The Magic of Playback - Part VI, Emerging Trends Options

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EMERGING TRENDS

Without doubt there will be major upheavals in music as we know and love it in our films. Rahman - and to a lesser extent Chowta, Vishal and Durbar - have shown the way by breaking the barrier between convention and invention. Indi-pop, which got a big boost in the 1990s, will have to reinvent itself completely.

The year 2000 started on a bright note for Hindi film music, with Julie experimenter Rajesh Roshan re-emerging with a finely chiseled score in the megahit Kaho Na..Pyar Hai. The score, however, wasn't a pathbreaker in the way Shankar-Jaikishan's Barsaat, Naushad's Aan (the first Hindi film score with a 100 piece orchestra), Madan Mohan's Heer Ranjha(the first Hindi film with a score written entirely in verse by that poet-extraordinaire Kaifi Azmi), and A R Rahman's Roja were. Among the lyricists that the 90s generously produced, Javed Aktar and Sameer continue to be the top wordsmiths. Just how long they can sustain their long run of words remains to be seen.

Audiences periodically favor rhythm over melody. But like the truant husband who comes home to his wife at the end of the day, it's pure melody with a tinge of raga that finally qualify the future of playback music in the coming years.

SOURCE : THE VIRTUAL MAHAZINE - ISSUE #7 - APRIL 2001