These days, I seem to have such negative feelings for contemporary Indian music. There’s nothing redeeming about them – everything is so freakin synthetic and …well, the exact term escapes me…..everything’s routine. That’s it. Routine.
What got me thinking like my grandparents is this freakin video I saw. ( Me and TV are generally two divorced entities. Just happened to be around in this case ) Sunidhi Chauhan. Bhoot Hoon Main. Lots of half-naked guys dancing around Sunidhi as she sings Bhoot Hoon Main over and over again. Nothing improper about half-naked guys, but what’s the freakin point here? Why have a female + male dancers when you are supposed to be talking ghosts? What’s the point in having a drum-beat that doesn’t sound like a freakin drum at all, but a metal pole being struck, with a constant chikichikichik in the background. Are ideas for music videos dead? The standard storyboard for 60% of whatever’s made as videos seems to be – guy sees girl on road. Guy falls for girl. Something happens. Guy gets girl. Wheee! How freakin original!
Three kinds of Indian music composers as of now. Nadeem-Shravan type jhankar beats and a tune that sounds like a hundred other songs you have heard and you can actually predict the way the song will sound a minute later. These are like the MD has given the basic tune to the singer, and has told him “Ok, so this is where you start, and when you start, keep going.” He then turns towards the orchestra and says, “Play”. Who cares WHAT the musicians play? And there it is, “emotional soul-stirring” music. Oh, did I forget to mention that you can also call it “timeless melodious” music? Really, that’s what the posters say.
Then there are the Pro-tools MDs. These are the guys who have just bought a new Korg, or are being exposed to “latest technologies in mujik”.( Optionally, they have their own sound designer.) Forget the tune. Anything will do. You just gotta spice it up, and yes, you need a catchy chorus. Add a bass-line that’s a half-forgotten sample from Dr Alban. Lots of sample beats that keep changing every thirty seconds, so that the listener doesn’t realise it’s a “programmed loop” and not a live drummer playing. (Yeah, right, like a live drum EVER sounds like that! ) Exotic instruments galore. A voice modulator plugin does wonders for the singing part too. Layers, lots of layers. Sonic Assault unlimited. Served piping hot.
The innovators. Who think they are innovating, but well, they keep sounding like the last song/album they composed. I guess that’s a problem with every other artiste/band in the world. And what a rut it is! If they stay in the same mould for too long a time, they are accused of repetition, and if they try to veer away from the routes already taken, there is a hue and cry about “where IS the guy? What the heck is he trying to pull?”
The newbies – Salim-Suleiman (whoever!), Sandeep Chowta, Himesh “same-beats-ad-infinitum”Reshammiya, Lalit Sen and old-timers like Anu “sound designer=ranjit barot” Malik, they are all part of the Pro-Tools gang. heaven knows what the heck they are up to. With a plethora of beats, they are trying hard to say that what they dish out is “music” but for goshsakes!!! How many four-five note tunes with mindless beats can we take? A friendly note of warning – our friendly neighbourhood Nadeem-Shravan will be around forever. Choke on it, but they and their half-boiled concoctions will keep pounding away at our ears and the fragile ecosystem around us. They don’t care what they direct (hey, they are music directors, not composers!!! ), it will sound good to them, it sounds different from whatever they have directed so far. My, how nice short-term memory loss is!! And bon tonerre, they are unleashing their sons to carry on their timeless legacy. I shudder.
It hurts, you know, to see how the mighty have fallen. And how neophytes do not soar. I refer, of course, to ARR. And the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Even Ismail Durbar. Or, if I want to stretch the line a bit – MM Kreem, Vishal Bharadwaj and Vishal-Shekhar. Yeah, I know. They put out good music. Some of their stuff is good at times. That’s it, just good. Where’s the freakin’ consistency, I ask? I don’t want a peppy-sounding song, followed by two unhearable ones, and then one that’s good to dance to – standard cliched album sequence. Where’s the meat, goddamnit? Where’s an album that can move me the way Dil Se did? Where is a song like Man Mohini that blows away the cliche called ethnicity? Where do I get an album like Kandisa, that makes my jaw drop when I hear it the first time, and stays put in my head for the rest of my life? (OK, so the rest of my life is not technically correct, but I am pretty much sure about this. )
I am pretty sure ARR, SEL, Durbar and the rest of their ilk can come up with something that will rock my socks off. But who wants them to?????? Our friggin directors, the whole bunch of them are still stuck with love-triangles and cheap Matrix-ripoffs. How many tunes can someone come up about LOVE, for goshsakes? Twenty? Thirty? Eight hundred? Forty thousand?
