I have always wondered why the melody has more or less vanished from our film music now, barring infrequent exceptions here and there. I am not necessarily wallowing in nostalgia, completely ignoring the good parts contemporary music. However, it is probably irrefutable that melody is conspicuous by its absence in a majority of the film songs belted out today. While some wonder why this is so in spite of the arrival of many more talented singers and music directors---courtesy the plethora of music related TV shows and the availability of highly sophisticated technology, others would blame precisely the same phenomena for the degeneration in our music today. It is indeed a fact that most film music directors and playback singers (in their stage shows) are driven by the market to cater to the overwhelmingly loud and noisy musical tastes of today's youth, majority of whom care more for beat and techno-frenzy rather than melody. Sad, but true. The only hope is that as their hair grey gradually and people grow old, the same segment will probably opt to listen to the older and more melodious film music from the earlier era!!
In my view, one of the primary reasons for the drastic change in the type of film music we get these days is that in a very oxymoronic sense, music has become highly `visual' today. Let me explain that. 30, 40 years back, all we had was the radio with lovely programmes like Binaca Geetmala, Radio Ceylon and Vividh Bharathi and the cassette tapes; all we could pay attention to and enjoy were the melodious tunes in fantastic voices. There was no compulsion for anyone to be distracted by what is going on the the TV screen all day long.
Compare that with today's scenario. Almost 2 months before a movie comes out, the song is `seen' on TV - some 20 times a day in various channels. And today's youth prefer to `watch' music, which means the less than artistic thrusts and jerks that stand for `dance' today, which is supposed to be an accompanying feature for the song, has indeed become the priority rather than the actual melody in the music. It is a clear case of the tail wagging the dog!! This shift to watching music videos than listening to songs, as an everyday habit, has damaged the music scene irreparably, in my opinion. Unless there is a mindset shift and a majority of the people openly express the desire to go back to genuinely 'listening' to songs and look for the melody therein, I am pessimistic of a change for the better. We just have to settle for the `compromise' some music directors make to assuage their own artistic conscience by inserting one or two reasonably good, melody-based songs in a movie otherwise replete with loud, thumping music with violent physical movements of some 50-60 energetic youngsters.
The above also explains why sub-optimal voices and talents are masquerading as play back
singers today and are able to get away by screeching through a 4-5 minute rendition of some gibberish (very rarely one can understand the lyrics and when one does, one is invariably shocked and bemused!!) in the name of a song. This is not to say there are no good singers or songs today; just that the frequency of their surfacing for our benefit has become less and less.
I am sure that genuinely artistic music directors and playback singers feel pretty awful about the state of affairs. I hope they get to fulfill their artistic ambitions, at least in the gaps between the loud and popular numbers!
In my view, one of the primary reasons for the drastic change in the type of film music we get these days is that in a very oxymoronic sense, music has become highly `visual' today. Let me explain that. 30, 40 years back, all we had was the radio with lovely programmes like Binaca Geetmala, Radio Ceylon and Vividh Bharathi and the cassette tapes; all we could pay attention to and enjoy were the melodious tunes in fantastic voices. There was no compulsion for anyone to be distracted by what is going on the the TV screen all day long.
Compare that with today's scenario. Almost 2 months before a movie comes out, the song is `seen' on TV - some 20 times a day in various channels. And today's youth prefer to `watch' music, which means the less than artistic thrusts and jerks that stand for `dance' today, which is supposed to be an accompanying feature for the song, has indeed become the priority rather than the actual melody in the music. It is a clear case of the tail wagging the dog!! This shift to watching music videos than listening to songs, as an everyday habit, has damaged the music scene irreparably, in my opinion. Unless there is a mindset shift and a majority of the people openly express the desire to go back to genuinely 'listening' to songs and look for the melody therein, I am pessimistic of a change for the better. We just have to settle for the `compromise' some music directors make to assuage their own artistic conscience by inserting one or two reasonably good, melody-based songs in a movie otherwise replete with loud, thumping music with violent physical movements of some 50-60 energetic youngsters.
The above also explains why sub-optimal voices and talents are masquerading as play back
singers today and are able to get away by screeching through a 4-5 minute rendition of some gibberish (very rarely one can understand the lyrics and when one does, one is invariably shocked and bemused!!) in the name of a song. This is not to say there are no good singers or songs today; just that the frequency of their surfacing for our benefit has become less and less.
I am sure that genuinely artistic music directors and playback singers feel pretty awful about the state of affairs. I hope they get to fulfill their artistic ambitions, at least in the gaps between the loud and popular numbers!
2 comments:
Great piece - especially liked the reference to 'people like to watch the music now than hear it'. Very true!
Just to give an alternate view - i have always wondered whats the difference between the music of the 60s/70s and the music of today. Is it true that there is no melody today? I dont have the numbers but I think more than melody its to do with recall value. Most of us (in our gen) have grown up listening to rafi and kishore and their ilk - therefore they tend to stay with us. Our kids have grown up with listening to sonu nigam and rahet fateh ali khan. When they grow up - would they still be listening to kishore and rafi - i dont think so. So i think there is a definite bias we have towards what our childhood was based on. I daresay that anything that triggers childhood memories is well....unforgettable.
Coming to melody or lack of it - lets take a look at last 2 decades:
Ae ajnabi tu hai kahin - dil se
dil hai ki maantha nahin - title song
yeh jo des hai mera - swades
luka chupi - rang de basanti
songs from zakhm, chalte chalte and most srk/aamir movies, the new gen with fateh ali khan and the pakistani singers - there is lots and lots of melody to choose from.
But to me the standout fact is in yesteryears - you could listen to almost all songs of kishore or rafi or lata. Today there is 20% melody, 20% dance/music based and 60% crap from all the singers. So i think the perception is that melody is lost.
and for posting on such a great topic - here is an equally great song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TehJFYrDFJw
cheers
Interesting read.. I could easily make an inference to the Indian subscriber base for "Worldspace". Indian subscriber base "was" the largest subscriber base for Worldspace before it was shutdown. I'm sure predominant of the worldspace subscribers belong to the category of those who would love to listen than watch music !! :)
I'm one who's not too much into music and films. however, my observation has been that the general film industry has moved away from a strong and a unique story line. A movie with a strong story line with great music invariably gets good response in the market. For instance : Safarosh, Chak De, Mungaru male, Iqbal, etc.
The success of such movies pushes the industry to emulate the story line without focus on music. Most movies introduce music as a filler rather than based on the need to have them. So, I think there is bound to be degradation in quality and hence the perception that melody in music is a thing of the past.
Cheers, Pp
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