Note:Like, Gayathri,I am going to warn you. This e-mail is Long and perhaps
largely incoherent. Apologies in advance
This thing about lyrics. Well I am one who firmly believes that music has no
language. I have fallen for all of AR’s hindi work without understanding what
the lyrics meant and only out of curiosity do I go and read up translations
much later. But there are some songs for which I still don’t know the meaning
to. For eg Jashne Bahara- probably the most played melody from recent AR albums
for me. I fell in love with it when I saw the promo for the first time. I know
the hindi lyrics by heart now but haven’t got a clue as to what it means but it
won’t stop me from picking it over a tamil song. So music for me really has no
language. And perhaps for most of you as well. What about all the beautiful
classical music pieces we’ve heard from the past. The most heart wrenching
pieces from Bach, Hayden, Beethovan, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn,
Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Brahms, Wagner etc. The many operas in French, German,
Italian and many other languages we
are not fluent in. What draws them to us? Music.
But when you are given two tunes that are largely the same with two sets of
lyrics with one being your mother tongue, one cannot but be drawn to pick out
the difference and perhaps a favourite. Especially when you have Gulzar and
Vairamuthu.
My grasp of hindi is , well let me say “thoda thoda”(!) but having read some
wonderful, in-depth translations here and elsewhere for some lovely AR-Gulzar
gems, I have developed a deep respect for Gulzar. One song that comes to mind
instantly is Chalka Re. Loved what he did there! For me what he writes is
poetry, just like Vairamuthu. It’s like they transport me to a different
era/world.
Behene De in Raavan - my fav track in terms of lyrics. Loving every line in
this song- it's deep. It's emotional and it pulls you straight into Raavan's
mind. I haven't been able to absorb the lyrics of the other songs to the extent
that I can remember the meaning of each line when I play the song (like Behene
De) but I am getting there. Behene De however is my second favourite in the
album in terms of the entire package (music+lyrics). Probably because I made
too much of an effort to understand the lyrics that somehwere I got a bit tired
of making the effort.
As for Usire pogudhe, I have fallen truly, madly, deeply in love! The lyrics
are Raw and it's been a while since I heard something like this.
Some lines that drew me on the first hearing :
" Maamen thavikkiren madi pichai thaadi en manikuyile"
"Akkarai cheemayil nee irundhum, ai viral theendida nenaikuthadi
Akkini palam endru therinchirunthum adikadi naaku thudikuthadi"
"en kattaiyum oru naal saayalam en kaanula un mugam poguma" Beautiful!
I am loving the dialect and the depth in these lines. Amazing, Vairamuthu!
Genius!It easily makes Usire pogudhey my fav Raavanan track in terms of both
music and lyrics by miles! Love Love Love it! Too short! (I know what you mean
now, Chord!)
Ranjha Ranjha - I am absolutely in love with and haven't got a clue as to what
they are on about for most part of the song. But strangely it's my favourite
song in Raavan and I can't get enough of it. I like the rawness Rekha brings to
it and the contrasting soothing voice in Javed Ali.It's been on loop since day
1. everyone has a special song in a ARR-Mani album and this one is my special
song in Raavan.
As for Kaatu Sirruki - I think Anuradha and Shankar have changed the flavour of
the song slightly. I find an extra portion of rawness from both singers
especially Shankar. Having gotten used to having Javed sing his parts like a
dainty ballerina, I am struggling to adjust to Shankar's hard ways. Anuradha is
one of my fav singers and I am glad AR used her here. Oddly I really like what
she has done here (I see I am in the minority here) and also Shankar despite
his different take on the song but that's the advantage of having the same song
sung by different singers- they bring different packages to the table. Vocally,
I am glad we have Anuradha and Shankar singing for us but what has let me down
in Kaatu sirukki is the lyrics- not the contents but that the lyrics somehow
seemed forced to fit the tune in some of the major lines in the song. For eg "
yar kaatu chirukki iva" in the first line. It gets repeated throughout the song
reminding us that these
songs were written for another language. It's a distraction.
Kata kata - what a track ! Power power power! And the lyrics are awesome too
(having read through Rawat's translations a few times). It's my third fav track
in the album. It’s my Veerapandiya Kottaiyile equivalent in Raavan. Love it.
Keda Kari- I don’t how AR does it but when I heard this one I could relate it
instantly to a southy wedding. After listening to Kata Kata so many times I
couldn’t help but think that the tamil version will be a misfit in Raavanan but
now after listening to it, I am wondering if Keda Kari was written first! The
naathaswaram and the chorus transforms the song completely! Rayhana voice too
(reminds me of Shubha) – just makes it all the more southy. And Tanvi – wow.
She can do this? The same person who sang in D6 and Jillunu oru kadhal. Love
what AR does with his singers. It’s like peeling an onion and finding that the
colour changes with every layer. This song is a huge treat (in both
languages).The lyrics are superb again. It’s my second fav track in Raavanan.
Khilli Re unfortunately was not my cup of tea (apologies to Chord! ;) ). I
loved Reena in Meenaxi and her sweet voice but it's that same voice that I
couldn't relate to in Raavan and Khilli Re. And so I haven't even bothered to
read the translation for this song.
And I listened to Kalvare- Shreya just brought life to this song, for me. I
don’t know how she does it but it’s the lovely little nuances she adds to the
song that just transforms this completely for me.
Thok de Killi - I have probably listened to it the least number of times in the
album and only listened to it for that Beautiful Shehnai piece at the
beginning. Wish we had an entire song on that piece alone. Breathtaking.
Kodu poatta- now I have not even once attempted to skip this song when I listen
to Raavanan. I love the lyrics of the song. I think I lost Thok de killi
because I couldn’t grasp the lyrics but Kodu poatta is definitely growing on me.
Loving the lyrics.
“soothula pangu ketta elaya podu elaya “
“sothula pangu ketta ada thalaya podu thalaya”
Respect, Vairamuthu!
As for the title track - Beera vs Veera. Both win hands down. Even if the
lyrics were utter rubbish (which they are not but if they were) I would still
love every sound from this song. I am not even going to rank this song in the
album because the song is beyond rankings. Beera is what AR’s music is to me. A
novel classic. It will be an immortal track for me just like Chaiyya Chaiyya.
Just tooo short.
Usire Poghudey beats Behene De (by miles probably because I connected to the
lyrics in the tamil version and my poor grasp of hindi). Ranjha Beats Kaatu
sirukki (by miles because the tamil lyrics were a let down ). Kalvare beats
Khilli re (because of the singer, the lyrics in Khilli re are more appealing
though). Kodu Poatta beats Thok de Killi (down to lyrics again), Kata Kata and
Beera have equally engaging and thoroughly enjoyable tracks in their tamil
counterparts.
So Raavanan Vs Raavan for me comes down to the lyrics which is unusual for me.
Lyrics, not because Vairamuthu is superior to Gulzar or vice versa but most
likely because of my grasp (or rather a lack of ) in Tamil and Hindi. Raavan
and Raavanan together is edging towards being more special than D6 which is
probably an unfair comment to make given that the former was made available to
me in two languages. So does music really have a language then? Would I have
loved Raavanan much more, if I’d listened to it before Raavan?
