S&D: Bollywood sndtrks/comps.

The "Radio India: Eternal Dream of Sound" album on Sublime Frequencies is awesome; full of classics from the Bollywood of yore.

Especially recommend the collage entitled: "Deep Disco Drama Diva" where a (no doubt moustachioed) Indiam lothario cum DJ whispers "Kabhi Kabhi" in his best Barry White over (what sounds like a dub/house revamp of) the song "Kabhi Kabhi"

Been listening to it all day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLddIH7U6eE

everybody else: get this song going through your head too, ok?

i wouldnt recommend the beginners guide to bollywood comps (theres 2 volumes) on nascente. you can get them v cheap and they do have some good songs but theyre compiled by john lewis from time out who only seems to like/choose the stuff that sounds like western pop the most (and puts them only into categories of western genres like disco, rock n roll etc). this ones better imo - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Guide-Bollywood-Various-Artists/dp/B000MR9DLS/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1252928231&sr=1-32

i met a nice indian girl last nye and wound up borrowing her ipod and ripping her bollywood playlists off of it. so here's 3 top 10 playlists of what one hip london girl of indian descent was listening to as of nye 2008/9:

fast stuff:

Move Your Body - Johnny Gaddar
Lucky Boy - Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)
Aahista Aahista - Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)
Sexy Lady (Khwab Dekhe)
Maari Teetri - De Taali
Bakhuda Tumhi Ho - Atif Aslam & Alka Yagnik (Kismat Konnection)
Dil Dance Maare - Vishal - Sekhar
Chhaliya - Vishal - Sekhar
Milo Na Milo Main Milane - Shaan (Love Story 2050)
Sach Kehna - Kunal Ganjawala (Love Story 2050)

slow stuff:

Khuda Jaane - Bachna Ae Haseeno
Kabhi Kabhi - jaane tu ya jaane na (A R Rahman)
Jogi Mahi - Sukhvinder Singh, Shekhar Ravjiani & Himani Kapoor
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na- Nazrein Milaana Nazrein Churaana
Kahin To Hogi Ho - Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008)
Tere Bina - AR Rahman, Chinmayee (from the love guru?!?!?)
Zara Gungunale Chalo
Yeh Rishta
Ya Rabba
Yeh Honsla

oldies:

Lata Mangeshkar & Moha Rafi - Aadmi musafir hai aata hai jata hai
Chana Jor Garam
Chalte Chalte
Baharo Phool Barsao
Chalo Dildar Chalo - Lata Mangeshkar with Mohd. Rafi - Lata Mangeshkar (Pakeezah)
Bachpan Ki Mohabbat - Lata ji (Lata Mangeshkar Live)
Bagon Mein Bahar Hai - Lata Mangeshkar & Mohammad Rafi (Hit Duets of)
Aye-Dil-E-Nadan - Lata Mangeshkar (Pakeezah / Razia Sultan)
Babuji Dheere Chalna - Geeta Dutt ? (Aar Paar)
AWAARA HOON - Mukesh

i don't know if this is really what you guys are after (i suspect it's no more or less than a representation of the most popular mainstream bollywood stuff circa 2008) but it's all pretty listenable actually.

actually it's better than just listenable - i'm playing this stuff for a first time in a while and it's really not bad at all. obvious western influences on the new stuff, and it's clearly quite MOR in a tecnho-influenced kind of way, but a lot of these cats have REALLY nice voices

Fave soundtrack of the year: Dev.D, probably shortlisted for my favorite album of 2009 -- amazing genre-confusion, B-wood with techno and rock squiggles, hardest metal sequence ever in "Emotional Attachyar"'s rock version (the other one is brass band version and it's hot too). Other good ones from this year: Billu Barber, Chandni Chowk to China, Kambakkht Ishq, Dilli 6. There are a few more that are supposed to be amazing but I haven't heard them yet.

The Om Shanti Om soundtrack was my favorite album of 2007. Beautiful and audacious, amazing singing and chart work, banjo solos mixed over surf rock and big band jazz, recurring motifs, remixes, everything you'd ever need from a record.

i just saw the movie (om shanti om)... first time i've seen a bollywood film in ages, and quite watchable. i like how many bollywood films are comdies, romances, tragedies, and musicals all rolled into one. the dvd i watched translated the lyrics as well as the dialogue, and some of them were hilarious, ie. dard-e-disco (= "the sorrow of disco", an upbeat disco number sung and danced by a blind, deaf, handless, wheelchaired character in a fictitious bollywood movie [in his mind!])

First posted on the Global World 2010 thread:

Anybody know anything about the below? I forget whether there's a separate Bollywood/bhangra etc thread.