Why doesn’t anything happen? Why doesn’t something like Roja, or Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, or even Dil Chahta Hai happen again? Why am I not enthu enough to keep bugging the Music Shop guy whether this CD has come or not, why hasn’t it come, WHEN is it coming? I would give anything to listen to a HIndi song that has an authentic drum, that doesn’t sound like the plumbing system in an alien spacecraft. I want a musical revolution that blows away the entire concept of hero-heroine-twenty-dancers-in-the-background videos. Please, please, please! Is that too much to ask for?
Maybe then I could stop sounding like my grandparents.
For the record, Parasuram is in stock now. But I am just not interested enough to go buy it. Me not buying an ARR album….even when I have the money. What a laugh!
Valid comments, but …….
Hi, you’re right about the kind of music but :
(1)What else can you expect when commerce rules creativity?
(2)Consistency & prolificity get in the way of each other – given (1) above, you’re bound to have inconsistency.
(3)Aren’t you being a little impatient? If ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ is the minimum level that you’ll be happy with, at least 1-2 such albums are bound to come out every year, even if not exactly when you are itching for them to :-)
May i suggest that you enjoy some of your all-time favorites for a while, and soon enough a worthy candidate may appear to be added to that list.
Re: Valid comments, but …….
Hi there. :-)
Frankly speaking, I don’t know whom to blame here, the directors who keep making movies on the same themes with banal songs shot in exotic locations etc etc etc, or music directors who keep churning out insipid tunes, or the producers who actually agree to finance such movies, or people who tolerate such trash on countdown shows.
The only positive thing I can see (that can help the scenario) is widespread piracy. People are just not interested enough to go check out a new cd, because, hey, why should they when it’s just “the same old thing”.
ARR is hardly prolific. But even his standards are dropping ( i know this is blasphemy, yet…) Can an MD give me something that I haven’t heard already? Something that isn’t predictable anymore? I doubt it.
About me being impatient…hmm, I don’t think so. I cited the example of DCH and HDDCS because they genuinely made my jaws drop when I heard them the first time. Or rather, when I saw them for the first time on the screen. SEL have to try VERY hard to do it again. Durbar can do it again only when he’s working with Bhansali. Remember a dud called Shakti:The Power? Or Deewangee? Both were by Durbar and they were BIG letdowns.
I sincerely feel the Indian music and film industry must go through a radical paradigm change in order to cater to the new generation. No, I think I will be a little modest and say, no, this change is needed to meet MY tastes not those of “the new generation”.
I guess I am just hard to please.
I am waiting for ARR’s Meenaxi, Tehzeeb and Boys. My last chance to renew my interest in Him…..if these seem to be stuck in the same muck, bye bye ARR.
I think everyone’s to blame, to varying extents. You say ARR isn’t prolific – perhaps you’re comparing him to others. I’m comparing his current frequency of output to that of early/mid ’90s.
Which reminds me – it amazes me that ARR can get an award for ‘Saathiya’, when the songs are just straight lifts from his ‘Alai Payuthey’ – on the one hand, they’re indeed his own tunes; on the other, there’s no creativity wrt the Hindi soundtrack, only the Tamil one. Well, it’s better than copying others, of course …….
I don’t think you’re going to see the kind of ‘paradigm shift’ you’re hoping for. After all, the goal of the industry is not to satisfy you, or indeed any individual or group in particular, but to sell as much as possible. Regrettable, but inevitable in our age – the same is happening with pop music in the UK, where you get shortlived, ‘manufactured’ bands which flicker & die out – typically when the members manage to delude themselves into believing that they can survive as solo artistes :-) ……
Hey, don’t give up on ARR – just use a site like raaga.com to ‘test-hear’ all new songs before you decide to buy.
just use a site like raaga.com to ‘test-hear’ all new songs before you decide to buy.
