The music of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India, is very famous to large parts of Asia, more specifically India, Malaysia, and even Singapore. But Tamil culture is more than just music. Tamil music is heavily incorporated into Tamil Cinema, which is the main source of film for large parts of Asia.
Tamil music is relatively unknown to Western society. But that begs the questions – Should Tamil songs be more popular in Western countries? In this article, we are going to give you examples of 4 songs that became international hits.
Awara Hun
Awaara is the first Hindi film to make it big in Russia. The film’s title song, Awara Hun, was so huge in Russia that it left the fans besotted. This song was popular during the late 60s and early 70s. But when Raj Kapoor went to Moscow for a special screening of the movie, his car was swarmed by Russian fans that literary carried him straight to the cinema. The film enjoyed massive success in Russia and it’s neighboring countries, and the song was even played at official banquets.
Mundian To Bach Ke
Moving on to more recent years, Mundian To Bach Ke was a top 20 hit by mega-popular Hindi hip hop bend Punjabi MC. The song broke out in 2002, and it hit the Top 20 list for more than 20 countries across the world, including several in Europe. Punjabi MC went on to sell more than 10 million copies worldwide, and the song even managed to hit number 1 in Italy, Belgium, and number two in Germany. In all three countries, Punjabi MC sold more than 200,000 copies of the song, according to masstamilan.
I Am a Disco Dancer
We mentioned earlier how Tamil music is heavily incorporated into Tamil cinema. Most of the songs on this list have come from popular movies, including” I Am Disco Dancer”. The song was the title song for the movie “Disco Dancer”, a film popular in the 80s. The movie was a huge success across the entire Soviet Union, and to this day you can find YouTube videos of Russian fans performing the song. The main actor of the film, Mithun, was instantly recognized across the Soviet Union by millions of fans who used to groove on his films’ title song.
Tunak Tunak Tun
Few songs have made it big in the world, but none more than “Tunak Tunak Tun”. This song has managed to stay alive in foreign fans for the better part of two decades. Released in 1998, Daler Mehndi’s Tunak Tunak Tun was a YouTube hit. The video has more than 128 million views, and you can find dozens of parodies online. But one thing that fans enjoy about the song is the official video itself. In the official video, Daler is accompanied by copies of himself, which appear every time a meteor falls. This groovy hit became even more popular when Jackie Chan shook a leg to it during the 17th Shanghai Film Festival.