Fox Searchlight Pictures (Slumdog Millionaire) presents MY NAME IS KHAN, the biggest and most anticipated new Indian motion picture of 2010, an epic romantic drama with universal appeal.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's musical score for the film reflects the myriad hues of the film. Music composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are India's must renowned and accomplished artists, and the trio has been responsible for some of the biggest hit soundtracks of the last decade. The album has Sufi inspired sounds and features amazing vocalists from the sub-continent - Rahat Fateh Khan, Shafqat Amanat Ali and Adnan Sami. The music is earthy and features very prominently in the film. Over 20 minutes of the film is set solely to music.

― curmudgeon, Monday, January 25, 2010 5:13 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
It's being released February 16th

my wife's favorite Bollywood comp: http://www.answers.com/topic/i-love-bollywood

speaking of slumdog millionaire, the soundtrack brought to my attention the tame a r rahman (the guy who did the soundtrack) which lead to my checking out a recent comp "the best of a r rahman (composer of the music for slumdog millionaire)" which rocked, and further lead to downloading some huge 3 gb collection of his contributions to about 80 other soundtracks, pretty much all of which are GREAT. i believe he's quite well known in india, if not to say ubiquitous, so maybe it's kinda like saying "gosh, the beatles sure are great" or something. but i gotta say the dude can produce the hell out of a soundtrack. he seems to thrown in at least one really cool, original idea per song, usually more like 5 or 6, he chucks in a lot of interesting chord changes as well (which i find overall is not bollywood's strong point, it's not part of the musical culture and i suspect it's hard to pull off and still sound "indian" but this skill seems to be one of mr. rahmans many selling points)

btw, i really find him quite listenable as well - the cheese factor seems to run pretty strong in a lot of mumbai's musical exports, but not so with this guy - really his stuff seems very very easy on the ears, i've got a constantly updated playlist i'm drawing from his collected works and i keep getting drawn back to it....

om shanti om has one knockout song - the first one thats sung when theyre in the cinema. the later ones are all pretty forgettable.

maybe it's kinda like saying "gosh, the beatles sure are great"

A.R. Rahman is pretty much one of the biggest musical names in India so yeah, this is about right

revive!!

"the year disco broke: india on the dancefloor 78-84" mp3 cdr mentioned upthread, six years ago or so? does anyone still have it?

CTRL+F "Burning Train" = no results, WTF?

Ah, fuck it, I'm going to post some of my favourite youtubes on this thread.

Burning Train - Title Music (R.D. Burman)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmS-G7RI7Z0

The Burning Train - Meri Nazar Hai Tujh Pe (R.D. Burman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCemp_hR2_Q

Rocky - Aa Dekhen Zara (R.D. Burman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJglcQFTITo

Disco Dancer - unsure of the song name, but it's a Bappi Lahiri tune sung by Usha Uthup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMk_xBMzGLw

The last two have *very subtle* Western influences. ^__^

a fb friend of mine put out that Charanjit Singh "Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat" record (the one that combined 808 & 303 before acid house, etc) and told me about another comp he's working on called "Agni Natchatram (Fire Star)". it's damn near amazing. kinda like indian boogie and early hip hop. he describes it as "80s weirdo synth-pop+funk from tamilnadu."

this first song is on there and it's damn near the best thing i've ever heard
http://cartilage-records.bandcamp.com/album/play-that-beat-mr-raja-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cMISxMZJ7Q

xp Disco Dancer's a great film. Janbaaz, not so much.

omg jaxon if there's a store nearby that has that lp i'm biking there in five minutes

!!! that is great

Yeah, just listening now and it is bloody awesome.

please enjoy this Bappi Lahiri track from Gentleman (1989) with me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijs0hs7NaYU

emil.y: that bappi lahiri song is 'koi yahan nache nache' - have you ever seen the full 'disco dancer' movie? i have it, it is ridiculous and great, i bought a bootleg of it for $2 at a cell phone store in brooklyn

jaxon: edo from bombay connection? what a great label, glad they exist

i wrote a lot about that '10 Ragas to a Disco Beat' record -- here's Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

i have to check this new comp out! do you know anything more about it?

No, I haven't seen it - I only discovered that while researching great Bollywood steals in the vein of Burman's War of the Worlds rip. Would like to, though, that clip is so exuberant.

I'm also very much enjoying the song about Coca Cola on this comp.

please enjoy this Bappi Lahiri track from Gentleman (1989) with me

This is pretty nuts. Which makes it great, in my book.

did India invent house music

very Moroder feel to this track, one of Bollywood's many 'I feel Love' ripoffs/homages

i have this soundtrack (Shaan, 1980) on vinyl, bought it for $10, it made me so happy to find it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt1R0_oWovM

emil.y, on the ultratrashy Bappi Lahiri side of things I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy Rock Dancer as well (with Samantha Fox!), featuring the classic You Are My Chicken Fry and my favourite song ever about traffic jams:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiXFkecxGLE

I was bummed I couldn't even figure out where to look for vinyl when I was in India

xp I've been meaning to see Shaan for ages. The song's great.

apparently my family in india has some giant trove of vinyl stashed somewhere

hate to be one of those kids who wants to go back to the motherland to pillage collections of relatives I don't know but in this case

I pillaged my wife's grandmother's vinyl collection and unearthed a completely amazing Hungarian psych rock record from '67. I highly recommend it.

