Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

When campaign strikes a chord

Staff Reporter

Musician Nellai Abu Backer performing at an MDMK public meeting near Madurai. — Photo: G. Moorthy

MADURAI : "Pambaram... pambaram... pambaram... " may sound like the hilarious lyric of a foot-tapping number in a Tamil movie.

But it is one of the hundreds of songs composed for the Assembly election campaign in the State.

`Pambaram' in Tamil denotes a spinning top, the election symbol of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK). Similar songs have been composed by almost all parties and are widely played during campaign.

In-house talent

With the Election Commission banning wall posters in urban centres, the parties are resorting to musical `bash' to get their message across to the electorate. Their popular in-house singers toiled for days, penning the lyrics, scoring the music and, finally, recording the song.

While the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is banking on celebrity singer Nagoor Hanifa, the MDMK boasts of Nellai Abu Backer, Ganesh-Gopu brothers and others. For the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the evergreen movie hits of its founder and former Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran come in handy for campaign. Unlike the Dravidian parties, the Left parties rely on folk artists.

"There is an overwhelming response at the concerts and I collect not less than Rs.2,000 from each platform," says Nellai Abu Backer. He has composed 12 new songs at a cost of Rs.40,000, all sponsored by party leaders. Compact discs and cassettes of the songs have been released too.

However, performing live at political concerts is tough. The singers have to strike a balance between songs praising their party supremo vis-à-vis the alliance party leader. Otherwise, many a time, the musicians end up facing the music!

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