On 6/5/2008 2:13 PM India Time, _Vinayakam Murugan_ wrote: > Boss > >> None of the people that I have come across have ever heard Vairamuthu's >> name, let alone know that he is a poet, let alone hear his lyrics. I >> myself heard his name only in this list in connection with ARR and have >> never heard his lyrics. > > Is that the criteria to determine greatness?
Not greatness, but popularity. > Brother, the onus is on you to learn Tamil to understand his lyrics > rather than the other way around. He would probably be least concerned > if couple of people fail to acknowledge his talent. I hope that it was clear that it was not my individual liking because I can respect him hearing the good comments on him by you guys. I know where to find English translations of Vairamuthu's tamil lyrics and can go and read and understand them, though I never bothered. It was about his popularity and Hindi masses are not going to bother to learn and entire language to understand a poet's songs. ONly dedicated veterans go to such lengths but they are few. > I am not sure how that would help. There was a naughty line in > "Telephone Manipol" - Nee pogum idathil - aangalai vidamatten , sila > pengalai vidamatten - meaning I will not let men and "some" women come > to places where you go. In Hindi , it was translated to "Teri raahon > mein , koi mard na chodunga, aurat bhi na chodunga" which while > retaining most of the meaning didn't hit the point. Exactly. That is where Mehboob/ PK Mishra fail. that is why it would be helpful if the original poet is involved in the translation process. A translator lyrics might roughshod it as he is getting paid for any working translation, but the original poet's pride and literary standing is at repute so he would not agree to such prickly translations. And indeed, there are many other finer versions possible to which it could be translated to. Oh, just googled and found that Telephone Manipol is penned by Vairamuthu. My holy gawd. No hindi music lover is going to respect a poet who gives lyrics like "Teri raahon mein koi mard na chodunga, aurat bhi na chodunga", even though it was P K Mishra's butchering knife. was "Latka dikha diya hamne, jhatka dikha diya hamne" also by Vairamuthu? I mean its tamil original? Ha ha ha, what a joke that the most respected Tamil writer pens streetspeak Latka Jhatka. At orkut, 13 year old kids are creating better lines for their profile titles. > Each language has its idiosynchracies and elements which are unique to > it , which would make sense only in that language. > Indeed. But emotions are inherent in humans and go deeper and beyond the lyrics and music. Every language has expressed all emotions in great ways, so these could be translated from to each another to retain at least major part of the original feel. In recent times, I don't find such odd sounding lyrics in hindi songs that you guys even tell that are dubbed from tamil or other languages. Seems ARR is giving more emphasis to smooth flowing lyrics now, in dubbed songs. -- Rawat
