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Is melody extra essential or rhythm? Is the beat extra interesting or the standard of the lyrics? The apparent reply is that every one three are essential: melody, rhythm and lyrics. I ask this query within the context of Hindi movie songs. Maybe I’m biased, or I’m uncovered much less to the brand new, however I really feel that our previous Hindi songs had a far higher measure of melody; the lyrics had been far superior; and the main focus was much less on the preponderance of beat, though, in fact, the rhythm was not missing.
Our songs from older Hindi movies had been, I feel, rooted extra in our personal musical legacy. Many movie songs of that period had been impressed by classical ragas. I by no means learnt classical music though I wished very a lot to. A music trainer would come to offer classical music classes to my three elder sisters. I too wished to hitch and used to take a seat exterior their class listening in, however my mom—herself extremely proficient in classical music—was agency that this isn’t crucial for me: “Ek hello ladka hai, gawaiya ho jayega” (I’ve one son and he’ll change into a crooner), she mentioned. That was the angle in these days, the place such adornments like music and dance had been meant for women, whereas boys had to focus on their research and on getting a great job.
A lot of this has modified at present, and the younger now pursue what they need to, regardless of gender, with the blessings of their mother and father, and even with out it. However though I by no means formally learnt classical music, I started to acknowledge ragas very early courtesy of All India Radio (AIR). Within the Nineteen Seventies, AIR used to air a programme every single day within the morning devoted to at least one raga and the Hindi movie songs based mostly on it. I used to take heed to it every single day. Over time, after I heard a music, I might relate it to the raga it’s based mostly upon which might shock folks.
I recall as soon as I used to be having a cup of espresso with famend sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. We had been discussing the poetry of Mirza Ghalib and Amjad Bhai mentioned {that a} specific ghazal, given its temper, must be sung in a different way. He then sang a number of couplets in that tarannum (tune). I responded that sure, the sombre raga Darbari, was certainly appropriate for this ghazal. He was bowled over that I instantly acknowledged the raga on which his composition was based mostly.
However to return to movie songs. There isn’t a inherent contradiction between liking previous movie songs and appreciating the pep and beat of the brand new. I bear in mind a celebration in 1991 hosted by a number one nationwide weekly to rejoice its fifteenth anniversary. The venue, a five-star resort in New Delhi, was full of the elegant and the highly effective. Classical music on the sitar was taking part in within the background, because the friends indulged in a spherical of drinks.
Then instantly someone modified the music. The lusty beat of Malkit Singh’s then-highly fashionable music Tutak Tutak Tutiya began taking part in, and no one might resist it. The uncared for dance flooring was instantly alive with middle-aged individuals who had grown up on previous Hindi movie songs, however now had been flailing their legs and arms to this catchy beat!
What I do have an issue with is the plagiarism and mimicry concerned within the new style of Hindi movie songs. There have been situations the place the beat and the tune are direct copies of Western songs. It feels as if the beat is changing into more and more repetitive, at the price of melody and the standard of lyrics. Who can overlook the standard of the lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Neeraj, Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Kaifi Azmi, and so many extra?
And may one ever erase the immortal music created by folks like Naushad, Roshan, SD Burman, RD Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Hemant Kumar, OP Nayyar, Jaidev, Shankar-Jaikishan, Kalyanji-Anandji and different stalwarts? There are gifted music composers too at present, however lots of them are overshadowed by the proliferating variety of mediocre composers. Thank God, so far as lyrics go, we nonetheless have giants like Gulzar and Javed Akhtar amongst us. Even for an ‘merchandise’ music within the 2010 movie Omkara, Gulzar wrote a music that had poetic advantage: ‘Beedi jalaile jigar se piya, jigar ma badi aag hai’.
I’ve attended—and nonetheless do—some dinners the place there’s a stay band led by a singer. Even now—and these get-togethers embody many kids—the second the singer goes again to an previous music, like as an illustration ‘Ye raatein ye mausam nadi ka kinara, ye chanchal hawa’, from the 1958 movie Dilli ka Thug, the complete viewers begins to sing alongside. And, so far as the beat is worried, few folks can maintain themselves again from dancing when the golden oldie performs: Gore gore, O baanke chore, kabhi meri gali aaya karo, from the 1950 movie Samadhi, or the perennial favorite: Jaane kahan mera jigar gaya ji, abhi abhi yahin tha kidhar gaya ji, from the movie Mr & Mrs 55.
I feel I’ve made my very own alternative clear, though it isn’t my intention to say that every part new is dangerous. However, readers, I’d have an interest to know what you assume.
Pavan Ok Varma is creator, diplomat, and former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
Simply Like That could be a weekly column the place Varma shares nuggets from the world of historical past, tradition, literature, and private reminiscences with HT Premium readers
The views expressed are private
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