3.08.2006

Private (Pop) Albums in Tamil

Malgudi Subha’s “Vaalpaarai Vattaparai”, Anuradha Sriram’s “I am a modern ponnu”, Veenai Gayatri’s “Pappara”, some X’s “How are you doing buddy”, Srinivas and Karthik’s “Ussele Ussele”, Lata Rajinikanth’s “Dhithimitha” are some of the pop songs that is fresh in my mind when I think of popular Tamil pop songs. And that is really negligible number. I am talking about the pathetic condition of Tamil Pop industry (there is no industry as such but yet let us call it that way) now and then.

In Hindi, there was an era where lot of great talents came to fore due to this private album concept. Though quality of the music has gone down now, Hindi pop has its own fan following. In Hindi, there are bunch of singers who hardly sing in movies but are popular and will be ever remembered for their music and singing in private albums. I think our composers, musicians and singers should seriously think about making private albums like them. Film composers like Yuvan, Vidhyasagar, Illayaraja (has done his part with “Thiruvasakam”) and A.R.Rahman should make private albums and make the genre popular among the common people. They should make people realize film music is not the only form of music.

People should be trained to listen to music as music alone. They should not rely on the visuals, hero/heroine and dance choreography to enjoy the music. I know people listening to some of the song just because it has their favorite hero shaking his legs for the song. I just could not digest the fact that how the presence of a hero whom you like, dancing for the songs turns a bad music into a good one. Further Tamil pop will help lot of young talents to come up. Also it will help some of underutilized and underrated composers like Karthik Raja, Ramesh Vinayakam to change track and create the kind of music they want to with full freedom.

The music in movies puts lots of constraints to a composer, which leads him to produce music, which he himself doesn’t like. A composer’s talent is a waste when the director of the movie has no ear for good music. The best example in recent times is Niru. I really liked most of his songs in his debut private album “Moongil Nila” but he couldn’t deliver same quality of music for the movie “Kalabha Kadhalan”. Yes, there are composers who take those constraints as challenge and come up with triumph. But I am not talking about great composers/ geniuses here. I am talking about fresh new talents with good-enough composing capabilities those who don’t get a good chance to exhibit all his talents through his music for a movie.

Why I am talking about this now? Last month I got really frustrated for wasting lot of money in buying movie soundtracks which didn’t live up to the expectations. I decided to try something different and I bought “Mudhal Mazhayae” and “Thee”. Both are private albums. “Mudhal Mazhayae” is by Devan (Composer + Singer) and Harish Ragavendra. “Thee” is by a band called “Encore”. Both are far better albums in freshness and experimentation comparing to the movie soundtracks that got released last month. I mean both the albums are worth of every penny you spend on them. The problem is how many of you know that such albums are getting released now and then. Even I didn’t know. There are lots of private albums in Tamil I come across when I go to music stores like Landmark and Music World.

There should be enough publicity, at least one song should be visualized and given to channels like SS Music and Sun Music channels to be played repeatedly to create some publicity. Audio clips can be given to FM Radio channels. The audio companies should come forward and encourage such products. With quality music and apt marketing technique, I think it is quite possible to make people buy private albums. Last year, SS Music had a talent contest and the winners released an album much like that of Indian Idol. But I think the music wasn’t great enough and that is why I said quality with apt marketing technique would play the trick. Of course, even pop songs needs visuals to make it popular but that is just because you can’t just play the song with a blank screen in TV channels to publicize the album and also presence of a big star will definitely boost the sales of the album. I heard Devan saying in an interview that they have made Videos for four songs in the album and they are soon to be aired in private channels for promoting the album. Let us see how it works out. I will write a review on both these albums very soon.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

You missed one of the best ever Tamil pop albums - Suresh Peters' Minnal! Almost every song in the album was fabulous. I was in Salem when it was released ages back and I still remember almost my entire college buying the tape!

Karthik

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

hey, haven't heard that album but will sure check it out. I started buying music albums only after coming to college i.e after 2000 and so i wasn't aware of this album even if i have heard of it i wouldn't have bought it. Atleast by this post i came to know about one more worthy tamil pop album. Is there any other music album that you have heard and liked other than minnal?

Anonymous said...

You should Listen to Muthal Kanavu
album Released by HMV India.
All the songs are really good.
Music by Kapileshwar.

Anonymous said...

Suresh you should Listen to
Muthal Kanavu album Released
by HMV India.All the songs are really good.
Music by Kapileshwar.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

hi,

thanx for recommending the albums, i will check out Planet Galatta and Muthal Kanavu.

Ramki said...

i saw the videos - One word ..PATHETIC !!

they showed it in sun music ..good songs though

Anonymous said...

Hi suresh
iam very new to this blogstuff, but stil i wanu jus accept to what u said regarding the pop tamil albums, Iam gopakumar from chennai, Basicaly iam a malayali born and brought up in chennai, right now iam working as a creative lead for an MNC,Iam soon going to launch my 1st music album by mid of May or end of May, th name is not yrt finalised, hope u guys will wish me good luck

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

hi gopakumar,

let me know when it gets released, i will be happy to listen and give my honest feedback.

Anonymous said...

hi all,
frends plz help me out...
i remember in the past about YSR album(shock i think is the name) . u guys have any idea....

mak

Anonymous said...

YSR's private album was 'The Blast' I guess.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Very soon a pop album by Annupamaa will be there! Hang on!

Manish

divyadharsan said...

hi suresh..this is divya,am searching seriously for rajini 25 album,i mean "dhithimitha"album songs by latha rajinikanth for the past 3 hours.atlast i found that word in your blog.

can you please tell where should i find that song or album in net.bcoz am in u.s.i want to do a dance for the song dhithimitha which i love the most. for pongal celebration here.

if u find anything or a download link,a zipfile.that would be very helpful to me.thanks.plese reply as soon as possible.

Unknown said...

Hi all,

Do anybody aware of the 1st album made by SPB Charan along with Devan.
I forgot the name of the album.
I tried searching in net, but couldnt find it.

Rascalarun said...

hey dhivya,

this is arun from australia.....if u r still lookin for dhithimidha..here s the link....really a good number...http://mr-jatt.org/files/?d=tamil_music/M/Maaya_Jaalam&s=0&c=10

Kichu said...

if you have the song - i am a modern ponnu by anuradha sreeram.. pls upload it somewhere..

Unknown said...

sorry kichu, i don't have the song

dheepan said...

Hi I am Dheepan From sivakasi posting u an rocking song for dancers........http://www.4shared.com/file/194215045/7beec269/Latha_Rajinikanth_Thiththimi_T.html