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Saturday, June 09, 2007

NAANA NEEYA Soundtrack Album Launching Ceremony

'Fine Dining' shoot postponed to tomorrow, so I went to the Naana Neeya soundtrack album launching ceremony at Mid Valley with my dad today instead. Naana Neeya is a Malaysian Tamil-language comedy produced and directed by vocalist Dharmavathi.


I'm not sure what the movie is going to be like, but after listening to its soundtrack earlier this morning, I was very intrigued. The album is, as described by the press release, is 'a fusion of Indian and Western music such as Alternative, Ballad, Funk, Techno, Hip-hop and R & B', songs are also sang in Tamil, English and Malay.

The soundtrack album actually has the title track, Naana Neeya in 3 different languages, and it comes with the music video of the title track and also a trailer of the movie.

Artists of this album include Vizz Da Blizz, a 12 year old boy who sang 4 out of 8 songs, G-tha, a 15 year old teenage girl, MC LOGA from the group Hyperkinetix (he does most of the rapping) and DJ Hazel. There's also one song by Phat Babu and two songs by producer director Dharmavathi herself (I think her YENNENGAL NEEYA might be my favourite song of the album).

The ceremony, held at Mid Valley, had some song performances from the aforementioned artists.

MC Loga and Vizz Da Blizz performing NAANA NEEYA
MC Loga and Vizz Da Blizz performing NAANA NEEYA

MC Loga and G-Tha performing UNNE NENAICHE
MC Loga and G-Tha performing UNNE NENAICHE


And then, the actual album launching ceremony...

The album launch

See the only Chinese guy on the stage? That's my dad, with the other sponsors and artists of the album.

My dad and other sponsors with the Naana Neeya artistes


I shot some videos of their performances, but realized that resolution and sound quality of videos shot with my mobile phone ain't that good (like DUH!).

So here's a music video of NAANA NEEYA instead:

The truth is, I'm not very exposed to the Malaysian Indian filmmaking or music industry, but based on their press release, they do face problems similar to us Chinese. The masses are more accepting towards the works of foreign countries than their own, so the biggest competition of these Indian musicians and filmmakers in Malaysia are, ironically, from India. Just like how the majority of people would choose to watch Hong Kong films and listen to Taiwanese singers than local ones. I quote what Marcel Proust wrote to Mme. Strauss:
"People of the world are so imbued with their own stupidity that they can never believe that one of their own has talent. They appreciate only people of letters who are not of their world."
Pretty harsh, but not without reason. What Proust said can also apply to musicians and filmmakers. Just like how Justin is more in love with the literary works of other countries BUT his own, I am also, unfortunately, more receptive towards the films of other countries. Why? Because the creative works of our own countries reflect what we see everyday, hence anything from another country with a much different culture will be a breathe of fresh air, or a great chance for escapism. It's just human nature. But the album's pretty good, definitely not something I've expected from a local Tamil album. :) The official Naana Neeya website is here.