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Lyrical sense of MDs

Topic started by Guru (@ 129.49.80.172) on Sun Sep 29 07:09:39 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Quality of film songs has gone down: Lyricists
Our Staff Reporter
Chennai, Sept 29:

Leading film lyricists who participated in the centenary celebrations of lyricist and poet Udumalai Narayanakavi organised by the Sahitya Akademi and Kavya Circle in the city yesterday were unanimous in their opinion that the quality of film songs has degenerated. While veteran lyricist Vali candidly remarked that films had nothing to do with aesthetics or arts and that it was purely a business, popular lyricist Vairamuthu blamed it on the changing times. However, poetess Thamarai provided some comfort to those seeking improvement in film songs when she said lyricists should not bow to the whims and fancies of producers and directors who expect abject verses from them. Thamarai said she declined to pen a song on fashion shows and beauty contests recently. Although she had earned a bad name by such acts, she had successfully avoided writing vulgar and obscene lines. Lyricists should have social responsibility as films and its songs have considerable impact on the people especially youth, she said in a soft but determined tone. Film industry was not purely a business and it had artistic value too, she observed. She hailed Narayanakavi as a poet who propagated rationalism and social reforms and vowed to follow in his footsteps.

Thamarai said all Tamil poets from Ilango who created the epic Silappadhikaran were emotionally attached to Cauvery. Cauvery is not only a river. It is our cultural symbol and the origin of of our civilisation. Poets should be in the forefront of an agitation to secure the release of Cauvery water, which is our right, Thamarai said.

Vairamuthu who spoke later said the deterioration of films songs was a reflection of the changing times. He speculated that he would have penned good songs with quality in both content and form if he was in the film industry four decades earlier. He came out with a revelation that the most popular lyricist Kannadasan had planned to take up journalism after he returned from US (where he died) suggesting that the most successful lyricist who reigned supreme in the Tamil celluloid world was not able to cope with the pressures of modern film industry.

Vairamuthu justified English words in Tamil songs saying that they were used only for humour and fun. Only Tamil words were used for serious situations, he said.

Unlike Vairamuthu who offered several excuses and tried to defend the lyricists, Vali who spoke earlier said film songs were penned for loaves and fishes. Those who claim that they are doing yeoman service to arts and literature by producing films are deceiving people. It is all defrauding the common man. I am in this field for more than 45 years and I know what is happening, he observed.

The other lyricist Muthulingam who also spoke, attributed the deplorable standard of film songs to the lack of Tamil literary knowledge among music directors, producers and directors. Apart from Ilayaraja who is well versed in Tamil literature, no music director understands simple Tamil words leave alone poetry, he remarked.

Muthulingam recalled the achievements of the Justice Party and the association of Narayanakavi with the Dravidian movement. Earlier, a book titled Udumalai Narayanakavi written by K Shanmugasundaram was released by Vali and the first copy was received by Lion V Balakrishnan. Muthulingam also released Udumala Narayana Kaviyin Paadalgal, a collection of Narayanakavis songs. Malayalam writer S Gitendranath delivered the introductory address.

http://www.newstodaynet.com/29sep/ld8.htm

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: vengayam (@ 203.200.84.67) on: Mon Oct 7 05:57:59 EDT 2002
  
  :-),
  Sorry for the late reply.I was down with a tummy virus!
  "athikara varkam matrum mathiyathara varkaththin mathippeedukaLE kalacharam enRa peyaril mun niruthapapadukiRathu. koothukaLinidaiyil velippadum pAlilyal thanmaikaLai kaNdu mukam suLikkum pArvaiyALarkalin monOpAvam pairsseelanaikkuriathu (from thiNNani article) "
  Hope this pal udaikkum sentence is by Sri veLi rangarajan . But still puzzled as to where I fit in all this. Unless of course if that article you refer to is by Vengayam - in which case let me assure you that you are barking up a wrong tree. athu naan illaingo!
  there is good & bad in everything naatupura paadalgallum atharkku vithivilakkalla. vaadi en kappakazhanghu oru nalla utharanam alla avallavuthan. Hope I am clear.:-)!!
  
