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Lights. Trees. Orchestra. [PDF] [Print] [E-mail] Music Written by Abhijit Nath Monday, 30 October 2006 [Image] <http://www.haftamag.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=195> Abhijit wonders why Bollywood music sounds so different yet remains inherently the same. Theother day, while listening to FM on the daily office commute, I wasstruck by how different Hindi film music sounds today from what it didmaybe even 4 or 5 years back. And yet it was odd-the melodiesthemselves did not seem to have changed that much-but the way they werearranged and orchestrated had undergone a sea change. To understandwhy, I decided to do some digging. Giventhat there are only 12 distinct notes in most music around the world,there are only two ways of creating different moods and cadences fromthese 12 notes- playing a selection of them in different combinationsand sequences, and the other by playing a number of notes at the sametime. Indian classical music, in both its Hindustani and Carnatic manifestations, focuses on the former; the raga conceptessentially is a set of rules which notes can be used with others in agiven sequence. Western classical, and in a much more specific context,jazz music, deal with notes stacked one over the over to createdifferent cadences, albeit with a far fewer number of scales. Most Indian music directors, both in the past and the present, have been adept at creating melodies based on various ragas,and that is where the term "song bank" originates. Ask anyone from AnuMalik to Himesh Reshamiya to Nadeem-Shravan at their peak about theirplans for the future, and they will all mention having "10,000 songs intheir song bank". These are typically melodies either written down orrecorded by the composer in a semi-finished state, but which are by nomeans songs ready for final recording. Thisis where the role of orchestration comes into play-for musicians whocan take semi-finished pieces and flesh out their essence. [Image] Thisis where things have changed in the last decade-primarily with theadvent of AR Rahman. For the first time since the mid-70s, Indiancinema heard a composer with his feet comfortably in the Indian andWestern moulds. Although Illayaraja in the south and Anand-Milind andViju Shah had experimented with synthesizers in the past, Rahman reallybought the instrument to the fore and showcased how it could be usedcreatively and inexpensively for movie scoring. The music for cultmovies like Roja, Thiruda Thiruda,etc. was done almost entirely on synthesizer, with the backgroundscores (also done by Rahman) standing out. However, soon afterwardsRahman also proved his expertise at composing and arranging for otherinstruments, with the incomparable Kadri Gopalnath providing thebedrock for the saxophone-laden soundtrack for Duet, and more recently in the guitar-and-strings Rang De Basanti. Therevolution from down south caused Bollywood to take notice, and formany excellent music arrangers to get work. Anyone who has listened toAnu Malik's flamenco-and-hiphop-tinged work in Aks has manic drummer and composer Ranjit Barot (remember Sunita Rao's Pari?) to thank. The composer's own work for movies like Holiday and Asoka, unfortunately, has gone criminally underappreciated. Theother big names to come out of this modernist, technology-orientedmusical scene of the late 90s were Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy andVishal-Shekhar. Ehsaan and Loy, both seasoned jazz and rock sessionsmusicians in Bombay, along with classically-trained Shankar Mahadevan,have perfected the trick of taking simple, catchy themes and drivingthem with radio-friendly rhythms. Personally, though, some of theirover-emphasis on synthesis leaves me cold-a case in point being theappalling sarod solo in Mitwa from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna;it is so obviously played on a keyboard that it leaves one cold.Vishal-Shekhar, too, have found their groove in creatively usinghip-hop and rock rhtyms and programming to get their point across.Another brilliant orchestrator, albeit a composer of somewhat diciermerit, is Calcutta-based guitarist Pritam Chakraborty. On his twobreakthrough releases, Gangster and Woh Lamhe, he has rearranged tracks from Indonesia (Kya Mujhe Pyar Hai), West Bengal (Bheegi Bheegi) and Arabia (Ya Ali) with such brilliance that even the niggling criticism that these are not really his own songs is left behind. In closing, a heads-up for a slightly unknown gem in the Hindi film music firmament: Sandesh Shandilya's score for Socha Na Tha;a score that seemed impossibly fresh-sounding for a long time, until Ifigured out why. For the first time in years, this was a score whereall the instruments were real-from the guitars, to the string sectionto the drums, which almost seems extinct these days, having beenreplaced by the discotheque-friendly synth thump. Ably helped out byGIT alumnus Sanjay Divecha, the jazzy, folksy score deserves to beheard by everyone. (AbhijitNath is an alumnus of IIM, Ahmedabad and works for a private equityfirm. He is a fanatic for any technically challenging music (jazz,classical music, prog-rock and black metal).He knows that this is aterrible bore and that he needs a life, but it seems like he's livingthree already (with apologies to Terry Pratchett). He harbours dreamsof playing for a jazz-rock band someday. It is for this very reasonthat he has opted to rent a house on the Harbour Line.) Regards, Shah Navas
