My little contribution to all the great reviews and posts written so far. Thanks Tanna! We love you. A lady pops in the jamming room...
She:"Hi! Can I join your Band?"
I: "uh..Huh?"
long silence...
I: "Well, U want to do vocals or something?"
She: "Yeah!"
I:"OK, so whats the picture?"
She:"Well, I can sing "Chura liya hai" if you can do me with guitar part"
This incident happend like 4 years ago, when it was my first ever gig infront of 500+ bollywood crazed crowd. I also vividly remember how I felt bollywood music was sold out and so not cool but when rehearsed and came to know about this composition I was thrown apart.
R.D.Burman & his music
This man, for many was a legendary for some he was just unnecessary element who broke the traditional rhythm and brought music with something like noise or barbaric acts. There was always a mixed reaction among people I met. His personality was very restless, a moment he use to compose a song, the next moment he use to forget it. Many artist working close to him thought that if he had little more patience we would have been gifted more amazing numbers. He believed in western styled kick arse, versatality of the lot kind of music. Few artist believed that the traditional way of composing was totally broken off from the traditional shankar - jaikishan to laxmikant pyarelal composition. R.D’s compositions were like out of the box introduction which was fresh to the ears for many people of those time. His whackiness in music got attention ofAsha Bhosale who was not considered as a regular artist and someone who cannot capitalize on classical vocals. He helped her to prove others wrong. He also gave elevation to Kishore Kumar’s career by introducing him in several songs even when Mohd Rafi was one of the shining stars during that time. His way of helping other going forward really touched me.
Personally, for me I did not understand the concepts behind songs like "piya tu ab toh aaja", which seems pretty sold out, "I-want-to-get-your-attention" kind of music, which is a great turn off for me however, I was blown out by the sweet compositions like"chura liya", "oh mere dil ke chain", "sagar kinare", "wada Karo" , "oye meri pyaari bindu" etc...these are really fresh and evergreen.
RDB was someone who expermented with different kind of instrument and as wierd as a comb! Innovation was brought in manner which was never heard or tried before. Not only instruments but the way they are played. Lots of beats and chunks introduced in guitars, high tempos on bass, jazzy sexaphones, loud and wild beats. He was famous for that and he is. So much of a western concept...so fresh to the ears!
I do not dig much in bollywood music but RDB has been a different favor.