On 7/23/05 11:34 PM India Time, _ST_ wrote:

> Whereas laagaan, bose, rising are more irreplaceable. Partly because
> of the lyrics and accounts of history ingrained into the song, but
> partly also because of its sounds.

let's see.

- Bose's "tanhaa raahii apanii raah chalataa jaayegaa" (with
or without bengali prelogue) can be put in PUKAR creating a
situation that Anil Kapoor reaffirms his own faith in his
honesty and patriotism and sings it in jail.

> Yes some will be possible, many not possible.
> Waltz of romance.. possible in other situations demanding waltz in an
> british presence, but clearly not otherwise.. so couldnt have been
> placed even in bose, or 1947 unless the director made changes to his
> view. And that is an unfair comparison.
> 
> Chale chalo. sure could have replaced kadam karam badhae ja. Whereas
> the contrary is not a good choice because kadam kadam was a unique
> theme of Subhash's army. Still does that mean chale chalo is not
> unique to lagaan. It conveys every possible concept it needs to. The
> anger toward british rule, persevierence to beat the opponent,
> confronting in together in a team etc etc. It just so happens that
> Bose and lagaan had situations very similar and the song could be
> replaced. But that wont go into pukaar or swades.

Sahil, when we are talking about ARR, let's not talk about
film situations (which can be altered to suit the
replacement of songs) nor lyrics (which can be re-written
for new situation). We can talk only about the tune, sounds,
feel of the song.

if lagaan's chale chalo and bose's kadam-kadam badhaye jaa
can be exchanged, that is no big deal because both are
period movies and both set in pre-47 era.

I am saying even further:

- Lagaan's "chale chalo" can be used in Dil Se creating a
situation when Shahrukh goes to the jungles to interview
terrorist leader, he sees group of terrorists getting
trained and singing chale chalo with lyrics altered to suit
the situation.

- same "chale chalo"" of lagaan can be used in Bombay
creating situations during the riots by (a) either rioters
singing it, (b) or, the people grouping themselves against
the rioters sing it.

Again, script and lyrics can be modified, but Bombay or Dil
Se are movies set in 1992-1999, and the same pre-1947 song fits.

> Oo palanhare and ek tuu hii bharosaa, sure. Context is pretty much the
> same. I dont know how much periodness comes into play when one is
> worshiping. I guess the period element in palan hare comes from the
> lytics e.g "bhakti ko shakdi do". "bhagvaan yeh jeevan, tumhe na
> savaro ke.." What I find amazing here is how well the melody fits
> those lyrics. So indirectly it does contain period elements doesnt it.

I personally feel that "ek tuu hii bharosa" of pukar has a
more "old" feel than "o palanhaare" of lagaan. I feel that
songs should really havc been exchanged in these films.

And that again brings me back to the understanding of
"period" sounds that ARR has.

> Megha song.. no way wont replace anything!
> 
> Mahive Mahive from LOBS.. with some modification could be placed in
> other period/non period situations. But not as it is, the tabla beats
> in the background are too reminiscent of the olden era. Ofcourse they
> probably dont resemble anythign of that time, it just creates that
> feeling.

Exactly. That type of sounds should be used more and more.
That are what create the feel.

But, there is another aspect of it. Both mahive and Jogiya
are very sweet and voices were very fresh. The overall feel
of these two songs is same as saathiyaa's "chupke se" and
meenaxi's "ra.ng hai". So, there disappears the "period" feel.

> Yesterday I downloaded mughal-e-azam songs as I hadnt heard them in a
> loooong time. Naushad has a great talent, ARR possibly has some
> resemblance of naushad's style of composing tunes out of notes. (I
> didnt say melody ). After listening to them few times I'm of the view
> that, to me, Mughal-e-Azam wont last for more than couple of hearings.
> It is just not attractive for this era. Should ARR compose anything of
> that (even with modern day reccording technology) it wont last even as
> long as what he actually releases. 

ha ha ha.

Dear Sahil,

Now I have got you, as they say, lock-stock-and-barrel.

What you said above is EXACTLY, VERBATIM, DITTO, the same as
what was said about those persons who felt disappointed with
Rising and Aa Aah in first hearings.

So there. What gives?

> Do you tell me Mughal-e-Azam does not have traits of 1960?? ( which is
> when it was released I think) I dont know 1960s music well, but that
> what it appears to me as initially.

In one mail, I had listed some dozen films of 1960-63.
Anyone knowing of the songs in these films would know how
different MEA sounds was from those songs.

In another mail, I had listed some dozen songs of these
films which just won't fit MEA feel, and MEA wouldn't fit
any of these movies.

MEA had heavy instruments, loud voices, high bass, low
treble. That is what has come to be recognised as the
signature of Mughal era.

The logic could be that people in those eras were hardly
self-aware. They didn't know modern concepts like freedom,
self-dependence, self-sufficiency. They were not knowing any
of the latest psychological definitions, nor do they know
Eric Berne's games people play.

I am not saying that people were not honest and sincere.
They were more so compared to today's people, but they were
not consciously aware of these concepts. They were living
these concepts without knowing them.

Thus, the interactions among them was spontaneous. They
spoke their minds without giving long thoughts of possible
misinterpretations, living up to their images, etc. Thus,
they used to start singing without any elaborate situations,
they spoke louder, the entire feel goes to be loud and heavy
instrumentation bringing bass.

Which are the "period" songs of ARR in which he had used
heavy instrumentations, loud voices, high bass, low trebble.

