I stumbled on this video on a facebook comment somewhere, Why This Kolaveri Di, and am tickled by the melody, rhythm and instrumentation.
This has raked up more than 30 millions hits on YouTube since it went up on 16 Nov 2011, obviously from India but also from Japan, amongst others. Described as “genre bending,” the song uses ancient south Indian folk rhythms, vocal styles and instruments. With everyone in the right mood, this was penned in minutes by a young composer who has decided to enjoy the success in case its his last! According to CNN, this title song for the upcoming movie “3” was the most popular song in 2011. It had featured in a flash mob performance in New Zealand and is being used to combat road rage in some parts of India and last I heard, the composer’s been invited to dinner by the Indian PM.
The lyrics were conjured up in a simple form of Tanglish (mixture of Tamil and English) – meant to depict a drunk boy singing about his rejection by his girlfriend; the title means Why This Murderous Rage, Girl? Oooh!
Wikipedia has the details and is quite well referenced.
BBC Radio discussed the hit, I think in the first week. Similarly, some of my non-Indian friends with their pulse on Indian movies and music knew all about this months ago. That’s genre bending enough for me.
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