Priya.. In that case, can we say, most of the westerners are “Kattupettis” (or narrow minded) .. since they dont know anything about eastern music..

I feel, our world is as big as how deep we had understood the culture & history we live..

I was so surprised at the comments i got.. I could not decide, whether its the raaga, or the lyric or the devotion of MS, that attracts so many people towards it..

I happened to hear the village folks few days back, and my opinion was re-inforced.. Village folks is more of an expression of the singer, rather than the music itself.. We can understand the true spirit of that music, only if we could understand the superbly crafted (yet simple) words of the song.. without the meaning, the village folk would be an uninteresting sound..

I remember in my child hood, how i hated Oppari.. But, few years back, one person from malaysia, released a book, containing collection of folksongs (lyrics only).. after reading this, i understood how rich are those songs in expressing the joys/sorrows/ (even hatred )..

I think, the difference b/w POP and folk is that in the former, we enjoy the sounds in harmony,.. whereas, in the later (folks), we appreciate the content of the song, reinforced with a plain music..

That’s why, ilayaraja’s music is different from present day western music.. in the former, we enjoy the songs and its ragams which is appreciated at the intellectual level (by interpreting both music and content), while in the later, we enjoy the beats and orchestra.. there was some kind of abstraction in the former.. (this is just my observation.. )

Let me quote some examples..

“”இளமை என்னும் பூங்காற்று…”
Hope, you remember the above song.. Even though its highly romantic song , there is a “Nalinam” in it, and it doesnt look vulgar ..

Compare the above with the following..

“கட்டிப்புடி கட்டிப்புடிடா…”

“கல்யாணம் கட்டிக்கிட்டு ஓடிப்போகலாமா…”

There is a differerence, in the quality of the above songs..

If we consider the history of music in the past 50 years, the quality of music in general (both indian and western) has depleted considerably.. The west first started with introducing seducing elements, like sexy madonna etc, as a cheap marketing strategy..
And indian entertaining industry followed that..

Compare the level of obscenity, vulgarity, in classical films with the modern one.. we can understand the degradation..

The taste of people is influenced a lot by the quality of the music, particularly when there is no alternative..

Very few songs of tamil film industry maintains that quality.. Consider the song “ஒவ்வொரு பூக்களுமே..” .. it was so impressive, that many schools adopted it as prayer song..

We need such songs to maintain the standards of the music..

Learnt 2 new words. I like 80% Apollonian & 20% Dinonysian. For illiterate in this terminology Details here