While Yuvan butchers Papa’s songs in the name of remix, a bunch of Malaysian rappers have paid tribute to a Raja classic in style. Yogi-B and Natchathra sample Madai Thirandhu on their album Vallavan. I had no clue who these guys were, so I checked out the album and some of the other tracks are solid. The rapping is impressive and from what little I could make out, the lyrics sounded better than anything from Kollywood. They even pay tribute to Lil Jon & his Crunk (crunk-u king-kku respectoo) in the well-produced Move Dat. Other fun tracks like Ellamaey Kaasu has more of Raaja with a hat-tip to Padikaathavan, while Kamasutra uses a Carnatic-styled hook.

Acquire this album people. Easily the most interesting album in recent times with Tamizh words in it.

The low-budget video for Madai Thirandhu feat. ‘Lock Up’ Guna :-D

The Dinathanthi+Tea Experience
Courtesy: Pre-1985 Ilaiyaraja

From the DVD commentary for ‘Inside Man‘ – an approximate reproduction.

The song you’re hearing ‘Changa Changa’ [sic] is a song from a Bollywood musical ‘Dil Se’. I am a Professor at the NYU Grad Film School and one class we were talking about musicals and there was an Indian woman, who was a student of mine, and she said – Do you know anything about Bollywood films, and I said No. I said, suggest some.
So next class, she gave me the DVD of this film ‘Dil Se’. I liked the film very much, but I loved the song ‘Changa Changa’, and I made a mental note to myself that somehow I would try to put this song in the movie. So we had the original song, but Terrence Blanchard, long time collaborator and music composer, wrote an orchestral arrangement behind it. And for the end credits, we had the rap by MC Panjabi.

I told myself yesterday, a (terribly) incomplete post is better than none at all. Plus, I’m touched when anonymous no one in particular asks me to update. :)
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Yay, Rahman is back with another album. Let the superlative overload begin…

‘Rahman Broadway Hangover’ is what the title track would be called in English. What you heard in ‘Iruvar’ is nothing compared to this big-band extravaganza for which Vaali writes naughty opening lines – ‘Birds do it, Butterflies do it, Trees do it’. If you thought ‘copulate’, you ought to be ashamed. It’s love, you fool…a Cool kinda Love. The song is probably a tribute to the few years Rahman spent around the world of musicals. Heck! he even has a cat meow in a few notes now & then. Hat-tip to Webber. Check. The singers (it sounded like Tanvi had company) ,unfortunately, are no Ethel Mermans. Infact, at around 3:29 one of them sounds like she is improvising and being strangled at the same time. Tsk! Tsk! The song will probably sound fresh in tea stalls, but otherwise, it’s your basic big-band template customized to fit Tamizh lyrics.

I understand why ‘Kummi Adi’ would read better on the back of a CD, but if it were to me, I’d have stuck with Avalukkenna Ambasamudhira Iyer Hotelu Alwa Maadhiri, Thaazham Poovena Thala Thala Thalavenu Vandha Vandha Paaru. Thank God for Vaali! I know he kids a lot about doing it for the dough, but sometimes I think he does put a little heart into it. Snehan & co., take notes. This is how you write fun lyrics, not crap about what you do best in the kitchen! Maybe the opening lines helped, but this turned out to be my favorite in the album. Villupaatu-ish melody aided by a rollicking rhythm, better singing and a saranam that sounds prettier with Swarnalatha’s voice. Good stuff.

Machakaari is a catchy pop tune with a relentless rhythm, sung with gusto by Vasundara Das & Shouter Mahadevan. Will probably find extended playing time on every teenager’s iPOD. And some on mine. Flavor of the month.

Majaa Majaa brought back memories of Ah-Aah. And I really don’t need that right now. If you wanted SPB Charan to sing like SPB, why not use the original when he’s around? Tiresome.

Post Script:
When I wrote what I thought of RDB, a few Rahmaniacs came by, fangs exposed, and reminded me of what I already knew. That I know not much about music. And I’ll admit it…I cried a little, at first, and then looked to the skies and howled like Sean Penn in Mystic River (I’d like to see him in a remake of ‘Paasa Malar’). Which is why I need to explicitly ask the haters to stay away this time. And if you really need to vent, channel it all at the vagaries of the desi blog-ranking system. A worthy cause.