Friday, April 9, 2010

My music is music, Your music is noise!!

What is music.. a sound which is pleasing to the senses.. Although this definition has remained same over the years, but its perception has changed drastically over the years. Especially in terms of Hindi film music.

Gone are the days when you could find meaning in each and every word of a song, when lyrics were as important as the rhythm, when song writers had enough words to put in between bits of music and when melody was enough to attract listeners.

Nowadays, all that a song needs to have is a catchy main tune, a few words related to love or lust and you have a winner at your hands. “Kaho na kaho” or "Bheege honth tere" from movie Murder are a case in point. The songs have only one tune which is repeatedly fit on all the stanzas and still the songs were major hits. Hard beats and Bass has become so prevalent in all sorts of songs that sometimes even rhythm doesn't matter if the song has loud enough beats.

There is another peculiar type of Hindi movie songs, one that seems to be melodious and deep(or atleast having some meaning), but when listened carefully is actually crap lyrics fit over a good tune, for ex. most of the songs of "Kuch kuch hota hai" and for the deep seeming song example, "Ya Rabba" from Salaam-e-Ishq.

There are still great songs being made, just that the frequency has reduced to hardly 10-15 an year. But.. if you want to savor the beauty of words meshing in with the tune along with minimalistic use of instruments, then listen to “Abhi na jao Chhodke” from movie Hum Dono. It’s a classic duet song with least amount of instruments involved and most playfully written lyrics. How I wish we had more writers like these, and less of music directors like we have today (except A.R Rehman).

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