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lowering standards of tamil lyrics- who is to blame

Topic started by vengayam (@ 203.200.84.66) on Thu Dec 27 00:54:53 EST 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

a common feature in almost all the threads running here is the lowering standard of tamil lyrics. But who is to blame is it the lack of good lyricist, or is it interference of music directors or is it the directors of today lack musical sense.May be it is the fast food era that has made music a commodity to be marketed and not that should be felt & retained in the heart & grey cells.Or is it the public which laps up anything. let us have afree discussion

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Responses:

• From: Karthi (@ 64.105.35.119) on: Thu Dec 27 04:44:52 EST 2001
  
  The lyrics would have automatically become better had PS sung those songs. Since PS has retired, the standard of the songs have plummetted.
  
  
• From: Pras (@ 193.56.241.19) on: Thu Dec 27 05:22:00 EST 2001
  
  Karthi anna,
  the thread is about lyrics, not about singers !
  Do you think that a song like "male male" would have been better if it was sung by PS ?
  
  
  
• From: Karthi (@ 64.105.35.119) on: Thu Dec 27 16:52:41 EST 2001
  
  Pras thambee,
  She would have taken it to heights never seen before.
  
  
• From: ash (@ 12.5.196.254) on: Thu Dec 27 17:25:26 EST 2001
  
  I think it is mostly the public (its easy to blame them HUH!!!). The standards started detoriating after Kannadasan. Even in rural areas people have started enjoying tanglish songs more than ever.
  Even good lyricists say cinema songs are different from their literary works. Infact it has become a norm that anything (any trash) can be written for cinema since it has mass audience and it is justified that the mass audience like them which is true.
  Also people's exposure to the outside world (West) is increasing and even common people do not speak proper good tamizh. Infact english and hindi words are more in use in the common man's language these days which I feel is one of the most important reason
  
  
• From: tigger (@ 205.219.204.23) on: Thu Dec 27 18:09:15 EST 2001
  
  It is basically a chicken and egg problem. Are the lyrics deteriorating because the public wants those types of songs or does the public 'acquire' a taste for those types of songs because the lyricist thinks it is 'cool' and introduces them? Songs written in good decent tamil still do sell right? I assume Kathalir Dinam and Sethu were big hits. The lyrics in both those movies were really great. Sethu had very simple and elegant songs that were like a breath of fresh air. I think the lyricists were Arivumathi and Palani Barathi. Enna vilai azhagey and Roja Roja from KD had really awesome lyrics too (Vairamuthu?).
  
  At another level it can be seen as the common man's infatuation with all things 'foreign'. By 'foreign' I mean both american and north indian influences. Lyricists know this and write their songs accordingly. English/Hindi words are 'cool', so they are used in songs. Even while naming their children, people nowadays use only north indian names.
  
  Now dont get me wrong, I am against north indians or north indian culture per se. It's just the common man's mindset that any thing with a fairer skin or from a fairer skin is better irks me no end. That's why we have people like Jayalalitha and Sonia Gandhi aspiring to be CM/PM etc.
  
  
• From: tigger (@ 205.219.204.23) on: Thu Dec 27 18:09:42 EST 2001
  
  It is basically a chicken and egg problem. Are the lyrics deteriorating because the public wants those types of songs or does the public 'acquire' a taste for those types of songs because the lyricist thinks it is 'cool' and introduces them? Songs written in good decent tamil still do sell right? I assume Kathalir Dinam and Sethu were big hits. The lyrics in both those movies were really great. Sethu had very simple and elegant songs that were like a breath of fresh air. I think the lyricists were Arivumathi and Palani Barathi. Enna vilai azhagey and Roja Roja from KD had really awesome lyrics too (Vairamuthu?).
  
  At another level it can be seen as the common man's infatuation with all things 'foreign'. By 'foreign' I mean both american and north indian influences. Lyricists know this and write their songs accordingly. English/Hindi words are 'cool', so they are used in songs. Even while naming their children, people nowadays use only north indian names.
  
  Now dont get me wrong, I am NOT against north indians or north indian culture per se. It's just the common man's mindset that any thing with a fairer skin or from a fairer skin is better irks me no end. That's why we have people like Jayalalitha and Sonia Gandhi aspiring to be CM/PM etc.
  
