Musician pen lyrics for election campaigns

CHENNAI: Tuning up to the times, candidates for the local body elections in the southern suburb of Alandur are taking the vocal route to get their election agenda across to the public. They are queueing at the mini ‘studio’ of musician-cum-orchestra owner A George (37), who is now the most sought-after person in his locality for penning down lyrics, composing and recording songs for election campaigns.For him, it is just a matter of minutes to pen down lyrics and all he would need is basic details of the candidate, like name, place of birth, the post for which he or she is contesting, name of the party to which he or she belongs to, agenda, achievements and details of the Ward. In 20 minutes, the candidate can hear the lyrics. “Some candidates...prefer that I write a few lines about their party chief and I begin my song with that,” he says.The next part, which is selecting a tune, depends completely on the candidate. If they wish to have the tune of a popular Kollywood song, then a suitable tune will be chosen. Else, George composes his own tune to the satisfaction of the candidates and lends his voice to it. “Most candidates ask for tunes of ‘kuthu’ or ‘gaana’ songs. The tune of the song ‘Puli Urumbudhu’ from the movie ‘Vettaikaran’ is popular now. Some...ask me to cut and paste parts of MGR tracks. Many have used my...tunes,” he says.