  
• From: :-) (@ 67.241.92.174) on: Mon Oct 7 11:18:05 EDT 2002
  
  Hope this pal udaikkum sentence is by Sri veLi rangarajan
  
  Why this tasteless comment?? He is not complaining any individual but explaining the existing system(to the core!). We all represent this. Your comment makes me to address you, it doesn't mean that I'm blaming only you. Seems that you don't even want to understand what others are talking. Better not answer my other questions and stick to your usual useless postings(meyyappan chettiayaruku vakkalathu, matRavrkaLukku veNsamrakkumbal pattam!)
  
  
• From: hihi:-) (@ 128.111.113.76) on: Mon Oct 7 14:28:04 EDT 2002
  
  OISG: you wrote "Kannamma en Kadhali -GR /Panthulu picked the best part for Kaatru veliyidai-PBS PS duet." can you explain?
  
  
• From: kiru (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Mon Oct 7 17:34:02 EDT 2002
  
  Karthik..I think we are discussing..but you may have a point or two. Re: using different lyricists - the same argument is said about singers as well. Please dont feel I am defending IR, but it seems to be some sort of loyalty (maybe misplaced in some people's opinion) that made IR stick to a select few. It is like a band. Also, if IR did all these, and like some expect, kept pace with technology/electronic/digital equipment, I would suspect him to be some super-human/extra terrestrial. Come on..it is difficult to make music for multiple generations and the man has done enough..So coming back to the topic, do we all agree that among the current MDs, he knows tamil the best ?
  
  
• From: s0 (@ 163.181.250.2) on: Mon Oct 7 18:42:05 EDT 2002
  
  "do we all agree that among the current MDs, he knows tamil the best ?"
  
  Though I've not seen the literary skills of current MDs, I'd have to agree. In this case, I'd say absence of proof of knowledge is proof of absence of knowledge. This is where my thoughts on the core of the topic end.
  
  but, what does the literary superiority of IR beget? Does this superiority of IR amount to anything that is perceivably better than the other current MDs? Though this is subject to debate and personal opinion, I cannot see much of a difference among the literary quality of IR's current songs and others' current songs. (Of course, one must compare based on common themes - the themes that IR gets nowadys. Not the supposedly ultra-trendy, hip, youthful music that the other younger MDs specialize in.)
  
  As Naaz pointed out, Knowledge/Appreciation of literature doesn't lead to ability to produce good literature. The question is "does it (IR's k nowledge) even care to inspire in self/other lyricists the ability to produce good lyrics better than the stuff that is given to other MDs?" Has IR's Tamil literary knowledge improved the "deplorable standard of film songs" as was claimed by Muthulingam? The answer to that, IMHO, is a no.
  
  (blasphemy dhaan. 10 times thoppu karanam pottudaren!!)
  
  
• From: Awe (@ 65.69.45.160) on: Mon Oct 7 19:23:14 EDT 2002
  
  "ultra-trendy".... If someone thinks "Akkadnnu nanga uda potta" is ultra trendy, i tell you the original beats of this song is Paul Young's "Love of the common people" which for your info came in 1983. Look how backward our trend is. The same song was used in Puthu Puthu Arthangal while Sithara dancing in her opening scene. I cannot agree current music is trendy. All we have is bunch of MDs who are confused with trend and tradition. There were not songs like "oothikinu kadichukkava kadichkkinnu oothikkava", "andalu ICF thandalu", "love is muqabala", "temptation, dictation"... loaded with english words. If you call this is trendy for heaven's sake we don't want that. I would rather listen to English songs which are 1000 times better than these so called "trendy" songs. Ratio of good lyrics to bad lyrics is very hight for IR compared to other MDs. It is purely because of IR's influence in lyrics in a song. But in movies we rarely use literature tamil. The point when you look at the lyrics these days IR can do away with other lyricists. He is tough on lyricists. He made a blunt remark to VM comparing him with KKD. That's why they splitted. He is not "jalra" like VM and Bharathi Raja. IR is straightforward and forth right. That's what i like about him. Call it Ego or whatever. But his self confidence is great. KKD wrote very simple lyrics but were very powerful also it could be understood by anyone. Especially songs like "Senthoora Poove", "Senthazampoovil", "Kanne Kalaimane" were great. If you examine VM's songs he wrote better lyrics for IR than others. Same goes with everybody. I have read somewhere IR did enhance some songs written by other lyricists. I ain't sure about this. Read the following lyrics by Vaali.
  
