Solla Solla Enna Perumai - A youtube hit

[Venki]

Solla Solla Enna Perumai from 'Ellam Inba Mayam' has been burning up the charts in popularity on youtube. Look at all the comments on those threads. Some of them have been appreciative of the music while taking an infra dig at the disco dance moves. You decide, if it is notoriety or fame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koqeSXJtvvo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLthhTnleso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S48w8pMLrLk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-5MLPzRjls

Check out the discussion here from an Indian-American perspective.
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/003646.html

Also do a google search to see what just one old Tamil song can throw up:)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=solla+solla+enna+perumai&spell=1

Amazingly, I don't remember enjoying it as much in 1981 as I am now, playing it on multiple loops at a time. Enjoy.

[Osho]

[tscii:d2b0417450]Check out some of the communications i had with CSR and Vel of Ilayaraja Yahoo fan club regarding this song.

Dear CSR and Vel,

The one thing that immediately popped up to my mind is
the way IR has used the chorus in the whole song. Plus
the voice modulation though out the song. Let me try
to put down my view as below.

The opening is grand. A guitar strumming and then
percussion alone soon follows. Then comes the harder
to diagnose factor. Is it the vocal counter parts or
is it some instrument or is it both some instrument
and the chorus together.

SPB is the de facto choice for songs of such voice
modulation. Boisterous singing by SPB soon follows.
Listen to the percussion, rhythm change in the
pallavi. Another subtle thing to notice in the pallavi
is the way SPB modulates his voice. Ie, the way he
sings the “Solla solla enna” is different from the way
he sings the word “Perumai” (more bass effect in this
word), and this continues through out the song.
The guitar and the percussion complementing each
other are nothing but pure ingenuity. CSR, listen
carefully that the guitar is alone for some good
seconds (Before SPB sings the first charanam being
prominent, but if you listen, the first interlude has
lots of place where you can hear the guitar alone.).
(The percussion stop  !!).

The second interlude is amazing. The sax/ trombone
is terrific (an amazing display of jazz elements). The
voice modulation from shriek voice, to normal voice to
the bass voice when the chorus singing “Thaatha thatha
“ is mind boggling. Also listen to the chorus
meanwhile singing “Thom”, just giving an impression
that it’s a percussion beat, but i guess its only the
chorus singing it in such a way.
The ending of the song is another beauty. Listen to
SPB’s imitation there. The song goes to a crescendo
with all the clapping. All this before “sakala kala
vallavan” is some thing to notice and ponder over the
genius that IR is.
Thanks CSR for reminding the song. This song is in a
cd combo released by universal Panner Pushpangal/
Ellam Inba mayam/ Kadal Meengal. Another underrated
gem of a song. Can we take this to the other fans in
the group too.

> Vel and Raj,
>
> Listen to this "Solla Solla ENna Perumai" and give
> your comments
>
> http://rajaecho13.tripod.com/
>
> Regards
>
> CSRamasami
>
> [/tscii:d2b0417450]

[crazy]

Never heard this song before :oops:

Anyway thanks for sharing :)

[vijayr]

ROFL! That video is so ridiculous its funny. Ellam Inba mayam is but one in a long list of atrocious films Kamal belted out at that time. The 80s were quite something.

But T Rajendar takes the cake

watch these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCOUVqA_iVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whpigU66BFA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJTBlxH5zNs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P40-Rxnl1Ac

The true king of comedy!!

[vijayr]

the natural successor to solla solla enna perumai- ilamai idho idho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thWEFvUeTPg

Now the westerners should be totally bowled over. Already some of the reviews /comments I read from the above links made my day - Brownsploitation,Bollywood funk, Tamil groovy funk etc. :-) :-)

[vijayr]

see this
http://foxybronx.free.fr/

ROFL!

[vijayr]

I stumbled upon this link while searching for more. This guy has got some pretty good early 80s IR song videos. Ensoy!
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=mkumarpalani

[vijayr]

This made my day(or night)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3s0mDjVy54

someone should play this to IR one of these days

[Venki]

Osho,

Nice analysis of the song. It is the whole package, but what stood out for me and many of the commenters on youtube was the bass guitar in this song.

Vijayr,

Elamai Edho Edho from Sakalakala Vallavan was posted as a response to 'Solla Sollla' in one of the posts linked above. But it doesn't seem to have piqued as much interest as this song. It tells us that it was not just the retro disco dancing alone, but the song as well that made it popular.

http://foxybronx.free.fr/ is the site that first brought this clip out. They say somewhere that one of the guys was travelling in Malaysia and picked up this tape there, was bowled over by this clip and put it up in their website, from where it went to youtube and the rest is history!

This site also has some of MGRs clips from Ulagum Suttrun Vaaliban and a few other movies at http://foxybronx.free.fr/foxy17.html

[MrJudge]

Venki:

Thanks for the link. It is funny to see the applause coming from those aliens for this particular track. Lot of people liked the music as well as Kamal's hairdo and costumes :)

[Venki]

Venki:

Thanks for the link. It is funny to see the applause coming from those aliens for this particular track. Lot of people liked the music as well as Kamal's hairdo and costumes :)

Mr. Judge,
Many of the westerners are enjoying the video for it's kitsch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsch) value. But without the great song and the bass line to back up this video, I contend it would not have been as popular.

[S.Balaji]

Solla solla enna perumai is a mix of carnatic raga ( hindolam ) and western . IR experimented like this earlier with many songs . Another one was Sridevi en vazvil arul seyya vaa

IMHO, IR was the guy who craftily mixed western with carnatic

[thumburu]

SBalaji, you are right. We can see a clever morphing of "samaja vara gamana " in the opening lines. Iam hearing this song after decades. Still sounds very fresh, groovy . The old, gawdy disco world charm. Guitar, SPB, trumpet rock

[Venki]

Solla solla enna perumai is a mix of carnatic raga ( hindolam ) and western . IR experimented like this earlier with many songs . Another one was Sridevi en vazvil arul seyya vaa

IMHO, IR was the guy who craftily mixed western with carnatic

I am not sure if it was supposed to be a crafty mix of western and carnatic. IR was/is what he is due to all his influences which included western, traditional folk and Indian classical both Carnatic and Hindustani. I think this song was just his take on western dance music catering to the Tamil film audience, in which many of his influences played a part.