ABBA & BoneyM

There are 7 team members in my team room who were born in India, excluding me (the oldest).

I was mildly shaking my head last afternoon to an ABBA number playing on headphones and made an exciting remark about ABBA.

Well, all of them asked "ABBA who"?

I got shocked - to learn that NONE of them had ever heard about ABBA! (One guy from MH remarked "it is possibly how muslims call their dads" )

I suddenly felt old. (None of them knew of BoneyM either. All from late 20's to late 30's age group).

In any case, it gave me a push to open this thread to collect all my ABBA / BoneyM favourites.

Wherever I am aware, I would also indulge in documenting which of them made it to IFM songs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABBA

ABBA have sold over 380 million albums and singles worldwide, which makes them one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and the second best selling music group of all time. ABBA was the first group to come from a non-English-speaking country that enjoyed consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.

The song that made into every country's #1 spot will be featured here as our thread's #1, The Dancing Queen:

Very, very, very popular song worldwide (look at the number of youtube hits) !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s

That's very strange, especially if they are from your age group.  I can imagine 80s or rather 90s kids being more into Bon Jovi/Madonna/Michael Jackson but even so, ABBA especially are popular across the board in India.  By the by, I would like your views on just how popular is Boney M in USA, especially among native Americans.  I don't think Boney M matched ABBA's popularity worldwide in their heyday but somehow they got very popular in India.  Most people connect them in the same sentence, as you did.  But in fact they are chronologically quite a few years apart.

Love ABBA's last album Visitors.  Finally, too late, they got down to just writing songs and not trying to make them danceable so that they would be hits.  Of course, the album was one of their least commercially successful but who cares.  The pain over their separation also comes through in the music on this album.

This is a great track that was left out of the original Visitors album (is included as a bonus track in CD issues these days):




And Visitors title track is also awesome, almost (only almost) like something Gong or Hawkwind might have dreamed up:

crimson king wrote:That's very strange, especially if they are from your age group.  

All are younger by at least 10 years

That's why

However, the other way around is different - I can match them in MOST topics of their interest
(Including recent child-rearing, as I have an 8 yr old  )

Well, manasukku vayasE kidaiyAdhu

BTW, thank you CK for the visitors songs! Great ones without question!!

Here's another youtube of Dancing Queen, with a younger ABBA (and lyrics) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N1DdwrsdTo

An ABBA all time favorite. Hall of famer too, this one:

Drunkenmunk wrote:An ABBA all time favorite. Hall of famer too, this one:

Yes, sweet song this chiquitita

Now, at this moment, I need to once again quote Bharathiyar in our forum - like I did in the SPB-IR thread

சென்றிடுவீர் எட்டுத்திக்கும்
கலைச்செல்வங்கள் யாவும் கொணர்ந்திங்குச் சேர்ப்பீர்

Shankar-Ganesh were among those who took this command very seriously and didn't waste any opportunity to obey Bharathi

Look at what they've done to chiquitita :
http://inbaminge.com/t/n/Nirantharam/
(You need to pick the song "en kAdhal vAzhkkaiyilE" in the player...I could not easily find this song on the web. If there're other links, please post)

Sung by MV-SPS, this song must have been S-G's answer to the IR juggernaut in the early 80's

Radio  days.... Village il irundhalum.  enga oor Radio vil..  Bangalore station varum......

adhil.. madhyanam....... 12.30 to 2 mani...... English paatu varum.. adhan piragu. kannada paatu varum.......

indha kannada paatu.. sila paatu romba pidiikum.. ipodhu therigiradhu.. adhu ellam IR irundhu irukar endru........

about ABBA  ---  apodhu kaetadhu ellam..........

crimson king wrote: By the by, I would like your views on just how popular is Boney M in USA, especially among native Americans

I believe by "native Americans" you do not mean the true natives (also known as "Indians" here)

I take it as "non-Asians" / "non-Indians"

Well, from my experience with 100's of such people (both during the 1995-96 trip and the current stay from 2003 onwards), I can confidently say they have negligible awareness of such band.

I'm talking about primarily caucasians & African Americans and they always say "BoneyM who?".

When I try to "sing" to them 'daddy cool' /'sunny' / 'rasputin', they typically find them funny

Once or twice I've heard someone say "that sounds somewhat familiar / sounds like something I've heard" for "hooray hooray it's a holi-holiday' but nothing more.

