A Tamil Tiger song in BBC's all time Top Ten

A hit Tamil Tiger patriotic song is in the BBC's list of Top Ten songs of all time. This was revealed this week in a news item in Free Press Lanka (www.freepresslanka.us)

The all time Top Ten is led by an Irish rebel ballad ('A nation once again') . At number 2 is an Indian patriotic song, and next is the pop national anthem of Pakistan Dil Dil Pakistan. The Tamil Tiger tune 'about the oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka' comes in at number 4 (….the song is ''Poovum Nadakkuthu Pinchum Nadakkuthu'' [The flower walks…the bud also walks] by Thirumalai Chandran.) The writer at one point in the article says "don't sing the song if you've got a big Sinhalese crowd in the house tonight. You'll be lucky to get out alive''.

Obviously he doesn't know that many Sinhalese wouldn't recognise the song given the fact that they do not usually understand much Tamil. Also, he doesn't know that Sinhalese are ready to party most of the time, no matter what the song is -- and even if it is 'Sinhalaya modaya.''

Anyhow all that is trivia and is beside the point. The Beatles or Elvis are not in the all time Top Ten, because their votes got split "among a dozen hits all about equally popular.'' But, BBC swears that there were no campaigns 'by wily nationalist bog trotters'' to have Indian patriotic songs and Tamil Tiger numbers among the all time Top Ten.

Oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka may be a state of mind, but all this (above) shows that if it is a state of mind, it is a heady state of mind. Heady and well articulated.

It is also being articulated at all levels, and the fact that the Sri Lankan ambassador in England Faiz Musthapa has made an official complaint to the British government about the screening of the movie "In the name of Buddha'' says a good deal about how upset the Sri Lankan authorities are about the fact that the hoary story about Tamil oppression in Sri Lanka is on the resurgent.

But the fact that these Tamil movies and songs are creating waves globally, also makes it clear how fast 'states of mind' can be created. The Tamil Tigers know for instance the premium value that can be placed on imagery.

The Tigers showed LTTE attacks on Sri Lankan army installations, on a large screen at the Trincomalee trade fair which got underway with government sponsorship! The state's organisers were probably happy that they didn't insist that ''Pooyum Nadakkuthu Pinchum Nadakkuthu'' was sung at the opening ceremony.

But the existence of songs such as Pooyum Nandakuthu cannot be wished away, even though perhaps a study can be undertaken to determine their genesis and their origins. Most of this patriotic fervour for the Tamil nationalist cause was in fact nurtured in the Tamil dispora, which explains why there is a Tamil hit that is making it big in the global village.

One thing that the Sri Lankan identity can do to damage itself is perhaps to go on denial about the existence of these Tamil songs and other such cultural shibboleths. The Rajesh Touchriver film "In the name of Buddha' may be another matter. It is a commercial venture, and it may have been thrust on the world stage by those who are making a calculated attempt to angle the discourse about Sri Lanka in a light not favourable to the Sri Lankan authorities (….and the so called Sri Lankan identity.)

But undeniably there has been glut of Tamil counter culture that has been aimed against 'state oppression'' and there is no doubt that part of it has been actively encouraged by the Tamil Tigers, but why wouldn't they do that?

This was clear at the recent conference held at Veerasingham Hall which was a marathon celebration of this Tamil counter culture. I vividly remember one speaker recalling a Tamil poem which asked 'would you Tamil youth slouch and stand idly by with your hands behind your backs after you have seen the Jaffna library being burned down?"

Obviously there was a cultural backlash that went against certain flashpoints of infamy such as the torching of the Jaffna library. The Jaffna library incident may not be representative of the general attitude of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese towards the Tamils. In fact it definitely does not reflect Sinhalese attitudes towards Tamils -- or for that matter the general attitude of Sinhala-led governments towards the Tamil polity.

But any counter culture is nourished by symbolism, and there is symbolism suffused in acts of desecration against the Tamil identity, such as the torching of the Jaffna library, even though these may not be typical of Sinhalese behaviour towards the Tamil minority. Also, the torching of the Jaffna library should not necessarily invite a campaign of 'genocide' against the Sinhala people characterised by large scale bombing of civilian targets in Colombo.

Therefore, while there is no justification for the LTTE excesses (as there is no justification for acts such as the torching of the Jaffna library) there was an emotional backlash against certain affronts to the Tamil identity, and songs such as the one that hit the BBC all time Top Ten are probably products of this backlash - even though admittedly I have not studied the exact genesis of this song to be definitive on this.

Therefore, there is no need for some Sinhala genius to start giving a spin on this. There are songs about Sinhala oppression as much as there are songs about capitalist oppression intertwined within the weave of the Sinhala cultural fabric, such as, say for instance, "Sadukin Pelenawun'' which has verses to the effect "dhanapathin adipahin sungkaraw.'' (Annihilate all capitalists….) That does not mean that normal people in Sinhala society went into paroxysms of rage over those who sang these songs in the old left -- in fact sometimes, they propelled them into power. Then, they watched them all make a hash of it -- even though that's incidental. The writer who reveals the Tiger hit in BBC Top Ten says: "But the BBC poll goes further than mere multicultural isolationism, featuring as it does not just songs which appeal to very narrow ethnic groups but songs which are positively offensive to large numbers of other ethnic groups. Don't open with ''A Nation Once Again'' in an East Belfast pub, or with ''Dil Dil Pakistan'' in India, or with ''Pooyum Nadakkuthu Pinchum Nadakkuthu'' if you've got a big Sinhalese crowd in the house tonight. You'll be lucky to get out alive.'' He is exaggerating. They have been singing Sinhalaya modaya (the Sinhales is a simpleton?) when the house was full with Sinhalese, and not a cat has been bothered. Besides, why make a song and a dance about a song?

Back to Top

Back to Columns

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Webmaster