CULTURE L17SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2011 ° WWW.LIVEMINT.COM
LOUNGE
A LIFE IN MUSIC
Going by the number of invitations to book launches thatone receives these days, it would seem that every other
Indian has taken to authoring books, publishing and launchingthem in style. Despite all this prolific literary activity, it doesseem a pity that the stylish launches, the invitation cards, thenewsletters and the publicity are largely reserved only forbooks written in English, and not for writing in Hindi and otherIndian languages. What a pity then that some wonderfulwriting never gets due attention or, at best, is noticed only insome circles. Add to this the problem of sourcing and buyingbooks in Hindi. It requires a fair amount of dedicatedinvestigation to discover where one can buy books written inlanguages other than English, or even if they can be orderedonline. Books on music are even more difficult to come by andperhaps that is why I missed out on acquiring a copy of SharadDutt’s extensively researched and brilliant biographical workon the life and music of veteran music director Anil Biswas,titled Ritu Aaye Ritu Jaaye.
Fortunately for me, some well-meaning spammer forwarded anannouncement about the book on email a while back and I wasable to buy a copy. This is the second edition of the book,released after the demise of Biswas on 31 May 2003. Dutt, anacclaimed figure in the world of media and broadcasting, shared aclose association with Biswas, whom he first met when the authorjoined Doordarshan and was allotted a room adjoining that of thecomposer. Biswas was, at the time, director of the nationalorchestra at Akashvani. But greatly in awe of the renowned musicdirector, Dutt struck a rapport with Biswas only in 1976, duringthe making of a Doordarshan programme on singer Mukesh, whodied in August 1976. Over the years the two grew close, and Duttoften urged Biswas (whose literary bent of mind manifested itselfin the writing of song lyrics and poems in Bengali) to pen hisautobiography. Biswasturned the tables on Duttby declaring that if at all hislife was to be documented,it was not for him to do sohimself, and that heconsidered Dutt a suitablecandidate for the job! Thusbegan an extended series ofdiscussions and chatsessions where Biswasshared his memories withDutt, who captured themon tape. The sessionsresulted in approximately60 memory-packed hours ofrecorded material, whichprovided Dutt with theingredients that went intothe making of Ritu AayeRitu Jaaye.
What draws me to thebook is that despite the author’s obvious and abundantadmiration and deep respect for Biswas, he does not turn himinto a mythical figure with wings, or a demi-god, as oftenhappens in books on Indian musicians. We meet Anil Biswas, thehuman, albeit an extraordinary one whose enormouscontribution to the world of Hindi film music commandsreverence and immense admiration. An added bonus that Duttgifts to his readers is comprehensive and easy-to-refer-to lists ofhis work as a music director and composer, the singers heworked with, Biswas’ Bengali adaptations of his favourite Urdupoetry from the works of Hazrat Amir Khusrau, Mir Taqi Mir andothers, and even translations of articles written by Biswasoriginally in Bengali, on themes such as the ghazal, orchestralmusic and music for ballets. Thank you, Mr Dutt, for sharingwith us the world of Anil Biswas.
Write to Shubha at [email protected]
MUSIC MATTERSSHUBHA MUDGAL
MUSIC
Studio effects
movies. But Coke Studio@MTVc h o o s e s n o t t o d r a w a l i n ebetween itself and an industryoften accused of crushing the lifeout of the independent artistes itchooses not to swallow whole.
Leslie Lewis, the show’s musicaldirector, is keenly aware of this.“When ‘Indipop’ began in the1990s, it took seven or eight yearsto pick up. The Yaaron Dosti (hissong, with KK, recorded for indiefilm Rockford) phase was onething. Colonial Cousins (his projectwith Hariharan) was totally differ-ent; by this time people were say-ing they had heard music before,but never like this.”
But Lewis’ success apart, thatscene began to repeat some of Bol-lywood’s own mistakes—prizingsaleability over talent, creating alandslide (in the closing years ofthe 1990s) of poor products. Bolly-wood eventually overwhelmed afledgling recording industry ofnon-film music.
In collaborating with the show’sother artistes, and performinghimself (he and Hariharan willhave a Colonial Cousins set), Lewishas lost months of sleep, but founda whole new groove.
