ARR's Lesson to Colonial Hang Ups

Sivaji (The Boss) is Rajinikanth's latest highly anticipated movie. Needless to say, the expectations of people like me are off the charts because of the Shankar-AR Rahman-Rajinikanth combo. Yet another magnum "aapus" (Jalsa, 2006) for each of them. Anyway, I bought the (original) audio CD of Sivaji after making a vow that I'll never download an MP Tamil song for free anymore. Yes.

The songs are impressive. The "Oh I'm Da Man, Vallavan Mannavan I'm semi God to all you villagers" opening title song sung by SPB, called Balleillakka is above average, fast and catchy, although I kinda liked the beat of "Singa Nadai" of Padaiyappa better. (Did you know in the hardcore theatres in Chennai, hardcore fans will actually throw flowers and even money at the screen during the Rajini opening song?)

Vaaji Vaaji is a good duet by Hariharan and Madhushree, if not for the irritating "vaaji vaaji" bit which rings of jingoism all round. (Then again all of Rajini's songs/dialogues are full of jingoistic overtones). Then there's Sadhana Sargam's mysterious verse: "Azhagai saanee (saanai?) idu..."/"Apply excrement on the beauty".

Athiradee is my favourite. It starts off with something like what the group "Lock-up" would sing, then it morphs into something out of a Gwen Stefani song, and then ARR begins his "Dee, dee dee...". The composition is amazing, and the overall result is electrifying.

Style is another favourite. An individual by the name of "Rags", by virtue of his pseudo-Shaggy voice, has given the hip-hop rythmed song a totally new dimension in Tamil music. His screeching baritone gives no hint that it's a Rajini movie song, until you hear the jingoistic verses ending in "style", which happens to be the name of the song as well. Suresh Peters makes a comeback with this song after disappearing into the dark jungles of The Forgotten.

The Boss is a background theme music that probably goes with Rajini walking and whacking and rescuing and winning. The two similar-sounding Sahara/Sahana tracks are vintage ARR duets, melodious, and calming.

I'm so fascinated with Athiradee and Style that I hope the picturisation comes out well.

I also happened to listen Aatma by Colonial Cousins.

Colonial Cousins (CC) are the duo Leslie Lewis and Hariharan, two musicians in their own right. Lewis is a producer of jingles, and I guess he sings sometimes as well. Hariharan is a famous ghazal singer known for his vocal acrobatics. The two formed an alliance which they thought was brilliant - Western music (Lewis) fusing with classical Indian music (Hariharan). Old concept today, but earth-shattering in 1996 when their first album "Colonial Cousins" was a platinum hit in India. I was in Secondary 2 then, and I thought This is Music.

Then their second album entitled "The Way We Do It" was released, amidst huge expectations, released by Sony Music in 1998. I liked the album, but CC admitted that it was not a success. They had experimented too much for the loyal followers of the first album to digest. I think it flopped because many others had begun to do East-West fusion, and CC was sounding stale. After that flop, they went into exile.

With Aatma, I obtained a piercing revelation on why they had gone stale. Two fatal mistakes which I wouldn't expect music industry professionals to make:

1. Ripping off popular Western genres wholesale and calling it their own. And using music arrangments of the EIGHTIES. Of the 9 tracks I listened, there was a ballad (a la Westlife), a pop piece (a la Westlife), a COUNTRY track, a customary Bollywood track and a few other forgettable tunes. There and here, Hariharan will come in with his "aaaahhhhhaaahhahhhaha" sangeetha bragas-laden voice and we're supposed to celebrate that the whole thing's Indian.

2. Pre-school lyrics. An example:

Mom and Dad are the ones I love
I know I can't find no other (You must be pulling my leg)

Quiet words to help me understand
Loving hands to hold me when I stand (How about another word to rhyme with -and?)

When I lose, they're always right there behind me
So right now I don't know what to say (That's a surprise)
But I'd like to thank them anyway
Because they make me want to aaayyy (Ah good! You've found a non-existent word to rhyme!)

And more of this.

If you really wanted me to choose my favourite track from this rather tepid album, I'd say it's Dheem Dheem Direna, which is quite short actually.