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Some mallu lyrics |
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Mallu (Malayalam, the official language in the lush, green state from where I come) is one of the most structured languages in the world. True that Sanskrit is so much well structured, but nobody really uses it :-) Mallu has so many words almost same as Sanskrit, and USED in daily vocabulary. There is NO comparison between even a mallu film song and say a Hindi song. The lyrics are deep, and convey so much meaning. While "dinchaak" songs become popular in Hindi, such songs never become hit in Mallu - we prefer soft, melodious songs in Kerala :-)
Also, according to me, the best male voice in the world is possessed by Yesudas, and best female voice by Chithra. U should hear them sing in Mallu to appreciate their talent (when they sing in Hindi, they have the mallu accent, of course :-( ) Forget the film songs, take a look at the classic poems written by the guys in past- we had to study N mallu poems in school, and I am thankful that we were introduced to them. I have learned Hindi and English poems, very few of them possess the property of "vrutham". Basically it means that any chapras cannot just write a mallu poem. U need to have one of the many "vruthams"- these are governed by written rules. These rules dictate what all "long" and "short" syllables should be in each line, how many lines, how many groups of syllables, how to present them, and how to progress them. Remember that syllables are part of words, so u cant just use any word in a mallu poem! Because the poem is so well structured, this imposes a rhythm and tune automatically. U dont "say" a poem in mallu,u really sing and enjoy it. For eg, people so much praise "doha" in Hindi, right? Well and good- they have so much meaning in them. So what ? Mallu poems have this inherent structure and almost Sanskrit words and figures of speech and additional rhyming too. The meaning they convey are deep while the narration is kept simple. In our school exams everybody used to get the lowest marks in Mallu (no wonder eh ?) I really want to illustrate one vrutham for u guys. When I get time I will try to explain what I mean by the structure and the piano tune it imposes, say. My father is a big fan of mallu poems, and he still remembers what he learnt at school, no joke! When I was in third grade, my teacher asked me to memorize a part of "vanchipattu"- she said she will get me the lyrics the next day. That evening my father recited the whole thing from memory, which he learned some 30-40 years ago, without a single mistake! That was amazing! He knows a lot more too. I dont have that much memory (hey we are chapras engineers, not doctors! ;-)), but I also do remember those amazing lyrics even now. I refreshed it when I went to India, and then one day here, I wrote them from memory. See below the lyrics. I hum them along even now. Honestly I consider myself lucky to have learnt those great pieces of literature! BTW, some English poems have a similar (though weaker) structure. An example is the "Stopping by woods on snowy evening" by Robert Frost (I think). The proof is that u can sing it with a CONSTANT tune. But nothing compared to Mallu poems. I would say the students of this literature stuff in the world should take a look at the complex language that mallu is... We mallus take it for granted, and never realise it until u leave the state....
Note that the below links will take time to complete :-)...
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