'4 students' spells magic on listeners

Chennai, Aug 8 (IANS): After ruling the Malayalam music charts, songs from the film "4 The People" in its Tamil version of "4 Students" is weaving magic here.

No Malayalam film has perhaps ever become a super hit merely because of the popularity of its music. Jassie Gift's rendition of the songs has done wonders.

Especially the song 'Lajjavathiye', which frenzied Kerala, is now ruling Tamil Nadu hearts.

The popular Jassie Gift is perhaps the most envied composer and singer too, with a trail of hits behind him.

The Tamil version is played round-the-clock on every radio channel.

The album's highlight, of course, is 'Lajjavathiye', sung in Tamil by Jassie Gift. There is a raw, husky quality to his voice -- never mind what the purists say -- that has made the song the phenomenon it is.

No other voice, however well trained, could have perhaps done a better job. If you have listened to the same song in Malayalam, however, you may find that the lyrics don't rhyme as well in the Tamil version.

Another great track is 'Undan vizhumanai'. With the Punjabi influence (obvious from the use of the phrase "Balle Balle") and its intrinsically Malayalee refrain is Jassie's gift once again.

In Kerala, the only other song that came even close to challenging 'Lajjavathiye' in popularity is again a song from "4 the people" -- 'Annakili'.

Its Tamil version also seems ready to swoon listeners here.

It is impossible to single out a song from the album as the best, all of them being equally hum-able.

There are lots of English words in the lyrics of "4 Students", but thankfully, this influence owes itself not to hip-hop, but to reggae -- making it less trite than other similar songs.

The cassette's inlay card with the songs' lyrics is a bag of laughs -- replete with malapropisms. Of particular hilarity are the English lyrics for some of the songs.

To sum up, if you haven't heard the "4 Students" album yet -- go ahead -- it would qualify as 2004's top album released till now.