In Memory: Gippy Grewal and "Chamkila"

Todays random tune is by Punjabi Indian actor, singer, songwriter and film director Rupinder Singh "Gippy" Grewal. Known for his Punjabi songs, Grewal made his music debut in 2002 and has released ten albums with an eleventh in production. In 2010, he made his film debut in a Punjabi film and his Bollywood debut in 2015. He has also directed two films. You can find this song, Chamkila, on his 2016 album Desi Rockstar 2. He is accompanied on the song by DJ Flow, a Punjabi DJ and music producer based in Italy. Chamkila is a tribute to the famous Punjabi singer-songwriter, musician and composer Amar Singh Chamkila. Chamkila and his wife were gunned down by a gang of youths in 1988 as they arrived for a performance, spawning numerous conspiracy theories.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gippy_Grewal

Could Elvis Sing This?: Aki Kumar and "Eena Meena Deeka"

Our random tune for today is called Eena Meena Deeka, and is performed by Aki Kumar, an Indian-born blues musician now living in San Jose, California. Aki Kumar moved from Mumbai to Oklahoma City in 1998 to study computer science. He finished out his degree at San Jose State University and worked at Adobe. However, he had also studied keyboards and harmonica and listened to Bollywood music and US "oldies" music while growing up in India. After moving to the Bay Area, he got turned on to the blues after going to blues bars and nightclubs, and he eventually joined a band playing harmonica. When Adobe closed his department, he decided to concentrate full time on a career in music, and quickly found a niche blending Bollywood music with the blues. He has released three albums. Eena Meena Deeka can be found on his 2016 album Aki Kumar Goes to Bollywood. The song is a Hindi song from the 1957 Bollywood film Aasha, and is considered the first rock and roll song used in a Bollywood movie. One version of the song in the movie is sung by the great playback singer Asha Bhosle, and another version is sung by another great playback singer, Kishore Kumar. The song was inspired by the children's game Eeny Meeny Miney Moe.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Kumar; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eena_Meena_Deeka_(song)

Stealing Hearts: Asha Bhosle and "Le Gayi"

A Bollywood legend sings today's song, called Le Gayi from the movie Dil To Pagal Hai (1997). The singer is Asha Bhosle, one of the most famous Indian playback singers of all time. Over her seven decade career, she has sung for over 1000 Bollywood films, though she also has a wider repertoire which include pop, ghazals, bhajans, Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalis and Rabinda Sangeets. She herself has estimated that she has sung over 12,000 songs in her lifetime, in over 20 languages, and the Guinness Book of World Records has said that she is the most recorded artist of all time. Interestingly enough, though she has sung for so many movies, she made her acting debut in 2013 in the movie Mai where she gained critical acclaim. The song describes first seeing the person who takes one's heart away. We've included two videos - the first is Asha Bhosle singing the song for a television show.  It is apparently blocked from being shown on Blogger but clicking on the video it will allow you to go to YouTube to see it.  The second is the production number from the movie with an actress lip-syncing to Asha Bhosle.

Arun Almighty: God Tussi Great Ho soundtrack and "Tujhe Aksa Beach Ghuma Du"

Straight outta Bollywood comes this random tune for the day. Tujhe Aksa Beach Ghuma Du is from the 2008 movie God Tussi Great Ho, a flop at the Indian box office but moderately successful on home video. Starring Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Sohail Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, it is the story of a man named Arun who wants to win the love of a woman he works with named Alia, but as things don't go his way, he blames God and claims he can do better. God grants all his powers to Arun for 10 days to see if he can prove himself. Arun first makes things better for himself, but God intervenes and chastises him. After listening to prayers, Arun decides it is too time consuming, and grants everyone's wish, thereby losing Alia to a rival. God steps in and gives the chastened Arun a do-over in life, and as expected, he wins Alia. If this sounds like an Indian version of the Jim Carrey film Bruce Almighty, the similarities have been noted by critics. Tujhe Aksa Beach Ghuma Du is sung by playback singers Wajid and Amrita Kak. You can find it on the God Tussi Great Ho soundtrack (2008)

Coming Back to Life: Rahul Saxena, Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Udit Narayan with "Deewangi Deewangi"

Our random tune for today, Deewangi Deewangi, is from the soundtrack to the Bollywood production Om Shanti Omhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_Shanti_Om, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone with the playback singing by Rahul Saxena, Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Sunidhi Chauhan and Udit Narayan. Actually, in this video of the song from the movie, over 30 current Indian Hindi film stars make cameos and perform with the main stars. The movie is a supernatural romantic film set in Bollywood in the 1970s and in the 2000s. Whenever I (Mike) see a Bollywood video like this, I often wish my life were like a Bollywood musical - beautiful women and handsome men, tragedy and comedy, all mixed with great production numbers. You can find Deewangi Deewangi on the Om Shanti Om soundtrack (2008).

