People who know me well enough know that I have even less than half baked knowledge of Tamil. Call it my upbringing where I traveled a bit, or my schooling, it wasn't until a couple of years back did I start talking with people around me in Tamil. Even during the days of blissful ignorance, there was one song whose lyrics touched me deeply. I noticed the song because my mom was a huge fan of PBS, and of course, I am a big sucker for melody, and a bigger one for romantic melody. The song describes the beauty of a woman comparing her to the best of seasons, arts, flowers, birds, sonds, winds, etc. It finishes with a punch telling that the woman has made the person singing it a poet. The lyrics are simple and subtle and have been crafted to create one of Kanadasan's masterpiece with a deep beautiful meaning.
Anyways I encourage you to listen to the song (It is just 3:12 min):
Kaalangalil Aval Vasantham
A little more trivia about the song:
Movie name: Paava Mannippu (1961)
Singer: Sreenivas PB
Music Director: Viswanathan-Ramamurthy
Lyrics: Kannadasan
Actors: Devika, Gemini Ganeshan, Savithri, Sivaji Ganesan
Director: Bhimsingh A
Theme: Beauty
Finally the lyrics:
Kaalangalil aval vasantham
Kalaigalilae aval oaviyam
Maadhangalil aval maargazhi
Malargalilae aval malligai
(kaalangalil aval)
Paravaigalil aval manippuraa
Paadalgalil aval thaalaattu
Kanigalilae aval maangani (2)
Kaatrinilae aval thenral
(kaalangalil aval)
Paalpoal sirippadhil pillai - aval
Panipoal anaippadhil kanni
Kanpoal valarppadhil annai (2) - ava
Kavinganaakkinaal ennai
(kaalangalil aval)
This is truly a song that has lived through ages.
nivi30 said...
I completely concur. Its a beautiful song. I am huge sucker for old tamil songs and this one is absolutely brilliant.
Infact the entire movie has brilliant songs. I would strongly suggest you listen to them all. Kannadasan rocks.
A few more trivia :
The movie has a song Athhan Ennathhan. The whole song has every line that ends with the syllable 'thhan'
Bhimsingh directed a whole bunch of movies in the 60's which all started with the letter 'Pa'
Pava Mannipu,
Padithal mattum podhuma,
Pasa malar,
Palum Pazhamum etc
Anyways I was thrilled to read this post!
August 7, 2008 8:45 AM
Akansha said...
Nice post, Archkan ! Btw, I just thought of some other songs that closely resemble this description:
"The song describes the beauty of a woman comparing her to the best of seasons, arts, flowers, birds, sonds, winds, etc. It finishes with a punch telling that the woman has made the person singing it a poet."
First one: Title song in Saathiya - Vivek's plyaback singer compares Rani's character to the 4 seasons and birds, bees, sunshine etc.
2nd: Annie's Song by John Denver (You fill up my senses...) - the most romantic song I can think of right now !
I'm pretty sure there are a few others, but I love these 2 songs so they just bubbled up in my memory when I read your decription.
August 7, 2008 2:05 PM
cyberhawk said...
Kanadasan rocks. This is one of my favorite songs. If you get a chance listen to Then Nilavu songs. They are nice too...
August 21, 2008 4:16 PM
Arun Thilak said...
This is a terrific song... I distinctly remember where I heard it the first ... In my granny place when I was doing my 1st or 2nd grade grade and I memorized the whole lyrics...
Keep on blogging ...
August 26, 2008 11:59 PM