{Of all lies, art is the least untrue - Flaubert}



Monday, January 17, 2005

The Art of Mass Songs

Mass songs are songs of masses.This is the closest one can reach while defining them. Living in Hyderabad and keeping a distance from mass songs is hypocrisy at its best. Here you love them by default. You listen them at office, while you commute, you see people ready to dance to them. I must confess that I am under spell of some of them, and for the best since I don't understand the language, I cannot get the arguably shady and double meaning lyrics but the tone say all the unsaid and rest is left to rich imagination. You see, a true piece of art. They work best while reading docs, coding and likewise mundane work or while travelling. They charge you up not to work but to dance to them.

I have done some discussion (with local experts) and a decent research (it doesn't warrant much) on what can be classified as a mass song. There are cheap way to enter the mass song genre by directly referring to the 'unreferrables', but the true masters of art makes them such skillful mess that even those who understand the language can imagine to the levels of an ignorant. One of the common thing about mass songs it that they are based on beat based folk tunes. Deep research shows that it is always true leaving odd exceptions. Also as many may think that a overgrown aunty should be part of any mass song, it is not a must. Our research showed some songs which entered mass song genre without that, but just made to the its periphery. You need to follow certain 'standards' man. Some of the so-called mass songs donot even has a girl, now this is going too far and its dangerous for imagination. Art should not be that abstract.

And worst of all, some of juveniles may also think that mass songs are some folk versions of bollywood item-numbers. This is all disgusting shit by intellectuals who think item numbers can ever get the mass following like mass songs. Item numbers are unripe, yet stale crap but mass songs are ripe and 'full' affair. My research showed that Mass songs are typically composed to be played in autos, and the pace should match every turn of Punjagutta, Jubilee hill and Yosufguda and should be sung with a voice loud enough to be heard in crowded stops of Ameerpet. Mass Songs work best in shared autos, where the discomfort is almost taken away by the loud chords and the imagination involved. And there is one more thing that we found out in our research, ARR is not able to give any true mass song till date. As I said, you need to have some 'standards' !

Now listening:
Aa ante Amlapuram
Aahaa ante Aahaapuram
Ee ante Echchapuram
Neel kotti laga tar Andhra jano

1 comment:

Ram said...

Good one. Sorry for such a late reply. Good observation and by the way ARR has also given mass songs to name one "Pettai Rap".