Deductions and homage

Its been a fad for sometime now in Bengaluru... most FM radio channels are switching to RJing in Kannada and playing mostly Kannada songs... a totally welcome move. But my problem is with the quality of the Kannada songs they play. What's more, if you keep switching stations, chances are you'll hear the same song (anybody heard ಜಿಂಕೆ ಮರಿನಾ?) in every channel within a half our duration.

My problem is more with the lyrics than anything else. There is a complete lack of cohesion and originality, as well as the play with words one would come to expect of good songs. Of course, there is the odd song that is good (take the ones from ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ for example).

Invariably, I end up surfing channels just for a good song. Many a time, I settle for the passable Hindi ones dished out on Radio One. My threshold for a good Hindi song is probably low :-) Thankfully though, Radio City has a Retro songs programme starting at 9pm (better late than never!).

Here is my deduction - people tend to have a higher threshold of acceptance for ordinary stuff dished out in a language they are less conversant in. Conversely, the threshold these people have for a good song is generally higher for songs in their mother tongue or a language they understand well -- the importance is not just for the tune but also the lyrics.

Wonder what the Hindi speaking populace think of this; they are the ones subjected to maximum torture if the above deduction is true (for the layman, Hindi films in India outnumber the vernacular ones).

That brings a more sombre point - Shri R N Jayagopal is no more. I've grown up listening to a lot of his songs (din't know he had written them at the time). ETV ಕನ್ನಡ is playing a series of half hour snippets with the great Jayagopal for a few weeks now. That has opened my eyes to the fact that a majority of my favorite tracks from yesteryears were written by him. There are't (m)any who can come close to the meaning, melody and the ease on ears qualities of ದೀನ ನಾ ಬಂದಿಹೆನು, ಬಾಳೊಂದು ಭಾವಗೀತೆ, ಬೆಳ್ಳಿ ಮೋಡದ ಅಂಚಿನಿಂದ, ನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲೆಯ ಉಂಗುರ, ಹಾಡೊಂದ ಹಾಡುವೆ ನೀ ಕೇಳು ಮಗುವೇ, ಅಪಾರ ಕೀರ್ತಿ ಗಳಿಸಿ ಮೆರೆವ ಭವ್ಯ ನಾಡಿದು, to name a few. May his soul rest in peace.

I hope there'll be more people who can hold the torch lit by R N Jayagopal, K S Narasimha Swamy, Kanagal Prabhakara Shastry, Chi. Udayashankar, Vijaya Narasimha and the other greats. There is promise though... Jayanth Kaikini, Kalyan and Yograj Bhat have churned out some wonderful songs in the past couple of years. Admittedly, they've a long way to go to get counted in the same league as the ones listed above.