So, I wanted to write about an
interview with the music director, Anandji, which I saw on the TV program, View Asia Uncut - with my comments as
CV. Although he spoke in somewhat broken English, I found his answers very insightful. Read below as he reveals some of the intricacies of music composing, how music evolved in Hindi cinema etc. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed watching.
Note: song no.s are in
italics.Introduction: Anandji has spent half a century in the music business. He was first awarded for his music in Samrat Chandra Gupt (
chahe paas ho chahe door ho..). After that there was no looking back. Then he teamed up with his brother Kalyanji for Madari and then Chaliya (c
haliya mera naam.. ). The duo produced numerous awards and gave several hits like '
apne aage na peeche, na koi oopar neeche, janaab-e-aali' and '
mere desh ki dharti, sona ugle ugle heere moti'. Recently he was recognized and picked up grammy award for his tune been used by a pop band in the US. '
aye naujawan, hai sab kuch yahan, jo chaahe le le khushi to, tauba na kar abhi to .'. The English version is, 'oh no no no dont break my heart....'.
Q. Anandji, what an honor, you are recognized by the western world!
A. Its a great feeling. Its wonderful that our music has reached to the Grammys but I am surprised that they selected a song that was recorded in 1971. Not sure how they selected this song.
CV: It is remarkable how and where they hear (and borrow music from) old hindi songs. More recently, you can hear a lot of hindi songs ring tones specially on english/european cell phones. I think exchange of music (or anything entertainment) either way is a good thing!
Q. Of all the songs you did in your career, this one didn't really stick out as a hit and they picked this song?
A. May be they were searching for something with Indian touch and with western style also. This one was a cabaret no. For the first time you know in a cabaret no., sitar and tabla was used. They must have liked the original beat used for first time in that song, which is now called the hip-hop. Because it was Firozji this kind of rhythm was agreed to - other producers wont agree to this type of combination. Cabaret means piano + tabla or piano + brass. No one would agree to sitar + piano + tabla.
CV: This song is quite unique - I am surprised it was not a hit. And I had not heard it before! So, really, did hip hop start way back then?
Q. When you went to US, did you meet any hip hop composers?
A. They were very happy I came all the way from India to accept my award.
CV: A clip from Grammy event: The grammy announcer says 'here is one of the unique things going on tonite - congratulations Anandji - his song was sampled twice in this record'. On stage Anandji says, "I am a short guy, my brother was tall, you may be tall, but this award has made ME very tall, thank you very much...:).
Many music composers were there, some hip-hop composers, and they asked how you managed to make this kind of work? When they came to know that I have given music in ~250 films, they were shocked. I said we have lots of music in our films, and 4-5 songs in each film! + background music. Oh so you do background also? I said, yes. There is a lot of background music with action, drama etc. They asked good questions. They asked how do you compose music? on piano? I said I never write or sit on piano. Composition comes from mind (and heart).
oooo neend na mujhko aaye, dil mera khabraaye....Q: Almost 50 years in the industry, what made you think you wanted to be a music director?
A: Music was my hobby. As a child I was always pushing his brother to try this music and that..thats how it all started. In those days, I didn't speak English because it was pre-independence era. It was motive for us, we were rejecting English. In metric exam, I wrote: hindi hamari matrabhaasha hai, hamain angrezi seekhne ki koi zaroorat nahin hai, dhanyawad. Thats how I passed....
One day, Pandit Jawaharlal was speaking in English on radio. I asked my father, papa, he is speaking in English, and we are not supposed to do that. Papa said, beta, English people must go, the language will stay. Then he showed a rupee note and said see its written in English first and then in other Indian languages. India is a cosmopolitan state. English will be a common factor between us. Then I started learning English. Then I started reading a popular English magazine, where I learned about this new instrument, which is now called a synthesizer. The first one was London made, and we brought that to India. That could play 30-40 instruments/tones. From that synthesizer tone, the naagin tone in 'Man dole' was played!!
CV: Isnt it amazing that at that time Anandji made naagin tone from a synthesizer, and recently, Kailash Kher used a real been for naagin tone in his
bam lahiri song here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=693YG9J7Y94Q. How does one make music? Is it when driving? when?
A: Most people think that if people know a LOT about music, or know classical music, they can be composers. That you need to have a classical base to be creative. No, it is not like that. For composing there is no need to master any instrument - it has to be an inner thing. In old days, Meera, Tulsi, Kabir, wrote and composed with not much knowledge about music nor did they play any instruments.