On the contrary, most of the ARR songs are high trebble and
low bass. That is the mastery ARR has, and he did use it
even in period sounds, without thinking about mental makeup
and profiles of people of that era.

> "period" feel of these songs.
> to me, over the time, the songs get ingrained into the movie. When I
> hear lagaan songs it will remind me of scenes from the movie, or give
> me some other feel that I had attatched most to that tune, but doesnt
> replace with modern day style feel.

Once we have seen the movie, our appraisal of the music gets
affected by the script, visuals. That is why rukhi sukhi
roti of naayak, that people had decried so much before the
release of the film, was loved so much after people saw its
visuals. But, that means Shankar is great, nor ARR.

Similarly, if Ashutosh could bring a "old" feel in Lagaan,
or Benegal could bring an "old" feel in Zubaidaa or in Bose,
it is their mastery. I would say that they did not get much
help from ARR.

>>If ARR changes those sounds to push some new sounds,
>>people might not digest it, and music and film will flop.
> 
> Not. Lagaan songs did not flop. Earth 1947 did not flop (atleast among
> the audience I know of)

Lagaan music became hit just like Dil Se and Bombay and Taal
music became hit, in spite of NOT being a period musics.

> How do you know the director is not to be blamed for that? Do you
> really think any music director in his right mind would palce a voice
> of a little kid for a 30 something old lady? Sounds like
> miscommunicaiton of scenario from director to ARR.

First I don't think a lullaby in BOSE can give rise to any
miscommunication. There were not many females in the movie,
and, if ARR was not told, didn't he himself became curious
as to who could be the female singing the song on screen.

Anyway, only ARR can shed some light on that.

>>but he agains comes us with songs like "dhaka lagaa bukaa"
>>and "shazaade nikale" which make peole remind of earlier
>>days and they switch their minds off from ARR.
> 
> Agree. You're reading my mind too.

I am sure that several group members would come up with
"these two were excellent songs, and i liked this, I liked
that, I liked both" comments.

But, a good song/ tune is no excuse for using poor lyrics.
And ARR has does it often to use ugly, deplorable lyrics in
his several songs. He could have used better lyrics. I don't
think anyone else (director/producer) has any say in that.
Lyrics are what MD finalises.

> How can you say the blame is not on people??
> 
> I'm sure he understands. The differene is not in musical culture of
> AR, i was talking about the audience. Sure some hit tamil film songs
> have been a success in the north, and many have not! If the
> demographics were the same most albums that were a hit in the south
> would be a hit in the north and vice versa, but the deviation is too
> large. He can give the audience another taal or dil se or rangeela.
> But thats not himi, he doesnt repeat themes. He keeps experimenting
> and inventing.. I guess thats his passion.
> If people oppose that because they dont understant the depth of his
> work then, to me, it clearly is people's fault not the composer.

history tells that people are willing to love his music. And
he has capability to come up with such music again and again.

Putting the blame on people is like blaming you for not
liking MEA as you said above.

If ARR can't come up with DilSe++, Taal++, Rangeelaa++, it
is like saying that Dil Se, Taal, Rangeelaa were flukes. I
don't think they were.

> Sure if it were a plain business of selling (where the aim is solely
> to make more money) then one would want to create the product as
> simple as possible so that majority of the users can manage to deal
> with it.  Thats not the same in this case. Music has spiritual and
> emotional aspect to it, it is a creative art not just a business.
> 
> I agree with your theory abotu public not carrying hi-fi systems
> necessary to see the real deal behind AR's sounds. But I dont think
> that is entirely to blame. Actually, I thought most people in india
> had upgraded to somethign reasonable sounding.. but I may be out of
> touch. And you tell me the critics who write these reviews dont have
> hi-fi systems either??? 

In your last mail, you had written "I stopped listening to
critics long time ago". I think we should leave it upto
that. Critics are professional and they have to earn a
living by writing reviews. That must be affecting what they
write.

But, as everyone agrees that ARR's music grows on listeners,
doesn't that itself say that any review published within
hours of music getting released is premature as the music
could not have grown on the critic.

:) Read only those reviews which are published after at
least a fortnight of release of ARR's new music.

> Actualyl there are ample people who do have
> appropriate means to listen to his sounds yet dont end up
> understanding to its depth. There are people like that in india and
> there are indian people like that outside of india. 
> 
> I dont think AR shoudl compromise his style, his genius, and his
> passion to suit the bulk of the crowd. 

not "compormise", but "improve". He should take a notice of
the feedback and incorporate at least some which he himself
finds genuine suggestions.

ARR is in commercial world. He has to take into account the
flow of the market.

> He has been a musical
> revolutionary since Roja, and he should stay that way. On some
> occaison it ends up being attractive on the surface too, and people
> cheer that.

His those music that were attractive on surface "too", were
not a compromise on contents. That is what I am saying. He
should mandatorily make his music have enough attractiveness
of surface "too".

> No one can please everyone! Not even God!

God doesn't need Roti, Kapda, Makaan. ARR does. Hence ARR
should not present God's way of living as an excuse. :)

> If he chose to adopt a style that pelases one crowd, he would lose out
> on another. 

Which crowd was displeased with Taal?

> It is best that he stick to what is natural to him, to me
> thats where his brilliance lies.
> He does not need to please the bulk of the crowd to be called a
> genius. 

You are unnecessarily mixing "popularity" with "compromise".
ARR had been popular without compromising.

> The blame is on the people.

Let ARR say that "The blame is on the people."

Thanks for the reply and wonderful thoughts.
-- 
Rawat







This August, Discover the Birth of Your Independence
and The Magic of A.R.Rahman's Music in 
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