The Bulla mystery
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Rabbi Shergil's Bulla Ki Jaana Mein Kaun is apparently the desi mantra these days. While I don't understand what the song actually means, and I don't care, the first line interpreted itself to my retarded poetic sense as Yo Bulla dude, listen up yo. This might sound stupid, er...but I really have no frickin' clue who I might be *hic*. An useful mantra, if you really think about it. Imagine a scene at the coffeeshop where a frustrated girlfriend poses the mind-bender,"So, who ARE you, Rahul? Kaun Ho Tum?". And you respond. heh-heh. Main Kaun Hoon? Hum Aapke Hain Kaun? Sholay sahin pikchar tha na? But I digress.Hold on, while I reach for my guitar. What I mean to say is this. Bulla Ki Jaana Main Kaaaaaaunnn".
The song is infectious though. Atleast the first 3 times you listen to it. An average song, at best. But dost being infectious a good song make, me lord? Apparently, yes. And in this age of bad Bollywood music and talentless hacks churning out remixes by the dozen, a music-starved audience lapped it up. So while I stand here on the outside, trying to rationalize this phenomenon, I'm still mostly surprised that this Sardar has enchanted an entire nation with his deep Sufi shit. Oh yeah, and a pinch of good music.
Manoj :: 1/30/2005 01:43:00 PM
5 Comments:
Got here from a link on the I2FS website. While I'll agree that it's the lack of good music that's allowed Rabbi to get where he's gotten, his song is no mean achievement. I have a long post on Bulla on my blog where I try to answer the same question.
Posted by Nakul
Damn man, your post was like homework! :) But Nakul, I don't get it. You methodically analysed the phenomenon to conclude that there is something intangible about Rabbi's song that makes it "no mean achievement"? It's exactly THAT I don't get & cannot relate to. Delusions of intellectual grandeur or not, you've atleast established that you do enjoy Sufiana, which is why you so easily generalised that "We love our Sufis". And maybe that explains your unexplained affection for the song. Yet there are some like me, the intentionally ignorant, who don't give a damn about what he is singing about. Rather, it's just about the music for me. Having grown up on Ilaiyaraja & Rahman, any fascination I've had for a song could probably be traced to a simple string interlude or an exquisite flute/veena arrangement that left me speechless.
Having said that, I realize that one could defend their own Bulla fascination by pointing out my "shallow" reasoning. But atleast, I have a reason. What do they have? That it's about the profound Sufiana? I don't believe for a second that the majority know even a fraction of what you wrote about. Is it the music then? Nah...and we both agreed on that. So what is it then? Just the fact that it's hip? If so, then I'll just roll my eyes again and go to sleep.
'We love our sufis' was sarcastic: way too many of us drool over them without the slightest idea of what they're talking about. Sufiana the Full Version is difficult, and, I'm guessing, not particularly attractive. Which is where the hipness quotient of sufi-lite becomes important. That's my thesis, in fact. Bulla is successful for the following reason: it peddles (always cool) existential angst in palatable doses. Hip enough for the hip, spiritual enough for the shallowly-religious and infectious enough for everyone else. Add to that a moderately compelling video (where did all the good ones go, anyway?) and Rabbi's undeniably powerful voice. Everything else becomes irrelevant when the alternative's the 597th remix of Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar.
I'll confess I'm a music hater by your definition -- I get unhealthy amounts of pleasure revealing obscure bits of trivia about pieces of music other people are passionate about and then stating that I hate music. I'm more or a lyrics person myself; could never get jazz or those fifteen-minute guitar solos unless there are irresistible historical/social/cultural reasons they're attractive. Otherwise it's eye-rolling all the way. I play violin myself but listen to records only in search of something to rip off. So except for very, very rare cases -- yes, the rare Rahman interlude (the violins in Kannamoochchi enada and Chitra's variation on the pallavi after the first antara, or the line starting 'Vaanaveedhiyil' in Ilaiya Nila Pozhigiradhe, incomparably superior to the antaras of the Kalyanji-Anandji version), the cool IR riff, but the only instrumental music I can take in large doses is of the Kenny G Muzak variety for the same reasons I love Nazia. The worldwide puke is completely lost on me, rest assured. Vairamuthu, Gulzar et al remain a significant draw for much Rahman (and most other) music for me.
"existential angst in palatable doses. spiritual enough for the shallowly-religious"
Sorry your sarcasm was lost on me, but I think the reasons quoted above only accounts for but a small percentage of the Bulla die-hards.
Okay, so I'd be a "lowly insect" in the "Philosophical ecosystem", if defined by the good folks at TTLB, which is why existential angst was not one of my theories. But that only accounts for the 1000-odd people in India who REALLY know what it is. And please, do not give me a crash course on the same. You obviously think it's delish, while I have trouble pronouncing the word and don't mind remaining in this state of existential huh? wha...?.
Shallowly religious sounds about right. To think there might be people who'd speak of this song in hushed tones about how they closed their eyes for a second, and got a sneak peak of heaven, almost gives me an aneurysm.
"Hip enough for the hip and infectious enough for everyone else."
I think there might be a gray area between these two classifications. The hipsters, in their foolishness, might only like the song because it's infectious but might stake claim to 'Sufi-Full' degrees just because they know the words to every song on the Bulla album. And I wish they all got to read your mini-thesis, if not for your coinage of Sufi-lite. Fuck, even I thought I was hip for a second saying that aloud. See, it even evoked the F-bomb. So for the love of Bulla, patent the word if you will, but in your noble intention to educate, don't ever let it loose on the hipsters and make me wanna hate it later.
So yeah, that leaves us again with the rest, the "chunk" listeners, who impulsively called it great while the phrase they were really looking for was flavor of the month. Alright, ok. Six months.
As for the rest of your comment, I'll politely hold in my puke and just say, you don't know what you're missing out on, Nakul. And I'm sure the feeling is mutual.
PS: Quick reco though. If you like Vairamuthu (why?), you'll adore Kannadasan. Even I've been amazed on occasion by his words.
Actually, there should be a moratorium on the suffixing of -lite to anything. Way too much of it happening. I for one vow not to do so ever again. As far as 'existential angst' is concerned, you don't know need to know what it is to fake it hiply. The hipsters have taken the feeling over, so 'You know, philosophy crap' is now an officially hip answer to 'So what do you read'-type questions. I'd say we're in agreement on everything else (though I'm going to go and hazard the song's remaining in favour for another year at least, until all the awards ceremonies and stage shows are done).
On Vairamuthu: I must first admit that my Tamil is just about passable (fucking Hindi-imperialist Kendriya Vidyalaya education...) as opposed to VHP-standard Hindi, and my education into the wonders of IR, MSV, etc. is in a very preliminary stage, as opposed to a fairly comprehensive knowledge of their Bollywood equivalents. I've loved whatever I've heard, but since much of my music-listening is from a disgusting need for eclecticism (pathetic, but there are only a couple of things I _really_ enjoy and none of them I would actually admit to: except poetry, that I actually do enjoy). Vairamuthu tops my preference charts because I'm reaching a stage (sudden profusion of new Tamil-speaking friends) where his lyrics actually make sense (why Vairamutu? tragically sentimental soul that I am, (e.g.)'kanneeru thidukindrade' does things to me every time). Kannadasan (apart from Puthu Pudhu Bhoomi Vendum) remains uncharted territory. Much gratitude for reco.
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