Finally, Some Indian Music For You All

The most popular songs in Hindi cinema are often Islamic-inspired. This may be in part due to the Urdu lyrics, which are phonetically better than Hindi (phonetically, Hindi is better suited to prose.) It also may be due to the Sufi influences that most of these songs possess, which adds an aura of passion and pathos. Usually the presence of Sufi in a song makes it hard to include diametrically opposite musical influences, like, say, bagpipes. In standard Bollywood music, too many styles are mixed, or the tunes are composed by musically challenged people and are accompanied by extremely flat singing voices. Awful.

Illustrating the Sufi inspiration are the next two songs: the fantastic Allah Ke Bandhe (God's Men) which is out-and-out Sufi rock, from the film Waisa Bhi Hota Hai (Things Happen That Way Too) ; and Kaho Na Kaho (Say It, Please), a Sufi-Arabic amalgam set to dance-floor beats, from the film Murder.

But it's not just Sufi tunes that make for great music. Really talented composers mix in various other styles. Jag Jaa (Wake Up) has lovely Bhojpuri Hindi lyrics set to piano, which adds an unusual folksy beat - perfect for the film, Omkara, an Indian-village adaptation of Othello. Kaisi Paheli Zindagaani  (What A Maze Life Is) has Urdu lyrics set to blues, with a cabaret feel. Such music was popular among Anglo-Indian clubs and communities in post-Raj India, as depicted in the film containing the song, Parineeta (Married Woman.)

Now let me treat you to two great Sufi songs: the passionate Teri Deewani (loosely translates as Your Slave) by Kailash Kher and the cult hit Bulla Ki Jaana (What Does God Know?) by Sikh Sufi singer Rabbi Shergill, who plays the laud and sings in Punjabi.

These are two great Tamil tracks from my limited collection (since I currently live in North India, I have better access to Hindi music than Tamil.) Listen to these and you'll understand why Tamil film music composers are far more intrepid, and better when it comes to mixing various instruments than Hindi music producers.

The first, Ninaithu, is a soft love song set to piano, about a guy singing about being in love with a girl in his neighbourhood. The second, Thee Pidikka (Like Fire) is one of the more popular ones, a raunchy number sung in a husky voice. It could have been any other innuendo-filled youth favourite - but it's hard to ignore the various influences on the song, both from old Tamil films as well as some Arabic, hip-hop and Latino.

And to wind up, here's some good ol' hiphop, Bollywood style, with Right Here Right Now from the film Bluffmaster. (Hip-hop has been an instrumental part of Indian popular music for the last decade.) Abhishek Bachchan's baritone suits the song to a T. The female singer sounds a bit like Beyonce, but hell, it's great for chillin' out.




Last, but not the least, here's a silly but fun song, Sutta (Hindi slang for 'cigarette') composed by some local college students, "dedicated to the smokers and dopers" (LOL!) Very explicit lyrics, but we sing it for laughs. This has a translation because it is in Mumbaiyya Hindi (Mumbai-influenced Hindi slang, which I am familiar with. Heh.) Besides, the guitar strings are great.




Here is the translated version (WARNING: Explicit Content. Viewable by friends only.)

Anyhoo, hope you all enjoy these. I'll be posting more songs in future.