Q: In those days, most recordings were live. Was it difficult?
A: In the beginning, we used to record 2 songs in 6 hours. Because the songs were short. Camera was not that developed so it was a fixed session. There was much more emphasis on clothes and expressions. Eg:
Main ban ki chidiya, ban ban ghoomo re....The whole song is just a couple of lines, and the actor doesn't move much through the entire song.
There was no auto-focus and lighting was not so high, exposure was low in camera. Gradually, when trolley started, camera with zoom etc. came then music became lengthy...
Dulhan chali, pahan chali, teen rang ki choli...Q: Did director explain to you when trolley, zoom etc. moves etc?
A: We worked with a few directors and knew their styles - some liked long shots, some close-ups, some angles. Then movie songs went outdoors and drew inspiration from american outdoor shootings etc..so it evolved.
O Mere raja, khafa na hona, der se aaye, door se aayi, majboori thi phir bhi maine waada to nibhaya...Then time came when lots of effect music came - that was another thing - murders, action, somebody jumping from somewhere. We had to think of different sounds for that.
Pyaar zindagi hai, pyaar bandagi hai, yahalla yahalla, oooo, ya alla (lightning sounds). Q: How do you create all these effets? Is it in your head or need to have a good team for background music etc?
A: Of course, its not one person. Rhythm section, specially in background music, is different. Eg: my younger brother, Baabla, is a drummer. He is a good drummer in west indies - he created and played drums in the chutni music there that was very popular.
CV: Trust me, chutni music was actually VERY popular in Brooklyn. I used to listen to this music on local radio in Brooklyn all the time - I may even have some songs recorded in my tape. I didn't know it was Anandji's brother creating that fun music!!
Ek to kam zindagaani, uspe ye kam hai jawani...Then there was slight competition between brothers: Kalyandi-Anandji (2 of them) and Baabla! The way it used to happen is that the director comes with a story with some sad songs, some bhajan, or patriotic. We both composed music for it and the director chose which one he liked...
Waado kar le saajna, tere bina main na rahoon, mere bina tu na rahe, hoke juda, yeh waada raha....After that we wrote songs. We were very much into what was going to be picturised. Suppose, its a dance music then I used to ask, where is it going to be shot? Suppose it is in Simla or Assam, or a plateau region then culture of that region was considered. Then what type of character is singing the song? is it chulbuli or punjabi, assamese? So the kind of music, rhythm would all change.
Na na karte pyaar tumhi se kar baithe....Q: When you make music or certain songs, do you know this one is going to be a hit?
A: See 90% is a yes that it will be a hit. Because you know you have done enough practice. When we created the song, we used to give to the children of our house to see if they like it or not. They had the freedom to reject. Sometimes they didn't know if it was a situational song but other songs like,
mere angane main, pardesiya yeh sach hai piya, they liked them and we knew instantly that these were going to be hit. Others, like mera jeevan kora kagaz, we have created these based on situations.
Mera jeevan kora kagaz, kora hee rah gaya..When you go into microscopic film making, you have a repo with the director. The director trusts you, you trust the director. You know his work, and also the characters. For eg: Amitji is different, he is serious and opens his mouth wide while singing.
Rote hue aate hain sab, hansta hua jo jaayega, woh mukaddar ka sikandar....Then its Rajesh Khanna. He closed his lips while singing. Eg: in
wada tera wada, he sings the entire song with his mouth pretty much closed. So you have to pay attention to those things also.
Dil ko dekho, chehra na dekho, chehre ne laakhon ko loota, dil saccha aur chehra jhootha... CUT! CUT!
If you haven't seen Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth yet, then please make this a priority to watch. This is a serious, responsible movie which will make you think about bringing small changes in your lifestyle that will affect the next generation(s). This is also a great example of how a politician can dedicate so many years of his life to a noble cause (along with a team, of course) and use his power to bring an important issue to common man's attention. I was impressed by Al Gore's scientific understanding, simplistic explanations and illustrations of global warming throughout the movie. I wish there are more people like him who care about our planet and about this world - about us all. And THEN they can win as many noble prizes as they want.
And I will also minimize wearing diamonds and gold. The movie, Blood Diamond, said in a caption at the end that 'insist on diamonds that are conflict-free'. I don't really know how to find that out and how to be 100% sure because in India (where majority of world's diamonds are cut and polished), diamonds come from all over the world; I mean I doubt that they distinguish where they are from really...so, who knows?