Independent music is increas-ingly popular, finding new venuesand audiences in English andHindi as well as, in a limited way,in other languages. But Coke Stu-dio@MTV may be the first product
built on a scale that begins toapproximate film music’s mam-moth reach.
“I think this might widenMTV’s target group like nothingelse has,” Swamy says. “We’re notthinking 15-25 (years) here, it’sprobably 15-75.” He says thechannel is “not looking at num-bers” for the show’s audience.
I n I n d i a , w h e r e S h a f q a tAmanat Ali is perhaps bestknown for singing film hits suchas Mitwa (from 2006’s Kabhi Alv-ida Naa Kehna), the show willbring an Indian audience closerto the performer who, on Pakis-tan’s Coke Studio, reworked theenchanting Hindustani “lightclassical” sound of Khamaaj andAankhon Kay Saagar, his earlyhits with his band Fuzon. It willlay down classic blues guitarlines behind Mahadevan andKhogen Da’s voices, and havethe folksy Kher improvising asper Lewis’ jazz sensibilities.
Seen one way, it could be anenormous project of reconcilia-tion—to bring the Sunidhi Chau-han fans to the Wadali brothers,and Wadali enthusiasts to Chau-han, and bring both these audi-ences to music in “Kannada,Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil—a hostof languages”, as Swamy says. Fora generation of listeners who maynot remember Mile sur meratumhaara, MTV is looking to rec-reate the idea of an India con-nected by its music.
“Everyone’s always asking,what’s new? What’s next? What elseafter Bollywood?” Lewis says. “So,you know, here you go. This is agreat starting point for what’s next.”
Coke Studio@MTV will air onMTV starting 17 June, every Fridaya t 7 p m . F o r d e t a i l s , f o l l o wwww.fb.me/cokestudioatmtv
On a good note: Anil Biswas.
COURTESY SAARANSH PUBLICATIONS
‘Coke Studio@MTV’wants to recreatean India united bymusic, but can itboost the independent music scene?
B Y S U P R I Y A N A I R
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When the heat rises acrossthe subcontinent, a largepart of its population,
across borders, greets the new sea-son of Coke Studio with the rap-ture usually reserved for thunder-clouds in late summer. Since 2008,this Pakistani television show hasbrought together classical, folk andpop musicians to create newsounds out of Pakistan’s old anddiverse traditions, and acquired aformidable army of Indian andexpatriate fans around the world.
Some of its extraordinary appealcould be gleaned, perhaps, in thejoy with which MTV began record-ing the Indian edition of the showin April. As producers and execu-tives greeted each other, therefrain, “We did it!”, echoedaround the sets.
“We’ve been thinking about thisfor years,” says Aditya Swamy,channel head, MTV India. Monthsof scouting for performers acrossIndia, of a gruelling schedule ofcollaboration and practice, of daysand nights of recording have nowcome together.
On Coke Studio’s signatureblack and red set, with no interrup-tions from anchors, judges or audi-ence, Sunidhi Chauhan recordswith the stalwart Wadali brothers.Assamese folk superstar Khogen
D a s i n g s w i t h S h a n k a rMahadevan. Classical singer Bom-bay Jayashri jams with ChinnaPonnu, perhaps best known out-side Tamil Nadu for the folkanthem Nakku Mukka.
“We want the Kashmir-to-Kan-yakumari experience for listeners,”Swamy says.
Pakistan’s Coke Studio rein-vented the pop-folk crossover. Asteen pop icons sang the poetry ofBulleh Shah and Waris Shah, andStrings re-recorded their monster-hit Duur accompanied by the clas-sical stylings of Ustad HussainBaksh Gullo, it seemed like awholly new musical idiom wasemerging; slick and easy on theear, but without the limitations of ashallow remix.
In a country where recordedmusic was failing to keep up withpiracy and the concert sceneincreasingly threatened by secu-rity concerns, a TV show that wasall music and offered, moreover,free downloads of every song andepisode on the Internet, becamea phenomenon.
In India, the behemoth of Bol-lywood music already offers aplatform, warts and all, for thecrossover sound. Vocalists suchas Kailash Kher and Kavita Seth,for example, are already wellknown for bringing their Sufi-in-spired music to the increasinglydiverse soundtracks of Hindi
Q&A | RAGHU DIXIT
‘I still get free auto rides’
B Y K R I S H R A G H A V
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On 24 June, over 50,000 peoplewill watch singer Raghu Dixit
and his band take over theprestigious John Peel stage at theGlastonbury music festival in theUK, playing an hour-long set ofKannada and Hindi folk songs.
