Category Archives: Pop culture

Bollywood Musicians Bare Claws

Is there something off in the Bollywood music industry? Consider this:

  • Shaan on Twitter about Rahat getting off easy – Rahatbhai found rahat pretty easily with DRI and FERA. A Fine and he’s fine to carry on. Wonder if we were in Another Country in similar situation, would it be as easy ??!!
    My take: Shaan’s public outburst is a little disappointing. Even if there is some truth in what he is implying, he comes across as a bitter, fading star. I think he’s better than that.
  • Abhijit alleges a music industry racket involving producers (Mahesh Bhat), music labels (Tips) and Pakistani musicians (like Rahat). He doesn’t exactly spell it out but with the Rahat arrest incident in the backdrop, is he insinuating money laundering?
    My take: Sour grapes. Abhijit is a long time Pakistan baiter who feels that his career went south because of Pakistani singers. He is wrong. His career went south because of singers better than him – Pakistani and Indian.
  • Sonu Nigam roasts Shankar Mahadevan, A.R. Rahman, Himesh Reshammiya and Adnan Sami at GIMA awards. Sample this song sung to Maa’s tune –

    • Main kabhi batlata nahin, Kharaj (low note, sa) se mooh phirta hoon maa,
    Gaane do mujhe uche suron me, Neeche ke sur se darta hoon main maa

    My take: Good fun! And by the looks of their laughter, it looked like Shankar, ARR and Adnan Sami were having fun too. Or was it a case of “Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho…”?

Objective Fans – An Oxymoron

In the last couple of days, our blog got a nice spike in traffic. A quick peek at Google Analytics showed that most of the new hits were for a recent post regarding A.R. Rahman. Almost all the hits for this post came from a Yahoo Group and good ol’ Google helped me figure out that this group belonged to an A.R. Rahman fan club. One of the members of this group (Thanks Rivjot!) had apparently shared the link to this post with this group.

The post elicited the following exchange in the Yahoo group:

Thanks, Rivjot for this. I agree with him

To me, if we agree with the writer then it would mean AR hasn’t given music in 2010 which is not as good as his music before 2009 but that is not the case here. 2010 was really a good year with varied genres of music by AR.

My agreement with him is about ARR’s popularity being down up North in 2010, not his quality of work.  Whether ARR’s music in 2010 was as good, better or worse than previous years is a subjective take.  I think his quality has not suffered at all, just his popularity.

I don’t agree with the author’s assesmen of 2010…he clearly hasn’t heard VTV or Endhiran (Robot doesn’t count as its dubbed..both albums were popular and were of spellbinding quality..also how can people overlook 127 Hours??…if it were some other Indian composer they’d act like it was the moon landing!

My response:

  1. I have heard both VTV and Endhiran songs (in fact, my son is a huge fan of Endhiran songs). VTV is very good but I didn’t enjoy Endhiran. I have also heard the soundtrack for 127 Hours and watched the movie as well. As I wrote in an earlier post, I liked the score for 127 Hours but I liked The Social Network more. I still think his work in 2010 as a whole does not match up to his earlier work.
  2. A.R. Rahman is probably the only Indian composer with a truly Indian identity, if not global (as opposed to a state or industry or language identity). When it comes to him, I don’t think there is a North-South divide just because he happens to be from the South. If there is a North-South difference of opinion, it’s because of the inaccessibility of some of his music due to its language (I did make this point in the post that triggered this debate).
  3. Of course, my views are subjective. So are the opinions of the fans above. Becoming a fan is not just about the quality of music (although that plays a big part), it is also about some very personal associations we make with songs and artists. Those personal associations are different for each one of us and make it very difficult for us to be rational and objective while discussing our favorite music or artist. And there is nothing wrong with subjectivity in this context. The world would be so boring if everyone liked the same music.

