Asia Classics: Dance Raja Dance: The South Indian Film Music of Vijaya Anand

Jaya Anand VI | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 28, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002LSX
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #412,287 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Dancing Is Beautiful

2. I Am the Emperor

3. Desire Soars up High

4. Loving Hearts

5. Once You Were Mine

6. Love Is Everywhere

7. When I Say Come

8. I Said I Love You

9. Dheem Thana Thana Nana

10. Lover You Speak Beautiful Words

11. The Drink That Has Gone Up

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER pop culture?, May 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Asia Classics: Dance Raja Dance: The South Indian Film Music of Vijaya Anand (Audio CD)

This CD is a compilation of Indian film music that uses modern synth sounds and strong male and female vocals to create a fast-paced, enjoyable, and often bizarre musical experience. Raga rhythms and Hindu lyrics clash against rock'n'roll and soundtrack sensibilities. This music is VERY popular in India, and it's not hard to see why - despite being crafted as background for films, each song has its own distinct personality - humorous, romantic, thrilling, or just plain weird - and the producers will use absolutely ANYTHING to get the sound they think is right. This album proves that not all world music need be traditional.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars India is the film capital of the world..., March 2, 2004

By 

ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Asia Classics: Dance Raja Dance: The South Indian Film Music of Vijaya Anand (Audio CD)

This CD from David Byrne's former label is one of the best compliations of Indian Film music available. It does seem to now be in the category of "out of print" - which is too bad for Indian film music lovers. At least there are used copies still floating around. Snatch one up if you can.

The CD revolves around the music of Vijaya Anand, the "Musical Director" and composer of the music of the songs on this CD. There are a great variety of songs here, from a great variety of performers, all of them are amazing musical experiences. "Aatavu Chanda" (or "Dancing is Beautiful") is a beautiful song that will have you dancing (how about that?) with the first tones of its driving bass riff; "Naane Mabaraja" (or "I am the Emporer") includes sampled banjo, which gives the music an almost country feel that is infectious; "Nalleya Savimathe" (or "Lover You Speak Beautiful Words") is lavishly spread thick with gorgeous strings -the melody and harmonies are unforgettable.

As with most Indian Film Music, it may sound derivative to Western ears, but it really has evolved into its own musical style out of the rich mesh of style it borrows from (rock, country, Indian classical music, etc.). Also, these songs all had their genesis in a movie; all were musical numbers with accompanying dance routines and plot lines. So these songs are extracted from their original context which for most Westerners will be very difficult to reconstruct (or possibly comprehend). Still, the music stands up on its own and is enjoyable in its own right.

The CD booklet contains translations of the lyrics (though also a disclaimer that the original lyrics were translated from Kannada and Tamil into Tamil, and then presumably into English), and much information about the Indian Film scene. The back cover displays a surprising statistic: India produces at least four times the movies that Hollywood does per year (at the time of this CD the numbers were 789 to 151). Also included are amazing pictures from Indian Film posters. The context that is lost from extracting this music from the films is somewhat regained by all of the information the booklet provides.

This was one of the first CDs of Indian Film music that I came across (it was released over 10 years ago); for all I know it was the first major (or, at least, semi-major)label release of Indian Film music in the United States. For years I searched in vain for more (but this was before the internet completely removed the concept of scarcity from musical recordings). I'm happy to see that other compliations of this great music have sprung up in great numbers in this country (helped, no doubt, by the burgeoning Indian population here).

Even to this day, whenever I put this CD on, at a party or for a friend, it touches someone and they demand to know what it is so they can get a copy. People of the most diverse musical tastes seem to be drawn to this CD. So, that being the case, if it is out of print, that is doubly regrettable. I hope everyone who wanted copies found them. As for me, this CD has been in my collection since I first spotted it in 1992, and gets more than regular spins, and will likely continue to spin until it wears to dust.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little nan with your cheese?, February 17, 2005

By 

Dr. Memory (rural Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asia Classics: Dance Raja Dance: The South Indian Film Music of Vijaya Anand (Audio CD)

Pretty good vocals, but it features some of the cheesiest synthesizer noise this side of...well, nothing. It's the cheesiest. If you can hear past that, you'll be fine. But if you need your music to sound like it cost more than 400 bucks to produce, you might move on.