So, it's safe to assume that the jamaican-singers-formed-into-a-band-by-germans-called-BoneyM is practically unknown in USA

app_engine wrote:

crimson king wrote: By the by, I would like your views on just how popular is Boney M in USA, especially among native Americans

I beleive by "native Americans" you do not mean the true natives (also known as "Indians" here)

I take it as "non-Asians" / "non-Indians"

Well, from my experience with 100's of such people (both during the 1995-96 trip and the current stay from 2003 onwards), I can confidently say they have negligible awareness of such band.

I'm talking about primarily caucasians & African Americans and they always say "BoneyM who?".

When I try to "sing" to them 'daddy cool' /'sunny' / 'rasputin', they typically find them funny

Once or twice I've heard someone say "that sounds somewhat familiar / sounds like something I've heard" for "hooray hooray it's a holi-holiday' but nothing more.

So, it's safe to assume that the jamaican-singers-formed-into-a-band-by-germans-called-BoneyM is practically unknown in USA

Yup, indeed talking about Caucasians and blacks there.  And what you said seems to confirm what I believed.  Because my cousin sis too has never really mentioned Boney M though she likes ABBA.  From that general period, she also likes stuff like BeeGees, Eagles, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross but never Boney M.

Drunkenmunk wrote:An ABBA all time favorite. Hall of famer too, this one:

Yeah, love this one too.  Great vocal harmonies as usual.

app_engine wrote:

Drunkenmunk wrote:An ABBA all time favorite. Hall of famer too, this one:

Yes, sweet song this chiquitita

Now, at this moment, I need to once again quote Bharathiyar in our forum - like I did in the SPB-IR thread

சென்றிடுவீர் எட்டுத்திக்கும்
கலைச்செல்வங்கள் யாவும் கொணர்ந்திங்குச் சேர்ப்பீர்

Shankar-Ganesh were among those who took this command very seriously and didn't waste any opportunity to obey Bharathi

Look at what they've done to chiquitita :
http://inbaminge.com/t/n/Nirantharam/
(You need to pick the song "en kAdhal vAzhkkaiyilE" in the player...I could not easily find this song on the web. If there're other links, please post)

Sung by MV-SPS, this song must have been S-G's answer to the IR juggernaut in the early 80's

Neat!

app_engine wrote:

Drunkenmunk wrote:An ABBA all time favorite. Hall of famer too, this one:

Yes, sweet song this chiquitita

Now, at this moment, I need to once again quote Bharathiyar in our forum - like I did in the SPB-IR thread

சென்றிடுவீர் எட்டுத்திக்கும்
கலைச்செல்வங்கள் யாவும் கொணர்ந்திங்குச் சேர்ப்பீர்

Shankar-Ganesh were among those who took this command very seriously and didn't waste any opportunity to obey Bharathi

Look at what they've done to chiquitita :
http://inbaminge.com/t/n/Nirantharam/
(You need to pick the song "en kAdhal vAzhkkaiyilE" in the player...I could not easily find this song on the web. If there're other links, please post)

Sung by MV-SPS, this song must have been S-G's answer to the IR juggernaut in the early 80's

Yeah neatly done though it is very evident!

Now, one of the most popular numbers by Boney M - Rasputin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvDMlk3kSYg



This one is supposedly from the band's myspace page and has millions of hits, understandably!

That our S-G duo brought this kalaichchelvam to TFM is well-known to many of us. For the sake of documentation, let me get the link of that "ANi vEr" song here (nAn dhAnE oru pudhukkavidhai):

The video here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQzx0MS-4Pg


For a slightly better version of audio, follow this link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvkW-PGBefE

Now, here's the fun part (and a question)...

Please check out this inbaminge link that hosts the "ANi vEr" film songs:
http://inbaminge.com/t/a/Aaniver/



Those fellows have also included Boney M's rasputin as part of the ANi vEr album

Is it the kuRumbu of that site (which is not known for kuRumbu) or did they really find the western song on the ANi vEr disk / cassette?

Another extremely popular song by ABBA - mAmA miA

Interestingly, some from even my team room (the group that denied any knowledge of ABBA) had heard this song

I've told the MH guy that he would have also heard its indhi version in HKKN

Well, here's the terrific ABBA number (as in the case of others, big youtube hit count):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unfzfe8f9NI



Now, time to showcase the three IFM versions of this song that I'm aware of...

R D Burman's 'mil gayA - terE liyE' song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvw795FvchM

There was none who lived in late 70's could have missed this song...not even those living in TN


While ninaiththAlE inikkum is one of MSV's career-best albums and a huge success during the thick of the IR-era of TFM, the "theme song" was borrowed from ABBA

There are two versions of mAmA miA in NN - sugam as well sOgam

The happy version (vAnilE) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLwfR0yeI6w

The pathos version (sayanOrA):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htpIjzJAq8g

If someone has the links for youtubes with movie visuals, please post here
(The above links are "audio-only" kinds)

BIAS effectu :

Please bear with me for a few more posts before I bring in the few IR-inspirations

Another very popular ABBA number "honey honey"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg7ZsOFSV7c


As in the case of others, this too has millions of hits - understandably.