People – Please Get Off A.R. Rahman’s Back

For some reason, a Facebook status update from me about 127 Hours elicited some negative comments against A.R. Rahman. This is not the first time I have heard such comments. I am intrigued by generalizations that A.R. Rahman is overrated. Why would people say something like that despite the brilliant work he has produced over almost two decades? What else does the guy have to do to prove his greatness? Here are some factors that may be leading people to make these assertions:

  • Rahman is competing with himself. He is being judged against his own extremely high standards. Is it fair to expect him to keep churning out masterpieces like Roja, Rangeela or Rang De Basanti all the time?
  • Recency effect. 2009 was not his most prolific year (probably because of the ruckus following Slumdog Millionaire) and 2010 was not his best year. My sense is that people are assessing a career spanning 20 years based on output from 2 years.
  • We are always catching up with Rahman. It is not unusual for people to say that they start liking Rahman songs after they have heard it a few times. In my opinion, it’s because he experiments and creates new sounds that we are not used to. His music forces us to open up our minds and broaden the scope of what we have traditionally defined as music. Remember – entire generations of Indians ignored Kishore Kumar for two decades because he sounded so different. His found broad acceptance only with Aradhana (1969) more than 20 years after his first song.
  • Not all his music is accessible to everybody. He has created gems for Tamil movies that are not accessible to non-Tamil music lovers (Pudhiya Mugam, Rhythm, etc) and vice versa (Rangeela, Swades, Rang De Basanti, etc.). How can people assess his work in its entirety when they haven’t listened to everything he has composed?

My take:

  • Rahman is not overrated. However, some of his lesser work (like Jai Ho) does tend to ride on his fame.
  • Rahman is an epoch-making composer. No music director has had the kind of broad impact that he has over the last two decades. He starts trends and continuously pushes musical boundaries. Many, many years from now, people will talk not just about his compositions, but about his positive influence on the Indian music scene as a whole. We are lucky to be living in Rahman’s era.
  • Yes, he is not perfect. A couple of minor grouses, I myself have – a) He uses his voice far more than he needs to or has in the past. b) Has he been playing a tad safe of late? He is no longer introducing as many new voices as he has in the past.

Some of this anti-Rahman buzz reminds me of what Sachin Tendulkar went through a few years ago, when many were gunning for his head. I am comforted by this parallel because I know that Rahman will do exactly what Sachin has done since then – continue to build upon a magnificent body of work that will seal his place as an all-time great, work that will win over all doubters – for good.

Bollywood Melodies – Book Review

Passion and enthusiasm are uplifting and contagious traits. And it is the warmth of these qualities that you bask in as you read Bollywood Melodies by Ganesh Anantharaman.

In the introduction to the book, the author confesses that he set out to write a book about the Bollywood music he truly loved – the music of the 1950s and 1960s – and had to be convinced by his editors to expand the scope to cover a much broader timeline form 1935 to 2005. As you read the book, the author’s bias becomes obvious and strangely, it is this bias that makes the book fascinating. We share the excitement and the sense of discovery of the songs of a bygone era with the author and we experience his disappointment at an entire decade (the 1980s) during which music did not matter in Bollywood.

The book has three sections and each section has several chapters describing the careers of music directors, lyricists and singers in chronological order. The book does include some personal details of the artists but only in the context of their careers. The author describes their career milestones through the songs they were involved in and this makes for fascinating reading. The book is a treasure trove of trivia like this:

  • C. Ramachandra received the lyrics for Dheere Se Aaja Ri Akhiyan Mein (Albela) at 4 pm. He composed the music for this song in the car on the way to the studio because the recording was scheduled at 6 pm.
  • Lata never sang for OP Nayyar due to an early misunderstanding between the two.
  • The been sound in Man Dole Mera Ta Dole (Nagin) was actually produced by a keyboard instrument called claviolin played by Kalyanji (of the Kalyanji-Anandji duo).
  • Sahir Ludhiyanvi had written “Tadbeer Se Bigadi Hui” as a ghazal and was shocked when he heard SD Burman’s frothy composition for it. He apparently protested but eventually gave in.
  • Although playback singing was prevalent by then, KL Saigal insisted on singing Babul Mora Naihar Chooto Hi Jaaye as he walked on the streets while a truck behind him recorded the song live!
  • Lata boycotted the Filmfare Awards till 1957 because they did not have a category for singers. Finally, Filmfare relented and gave her the award for Best Playback Singer for Aaja Re Pardesi (Madhumati) in 1958. Lata convinced Filmfare to institute separate awards for male and female singers next year.

This book is a must-read for all Bollywood music lovers. After the first few chapters, I realized that the best way to enjoy this book is to actually listen to the songs being described in the book while reading. Through listening the song, you become a part of the story behind it.

