Yathramozhi Lyrics

I lost my best friend while I was doing my 1st PDC. (11th grade equivalent). This was a song that was inspired (?) by that incident. In reality the song is not so morbid. When I wrote it I wanted to make it very generic. Something that any Malayalee feels when someone close to them leaves. For myself, I've had my share of departures.. My father worked in the gulf for about 15 years. I saw him once a year and the saddest days of my life was saying good bye to him. Then I went to TKM college of engineering in Kollam. It was only one-night-in-the-train away but saying bye to mom was not easy. And then I went to Bangalore to work, spent a year in Madras and finally made the voyage to USA. I've lost count of the goodbyes I had to do. Parents, brother, best friends, family, neighbours, my beloved town and people.

So here it is. My song "Oru Yathramozhi".

To read it clearly, click on the malayalam text, it will open up a bigger version.

This song is rendered by Mr. Jassie Gift. Orchestrated in a Qawali / Mappila pattu style. I like it very much. It means a lot to me.

Yathramozhi : The story

Malbaaril oru yathramozhi
There were a few elusive singers in my "must-have-list". Mr Jassie Gift was one of them. A lot of people tried to locate Jassie. But he never picked up his phone. Apparently he was busy building a new home. I was not going to give up.

Again Divya's dad, my father in law comes to the rescue. He tried through his contacts in the news media companies. What I got was not Jassie's contact but his friend Abhiram's. I talked to Abhiram. He talked really funny, I later found out that he was talking from a hospital bed all wrapped up after getting injured from a very bad car accident.

Jassie Gift
Who does not know him? Lajjavathiye took the state by storm. Jassie commands a very strong following especially in the younger generation. He had done quite a few songs by then and was also one of the leading music directors in the industry.

How do explain my song? Well, so far most of Jassie's songs had been very jazzy and bright. It had a lot of pop and western influence. He really excelled in it. And here is my song..

It was sad, with no western influence, kind of a quawali style, in raga kapi. Very close to a Malabar Mappila song!

This song is one that I worked very hard on. The lyrics are very personal to me. Actually it reflects the sentiments of someone who is about to lose another that he/she cared for. Jassie performed this song beautifully. The song did have elements that stretched his style and range a little bit but that is my fault. I still feel that this song is a gamble I took by making Jassie Gift sing a Mappila pattu.

The fans are going to either love it or..

kill me.