Tuesday, August 30, 2011

of Telugu songs and their singers

I am no expert in the technicalities of music. I am your average listener with average tastes.

Now that I have this out of my way, I have the right to say the following. Pretty redundant, I admit.


Telugu, of an unmatched sonic beauty, is very very sweet. If Saraswati had to speak, she'd choose Telugu. I would have said this even if I were not a native speaker of this divine language. There is some kind of divine niceness and purity to this language. At least phonetically. I use divine very carefully. I like the sound of nice and elegant Tamizh, nice and simple Malayalam, simple and un-harsh Marathi (the kind spoken by Shankar Mahadevan, Sachin Tendulkar and Harsha Bhogle). The enormous love for Hindi is beyond words.

But Telugu is on a totally different level altogether. A totally different level.

So there is no need on the part of singers in Telugu to add extra layers of sweetness to it. The kind of overcooking that borders at times on, dare I say, maudlin, and dare I say, coy. Plain irritating. The language takes care of itself pretty well there.

If I have to find a visual, photographic equivalent, I'd say what we are served with is gloss when all our heart craves and desires is pure matte.

While it is different to extend the scope of the song within the musical parameters as defined by the creator, it's totally different to add non-existent touches to it. One should have a feel for it. Either one knows it, or not. Most of the singers are guilty of it. Male singers are more guilty of it. Do they overcompensate for their supposed manliness and add an unnecessary sweetness to the songs?

Telugu also lends itself to expressions and dynamics one cannot imagine. But a random sampling of the songs over the last twenty years or so, reveals that we have stuck to mundane expressions, and mundane lyrics. When you throw this accusation, you are shown creations that feature great lyrics that only boast of some harsh sounding words of a more reference textbook variety.

We lack the ease of a Javed Akhtar, a Gulzar, or a more recent Prasoon Joshi, Jaideep Sahni. Notice I haven't used "contemporary" for Prasoon Joshi or Jaideep Sahni. Gulzar and Javed Akhtar are as contemporary and modern as anyone out there. Their remarkable felicity in weaving everyday words into poignant expressions so pregnant with meaning is unparalleled. Do you have to have a lexicon by your side to understand their writing? No!

"...baaho'n ke haar jo daale koi kaanha ke gale,
Radha kaise na jale?!"
"...kya karei'n zindagi isko hum jo mile
iski jaan khaa gaye raat din ke gile..."
When was the last time I heard such simple, elegant lines in my tongue?

Why is it that we who are blessed with a God's language do not do enough service? Will Veturi and Sirivennela be the last that we will ever revere? Why don't we ever foster newer thought, and if security (in all forms) is all we seek, an elegant twist to the cliched?



I think it's in our culture, it gets dirty there and that forms the basis for another post.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

quite naturally

Every time I am confused in life, I ask myself. At least of late.

Should I take man's way, as are we expected to naturally?

Should I ignore it altogether, and respect nature's way?

Nature's way is my ultimate compass in life, and it supersedes man's way. I'm trying real hard to get there. This will only help me maintain my sanity, and move along. It is painstakingly difficult, and I acknowledge that.

The more order we've tried to create to help ourselves, we've only introduced chaos in the process. When I am in the middle of all the mess created by man's various institutions, I look for an escape. I look to nature. If all's fine on that front, all's well in my life.

Owing to democratic thought, and subjectivity, there cannot be one guiding principle in our lives from man's way standpoint. Most of the times, that is nice. But in nature's way, there's no room for interpretation. No suiting to our tastes, no hypocritical twisting to our conveniences. There's only one truth. Almost dictatorial, and autocratic. It makes perfect sense to me.


I have erred and could very well err on man's way. I am not as scared as I'll be when I goof up on nature's order.

I will be fooling myself if I claim to be working on striking a balance. The scale tilts, and it's quite obvious.


I am in no way belittling man's way for what man has done over thousands of years is overwhelming beyond compare. But it's overwhelming only in face of the opposition or traction offered by nature. Nature has time and again shown us how to shut the fuck up. We would do really well to respect that, and adjust our priorities.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

The English Channel

chuck the false bells, out the used straws
sooner or later, comes a leveling loss.

stock up on *spirit*, holy, and otherwise
when he cuts and slashes, you'll be looking to the skies.

milk the udrs, point the hawk eye, lay any trap
don't bother, don't be bemused, his bat cuts all crap.

brace yourselves, pommies, and the rest go agog,
coming soon to edgbaston, virender sehwag.


The Pataudi Trophy . England vs. India . Birmingham . Aug 10 - 14 . 2011