Current Treasure: Kun Faya Kun

If God sent a song to us, then his messenger was A. R. Rahman.

Kun Faya Kun/ Kun Fayakun/ Kun Faaya Kun

CLASSIFICATION: MUSIC

Album: Rockstar (soundtrack)

Composed by A. R. Rahman

Lyrics by Irshad Kamil

Artists: A. R. Rahman, Javed Ali, Mohit Chauhan

Length: 7:53

LISTEN HERE | LYRICS AND TRANSLATION

Dear Allah Rakha Rahman,

already your song Khwaja Mere Khwaja made me feel that you might have seen something that I have not. Not with your eyes, but with your heart. And that you want to show it to as many people as possible, with the help of instruments, voices and music sheets.

Mr. Rahman, I caught a glimpse of this something through all of your songs, even the disco song Fanaa – which is so much more than that – but it was never as clear as in the work/ creation/ gift from heaven you sent to us in 2011. 

The song Kun Faya Kun is, and I feel that I'm understating it, the most beautiful song I have heard in my life, with the exception of The Sound of Silence. 

I can not believe that I found my two favorite songs in the same year, I simply can't. How did this happen, and why? Is it true that 16 is the magic age?

By any means, there has never before been a year where I learnt and saw as much as I did this previous year. 

As I thought about your magic song, and the letter I was going to write about it, I realized that I didn't even know what "Kun Faya Kun" means. I found a wonderful website; rahman360.com, which has the most poetic english translations of your songs, and it said:

Kun Faaya Kun... (refrain): 

„Verily, when He intends a thing, His command is, "Be", and it is!“

You didn't write the lyrics of the song, I know, but it is clear to see, that Kun Faya Kun is a song about the belief in God. As this letter is going to published online, I will not write too much about religion, because this is one of the few subjects I find very private. 

...I am not a muslim, that is for sure, but on the other hand, maybe I am. Because I believe that all religions are the same. And to say it shortly: yes, I do believe in God, even though it is not a person in my eyes.

In an interview, you said that God is everywhere and that you too believe in religious equality. Thank you for speaking my mind. Maybe this is too personal for my readers, but I hope they stay with me and this rather philosophic letter.

A Qawwali is a religious islamic song, and Kun Faya Kun is a Qawwali. Yet it speaks to me on every level, and I can listen to it every day, all the time. However, the most beautiful thing is always, to listen to your favorite song, when you haven't listened to it for a long time.

I don't know why I am writing this to you, if there's one person who knows everything about music, it must be you. 

There also not much more I can write, to be honest, because I know that my words will never measure up to your incredible music, and because all these thoughts are getting mixed up in my head.

In the end, "thank you" is not enough to describe what I feel for your, let's call it song, but it is all I can say. Thank you.

Soundtrack of the Month - November '11

The wonderful French romantic comedy I saw yesterday convinced me to have a soundtrack of the month this time, instead of just a song - a very special soundtrack, that is.

DIRTY DANCING. A film about music and coming-of-age, including a dash of 60s-nostalgia (those old enough to remember watching it on the silver screen might also say 80s-nostalgia). Countless teenage girls must have been introduced to it by their mothers when "the time was right" and fallen in love with not only the film, I'm sure. As for me, I didn't fall in love with Patrick Swayze for that matter, but the film initiated my chronic crush on dancing and the 60s - style, films, and especially music from that decade (or music inspired by it).

Short One on Music

It wasn't hard to choose this time's Song of the Month. Shaitan won the match of becoming Film of the Month, so I felt No Smoking earned this one. And the song is amazing.

Another reason why I chose it is, that last month film and song were American, and I felt I wanted to choose two Indian features for a change. 

So here it is, the Song of October 2011:

Phoonk De

by

Sukhwinder Singh (composed by Vishal Bharadwaj)

Soundtrack of "No Smoking" (2007)

You can listen to, and watch the film sequence, below.

Usually, I write a long post on the lyrics, meaning and feeling of the Song of the Month, but I don't have that much time today - school and stuff, you name it.

Song of the Month - September 2011

It's been quite a hard quest to decide which song would by my Song of the Month for september 2011... the "nominees" included The Last Unicorn (America), If You Want Me (Marketa Iglova) and I am a Man of Constant Sorrow (The Soggy Bottom Boys). Somehow, I always get stuck on film songs... The combination of picture, song and stories of both is quite magical and powerful in a way (due to their lack of story, music videos, in my opinion, fail to transfer that magic in the same way). 

Long story short, here's which song finally won the match:

Lose Yourself
by

Eminem

Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile, 2002

As always, here's the song, so you can listen while or before reading:

There's something you should know about my relation to this song: I have not seen the film 8 Mile. Nope. It's strange, I know, because I like this song so much (and I admit, I also like Eminem), plus the film's been on TV a few times but... somehow, destiny always came in between us.

Song of this Summer, 2011

Beera Beera

by

Vijay Prakash, Kuotane (additional vocals by Keerthi Sargathia & A. R. Rahman)

Soundtrack of "Raavan" (2010)

Of course, music needs to be listened to before one may couch it:

Click me to listen

or

Click me to listen

Beware, this song is addictive. Big time. It's one of the best songs that have ever sprung from Rahman's magic fingers or brain, or whatever makes him do what he does. 

The duration of about 3 minutes has been described as "tantalizingly short", and I though I have never heard that word before (looked it up in a dictionary), I know that it's true. The song isn't exactly short, actually, about the length of a typical western pop song, but you never want it to stop, you want those holy tunes to go on and on and on. 

Many of Rahman's best songs commence in a quite "strange" sounding way, which in my eyes is a clever step, as the brilliancy of the song shows off even more in that contrast. A rough voice sings "Aankhon mein jaan... oooo..." ("In his eyes his beloved", I believe), quickly followed by some "jungle tunes", as I call them - evoking pictures of a jungle and its strange residents in your mind. 

And now comes my favorite, favorite part... I am mad about this part. After I went crazy about this song, I kept hearing this part all the time, wherever I went, just - always. It doesn't even have any lyrics. Basically, and objectively, it's Rahman (the God!), singing "e-e-e-o, e-e-e-o-o, o-o-o-o-o...". Twice... oh, I must keep listening to it! It is... pure, pure magic, pure inspiration - pure music.

Then it's over, and the song begins for sure.

This is probably the addictive part for most of the people who love this song, and it is addictive, though not as much as my favorite part. Eh bien, qu'est-ce que c'est? Le refrain, évidemment. Basically consisting of... one word. A name. Ah, names with power - one word, one name is enough to awaken your senses... Better than "Main Hoon Don", way better, much more simple, just "Beera". 

"Beera ke das maathe, Beera ke sau naam,

chede jo Beera ko... dhamadhamdhamdham"

("Beera has ten heads, a hundred names - if someone taunts at Beera... dhamadhamdhamdham!")

He doesn't even have the coolest name on earth, he is also a God (like Rahman), immortal probably - and don't'u dare touch'm.  Ah, let's praise him even more by singing his name. (Vijay Prakash is a rrrrockstar, by the way).

I really like how they bring in the "jungle tunes" as the song goes by. You feel like you're standing in the middle of a jungle, and all those natives are dancing around you singing weird songs and playing weird instruments. In the middle of them Vijay Prakash, praising "Beera", the man who kidnapped you. Sorry, not the man - the God, who is frightening, brutal and above all that, well, plain awesome.

"Arey Beera udhti aandhi, Beera ek toofan,

saans mein uble agni - Beera jalti jaan, jaalti jaan..."

("Beera is a rising storm, Beera is a tornado, in his breath the fire is burning - Beera burning lives...")

I told you, he's awesome. I mean, he's kind of a human dragon, too, as we just found out. "Beera burning lives, burning lives, burning lives... Beera...".

"Janam naa poocho, jaat naa poocho,

poocho jo pehchan - Beera ka abhimaan hai, abhimaan hai..."

("Don't ask about his birth, don't ask about his caste, 'cause if you do ask, you'll realize - Beera's got ego...")

Maybe he doesn't wear suits, isn't well-groomed and he doesn't have a smoky voice - but Beera is a strict business person. He doesn't talk privacy with anyone, he's the Godfather of the jungle... 

