An edited video is being shared on social media with a false claim that it shows a foreign orchestra playing a Tamil song. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 20, 2023
A video that allegedly shows an orchestra performing a music piece from the movie “Anbe Vaa,” which stars MGR and Saroja Devi, is viral on social media. According to the accompanying description, the featured orchestra in the video is the ‘New York Philharmonic Orchestra.’ This article aims to fact-check this claim.
Claim: A New York-based orchestra performed a Tamil song.
Fact: This video has been edited and does not accurately represent a New York Philharmonic Orchestra performance. The original video was created by a YouTuber named VimalPercy, who uploads piano tutorial videos on their channel. VimalPercy created a symphony orchestra-style cover for the song “Rajavin Parvai Raniyin Pakkam” from the movie ‘Anbe Vaa,’ featuring MGR and B Saroja Devi. However, unrelated clips of orchestra players performing different music pieces were added to the video. According to VimalPercy, these clips were added to provide visual context to the instruments being played. Therefore, the claim made in the post is False.
To check the claim’s veracity, we searched the internet with relevant keywords, which led us to the longer version of the viral video. It was uploaded on a YouTube channel named VimalPercy. It was revealed that VimalPercy uploads piano tutorials for various songs, and this video was one such tutorial of a song named Rajavin Parval Raniyin Pakkam from the movie Anbe Vaa created in the style of a symphony orchestra.
In the video’s description, VimalPercy mentioned that they had initially added clips of an orchestra to enhance the viewing experience and provide visual context. However, due to the confusion caused, VimalPercy blurred the orchestra video and stated that their intention was not to mislead anyone.
Some users in the comment section pointed out that the video of the orchestra confused them and made them believe that some foreign orchestra played it. One user even said that this video was viral on WhatsApp, claiming it was the performance of ‘The New York Philanthropic Symphony Orchestra.’ Vimal responded to this by saying that, They thought adding those videos would give a better viewing experience, but it backfired.
Although the video on VimalPercy’s channel is now blurred, further investigation based on the viral video led to the identification of original sources for some of the clips used in it. Reverse image searches on keyframes from the viral video revealed that portions featuring the violin player were taken from a performance by violinist Hilary Hahn, while the remaining clips were from a performance by the ‘Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam'(here and here).
Therefore, it is clear that the video was edited using clips from various unrelated performances and does not represent an actual performance by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
To sum up, an edited video is being shared on social media with a false claim that it shows a foreign orchestra playing a Tamil song.