There was a 1979 Thamizh movie called "neechchal kuLam" with Suman as hero. That movie had a (possibly) "one movie only" kind of MD, Dharapuram Sundarrajan, with a couple of songs frequently getting played on radio, one being the following number :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeQMB0_wH0s


It is interesting to see that INRECO has its own youtube channel. (That hosts this "audio-only-youtube" sung by PS & Saibaba. Saibaba was the "english-song-specialist" of 70's).

Enjoy!

ok, time to get more ABBA Boney M favourites (and point out the mild inspirations by IR, IMO)...

'gimme gimme a man after midnight' was personally the first ABBA song I heard and loved! Those days I didn't clearly identify the words (and hence didn't understand the lyrics at all) but got so much hooked to the prelude!

The prelude got so much etched into my mind that the first time I heard the "teaser for NEPV" with ennOdu vA vA, that mild resemblance was the first thing that came to my mind. (Of course I posted about it on the hub and at least one person agreed)...

Here's the ABBA song :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6-M63HVR2g


I guess there's no need to post a link for ennOdu vA vA enRu solla mAttEn...just the few seconds prelude connection

^^^ Nice one.  Never made that connection. It's kind of faint and more due to the selection of instrument rather than the notes but it is there to some extent.  The Ennodu Vaa Vaa prelude is much more 'common', much more expected in a Western context.  Gimme gimme is a little more overtly classical.

Another VERY BRIEF resemblance with an IR song, that had been blown out of proportion, is from this superhit ABBA song, Money Money Money :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0


Of course, a sweet song! My favourite moment is the big hit on the drums just prior to "money money money" - WOW - appadiyE nenjil blAst seyyum feeling

The # of hits and the comments on that youtube easily showcase how popular this song is worldwide - even decades after its arrival.

Well, now please check out the thaippongal song and quantify for yourselves the amount of similarity that IR song has with this ABBA number:

kaN malargaLin azhaippidhazh (thaippongal)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XaMf9Hze_Q

Love Money Money Money, appji.    There is some similarity right where the verse begins in both cases, I would say the first line is near identical.  Thereafter the direction is completely different.  It may be more a case of subconscious inspiration.  Also, it is not necessary IR would have had Money in mind when he composed that song.  That kind of motif is for sure derived from classical music and all pre-1920s classical music was out of copyright at that time (hence up for grabs).  I cannot pinpoint any specific classical composition but I just know it when I hear it and ABBA did derive a lot from classical music.  As Good As New chorus is clearly derived from Beethoven, some phrase in the Seventh Symphony I think.  Could be Mozart too, as Beethoven initially imitated Mozart and there is some influence of Mozart in his work.

An interesting experience last weekend at the Men's wearhouse store of Westport, CT

We finished up selecting clothes for a mAppiLLai for his forthcoming wedding (marrying my cousin's daughter), and were about to leave when 'mAmA miA' started playing on the store speakers

While that was thrilling in itself, I got pleasantly surprised by my 8 yr old pointing out "dAddee, unga pAttu"

I don't get to play ABBA songs that often on car or home, especially with family around...she possibly heard a couple of such songs (dancing queen, mAmA miA) for a max of 10 times in her whole life  

That she still managed to catch it in a few seconds of "store-cast" showed its sensational power! 



Well, I was proud to be associated with that number as "my song"

Time for the Boney M song that has resemblance to an IR song's pallavi...dArling dArling dArling of Priya, the first "stereo" recorded album in TFM

Sunny of Boney M can be seen here (very popular and very nice song IMO):


Unfortunately, there are many versions of this song on youtube and none seems to have the overwhelming # of hits like the other songs we've seen on this thread so far. Still, it's a considerable number.

On one of the youtubes, I see an American exclaiming about his/her being aware of this group

Now, for those who want to compare the IR song, here is a MP3 link (with stereo sound):
http://download.tamiltunes.com/songs/__P_T_By_Movies/Priya/Darling%20Darling%20-%20TamilWire.com.mp3

All the youtubes of the song have only mono audio - one sample :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWLSrbjnQ6E

app_engine wrote:

All the youtubes of the song have only mono audio - one sample :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWLSrbjnQ6E

adheppadi namma veettu tea nalla illaingalaam?

My upload less than 3 months back: