl.edu) on: Wed Apr 22 11:17:53 EDT 1998
  
  ammA thAyE :-) nichchayamA illai. I will be back today evening with
  eveidence.
  
  
• From: chandru (@ sdwwwgw01.sd.nmp.nokia.com) on: Wed Apr 22 12:51:24 EDT 1998
  
  Amma,
  I agree with Diwakar on this, this is certainly not a passing phase...I think it is going to and will continue for a looooong time to come, but on the other hand not every song resorts to the popular vocabulary to fill in the gaps...may be most of them do!!!
  I am one of the few who enjoys the occasional song that has good and complete tamil lyrics and I make myself self-satisfied. "ennai thaalata varuvalo" is an example of a recent good song/with good lyrics. I live and die by these occasional few good one's so it doesn't bother me that much.
  But you made a very good point.
  
  
• From: aruLarasan (@ psiphi.umsl.edu) on: Wed Apr 22 22:17:38 EDT 1998
  
  Is thamizh going out of TFM? It appears so. At least, some of megahit
  songs, which became/become megahits because of relentless marketing,
  make us feel that thamizh is being slowly and slowly kicked out of
  TFM. Please do not interpret any statement in this article to be for
  or against any MDs.
  
  enakku ninaivu therinja nALilirundhu enakkuth
  thamizh Arvam UNdu. (This is not like the statement any award-winner
  makes at the awarding ceremony:-) ) The first TFM I enjoyed very much
  was when I was very young. I and my mAmA (maNi, ninaivirukkA?) were in
  the mottai mAdi and he initiated me in to listening the sunday nEyar
  viruppam of Madras 1. That was a very pleasant evening and we were
  sitting there reclining on the kuttichchuvar (yeah the same word our
  appans use to call us :-) ) and eagerly looking at the kites flying
  aimlessly in the sky (deal-la puttukkichchu). vaLasaravAkkam padmA,
  padmini, narEndhran, villivAkkam kubEndhran, saraLA, nArAyaNan,...
  endRu pala peyar solli mudiththadhum oru arumaiyAna padal oli parappinar.
  That song was a great boon to thamizh literature. It changed the
  course of thamizh songs like nothing before. The song was written by
  someone called vairamuththu.
  
  idhu oru pon mAlai pozhudhu
  vAna magaL nANugiRAL
  vERu udai pUNugiRAL
  
  vAnam enakkoru bOdhi maram
  nALum enakkadhu sEdhi tharum
  oru nAL ulagam nIdhi perum
  thiru nAL ??? sEdhi varum
  
  I don't remember the lyrics completely but it was a great song. kaNNadhAsan
  kept giving some good songs but this one was unbelievable. Unfortunately,
  this person got caught in high flown thamizh and incomprehensible
  (non-listenable?) rhymes. Anyways, he kept giving some good songs for
  some time. One of his other classic songs I love is panivizhum
  malar vanam. It's almost in the same category as andhi mazhai pozhigiRadhu
  (which I hate very much) but it was like scoring a boundary by edging
  through the slips.
  
  sElai mUdum iLanchOlai
  mAlai sUdum malar mAlai
  irubadhu nilavugaL nagamengum oLividum
  iLamaiyin kanavugaL vizhiyOram thuLirvidum
  
  kaigaL idaithanil neLigaiyil idaiveLi kuRaigayil
  
  here comes the classic line
  
  eRiyum viLakkum siriththu kaNgaL mUdum
  
  annikku mayangi vizhundhavan dhAn aduththap pAtta kEtta vudanE yezhundhuttEn.
  
  Thamizh went out the window very soon, or that's what it looked like.
  Is vairamuththu still in the writing business? Anyways, after these
  songs, I liked the songs in siRaichchAlai, especially mannan kUrai
  sElai was good, sweet. There were some vaRattuth thamizh songs like
  muththamizhE muththamizhE etc. But vIraththAlAttu hit me like a
  malligaith thOttaththu kAtRu. Forget iLayarAjA. He always makes his
  presence felt. Forget jAnaki. She always takes you to unprecedented
  ecstasy with all the emotions she puts in her voice. The unbelivable
  aspect of the songs was the lyrics. The songs are very folkish and
  sweet. (Isn't there any other word in english? I am using it the
  second time.)
  
  Here are the songs:
  
  (1)
  
  AN:
  chAndhu pottum sandhana pottum
  thaLa thaLakkuRa sariga kattum
  En manasula kokki pOduthu nAgaraththinamE
  
  nadu sAmaththula oRakkam kettudhu nAgaraththinamE
  andha kAraNaththath therinju solladi nAgaraththinamE
  
  peN:
  veLanja neththu vedichchirukku
  vedalap puLLa samnjirukku
  kadalu pUvum malandhu nikkudhu Asa rAsAvE
  
  ada kaninjap pazhaththak kuruvi koththudhu Asa rAsAvE
  andha kAraNaththath therinju sollaNum Asa rAsAvE
  
  AN:
  pAdhi rAththirip padhaRi yezhundhu
  pAya virichchu muzhichchirundhEn
  muzhichchirundhum kanavu vandhadhu nAgaraththinamE
  
  oru mAdhiriyA manasu kettadhu nAgaraththinamE
  andha kAraNaththath therinju solladi nAgaraththinamE
  
  peN:
  sORu thaNNi eRangaliyE
  vEla seyya thONaliyE
  En nenappun enkitta illayE Asa rAsAvE
  
  oru mAdhiriyA mayakkam varudhu Asa rAsAvE
  andha kAraNaththath therinju sollNum Asa rAsAvE
  
  AN:
  ERupudichchu uzhugayilE
  Eththam pudichchi eRaikkayilE
  thARu mARA budhdhi pOgudhu nAgaraththinamE
  
  dhinam rAththiri pagalu theriyaliyE nAgaraththinamE
  andha kAraNaththath therinju solladi nAgaraththinamE
  
  peN:
  kUdi sanam irukkayilE
  sOdip poNNunga sirikkaiyilE
  Adi adangi nAn kedukkuREn Asa rAsAvE
  
  adha Ur muzhukka sAdap pEsudhu Asa rAsAvE
  andha kAraNaththath therinju sollaNum Asa rAsAvE
  
  There is apparently nothing new in the song. But the words are so
  simple yet powerful. Most of the lines are erotic but are sweet also.
  I very much enjoy the simplicity of the pAdhi rAththiri and
  kUdi sanam.
  