I actually also love those verses... This song is just rock around the... ah, not clock... jungle. I think we should invent a new genre, "Jungle Rock". I mean, what else would "Beera Beera" be? Okay, "Rahman", most certainly, a genre that already contains many other Rahman songs unable to be put into the cupboard of genres... Most likely his best ones...

The rest of the song is not new in terms of lyrics. There's a repetition of the first verse and a lot of singing "Beera". Addictive, by the way. 

And then, it's over. It's just over. And you want to cry, cry your heart out, because this wasn't supposed to end - this was heaven! Heaven!

Hm... wait a minute... I once heard of the so-called "re-play" button... 

Oh, thank God! Thank you, Rahman and Beera (well, I called them "God", so...)! Oh, there it is again...

"Aankhon mein jaan... ooo..."

And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And a...

gain.

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Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

Song of the Month (June 2011)

Almost since the very begin of this blog, I've had a Gadget called "The Month", where I choose a Song of the Month and a Movie of the Month - each month. It is always a song, and a movie, that I've listened to a lot/ seen the previous month, and that I'm just crazy about.

Because I always write at least one sentence (mostly much more) about every film I've seen in the previous month at the start of the new month (I'm not confusing anyone, am I?), I didn't find it necessary to make a whole post out of Movie of the Month. (Read about this month's movie, Devdas (2002) here).
However, Jack had the idea, that I could write about the songs I choose every month - you know, thoughts on them, and the reasons I choose them.

Why didn't I think of that? I love music, but it happens that I love a lot of things at the same time, so it's hard to write about all of those things (I even often think that I don't write enough about films).

Anyways, one post a month? I think I can handle that.

So, let me present to you, the Song of the Month, June 2011:

The Sound of Silence

by

Simon & Garfunkel (Soundtrack of "The Graduate)

There are two versions of this song, one is more calm and acoustic, while the other one has some more instruments and is a bit "louder". Both are used in the film, but the last one more frequently. 

Here's the last one I mentioned:

I can't find the acoustic version on youtube, but you can buy it or listen to it on iTunes.

Both versions are awesome, but I think that the acoustic version is just a little, tiny bit better, because it... it really comes from the heart, do you know what I mean? (Though it sounds corny, yes, I know).

And after some time, when you've listened to the song like... 10 times or more, and you look up the lyrics... you will be even more enchanted of this masterpiece, and in awe of the two musical Gods that wrote and sung this song (I'm not sure if they also composed it...), because the lyrics are so poetic and true, and... awesome. Simply awesome.

My classmates were quite annoyed by the song - it appears a lot in the film, and every time it did, you could hear sighing from every corner of the room. After we finished the film, some went like "Yeah, great movie, ya know, awesome soundtrack..." and stuff like that (I mean, they said it in a very sarcastic way), while I was still up in the air/ the movie... (Oh, I forgot that, in case you didn't know: we watched the film in English class, in school).

It has been a really long time since I've been so obsessive about a song... Of course, I often find music that I love and listen to a lot, but it's not like this most of the time... 

I'm not an expert concerning love and all that, but I think you can be truly in love with a song, maybe even more than a film...

Here are some of the songs I've been falling in love with over the past few years:

Acoustic version of "Thinking of You" that Katy Perry sang at the KISS FM Spring Live Lounge (before she became famous).

Katy Perry is one of my favorite singers, but her new album is kind of crappy. Her voice has been modified in every song, and most of the songs seem so fake, just mediocre pop-crap.

The first album is wonderful, but the very best is when she sings her old songs live...

Straight from the heart (here it is, again).

"Never Think" by Robert Pattinson (please ignore the video, just listen)

You can discuss Twilight, even I don't think they're good films, I mean... they're just candy, if you get that... You can also discuss Robert Pattinson, and I understand that a lot of people don't like him, also because they've mostly not seen more of his films, except for... Twilight.

But this song. This song is wonderful, just wonderful.

And I won't discuss that.

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Writing about music wasn't as hard as I had imagined, though I haven't really written that much.

So, what do you think - do you like this new feature? Would you like me to write more about the songs, or are there any other improvements you can think of? I'd like to hear all of your thoughts.

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.