I come to/go from office via by either bus or by private vehicles/taxis which charge 10-15 rupees which are called shuttles here in Kolkata. So yesterday I was coming by one of these and the driver had some remix collection playing. I forgot the song that was playing but it was a pretty catchy number by itself. The remixer (whoever he was, curses be upon him) converted it into a trance track. Previously music directors used to produce songs, remixers used to remix them. Today the music director himself releases a remix version in the soundtrack. I sincerely hope that the song I heard yesterday was NOT remixed by the music director himself. He should NOT do that to his own songs!
Continuing on a similar vein I was humming some songs to myself today morning when I was reminded of non-native singers singing songs. This practice has been there for quite some time now. Lata Mangeshkar, S P Balasubrahmanyam, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal (to name a few) have sung in a number of languages. The question that came to my mind was, how sound a practice is this? The soundtrack gets a novelty factor and the singer makes money, so it seems a win-win situation for all. But what might lost in this situation is the effects on the language. This is especially true when a north Indian sings for a south Indian movie. I do not know why but women seem to have no issues even when language changes (Lata Mangeshkar and Shreya Ghoshal again, for instance).
Okay, as a side thought I WILL make a confession here. I request the Lata Mangeshkar fans not to kill me. She is no doubt one of the greatest voices this country has produced, but I feel she should have stopped singing quite some time back, her voice is no longer what it was, and this has been so for quite some time. Now, coming back to the point I was talking about, occasionally it sounds weird when a non-native singer sings a song. The pronunciation, the voice itself might be better suited for a certain language. But in all probability the practice will continue. By the way, just for your information, I believe Sonu Nigam is a rage in Karnataka (at least among the music directors).
Another interesting piece of trivia. M S Subbalakshmi sang a list of compositions by the Telugu devotee-composer Thaallapaaka Annamaachaarya in praise of Lord Venkateswara. She was supposedly in dire financial straits and some Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam official (I do not know who) wanted to help her. But being a person with a lot of self respect he knew she would not accept any offer of help just like that. Hence he wanted her to sing the compositions which would released as a series. Tamilians who learn Carnatic music will encounter Telugu as many (if not most) compositions have been made in the language. But not being a native speaker of Telugu she was not sure of her ability to sing properly and hence took coaching to ensure her pronunciation was correct. I believe I have heard of a similar practice by some singers today also, but is such dedication truly achievable today?
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