Aaah! Now a small problem here. :-) Does anyone ever like ARR’s songs the first time one hears them?
, the goal of the industry is not to satisfy you, or indeed any individual or group in particular, but to sell as much as possible.
The question: is today’s music saleable? From what I know( thru the arrfangroup ) is that sales of cds and cassettes, Hindi or Tamil or whatever other language it might be, is down. Why on earth would anyone want to go out and buy some artiste like Neha Nagpal or Anu Malik’s loud ravings in Khushi? No, the stuff you get nowadays is extremely forgettable. They can be catchy, but they arent worth my time or yours or anyone else’s. T-Series is the only company making some amount of profit, and that’s because of their devotional albums in the UP belt.
The goals of the industry, i.e maximising profit CAN’T happen in such an atmosphere. Maybe they can try to postpone the losses by superficial reasoning, like paying lower royalties or something, but in the long run, they and their mindset have to change.
As for ARR’s winning the Filmfare for Saathiya, and a gem like Legend of Bhagat Singh being ignored (except for the background score), the less said the better. Awards suck anyways. :-)
> Aaah! Now a small problem here. :-) Does anyone ever like ARR’s songs the first time one hears them?
But why do you have to hear them only once? Is there any trouble accessing raaga?
My point regarding the industry remains, sales figures notwithstanding. Music often sells because it’s catchy, even if not necessarily of any lasting appeal. This is especially true of ‘filmi’ & ‘light’ music. Realistically, you can hope for the best, but odds are that your ears will have to endure torture many a time in between instances where your jaw drops :-) !!
Just read in news paper that Mani Ratnam is proceeding to make a new movie with stellar star cast. It will have Ajay Devgan, Vivek oberoi etc for the hindi version and Madhavan for the Tamil version.
Naturally, ARR will give music. Since their combo never failed, you can expect something good in another 3-4 months…
I seriously wish you are right. I hope I have enthu enough to go pick it up when it comes out.
Have my tastes become that elevated? Or am I losing touch with my roots?
IMO, this is a natural phenomenan. For the amount of time we spend on music(which is much more than the average), it is quite natural to get used to a particular type of music quickly and to want more or to move our expectations a little more.
I dont listen to many bands which were dear to me at one point of time. Probably, the same is the case with you and the cause of this rant.
My solution: Sample new music, just as we have been doing all these days and we are bound to stumble across good ones.
For your convenience, I will post best of all those classical pieces I sampled so far. You can give them a try. But they may not move as much as, say, Dil Se.
Thanks, da.
I don’t really compare Western and Indian music, and I definitely wouldnt be crazy enough to try and figure out whether I like a Rahman/contemporary Indian composition or a Bach sonata. Two different levels of appreciation altogether.
Am waiting eagerly for the list.
Sample new music, just as we have been doing all these days and we are bound to stumble across good ones.
What I was pointing out is that, I no longer have the urge to sample new Indian music that’s coming out. Indian Ocean is supposed to be releasing a new album alled Bhor, and that’s one I sincerely have high expectations in. I can do without chikichikichiki drums until then. ;-)
I don’t really compare Western and Indian music
I wasn’t comparing either. I just mentioned it as new place for music.
What I was pointing out is that, I no longer have the urge to sample new Indian music that’s coming out.
Which I think is good for you… Just go on and sample what ever you think will be good and forget the rest/trash.
Parasuram is in stock now. But I am just not interested enough to go buy it. Me not buying an ARR album….even when I have the money. What a laugh!
As usual, ditto for me.
Miss ’em days when I would walk through rain and flooded streets just to get a new ARR album.
This is turning out to be more of a rant about ARR’s music than about Indian music now. But no, show me anyone who can grab my attention and I am game!!!
There are “music directors” and there is ARR. Buit then, these days I don’t even discuss Parasuram with Madhav. Gone are the days. Maybe the whole issue is actually why ARR is not giving us earth-shattering music.
I actually liked Parasuram …