  
• From: tigger (@ 205.219.204.23) on: Thu Dec 27 18:10:50 EST 2001
  
  please ignore the first posting. I forgot an important word in the first. :)
  
  
• From: Babu (@ 172.186.152.137) on: Thu Dec 27 18:21:16 EST 2001
  
  Kathalar Thinam lyrics are by Vaali. He is the only lyricist who can write such great songs. Of course he does write songs for "oppukkum uppukkum" (sic), but many of his songs are "oppila" songs. Vairamuthu *was* good - God knows what happened to him. Of late, his lyrics are repetitive, cliched and blase ! Waiting for these new comers to fill the space.
  
  
• From: Sombu Nilagireesar (@ 64.105.35.119) on: Thu Dec 27 20:05:02 EST 2001
  
  Even during KaNNadAsan's times, there were lyrics that used the 'kaNNan rAthai' comparison beyond limits and for vulgarity, there was 'elanthapayam'. There were a few sensitive songs that were spoilt by KD with a sudden spurt of 'koduppathum eduppathum' vulgarity.
  
  Cinema music, being the popular music it is, is more open to the so called evils than other classical forms of music.
  
  
• From: Sridhar Raman (@ 202.56.248.212) on: Tue Jan 1 13:01:08 EST 2002
  
  I have an opinion on lyrics and this is just mine(I have no intenttion of hurting anybody).
  A Tamil movie doesnt have all dialogues only in Tamil.
  The titles are not only in Tamil.
  The credits are not only in Tamil.
  So, what is wrong if there are English words in a Tamil song?
  The point is they should make sense. IMHO, there is no need to be narrow-minded about lyrics.
  
  
• From: selva (@ ) on: Wed Jan 9 19:07:43 EST 2002
  
  We can find all hit songs or evergreen songs are all pure tamil songs without any mixture of english words - If it contains even a word in other language it becomes somewhat commercial and entertaining for a few days but not forever.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Wed Jan 9 19:29:08 EST 2002
  
  O O Enthan Baby is a forever song (from Thaen Nilavu,) or is it? How about Hello Mr. Zamindar How Do You Do? Just wondering.
  
  
• From: rasigan (@ 207.172.47.106) on: Wed Jan 9 20:49:34 EST 2002
  
  'Ponnal Pogattum Poda' also had
  'Idhu 'COURT'kku ponal jeyikadhu' .
  
  'Enna venum sollu bama' song has Sunday, Monday, Tuesday..
  
  
  
  
• From: rasigan (@ 207.172.47.106) on: Wed Jan 9 22:41:14 EST 2002
  
  An interesting article of what the old and new MD's feel about current day music and lyrics..
  
  http://www.hindu.com/2001/05/18/stories/09180705.htm
  
  
• From: Kupps (@ 156.153.255.134) on: Wed Jan 9 22:52:18 EST 2002
  
  we have two sides:
  On the one side we have rasigargaL who, based on their current mind setup are listening to the songs. They are the consumers.
  
  On the other side we have the lyricists, the makers of the song.
  
  The intermediate layer between these two are the Directors, Producers etc. They have to play the Quality Check(QC) role.
  
  Now for a change from regular dosage of rich poetic lyrics, a orampo orampo, a elandha pazham, a chikku bukku railae will be welcomed by the consumers. That doesn't mean that the like only these type of songs. If you, the makers and QCs think that the consumer like only that type of craps and hence tend to give more and more craps then we(consumers) will definitely blame. In that situation you CANNOT blame us. We are the consumers, we have every right to blame. It is the duty of the makers(lyricsts) and QCs to give outputs having proper mixes with lesser dosage of craps.
  
  The maker(lyricst), by virtue, may tend to produce more craps if one of the craps of him/her is accepted. But it is their(makers+QCs) DUTY to take care of not having more craps.
  
  So the onus lies more on QCs,first and Makers, next, say like 60%, 30% on them respectively. The remaining 10% is on the consumers.
  
  If you don't see this the in future if the consumers blame you(maker directly, coz he is seen as the source, but it also indirectly blames the QCs) and if you blame them by using escapists words then YOU ARE ALSO CRAP just like your outputs.
  