The Bharatanatyam-trainedformer microbiologist’s band, theRaghu Dixit Project, has becomeone of Indian indie music’sbiggest crossover success stories.Their self-titled 2008 debut albumhas topped the iTunes WorldMusic charts twice in the last year,and they played more than 60international shows in fivecountries in 2010. “Glastonbury isgoing to be huge. It’s going to be
madness,” Dixit told Lounge overthe phone from Bangalore. “It’slike a Carnatic musicianperforming inside the TirupatiBalaji temple. The ultimatepilgrimage.” He talks aboutcracking the UK market and theadvantages of being a householdname in Karnataka. Editedexcerpts from an interview:
It’s been a fantastic year for you.What made it all happen?The seed was sown quite a fewyears back, I think, when our firstalbum was released and wemanaged to get a slot at theLondon Lovebox festival in 2009.We had a 2pm slot, it was rainingand the only people in theaudience were a woman with hertwo children. But we soldiered on,and halfway through the firstsong, a huge exodus occurredfrom the main stage to ours, andby the end we had close to 3,500people cheering and dancing.
Here we got lucky, and we werebooked for the Womad (World ofMusic, Arts and Dance) Festival
(in the UK) a week laterbecause another band haddropped out. We had nearly10,000 people there and itreally reaffirmed our faith inour music, and we began tofeel that we could try becominginternational performers.The real turning point wasplaying on the popular BBCmusic show ‘Later...with JoolsHolland’ in late 2010. How didthat happen?We have two managers in the UK,and the two of them came upwith a full-length, three-phasetour of the UK in 2010. We playeda number of events there for folksfrom the music industry in Mayand, as a result, gained a numberof evangelists for the band. One ofthe people who came for the Mayshowcase gigs was a producer forLater...with Jools Holland.How did the show help?We played the season finale, alongwith Arcade Fire and Robert Plant(Led Zeppelin). It’s so hard for meto say that we played “along with”names like that.
bribes at government officesbecause people recognize me.
In 2009, I did another moviecalled Just Maat Maathalli. Afterthat, I got contacted by Y-Films,part of Yash Raj Films, asking,“Would I be interested in aBollywood film?” I said, “Ofcourse!” The film had Ashish Patilas producer, and he used to headMTV India back in the day. Iremembered us playing severalfree shows for MTV all those yearsago, so this felt like him saying,“Here’s your payment for that!”The film is called ‘MujhseFriendship...’?Fraaandship! With three “As”.Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge?You recorded a session for theIndian edition of Coke Studiorecently. Tell us about that.It was fantastic, but we were reallydisappointed that we got to playonly one song. We chose HeyBhagwan. We were part of asession that included BombayJayashri, Ustad Rashid Khan andplayback singer Richa Sharma.Sadly, and unlike the PakistaniCoke Studio, we didn’t get tocollaborate with these artistes. Butwe’re excited, and this opens up awhole new audience for us.
The songwriter onhis second albumand becoming aUK crossover hit
Buoyant: Raghu Dixit.
That show went out tomillions of people. When it
aired, I was sitting here inIndia, in the middle of the night,watching our site and Facebookpage go crazy. It pushed thealbum to No. 1 almost overnight.No Man, the song we performedon the show, was top of the chartsfor that week.How will your second albumdiffer from the first?The first album was recorded overa period of seven years, and invery piecemeal manner...you canhear many inconsistencies in thetonal quality. The second will bewell-prepared, well-studied andwill hopefully take the reputationof the first album to a higher level.It will also feature more languagesthan just the Kannada and Hindiof the first.You’re also working on themusic for a Bollywood film.In 2007, I did the music for thisKannada film, Psycho, whichmade me a household name inKarnataka thanks to one songcalled Mahadeshwara. That songwent to every nook and corner ofthe state, and to this day I get freeauto rides, free lunches atrestaurants and waivers from
Surround sound: TheCoke Studio set; and(below) Leslie Lewis,
the show’s musicdirector.
JEREMYLLEWELLYN JONES
