Thursday, September 02, 2010

Sivamani - the rockstar!

These days everyone talks about Common Wealth Games (CWG), and it has been over hyped in media for all wrong reasons. I dont want this post to be yet another post with all the dirty stuff. It is about  the theme song I am going to talk and the comments surrounding it. I've heard the song for many times and felt the song was good but definitely not an apt song for such a high energy event. After Shakira's 'Waka Waka' has swept all over the world, pipping into top charts..people expected much more from this song. But sadly it is no contender to 'Waka Waka'.
I personally liked the theme song except to the rap part which was little turn off for me.

I've been reading the comments on this..and have observed that many have blasted this one..
one person says.."Wow!..so much energy that I almost fell asleep"..
and other one says "lets have chaiyya chaiyya as theme song"..
one of my friends, Phil, says like this













but a few ardent fans of ARR have maintained their stance..supporting the song
so overall it got a bad response from public.

Now comes the actual part which I wanted to talk about. In TOI there was this article in which some of the celebrites have expressed their views on the CWG theme song. One of those which caught my attention was by the percussionist Sivamani. Ok i know that he is part of ARR troupe. But such a comment is not at all expected from a professional of that level, who is known all over the world and might have his own fan base.

The article goes by this title 'We expected better from AR Rahman!’. And our man says this
"Musicians can't be great all the time. We can go wrong. But even the audience needs to hear not-so-great music at times. If they hear good always, they will not be able to tell the difference like they have now. It's good to hear criticism, as that is how a singer grows. I personally like it, but whenever the masses don't like it, they should come out and say so, we will improvise then"
Just wondering what my dad would have done..If I had given a similar reason to him by failing in an exam..and say you will appreciate the first rank only when you see a failure...as a matter of fact..my dad never spared a second rank :O also...Readers..see what all torture I went through :(

Can Sachin give similar reason whenever he gets out by duck?
Can Pakistan give the same reason in cricket whenever they fail? ..Now if they do they'll be ripped apart

If only I get a chance to meet Sivamani, I would like to say this..
"Sir, being a celebrity, you have to watch your words. If you dont know what to talk better not. Please dont talk rubbish like this and make a fool of yourself. When you are enjoying a status of celebrity you better maintain it, try being an inspiration to many. Accepting failure is never wrong, but it stinks when you give such lame excuses.
Also dont forget that it is the same people on whom your livelihood is dependent. People throw away money to attend your concerts and yes..they expect a lot from you..they raise the bar every time you prove yourself..you should take it as an appreciation,encouragement(applies to me also) in different form and stop whining over it."

15 comments:

  1. sure a r rahman is a the a world class musician but as many point out the track does not reflect the mood of a mega sporting event. how about this piece... this is an orignal composition & it has all the energy one needs & i'm willing to give it for free... please check & comment: http://www.facebook.com/dinesh.adnani?v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=151165512887

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  2. i agree its in bad taste, but if someone criticised my cooking i would probably say what sivamani said:)

    and while his words could have been phrased better, we should also not think everyone is a superman including sachin.

    sivamani doesn't say that arr didn't give 100% or that its ok if a person doesn't give 100%.

    won't we be supportive if our children give their best and still not come 1st or 2nd. sorry i disagree with your dad on this.

    my point is we focus so much on the result but not on the process.

    i didn't like the song and i am big arr fan. but i find people going to one end to praise the song or the other end to dump the song and arr (silly article in ibnlive)

    and so i find sivamani's comments refreshing. art is subjective. we have to get it.otherwise artists wouldn't have the freedom to explore.

    i am disappointed with the song, but if anumalik had been given the task he would have remixed waka waka. maybe the output would have been better. but i still think there originality is valuable.

    van gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, if he had started painting just for popular demand he might have sold more, but his paintings would have been less valuable today. lets give credit to individuality.

    instead of thinking on the terms of sachin getting out, think on the terms of a fan expecting sachin to hit a six with every ball.

    artists are human and they have the RIGHT to make mistakes. (oh now i am sounding worse than sivamani)

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  3. artists are not like fixed deposits who might give a constant safe return.
    but like equities they produce brilliant returns and duds.

    if we wanted a safe song we shouldnt have gone to arr, anyway he is reworking on it:)

    jai ho also was rejected by ghai but when on to become a hit.

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  4. WD :) thanks for the long comment..u made my day...
    ..even i disagree with my dad..I used to argue with them over this point only..but now they r not like before..

    this point you said "but if someone criticised my cooking i would probably say what sivamani said:)"..if I was one of those eating the food you cooked..I wldnt mind by your reason ..cos u r my friend..
    now let say you own a hotel..and the food is eaten by customers..do u think they will accept such reason :O..same..I am very much against the words he chose to explain the situation..you can have your opinion that it is good or bad..but not say..it is bad..and ppl ought to listen bad also..now i cant buy such excuse
    I agree to ur last point also..after all we are human we do make mistakes..
    ...
    I still like the song..

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  5. i agree with the hotel point .but only if i am paying for the food. but in a 5 star hotel, and if its a celebrity chef, he/she is expected to add his/her own touch to it. thats one of the excuses for the high price. and once we add the creativity factor we have to accept it can go anywhere:)

    btw is the one u have uploaded a reworked one?

    my new post is a very subtle take on this:) btw

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  6. WD:)..aren't we paying indirectly by taxes.. the 5Cr remuneration for making song..
    I dont know if it reworked one..but the comments i mentioned for this video only...
    I already commented on the blog..while reading I could sense that :)

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  7. @Divesh
    I saw the video man..excellent it is.. why dont you create a youtube channel of yours and then post your solo performances..

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  8. With due respect, I somehow disagree with what your father had to say about that, and I hope am not taken in a wrong sense! :)

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  9. I just heard this song...blah...how could anyone compare it to waka waka? It was slow (and not a good kind of slow - definitely not wavin' flags) and had the silliest lyrics yet.

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  10. @Sourav..I think the text in smaller size is somehow making it more serious.. but yes my dad was strict..unlike mom..
    but my intention here was to convey that..if a person fails and says that others wld appreciate his good performances only when they see the bad also..it seems like the bad performance was intentional..which according to me is not acceptable..see if u have done ur best n still u fail..then it is not a mistake..n my dad also supports me then..but if u fail n shamelessly say..the reason similar to Sivamani..then it is not acceptable..if my son does that..then he will also have to face the brunt of it...if u still think am wrong..then I cant help it..may be am bad

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  11. @Sakhi...from all the sources available on net..it seems..that Rahman himself has said that his song would beat Waka Waka..,..and yes it is no way closer to the energy levels of Waka Waka..it can be used as a song for campaigns but not for a theme song of a sporting event

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  12. Ya I heard that too but I thought no one would be stupid enough to do that...guess I was wrong. According to me the song lacked energy, meaning, and purpose. I would rather not have had a song at all. I mean, I've heard it thrice now and I can't get myself to like it. :(

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  13. impressive !!!!

    you guys are so good in leg pulling....now,i know why !!!!

    art can't be measured...true..

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  14. @Sakhi..right..even I cant believe that ARR could say something so arrogantly and come up with such disaapointment

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  15. @Nikki
    r u talking about Wise Donkey..I am a big fan of her..you will lover her posts read them.

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I welcome brickbats as well..so hit me hard with your comments..