On Sunday evening, composer Sam CS released a single ‘Vaa Thamizha’ seeking to spread hope and positivity to the people of Tamil Nadu in these testing times while also saluting our frontline workers. Presented by the Times of India in association with several groups like Phoenix Market City, Lalitha Jewellery, Freshworks, Medimix, and Medi Sales India Pvt Ltd, the song is the latest initiative from the Times Group.
The track has lyrics penned by lyricist Yugabharathi and comprises the voices of several top singers including Srinivas, Unni Krishnan, Karthik, Shweta Mohan, Haricharan, Shakthisree Gopalan, Sathyaprakash, Naresh Iyer, Tippu, Sunitha Sarathy, Harini, Srilekha Parthasarathy, Mukesh, Diwakar, NSK Ramya, and Soundarya Nandakumar. The keys and strings arrangement has been done by Sachin Lal with Keba Jeremiah on the guitar (Electric, Acoustic, and Bass), Navin Iyer on the flute, Rajesh Vaidhya on the veena, and Balaji, solo on the violin.
MS Bharani has helmed the project, with R Sridharan, D Srinivasan, and B Jyothi on camera, A Aloysious Rabeen handling the drone camera, and J Srinivasan and Chintaps on DI (Digital Intermediate) and editing.
https://t.co/MKMht8rJE5#வாதமிழா #vaathamizha …!
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Composed an Independent song for @timesofindia for the pandemic happening now. We will all come out of this stronger. #vaathamizhasamcs #samcs #covid19 #covidsong @chennaitimestoi @timesnow @timesmusichub
— 𝐒𝐀𝐌 𝐂 𝐒 (@SamCSmusic) July 5, 2020
The song addressed to every Tamizhan out in the world, asks them to not lose hope and stand together to overcome this crisis with visuals of empty roads, the Marina beach, landscapes, birds, traditional art forms, localites, and our frontline warriors. While the song has been released during the COVID19 time, no words associated with the virus have found a place in the song.
Speaking of this, Sam CS says, “When Times of India approached me to compose a song for them, I was very keen on not using the word corona or anything relating to it and I made sure Yuga Bharathi did the same. I also wanted to personally connect to the song and that’s why I named it ‘Vaa Thamizha’ instead of the original ‘Vaa Manidha’.”
He adds, “Many people would question as to why we chose to compose a song in such a serious situation given the number of other things we could do. But I personally feel that music has the capability to set everything alright especially in difficult situations. Spreading positivity and happiness in these unprecedented times is necessary and is bound to help us emerge larger and stronger than before in my opinion.”
“Yugabharathi sir will not just provide you with a set of ‘Pallavis’ and two ‘Charanams’ when you ask him to pen a song for you. He’ll give you all that he can and ask you to pick the best of the lot. And the fact that all of it fits perfectly makes the screening process extremely difficult. Nevertheless, we managed to pick the best of the best for the song,” says Sam.
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Lyricist Yugabharathi, who has associated with Sam CS previously a number of times, has reportedly penned the lyrics for this one under eight minutes. “Ilayaraja sir once told me when I hit a stall writing lyrics that one should never put too much thought into lyrics and instead write down whatever comes to the mind. He said, ‘Words aren’t knowledge, they’re emotions’ and that is something that has stuck with me till now. Likewise, I got this done under eight minutes and it worked out for the entire team.”
He adds, “Though written in a short span of time, I was very cautious and choosy with the lyrics. I have written several Tamil film songs in colloquial Tamil, but I refrained from doing so for this one because it demanded a lot of emotion.”
“I definitely have to credit Sam for his wonderful composition and the singers for adding so much value to my lyrics. I’m glad that Sam decided to compose this song and thankful that he gave me the opportunity to work on it too. I have already worked with him previously on several songs, but this particular one has increased the amount of respect I hold for him,” says Yuga.
Watch ‘Vaa Thamizha’ here.