Rare Songs Should Remain Rare?!

Of late, I have been following a Google group called rec.music.indian.misc (popularly referred to as RMIM). Although the platform is dated, it is a very good forum for Indian (specially Hindi film) music lovers. I think it should move to Facebook, but that’s not the reason I write this post.

The reason for this post is an exchange in this group in which one of the members says

“….rare songs are rare by no accident. They were definitely not worth listening else they would not be rare and would have seen light of the day”.

I vehemently disagree with this person. Songs can become rare because of a number of reasons – a) they appeal to a small population of music lovers, b) they are not played a lot on radio, TV, etc. c) they are not stocked in stores, d) there were not packaged and marketed well at the time of release and therefore did not make it to a “hit” list, e) there are no means of easily discovering them (and this by the way, is one of the problems we, at Mavrix, are trying to solve).

Two examples:

1)   Why did Saagar Kinare (Saagar) become a hit and got Kishore Kumar a Filmfare Award while Humein Raaston Ki Zaroorat Nahin (Naram Garam), which was released 4 years earlier, got relegated to obscurity despite the two songs’ almost identical mukhda?

2)   In an interview with Rajeev Masand (starting at 4:54), Asha talks about the most-requested songs in her concerts. Apparently, these four songs even come to haut her in her dreams. She then goes on to list her favorite songs. One of them is a song that’s not heard much – Chain Se Humko Kabhi (Pran Jaaye Par Vachan Na Jaaye). Why are the four most-requested songs more popular than Asha’s own favorite song?

Here’s what I believe:

  • Popular songs are not necessarily the best songs. Conversely, “rare” songs (i.e. song that are not heard a lot) are not necessarily bad.
  • A good song does not automatically become popular
  • It is unlikely that a bad song will become popular

The Making Of A Fan

We like a song because of the feelings it creates in us. But does one song alone endear us to the artist? It may, but in rare cases. What if the artist creates many amazing songs over a few years – would we become fans? Possible, but not necessarily.

After analyzing my own “fanhood”, I have concluded that people become fans of artists not just because of great songs (although that certainly helps!), but because they associate personal memories or experiences with the artist. In many cases, the memory is very specific and does not even involve the artist’s best work. Take my example:

  1. Kishore Kumar – I can trace my love for Kishore da to a cassette with a dozen or so Kishore da songs. It was a gift from sister for my 15th or 16th birthday. It was a nice enough collection but what made it remarkable was that it was the first cassette I owned. The first song on that cassette – “Phoolon Ke Rang Se” from Prem Pujari – remains one of my favorite Kishore Kumar songs.
  2. Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik – I appreciated romance for the first time in my life through Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and its beautiful songs. Alka and Udit were the first voices I could relate to as my generation’s.
  3. Eagles – Till I heard Hotel California in college, I used to dismiss all “English songs” as noisy. Hotel California, with its melody and its amazing guitar riff, opened up a new world of pop/rock music for me. That one song and the fact that it was playing everywhere and all the time in college, made me an Eagles fan.
  4. Led Zeppelin – I had heard “Stairway to Heaven” many times when I went to a Jimmy Page concert with The Black Crowes. I would have returned home completely satisfied if they had played just that one song. Ninety minutes later, I left the concert under the spell of Page’s understated brilliance and terribly humbled by my ignorance.
  5. A.R. Rahman – I had always liked A.R. Rahman. Two things made me a fan. First, my marriage to a big Rahman fan. It’s hard not be be influenced when your spouse showers someone else with so much affection! Second, a packed London audience for “Bombay Dreams”, that went “Bravo! Bravo!” after every song. I felt proud to be an Indian.

Coke Studio In India?! Fingers Crossed

Anyone who has seen the delectable live show program from across the border will understand why I am so excited about the news that Coke Studio may come to India! Like most Indians, I have many misgivings about Pakistan and it’s attitude towards India but I can’t help admiring, even envying, their music scene. What do I like about Pakistani music, specifically Coke Studio?