  "panja boodhangalum mugavadivaagum 5
  aaru kaalangalum aadaigalaagum 6
  malaimagal paarvathi unnudan nadakka
  aezhu adigalum salangai padikka 7
  
  "
  moonru kaalangalum undhan vizhigal 3
  chathur vaedhangalum undhan mozhigal 4
  ganapathi muruganum pirabanjam muzhudhum
  "
  
  Do you see any such lyrics by Vaali for others?
  
  
• From: Karthik (@ 66.176.161.168) on: Mon Oct 7 22:32:46 EDT 2002
  
  Salangai Oli - lyricist as far as I know is Vairamuthu. And the songs are a word-for-word translation from Telugu.
  
  Awe, try again :)
  
  
• From: Awe (@ 65.69.45.160) on: Tue Oct 8 00:49:08 EDT 2002
  
  But still the music is Illayaraj...
  
  
• From: Awe (@ 65.69.45.160) on: Tue Oct 8 00:50:50 EDT 2002
  
  The point is not who wrote the lyrics for those songs.. what kind of lyrics IR have in his songs is the point.. I found from a website that it was written by Vali. So Karthik there is no need of sarcasm here.
  
  
• From: Awe (@ 65.69.45.160) on: Tue Oct 8 01:08:02 EDT 2002
  
  http://www.tamil.sify.com/movies/content/interview.asp?interview_id=323
  
  Sudh Ragunathan's interview
  
  
• From: vengayam (@ 203.200.84.67) on: Tue Oct 8 03:50:21 EDT 2002
  
  :-), I am dumbfounded! But you have given a clue as to your identity. Thanks.
  One word of advice, don't take yourself too seriously it is as bad as being frivolous!.
  
  
• From: Awe (@ 65.69.57.153) on: Tue Oct 8 16:53:43 EDT 2002
  
  This article says S.Janaki has written number of lyrics in tamil. what are they?
  
  http://www.bhalecinema.com/Biographies/janaki.htm
  
  
• From: OISG (@ 193.188.97.152) on: Wed Oct 9 00:51:34 EDT 2002
  
  AFAIK Kanna Nee yenge-Rusi Kanda poonai lyrics were by SJ.
  
  
  
• From: :-) (@ 67.241.92.18) on: Wed Oct 9 20:21:04 EDT 2002
  
  Vengayam,
  
  Guess that I should have avoided few unwanted comments in the previous posting, sorry about that. Right from beginning I was trying to say that viewing folk songs /arts through our current value systems wouldnt be the right method of analysis. But it is not expressed well I guess, Certainly there is no social imbalances/ identity kind of talking. Since that topic is more complicated it is very difficult to provide everything in one posting! Any how thanks for your advice.
  
  
• From: vengayam (@ 203.200.84.67) on: Thu Oct 10 04:29:36 EDT 2002
  
  :-)< I thought as much! The trouble is that we do sometimes get carried away. I only see red when words like athigara vargam, kalachara vellipaadu, ethir marai villaivugal et al. they are good for M Phil or doctorate thesis period.
  Of course there should be difference of opinion. otherwise there would be no language let alone other creative work.
  I'll conclude by saying that Naatupura paadal has its own place in our society as does karnataka sangeetham & b natiyam. But the trouble is these arts are most times blindly following cinema.Poikaal kuthirai, karagattam & especially therukkuthu ( when i was akid I was amazed by the throw & the power of these artistes - the lyrics i 'd or would not follow but there was a catchiness to the whole thing). these days if at all these are held in thiruvizha we get only jigina & cine tunes. sad but inevitable.
  
  
• From: vengayam (@ 203.200.84.67) on: Thu Oct 10 04:31:32 EDT 2002
  
  :-)< I thought as much! The trouble is that we do sometimes get carried away. I only see red when words like athigara vargam, kalachara vellipaadu, ethir marai villaivugal et al. they are good for M Phil or doctorate thesis period.
  Of course there should be difference of opinion. otherwise there would be no language let alone other creative work.
  I'll conclude by saying that Naatupura paadal has its own place in our society as does karnataka sangeetham & b natiyam. But the trouble is these arts are most times blindly following cinema.Poikaal kuthirai, karagattam & especially therukkuthu ( when i was akid I was amazed by the throw & the power of these artistes - the lyrics i 'd or would not follow but there was a catchiness to the whole thing). these days if at all these are held in thiruvizha we get only jigina & cine tunes. sad but inevitable.
  
  

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