Rags to Riches: A.R. Rahman et.al. and "Jai Ho"

A hit movie set in India gives us the random song today, which you've probably heard many times. Jai Ho is from the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Academy Awards in 2008. The song is composed by A.R. Rahman and vocalized by Sukhwinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Vijay Prakash. A.R. Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, musician whose work is known for its integration of Eastern classical music and electronica, world music and traditional orchestral arrangements. Sukhwinder Singh is an award winning Indian Bollywood playback singer, as is Tanvi Shah - she sings in multiple languages and is a frequent collaborator with Rahman. Mahalakshmi Iyer is also a playback singer with a repertoire in multiple Indian languages. Vijay Prakash is also a playback singer responsible for the numerous high pitches in Jai Ho. You can find Jai Ho on the soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire, released in 2008 and re-released for download in 2013.

A Story of Brothers Three: Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam with "Pyar Ka Matlab"

Today's random tune is from a Bollywood movie, and is entitled Pyar Ka Matlab. It is from a movie, Om Jai Jagdish, which is about three brothers with very different values who become estranged from each other. The playback singers who voice this song are Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. Yagnik, a classically trained singer, has had a three decade career singing for Bollywood films and has won many awards for her singing roles in films. Udit Narayan is a Nepalese playback singer and current resident of Mumbai who has had featured singing roles in both Nepali and Indian films. Sonu Nigam is an Indian playback singer who is also one of the highest paid of Indian singers. He has also hosted TV variety shows. You can find Pyar Ka Matlab on the soundtrack for Om Jai Jagdish (2002).

Keeping House: Bollywood Movie Om Jai Jagadish and "Pyar Ka Matlab"

Bollywood movies are often hard to write about in this blog because there's so much to them. There are the stars of the movie, who appear to be singing in the videos, and yet they aren't. Instead, there are playback singers. So what do I focus on? In most cases, I should focus on the playback singers because they are providing the music but I cannot completely ignore the stars and I have to put the video in the context of the wider movie.

So first I will give you an idea of the plot of the movie. Om Jai Jagadish is the story of three brothers named Om, Jai and Jagadish. They live with their mother, a widow, in a house. Each of the brothers have very different personalities. Om stays at home and provides the family with its income. Jai is ambitious and plans to create the world's fastest car, and his engineering education is paid for by Om who takes out a loan to do so. Jagadish is in college and great with computers.

The brothers have a clash of values. All of them marry women with very different values and goals as well. Om marries an Indian MTV VJ and Jai marries a wealthy woman. Jai is in love with a woman from another city, Bangalore. Jai and Om clash, and soon Jai moves to America. Jagadish gets in trouble for hacking and Om throws him out of the house. Om has trouble paying the house loan, and he and his wife and mother have to leave the house. This leads to a reunion of the brothers as they end up pooling their money to buy the house back. They are too short of money, but Jagadish had sold an anti-hacking program to a CEO of a company who turned in the winning bid for the house. Jagadish had made a deal with the CEO, selling the program for the price of the house. The brothers are now free to move back into the house together.

How do I relate to this?  There are elements to this plot that I can identify with.  My mother is widowed, and instead of two brothers I have two sisters.  There is some dysfunction in my family.  My youngest sister is staying home with my mom, balancing her life and relationship with the needs of my elderly mother.  My other sister is pursuing her own life and she and I are currently estranged for a variety of reasons.  I live far away and also try to pursue my own life even as I try to be responsible to my mom.  There is no danger that she will lose her house, as it is paid for.  But I just bought a house, my first, and so there is always that concern in the back of the mind of keeping a job to pay for the house, and any little change, such as my wife deciding to go half-time at work and make up some of the lost income through freelance work causes some stress and involves a lot of talking.

The three brothers are played by Anil Kapoor, Fardeen Khan and Abhishek Bachchan.  The playback singers on Pyar Ka Matlab are Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Udit Narayan, and Sonu Niigaam.  I discussed playback singing on an earlier post - essentially the stars in a Bollywood movie usually do not sing - their singing parts are voiced by professional playback singers who are often stars in their own right.  I didn't get much information on how well Om Jai Jagadish did at the box office or any critical reviews, so I'll just leave this post at that and let you enjoy the music and the video.

Honest Fakery: Playback Singing in "Ainvayi Ainvayi"

I remember when the biggest scandal in American music was the Milli Vanilli lip-synching controversy. For those of you too young to remember, Milli Vanilli was a pop and R&B group in the late 1980s and early 1990s who won a Grammy for their first album only to be outed as frauds when a Los Angeles Times journalist reported that the voices on the album weren't those of band members Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, but different singers. The Grammy was withdrawn and Milli Vanilli faded into obscurity.