  1. They have figured out a way of packaging local, folk music with western, modern music in a very pleasing manner. Purists may frown upon this approach but I think it makes folk music a lot more accessible and appealing to the younger crowd.
  2. A lot of music is produced for its own sake and not as a prop in a movie. Now that may be because the Pakistani movie industry sucks but in my opinion, this focus on music produces very good results.
  3. Live music always feels better. It has an element of magic that is somehow lost in the recording. Live music has a lot of engagement going on – amongst the artists, between the artist and the audience and within the audience – which make it a very personal experience unique to each individual in the audience. Finally, live music provides the artist freedom to improvise. If you have seen Hariharan or Shankar Mahadevan on stage, you’ll know how much fun that can be.

My only hope is that the Indian version remains true to the original format (live, non-mainstream music). Check out one of my favorite Coke Studio performances and you’ll know what I am talking about.

PS: Check out something one of the commenters on Youtube pointed out. See how Zeb and the drummer smile when the chorus kicks in at 1:45 and tell me if you don’t feel like smiling with them! That’s the edge of live performance!

Auto-tune For The Common Man

It all started with Cher’s hit song, Believe. Actually, it started before, but the producers of Believe overdid it (deliberately) and made people sit up and go “What the heck was that?”.

I am talking about auto-tune, of course. The instrument that magically polishes off vocal blemishes and even adds embellishments that are not humanly possible. If you have listened to a recent song and marveled at the extreme vocal refinement of the singer while hitting a particularly difficult note – I hate to burst the bubble – he or she may have had help.

And now similar technology is available to the common man. I recently tinkered around with a web application called UJAM and in 30 minutes flat produced this masterpiece. If I could do this with my limited talent and lazy-ass attempt, my guess is that more accomplished musicians should be able to get remarkably better results if they spend a little time on UJAM.

However, if your singing sucks, UJAM or even professional grade auto-tune equipment will not make you sound as good as this:

Does Book Publishing Have A Better Future Than Music?

Paul Carr of TechCrunch thinks book publishing has a better future than music because there is no assumption amongst buyers that digital books will be free. He also implies that people don’t associate any value with music. He is wrong and his argument is ridiculous:

  1. People expect to pay for e-books – It is only a matter of time before this expectation changes. The expectation of “free” comes only if the content is already available for free. In the case of music and movies, this expectation comes from content that can be easily ripped and distributed for free and file-sharing sites that make it widely available. What will happen when (not if) someone figures out a way to rip e-books and share it with the rest of the world?
  2. People don’t value music – Almost everybody listens to music, but only some truly enjoy it. It is this set of music lovers that understands and appreciates the value of music. According to a poll Paul refers to in the video, young people believe digital music has zero value. I think the poll is just a reflection of the fact that there are far too many people who listen to music because it enhances another activity (like a workout) or because it makes an unpleasant activity (like a commute) more palatable and not because they truly enjoy the music. On the other hand, people read books only if they believe they will derive value from it because unlike listening to music, reading requires time and effort. Therefore, compared to music listeners, book readers are far more likely to associate value with the content they are consuming.

The only redeeming thing in this video – Sarah Lacy disagrees with Paul and points out that Paul’s hypothesis is really just wishful thinking.

Official Song of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 – Another Bust

The official song of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (SEL), was released on Dec 31, 2010. In my opinion, it’s another miss, close on the heels of A.R. Rahman’s official song for the Commonwealth Games.

It’s easy to explain why you love a song or why you hate one, but really hard to describe why you think a song is just “so-so”. Still, here is an attempt:

  • Except for the De Ghuma Ke line, Manoj Yadav’s lyrics for the rest of the song feel contrived and do not really roll off the tongue
  • Except for the mukhda, the tune isn’t hummable.
  • I couldn’t figure out the second singer, other than Shankar Mahadevan, but I think the song might have been better off with someone else.

I think there is a lot of pressure on the public to like this song, specially after the CWG song debacle. Nobody wants to be a spoil-sport, specially one it comes to the work of hugely popular musicians like SEL (I am a big fan myself), and specially when India’s reputation on the global stage is involved. I really wanted to like the song, but I don’t!

Check it yourself and tell me what you think. [Update: The embedded video was removed from Youtube. The official video is being released on Feb 7. Will provide an update in due course.]

PS: And what is it with official ICC website’s lame domain name – http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/? It took me a while to figure out that it was actually ICC’s official site and not a Yahoo site. Free marketing advice for ICC – The “yahoo.net” domain is diluting your brand. Do yourself a favor and get your own domain name.