Hi All, I got Madhav Chari in Chennai to lend his weight to this discussion. Madhav and I are similar, in the sense that--if I was a judge and had to sentence my Dad to hang, and there was no legal way to get him out, then Dad would be on the gallows.
So, in that rigorous spirit, I give you Madhav Chari. --venantius j pinto +++++++++++++++++++++++ To Everyone, When someone makes a statement that Hindi film music owes its existence to say the Goan Catholic, we need to take a step back, and examine this statement first and foremost LOGICALLY. Lets do a thought experiment. HYPOTHETICAL CASE: Hindi film music was an amalgamation of different ideas and concepts, I list down two obvious streams: (1) western classical music, especially the part where one used a symphony or chamber orchestra with horns and strings, and other music forms like jazz which had a reliance on percussion and horns (the jazz element is overt in the case of "Broadway showtune" type Hollywood movies where you have a Fred Astaire dancing or a Gene Kelly singing, and some of these influences came into some Hindi films at least in the period before 1960: you can hear it, you may even see it in the dance or dress code) (2) Indian music forms both tradition based (folk forms and Hindustani, etc) and based on creations occuring in the urban environment Film music is not traditional in the "traditional" sense of Baul music, Sufi music, carnatic or Hindustarni. In fact one differentiating factor in this music is the fact that it has more western instruments participating (even if they are not the main instruments, sometimes they can be when you have a background score with many strings). Suppose you take away the western classical and all western influences in Hindi music: influences from western melodies, harmonies, rhythms, instruments, ways of constructing and conceptualizing music. Here I qualify this: if there is a harmonium player playing in a Rabindrasangeet type way, then I say it is "non-western" even if the instrument is not indigenous to India. So a sax player like Kadri Gopalnath (carnatic) will not count since the sax is being used to do strict Indian music. What I mean is the western instrument used with a predominantly western sensibility (and that applies to most string sections across the country: they do not play only in unison, they play counterpoint and harmony both coming from a western aesthetic, but even the harmony could be modified in the Indian context, but the way in which one conceptualises a string section based on counterpoint and harmony is coming straight from the western classical domain). And suppose bulk of the western instrument players were Goan Catholics, or at least the single dominant group (NOTE: I do not know this for a fact, but this should be easy to find out in general. Its really a numbers game for any given time period). Would you lose defining characteristics of Hindi film music then? This means also losing your string sections, and anyone playing a western horn with a more western aesthetic sensibility (that will apply to Goan jazz players who worked in the films, they were fundamentally musicians playing a western idiom). Take all this out and what are you left with? Now to exponentially understand this, put a recording on and use your ears to isolate the western and non western elements. OK for non musicians it may take time, but get some friend of yours who is a musician or knows one and ask them to help you hear the different details of the music. Trust me, as a music teacher its not that difficult to hear, and you don't need to worry if you are "not gifted" or told that you were "tone deaf" (all these are bogus constructs of the mind, and there are ways to get around certain hearing handicaps). For example, in the case of more modern music like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, rule out blues guitar, keyboard work and string work, western harmonies, and you are left with the vocals of Shankar or some other playback singer, and the lyrics of a Javed Akhtar. What does this sound like? With the right effort with some guidance from a musician friend you can hear this as I mentioned before. If you come to the conclusion that the music has significantly lost its character when you lose the Loy and Ehsaan elements for example, and that an isolated Shankar's voice sounds more like some ghazal or even some carnatic singer, then you have to admit that the Loy and Ehsaan element were essential for the character of the music. Because ghazal by itself or carnatic by itself is not a defining characteristic of Hindi film music. Similarly if you come to the conclusion that dropping the western elements from Hindi film music makes the music lose a significant part of its character, then you will have to logically admit that the western element was essential. So suppose then: (a) the western elements were essential to Hindi film music in one particular time period (b) most of the musicians in the film industry who were used by the industry to bring the western elements into the film score were Goan catholics, or at least a significant percentage of them were Goan catholics. Then the next logical conclusion is that the Goan catholic musicians were indispensable for the Hindi film music at that particular time period. In other word they were absolutely essential for the formation of Hindi film music at that particular time period, and without them the Hindi film music as we know it would not exist, thus the film music owes its existence to the Goan catholic musicians (NOTE: it could also owe its existence to other musicians from other genres of music, even if there were 100 other types of music and 200 other ethnic groups of musicians involved, but that does not negate logically the conclusion that Hindi film music owes its existence to Goan catholics). NOTE: this is a thought experiment, and each hypothetical fact needs to be checked in a rigorous manner. I use a modern example of Ehsaan/Shankar/Loy because I have more familiarity with it and use this example to explain the argument: I personally know the music forms that Loy and Ehsaan are familiar with from many many conversations with them and seeing them play their instruments. Hope this brings some clarity to the discussion, With warm regards, Sincerely, Madhav Chari Jazz Pianist and Composer
