Mamma mia! mania!

I caught Mamma mia! at the theatre today and it really struck me how music as a medium is so effective in portraying emotions and ideas across.

Personally, I feel that Abba's music especially has a timeless quality and of a genre that can strike a chord with people both young and old. In addition i came across an article in the Straits Times whereby local composer Dick Lee was interviewed and he said that Abba's music is "excellently crafted pop- sophisticated yet deceptively simple".

I agree with him that this is one of the main reasons and still continues to live on and impacted the world is through their lyrics(vehicle through which they transmit, send their messages and ideas about life or basically anything under the sun) are extremely successful as their lyrics are catchy, simple and easy to sing. Moreover, as DJ Joe Ng so aptly puts, Abba had an "incredible grasp for pop arrangement...They really knew how to construct good tunes that get under your skin and there by having smart grooves, rifts and lines". Thus, making their music appeal to a wider audience.

This is done ingeniously as the more successful music/bands tend to be the ones that a wider audience can relate to.

But what really amazes me is the fact that throughout the entire movie there was really a song for every possible emotion and feeling! So much so that the Mama mia! movie producers/ scriptwriters managed to use and find a song to fit in practically all of the scenes! Be it reminiscing about one's daughter growing up and getting married, ( Slipping through my fingers) , finding a vision/ facing struggles in life (I Have A Dream) , relationship problems (The Winner Takes It All/S.O.S etc) you name it Abba has it. Their songs are so universal because the subject matter(s) of the lyrics all pertain to our lives and are what most people face at some point of time in our lives.



For instance, the song " The Winner takes it all" is performed in the Mama Mia! musical by the character of Donna (played by Meryl Streep) In the context of the musical, the song is used when Donna professes how much she loves Sam, but she cannot forgive him entirely as he was engaged and had to leave her to get married to his fiance.From this one can more or less infer the emotional hurt that Donna feels due to Sam leaving her to get married to someone else.

She also, believing him still married, says "the rules must be obeyed" meaning she couldn't be with a married man. Through the lyrics, one can try to guess what she feels.

From, " The gods may throw a dice /Their minds as cold as ice " and

"The loser has to fall/It's simple and it's plain/Why should I complain".

We can infer how she blames cruel gods for her misfortune and suffering and that she has no choice but to surrender to fate and stop complaining.

The aforementioned scene really struck me as i felt Meryl Streep's delivery was very powerful and I could completely relate with her feelings of melancholy just through the song.

Similarly, from the scene above, one can comprehend and relate to Donna's surprise, sadness but also the joy of her daughter growing up and getting married.

From both the scenes, we can see a number of things that contributed to the success of the poignant portrayal of emotions. Firstly, the lyrics(nuggets of information) so the audience understand the background situations/ feelings of the character(s), secondly the fact that the actors/ actresses have strong vocals to stir audience's hearts as well as non-verbal communication such as hand gestures/ actions which help express thought or to emphasize speech.

Hence, I felt that Abba's songs integrated with the good quality singing voices of the actors and the movie plot have helped developed " Mama mia!" better, making the delivery complete and successful.

Doesn't it just blow your mind how a humble tune can not only provoke deep emotions and feelings( be it positive or negative) but can also be a source of strength to spur one on during trials and tribulations? I sure do. How about you? (: