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I recently traveled and lived in the Tamil speaking part of southern India, right at the bottom tip of the country. It was great. Music was everywhere. My favorite venue was the back of a bumpy rickshaw, our friendly driver forging ahead haphazardly through city traffic, as I and my fellow passengers bobbed our heads to the latest Tamil pop songs. The most popular music came from recent film soundtracks. The sound of this music, I found almost conflicting. Yes, to my western ear, the tones conflicted. Those who are familiar with western music can often predict, to some degree, what comes next. This is certainly not always the case, but we can usually at least assign a given song some genre or category. In contrast, this new Tamil music was so incredibly foreign that I listened to it with new ears, untouched by previous knowledge or conceptions. My only option was to absorb the new sounds. Music this foreign completely bypassed my brain and went straight to my soul.

Do you want to hear it? Here are some tracks from a popular film Engeyum Kadhal that was released just before I arrived in India last September. The title means Love is Everywhere (like music!). These youtube clips show some of the many dancing scenes which were undoubtedly the best parts of the movie.

Nejil Nenjil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=revCZCjQ48Q  

Thee Leil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB1-LSM6xXE&feature=fvsr

Dhimu Dhimu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnrdPddRvNU

Nangaai:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRxr82iqgEs

Simbu Na:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYMQrc3X5hQ

Enjoy!