IR - Telugu Songs and Lyrics

[San_K]

Plum garu link podunga

That song replaced by punjai undu in tamil?

[Plum]

Song #1 - tarali raada thane vasantham from Rudraveena

Now that we have the translation business attended to, let's attend to the joys of the lyric.

In the movie, the song essentially gives a precis of the theme - with the traditional father riding roughshod over anyone in the path, in pursuit of his musical excellence, and tunnel-visioned performance art. He believes that Music reigns supreme, and the inequalities of human conditions do not touch him. He believes the whole world exists to service his art.
The son, on the other hand, as he must, if we have to make a movie out of this theme, is in the other end of the diameter. He believes Art exists for human entertainment, and reflecting a humane philosophy is a pre-requisite to Art. Art is, after all, Art, he seems to say. Didnt the Bard of Avon say the same too, albeit from the opposite end - implying that a mind that doesnt appreciate music is fit only for treasons and strategems. They meet mid-way, the Bard and Suryanarayana Sastri, our hero.

But then, it is not just a clash of philosophy on art. There are social mores involved, class conflicts, and the father and son are firmly separated by a wall in their approach. The father looks down upon "lower" castes, as unfit for consumption of his high art. The son mingles with them, diluting the art to reach out to them. A theme that, incidentally, finds resonance with the music composer for the movie.

As obvious from the literal translation, the poet resorts to certain standard tropes to reflect this - pointing to nature, and its indiscrimination in sharing its bounty. So, "Why do we discriminate between human beings?" is the message.

Once you apply your mind to this formula, it is possible to reduce the actualisation of this in the lyrics but then that is where the lyricist has his job description - use the right word at right place, bring the right thought in right order. This is where the lyricist scores here.

The very first line flattens a listener with its mellifluous words - the thought expressed is pleasant enough referring to Spring season, which arrives every year and gives to everyone, no matter whether we reach out or not. But look at how he expresses this:
tarali raada?

We translated this as "Does not Spring come?", which is inadequate. tarali = crawl, as in a baby's crawl.
In Tamil, you'd write that as "thavazhndhu varAdhA?, which is lyrical enough. But the light 'l', prevalent indiscrimiantely in Telugu, makes it even more sweeter.The words bounce ever so smoothly off the tongue and make you feel the song is crawling out of your tongue like a little baby.

Think of how the lyricist opened his gambit - what a beautiful thought, imagining Spring as coming cutely crawling like a baby.

I pause here to refer back to the term, lyrical flourish. I'd like to substantiate Subramaniya Bharathi's assertion on the suitability of Telugu as a musical language. Look at how the sentence forms in Telugu - tarali raada.
The thought is equally cute when expressed in Tamil - 'thavazhndhu varAdhA?', but that demands extra syllables and takes away the pleasure of brevity and lightness in the telugu equivalent.

That's just one example. As we go further, I will stop and pause at every occasion I have to substantiate this theory.

[Sureshs65]

Plum,

The beauty is just not in 'tarali raada' but in that 'tarali raada thane'. The poet is saying, "wouldn't the spring come crawling, on his own' and that 'on his own' which adds the extra charm.

[Plum]

Oh yes, thAnE in tamil doesnt have half the feel. Mainly because thanE is also interchangeable for "that lady", which gives it an extra-special feel. Plus thAnE is longer in the length of the syllables.

About the only word which I think sits uneasily on tunes compared to tamil is gundE vs idhayam or nenjam

[Plum]

This,
tarali raada thanE vasantham
thana dhariki rAni vanAla kosam

You have rhyme.
You have a lovely poetic thought.
You have perfectly separated and integrated syllables.

Then it goes "gaganAla dhAkA", which almost sounds like a swara rendition of the tune, which again reinforces the lyrical flourish

"mEgAla raagam ila cherukOdhA?"
Here, the word to look out for is "ila". Literally translated, in this context, it means "home" or "back home"We translated it as "Don't the clouds send their raaga as rain?", which is boringly prosaic.
And "chErukOdhA" - "kalandhu viduvadhillaiyA?"
What the poet actually said in Telugu, in a nadai peculiar to Telugu, is "mEgangaLin raagam meendum thannidam vandhu kalappadhillayA?"
Sounds peculiar way of putting it in Tamil, but perfectly natural in Telugu.

Coming back to "ila", you'd have to use longer, unwieldy syllables in Tamil. "ila" is a nice, convenient, lovely-sounding, economic short-cut. To cut a long story short, another of the constructs which makes Telugu a very apt language for lyrical flourish - and, as I keep reminding about, what our pAttan Bharathi said.

[Plum]

Plum garu link podunga

That song replaced by punjai undu in tamil?

Link updated in original post

[V_S]

Plum,
Beautifully and clearly explained the lyrical beauty in nuanced way. Can't thank you enough Now more than appreciating the lyrical beauty, you have made me appreciate the language beauty. Learning a new language through you.

[PARAMASHIVAN]

Flau annE

Thanks for this thread! itha vaichE naa andhra ticket ku kadalai podurEn

[Sureshs65]

Plum,

A correction there. The word there is 'ila' which means earth. What you are referring to is 'ilaa'. As ragaas translated, it is about the music of the clouds descending to the earth as rain. 'megala raagam ila cherukodha'. 'Will not the ragam of the clouds, reach the earth'. (ragam of the clouds referring to rains.) The overall meaning is "Though the waves cannot reach the sky, will not the rains reach the earth'.

[sivasub]

This,
tarali raada thanE vasantham
thana dhariki rAni vanAla kosam

You have rhyme.
You have a lovely poetic thought.
You have perfectly separated and integrated syllables.

Then it goes "gaganAla dhAkA", which almost sounds like a swara rendition of the tune, which again reinforces the lyrical flourish

"mEgAla raagam ila cherukOdhA?"
Here, the word to look out for is "ila". Literally translated, in this context, it means "this way". We translated it as "Don't the clouds send their raaga as rain?", which is boringly prosaic.
And "chErukOdhA" - "kalandhu viduvadhillaiyA?"
What the poet actually said in Telugu, in a nadai peculiar to Telugu, is "mEgangaLin raagam indha pakkamAi vandhu kalappadhillayA?"
Sounds peculiar way of putting it in Tamil, but perfectly natural in Telugu.

Coming back to "ila", normally you would say "ittala" for this way. "ila" is a nice, convenient, lovely-sounding, economic short-cut. To cut a long story short, another of the constructs which makes Telugu a very apt language for lyrical flourish - and, as I keep reminding about, what our pAttan Bharathi said.

Ila also means 'home'. By 'Meghala raagam ila cherukodha' ....perhaps the poet is asking if the clouds dont return home after visting the jungle.