I once had an argument with a German friend of mine in the early 1990s. She told me that Robin Williams was her favorite actor at the time. She cited his humor and acting skills. However, I learned that American movies in Germany were usually dubbed into German. Specific voice actors would be attached to an American star, so that Robin Williams voice was always dubbed by the same German voice actor. I asked my friend if Robin Williams was her favorite actor, or the German voice actor who dubbed him. She insisted that it was Robin Williams. "But how do you know?" I asked. She continued to insist that it was Robin Williams she liked, even as she admitted his voice was dubbed by someone else.

Indian movies often bring me back to this argument, because lip-synching is common. It is rare in Indian movies for the stars to sing their own songs. A whole industry has risen around the need to dub actors in Bollywood movies...that of the playback singer. A playback singer is a singer that dubs for Indian actors in song and dance numbers, and many playback singers have become stars in their own right. One of the most famous playback singers is Asha Bhosle - a song paying homage to her, A Brimful of Asha, became Fatboy Slim's breakout hit.

Of course, one might argue that in today's pop climate of auto-tuning, where a person with marginal singing skills can become a star thanks to digital manipulation, and where lip-synching is common in pop concerts, who really cares if one's voice might not be one's own. What I like about the Indian take is that it is upfront and acknowledged. There is no attempt to deceive. But if I listen to the landscape of American pop, I always have to wonder if that is truly the voice of the person I hear singing, or an electronically manipulated facsimile.

Today's song is joyfully, gleefully the product of playback singing. Ainvayi Ainvayi is a song and dance number from the 2010 Bollywood movie Band Baaja Baaraat (translation: Bands, Horns and Revelry). It is a romantic comedy about a woman who dreams of being a wedding planner, and a man who dreams of her and who goes into wedding planning to be near her. The film stars Anushka Sharma as the female lead, and Ranveer Singh, who had no prior acting or movie experience, as the male lead. The playback singing on this number is performed by Salim Merchant and Sunidhi Chauhan. The film garnered many positive reviews and awards, and did very well at the box office. The song is a fast paced and uptempo dance number, with some rock flourishes, and a lot of energy by both playback singers and stars.

Bollywood Dreams: The Dirty Picture's Ooh La La

I can't really believe this, but I've never seen a Bollywood movie all the way through.

My wife has seen plenty of them. She traveled in India for a month in the late 1990s, and therefore got a chance to experience Bollywood movies in Indian movie theaters - without subtitles or dubbing mind you. She really enjoyed them, and partly because they often are laid out in a formulaic way so that there is no mistaking what is happening in various parts of a Bollywood movie. And there are always the entertaining song and dance numbers. Some conventions you just know will happen - there will be no kissing so when it appears that a kiss is inevitable, suddenly the cast will break out in song. There will always be a moral, such as a rebellious woman will either be tamed by marriage or tamed by death.

I've seen movies by Indian directors, and movies about India. I've seen Slumdog Millionaire and many Mira Nair films and Deepa Mehta's Indian trilogy, but never an honest-to-God Bollywood spectacular.

But I've seen plenty of Bollywood numbers on video. In 1998 I traveled to Bangladesh and lived there for a month. Bangladeshi Television had one channel, so the rest of their television airwaves was flooded by Indian channels. One of the favorites was Indian MTV, and the videos shown on that channel were always song and dance numbers culled from Bollywood movies. I must say that I really enjoy watching them. The newer movies have music that ranges from electronica to driving percussion, and yet still that Indian sound anchored usually by a back and forth between a woman and a man in voices that sound like they could be wailing but are technically doing quite a lot. The dances always involve a lot of personnel, color, costumes and flirtatious glances between the two principles.

Today's video is a song called Ooh La La, and it is from a 2011 Bollywood production called The Dirty Picture. The movie is morality tale based on the life of a South Indian actress named Silk Smitha. Smitha died in 1996 at the age of 36, but she became one of the most sought-after Indian erotic actresses in history. She was apparently an accomplished actress and her non-erotic roles landed her critical acclaim, but because of her looks and her erotic success she was typecast into what some Indians considered "soft porn;" such roles often had her playing a secret agent wearing skimpy bikinis and beating up large, thuggish men. She had incredible audience-drawing power, such that one critic remarked that a film could be sold by the addition of a Smitha song. After trying to break into film production, and suffering financial problems, she apparently fell into depression, and her death at 36 is suspected to have been suicide by hanging.  

The Dirty Picture follows the life of an actress named Silk who breaks into movies by adding sex and spice, much to the chagrin of director who is saddled with her. She also has numerous affairs with men, and in the ends up an alcoholic chain smoker with many debts who is reduced to doing a porn film. Like the Silk of real life, she commits suicide at the end of the film. A sad tale to be sure, but what would such movies be without some drama, and part of the Bollywood formula is drama. I will have to make sure I see one to the end, and soon.