Kozhikode:
Parody songs are livening up the election atmosphere with singers busy churning out varied numbers for candidates which convey their message more effectively than lengthy poll speeches.
Trends and tastes of peculiar areas are considered while composing the songs. Songs of singers like Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh are selected for rural areas while the latest high voltage numbers are chosen for the town areas, dominated by the youth.
"Singers and studios are very busy, tuning and recording parody songs for contesting candidates after elections are declared right from panchayat to Parliament polls," a prominent singer in this field, Ashraf Koduvally, told PTI.
A native of Kozhikode, the 40-year-old Ashraf said parody songs are very effective in conveying the message than lengthy poll speeches. "Elections will come and go but these parody songs will be remembered by people, since it takes their memory back to the good old days," he said.
He said for each candidate two sets of songs, one meant for the rural areas and another aiming at new generation voters, would be recorded.
Ashraf and his 12-member troupe - 'Calicut Super Troop Digital Orchestra' have tuned and recorded songs for six candidates, both from the ruling United Democratic Front as well as the opposition Left Democratic Front.
Parody of songs from films like the Dilip starrer 'Sound Thoma' and Prithiviraj starrer 'Celluloid' are liked by the people, he said. A popular parody song is ......'hai ponnu sodharare...priya nadin sodhararee.....'.
Ashraf has rendered songs for LDF candidates, CPI(M)'s A Vijayaraghavan (Kozhikode) and A N Shamseer (Vadakara) and UDF's T Siddique (Kasargod), M K Raghavan (Kozhikode), E T Mohammed Basheer (IUML-Ponnani) and E Ahamed (IUML-Malappuram), Minister of State for External Affairs.
In the field for over two decades, the 40-year-old Ashraf started rendering such songs since the 1987 elections, including at the Panchayat level.
"The parody song of the Hindi hit movie 'Sangam' .....mere man ki ganga...was the favourite in the 1987 elections," Ashraf recollects.