  
• From: aruLarasan (@ psiphi.umsl.edu) on: Wed Apr 22 22:19:09 EDT 1998
  
  (2)
  
  ArArO ArArA ArArirO (and you know what song this one is :-) )
  
  piLLaich chelvamE
  anbu dheivamE
  annai nenjilE
  vAzhum inbamE
  en kaNNE kaNNuRanga
  kaniyamudhE nIyuRanga
  oru thAlAttu thAn nAn solluvEn
  
  mAnuRangum ponna meththa
  nIyuRangap pOttu vechchEn
  mayiluRangum pattu meththa
  maganuRanga thAn poRandhE (words sariyA?)
  kollaiyilE thenna vachchEn
  kurundhOla kottAn dhEchchu
  sIniyaLLip pOttu thinga
  sella magan nI poRandha
  
  mundhiyilE yENa katti
  mullaiyilE pU virichchEn
  sanna kural pAttu kEkka
  chinna magan nI poRandha
  veththala pandhalum thAmarap pandhalum
  thAi madi sEndhu thUngaNum
  -ArArO ...
  
  patta maram pAlum URum
  pAvak kAyum thEnum URum
  pachcha puLLa nI sirichchA
  pachchath thaNNi vAi inikkum
  anbu magan nI nadandha
  Azhath thadam nAn rasikka
  then kizhakka pEnja mazha
  aLLi vandhu thAn parappum
  
  un pAdham mEla pattu
  en pAvam thIraNum
  pU pOla mEni thottu
  en AyuL sEraNum
  un nizhal thAnE ennuyir vAzha
  ennaikkum nirandharam AgaNum
  - ArArOSome of the lines are confusing (like why would a mother want to die
  when her child is still young ?! :- ). But as stated by maNisEgaran
  in another thread (Bringing ilakkiyam to the pAmaran thread?) - or
  was it sathya kIrththi? - this thAlAttu has a good usage of la, La,
  ra, Ra and zha to some extent. The effect of the song quadruples when
  one listens to it. I feel chithtrA slightly brings the song down.
  
  Let me finish this essay with another song from the same movie. This
  is probably the best that has happened to TFM in recent times. Music,
  rendition and lyrics are all at their best. The song is padikkattumA.
  
  
  
  
  
• From: aruLarasan (@ psiphi.umsl.edu) on: Wed Apr 22 22:20:31 EDT 1998
  
  (3)
  anjula oNNaRiyEn nAn
  aRiyAdha chinna puLLa
  
  paththula reNdaRiyEn (kaNakku therinjikku paravAlla :-) ) nAn
  padikkAdha pochcha puLLa
  
  vAdhdhiyArap pAththadhilla
  vakkaNaiyAp padichchadhilla
  mUththavaga sonna solla
  muzhichchirundhu kEttirukkEn
  
  The way jAnaki says "mUththavaga" is unbelievable. I am runnig out
  of superlatives to describe the feeling when I hear that.
  
  padikkattumA padikkattumA
  eduththuk katti thekku dhesa pAttu oNNu
  
  thodukkattumA thodukkattumA
  izhuththuk kattip pattikkAttu rAgamoNNu
  
  manasukkuLLa Asa oNNu irukku
  eduththu solla nEram inga irukku
  En pAttu kAththu vazhi varudhA varudhA
  on kAdhil kAdhalath thAn solludhA solludhA
  karisak kAdu kudusa vIdu
  masambu nEram odhunga vENum
  - padikkattumA ...
  
  vAsalil kAla nEram kOlam pOttA mAman pEru theriyudhu
  vAsalil kAla nEram kOlam pOttA mAman pEru theriyudhu
  
  AththOram nANa pullu
  adhukullA sIma muLLu
  kaNukkAlil mEla pattu
  siRu kAyam Ayiruchchu
  muLLu thechcha sAkkula
  mAman mEla sAyuREn
  mayakkamA kedakkuREn - idhukku oru
  mandharamO mAyamO irukkA
  - padikkattumA ...
  
  kaLaththula kEppa karudhu thUtthum pOdhu mAman yEkkam varudhu
  kaLaththula kEppa karudhu thUtthum pOdhu mAman yEkkam varudhu
  
  nadusAma nEraththula
  onakkAga muzhichchirundhEn
  saramAga kAththadichchu
  ganamAna sAla mazha
  veLLam thuLLip pAyudhu
  en kaNNu onnath thEdudhu
  odambellAm padhaRudhu - vayasu vandhu
  vambu paNNi muRukkudhu manasa
  -padikkattumA ...
  
  This song was the one that made me look closer at the other songs. I am
  glad I did. the simplicity of the language, the lack of vulgarity
  and phony english words all made me come back again and again. I am
  sure there are similar songs and I have at least one in mind. The song
  is ennakku oru rAsA vENum inkadavuL. I will come back with that
  song but before that, I leave for others to contribute.
  
  
  

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