  
• From: Kupps (@ 156.153.255.134) on: Wed Jan 9 22:56:43 EST 2002
  
  craps include usage of:
  double meaning words
  meaningless words
  too much other language words
  same type/class of similies, metaphors etc.
  algorithmic approach ;-)
  
  
• From: x (@ 172.147.211.186) on: Thu Jan 10 00:05:02 EST 2002
  
  samaintha kathai--pEerilakkiyam padaitha vAli + gentleman like shankar + 5 point logic mds + matharAsh kuppam vaZ producers + thamiz padikkatha aRivujeevi reviewers + konjam neengaL + konjam nAn :-)
  
  
• From: eden (@ 210.214.4.179) on: Thu Jan 10 00:39:26 EST 2002
  
  Any creative artiste should have some responsibility & should not blame the evil on public. Public is a big mass, including inexperienced / immature / impressionable youth forming a good percentage of consumers. You should not expect much responsibility or screening attitude from them. The mature artiste (& the more wanted ones with more marketability) should say NO when others in the industry call for lowering of quality. I mean VM, ARR, BR, MR, Shankar, Kamal, Rajini, to some extent IR (his marketability today is suspect) & the likes should say NO to vulgarity & such things...I would squarely blame the popular artistes for this trend!
  
  
• From: vengayam (@ 203.200.84.66) on: Thu Jan 10 01:09:27 EST 2002
  
  as the person who started the thread how about this for a reason. lowering standards of screen play & situations. todays characters are depicted as cardboard cut outs win 2 dimension without depth. also even if an excellent song comes like Vaseegara it doesn't gel.because the heroine in this case Reema sen & the character she plays are out of sync with the lyrics. they don't have a clue as to what the song is about. So is it better to have Malai Malai which is quite in sync with the time ( though I would die to live in a hostel like that!!) Any thoughts!
  
  
• From: Vegaya bajji (@ 128.119.85.174) on: Tue Jan 15 15:04:27 EST 2002
  
  Dont blame me!!
  
  -vennai
  
  
• From: Mr. Observer (@ 64.105.35.147) on: Tue Jan 15 17:12:33 EST 2002
  
  The so called vulgarity.....
  
  Male :
  gOpuram kaNdavan kOyil kaNdAn
  kOyilai kaNda pin poojai endrAn
  poojayE dEviyin sEvai endrAn
  poovayO pArkalAm nALai endrAL
  
  Female:
  solluvAL Ayiram thottathum mAruvAL...
  ...kELvi kEtkum nEram alla ithu.....
  
  A song by SPB & SJ, tuned by MSV and penned by Kannadasan. There is this perceived "vulgarity" but I enjoyed the presentation.
  
  pAthaththil mugam irukkum
  pArvayil irangi varum
  vEdaththil layiththirukkum
  veeram kaLaiththirukkum
  
  in the song 'magArajAn ulagai ALuvAr..' by the same MSV/KD combo (TMS/PS). Again the so called 'vulgarity'.
  
  annai thottu sendrana kaNgaL
  Ekkam thanthE sendrana kaigaL
  
  The second line has the potential to sound vulgar to the high priests of morality, but I couldn't care less. Another song by MSV/KD (PBS/PS).
  
  The moral of the story is, guess as long as there is creativity and elegance/word play decorating the core matter, the poetry/lyric assumes "classic" proportions and is seldom forgotten. As opposed to being self-righteous and self-appointed prophets of morality, let us encourage creativity in all spheres of music and creativity alone. The rest of the aspects like variety, lack of cliches would be taken care of automatically. AmbuduthAn makkaLE!!!!
  
  
  
  
• From: x (@ 172.175.62.18) on: Wed Jan 16 01:04:53 EST 2002
  
  "kAmap pAdalkaLai sapithal" is understandable. But most of us are confusing with the word vulgarity I guess. Describing the beauty/love/sex(kAmam) is not at all vulgar. Thats what kAmathupAl, sanga ilakkiyam, aknAnuRu, AndaL pAsuram...all are talking about. But here the point is "presentation" it makes the difference. 'O ranga srilanga koparai thengA; muthina mAnga' is a vulgar/perversion whereas 'mAnganikaL thotinilE thoongudathi angE' is not( I dont mean kaniyiruppa kay kavarnthatRu ,but better than earlier one) So when there is no "aesthetics" in it, kAmam becomes vulgar! Enna nAn solrathu?:-)
  
  

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