Chart ’BUSTING’
Bollywood today has become synonymous with song and dance. In fact songs today can
make or break a film.
Week after week music charts are witness to new songs peaking to the top five within days
of its music release.
Some songs are instantaneously declared ‘Love Anthems’ finding a place in the hit playlist
of Disc jockeys playing at discotheques. But the question remains – who’s to decide which
song will reach the top of the music charts? Is it really the music aficionados? Or is the
radio jockeys or the video jockeys? Or is it the music labels themselves who decide? While
a couple of songs bank in on their position on the chartbusters, there are many other who
are not fortunate enough to even have their albums released. These songs go unheard,
unnoticed because they do not find a slot on radio or television channels? So are good
songs at the mercy of radio and television channels?
Well, while you ponder on these questions, let’s take you on the journey of songs trending
on the music charts these days. ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ from the Karan Johar directorial movie
‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ is sitting comfortably at number 1, while ‘Kaun Tuje’ from the movie,
Dhoni and ‘Bulleya’ from ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ are rotating at number 2 and 3. The leading
songs that are entertaining you these days while driving, eating or sleeping (as listed on
Saavn - another ‘Mecca’ for songs aspiring to reach the ‘trending list’) include ‘Afreen
Afreen’ at no. 10, mix & mastered by Eric Pillai, with Himanshu Shirlekar as recording
engineer; ‘Nachde Na Saare’ at No. 9, mixed & mastered by Shadaab Rayeen and recorded by
Abhishek Sortey; ‘Beat Pe Booty’ at No. 8, mix &mastered by Eric Pillai; ‘Sau Aasmaan’ at
No. 7, mix & mastered by - Eric Pillai. ‘Besabriyaan’ at No. 6, mixed & mastered by Eric
Pillai and all Live Instruments recorded by Shantanu Hudlikar, Vijay Dayal, Abhishek
Khandelwal, Manasi Tare & Chinmay Mistry at YRF studios. ‘Tere Sang Yaara’ from the movie,
Rustom still at no. 5, produced & mixed by Aditya Dev, mastered by Shadab Rayeen; ‘Kala
Chasma’ which took the country by storm is again mixed & Mastered by Eric Pillai, Vocals
Recorded at YRF studios by Shantanu Hudlikar, Abhishek Khandelwal & Manasi Tare; ‘Bulleya’
at No. 3, Sound Design by Dj Phukan, Mix & Mastered by Shadab Rayeen, Recording Engineers
are Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Kaushik Das, and Sujith Sreedhar; ‘Kaun Tujhe’ at
No. 2, again mix & mastered by Eric Pillai. Live Instruments for this song is recorded by
Vijay Dayal & Chinmay Mistry at Yash Raj Studios; ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ is currently at
No. 1 - maybe till Arijeet churns out another ‘cracker’ of a song this Diwali. Sound Design
for this ‘Love Anthem’ is by Dj Phukan and Sunny M.R., Mix by Sunny M.R. & Shadab Rayeen,
Mastered by Shadab Rayeen, Recording Engineer’s for this song are Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu
Shirlekar, Kaushik Das and Lee Slater. No surprises here why Eric Pillai is really the
‘Future Sound of Bombay’.
Most are familiar with Bollywood songs, but how many of us know about the trending bands of
India and the artistes working tirelessly under the radar – unnoticed. Okay! for a moment
let’s just unwind the wheel of time. Hope we all remember Dr. Palash Sen, the front man
of the indie-rock band Euphoria, known for their peppy numbers like ‘Dhoom Pichak Dhoom” and
“Maaeri’, or Suneeti Rao whose husky voice seduced the listeners for many years when we
all hummed together “Pari hoon main”. Not to forget, ’Made in India’ trendsetter song singer,
Alisha Chenoy, who took the country by storm with her song, ‘Baby Doll’. Where are they?
Have they all succumbed to the age old saying - out of sight, out of mind because they are
not trending on the Music Charts anymore? Do we care to know about the sound engineers
and technicians who make the songs, what they are? No, we do not. This is probably because
the Indian music industry is at its best disorganized to the core! In fact do we even
have a “Music Industry” in India? There is no real industry where the bands, artistes,
playback singers, sound engineers, technicians and everything else related to music
production can co-exist and thrive. Dr. Sen, of Euphoria rues that that there are very
few platforms for independent and non-Bollywood artistes and releasing non-Bollywood
music becomes a struggle. This is one of the reasons why Euphoria’s ‘Halla Bol’ launched
on world Music Day (June21) was the band’s first single in 15 years.
“We have been making music. But the truth is a lot of music that we have made has never
reached the audience. Except MTV and Fever FM, not a single TV or radio channel is willing
to play our latest song. Their slots have already been bought, and taken by Bollywood music,
and there is no platform for non-film artistes to get their music heard,” laments Sen. He
adds, “It is not that non-film artistes are ignored. They are not allowed to be heard.
People will only listen to us if they get to hear the music in the first place.
Unfortunately, they don’t have that choice. This is one of the aspect that I’m trying to
highlight in ‘Halla Bol’ — the freedom to raise voice against injustice and demand your
music”.
According to Amaal Mallik the Bollywood Music Industry is a “vicious cycle” and he has every
reason to believe so. According to him the music which is promoted heavily tends to become
an earworm and eventually a super-duper hit. He quotes, ‘Jo Dikhta Hain Woh Bikta Hain,
and Jo Bikta Hain woh Aur Dikhta hain and the cycle continue.....And we all think ‘Yeh
Hain Naya Hit Gaana...’ “Whoever makes noise gets noticed,” echoes Sen.
The National Award winner, Sonu Nigam who has been enthralling fans in India and abroad with
his soulful voice for over 25 years, says, “Music is becoming more international. From
hip-hop, jazz to EDM and rap songs, the Indian music industry is in interesting times when
native music is getting a heightened tough of western music”. He however believes that
India’s own music genres should also be rightfully given a respectable space to flourish.
He further adds, “As a musician, I value classical Indian music and I am of the opinion
that genres like ghazals and bhajans, besides pure classical music, need respectable space
to flourish”.
Are we as listeners all stuck in the new social trappings like YouTube views, iTunes downloads
and Radio play. These cannot be the only yardstick to measure the success of a song or music.
Today most of the artistes (read Bollywood singers) are part of a particular camp (read music
companies) who manage their talent. The motive behind music companies managing singers is
very clear. Once the song is a hit, the singer will then perform the song at concerts and
various other events, and a certain percentage of monetary shares will go to the company.
Is this the formula for a vibrant Music Industry? Or does the formula lie in having an
industry in which independent music can be taken in the same spirit as that of Bollywood
music.