Coca Cola song is super! ty jaxon

jaxon: edo from bombay connection? what a great label, glad they exist

right label, wrong guy. actually his name is julien.

he said he wasn't sure when the comp was coming out. some delays as of now. but that vikram song looks like it was released on another comp recently (that link i posted is for Play That Beat Mr. Raja #1). i can't vouch for the rest of it, but the Fire Star comp is all amazing.

xpost to Jaxon- Illaiyaraaja (dude from yr link) just got a fairly extensive comp done recently via finders keepers. It's pretty great

I was bummed I couldn't even figure out where to look for vinyl when I was in India

more luck finding cassettes, CDs, CD-Rs, etc...vinyl is considered antiquated by their standards. i have my best luck finding bollywood vinyl in the 'soundtracks' or 'world' sections of rock/jazz record stores that don't have a clue, and i also find lots of vintage bollywood vinyl in my parents' basement that they don't want anymore (it helps to have indian parents)

the pressings i have from Polydor India, circa 1979/1980 or whatever, sound really good, and the covers are beautiful too--the pressing plant was in Bombay & the covers were printed there too, super-luxe

on ebay, discogs, etc you won't find many discounts--it's priced up, way way up, for DJs/avid collectors--some of the records i've picked up for $5 are worth $100 according to these sites

i wrote a guide to some of the best convenience stores, cell phone stores, etc to buy Indian music on the cheap in manhattan & brooklyn (queens is its own beast, will handle that in a separate piece at some point) - will look for the link

The beginning of that 'Burning Train' title theme music (R.D. Burman, circa 1980) is techno-tastic

here's an edit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iF89qIqJiI

has anyone written an article about trains in the history of electronic music? there's a whole lineage you could write about there. you could talk about musique-concrete and train sounds, go up to kraftwerk and 'trans-europe express', take a detour through bollywood, etc...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbxK8BigyFQ

I grew up listening to nothing but indian music I hated it, but I still like this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fhhdfWJ_Fc

Sunidhi Chauhan's kind of wonderful. Aa Tayar Hoja's from Asoka, which wasn't an enormous success but ranks as one of my ten favourite films ever.

my heart is with the older Bollywood movies from the '70s/'80s--esp. the ones with disco/funk/weird electronic soundtracks--and some from the '60s

newer Bollywood flicks tend to leave me cold. also, the women tend to look slightly healthier in the older movies--that 'Aa Tayar Hoja' video above, from Asoka (2001), looks like an advertisement for an ab workout machine...it's about as sexy as a Gaga video (which is to say, not at all)

here's one of my favorite Bollywood songs of all time--the best 'I Feel Love' homage of them all, from Star (1982)--Nazia Hassan on vocals, transcendent Summer/Moroder-style epicness

here's the scene from the movie--too bad you see the actress and not Nazia--Nazia was one of the most beautiful women on planet Earth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ead-K_q5QNs

geeta - yeah I was in Mumbai (twice), Goa (twice), Delhi, Bangalore and I checked out every music store I could find but yeah all CDs/cassettes. the couple of random vinyl records I did find were from a street vendor in Mumbai, but they were nothing special. in general my inquiries about where to find records were met with predictable puzzlement.

i have that Sitar Beat edit 12" u posted above geeta. has one of my fave bollywood tracks on it, Disco 82. i had my good friend translate it into english. funny lyrics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI7WAxhWabk

(they don't exactly make sense-they kind of have a nonsensical
rolling on e quality about em.)

I am disco-You are disco
The entire world in a disco
Disco 82 la la la la (etc)
do re me (the 7 sounds)
rama rama rama (also part of the do re me sounds-but also, rama-is a
god)
My laughter and dreams are alive here.
Don't show me a cage, I am not a domesticated bird.
Let me say it - Let me say it
Disco 82 (etc)
This soma is in the form of liquor-it is not poison-if I drink it,
and get tipsy-will you be mad?
Let me live - Let me live-I swear by you!
disco 82 etc.
You to me, me to you-we keep saying something to one another.
There is still night left-there is still much left to say-but we
flounder.
Let me fly, Let me fly-I swear by you.
Disco 82 etc

ha, 'disco 82'! i know that one

that's exactly it though, the '82' -- india caught on to disco later than the western world did. their 1982/1983 was our 1977/1978. and that's what makes it so interesting to me: these popular culture movements didn't happen simultaneously

when i was in new delhi in 1992, i turned on the TV and the announcer said something like "here's a new song by kate bush called 'running up that hill'"

imagine being told, in '92, that 'running up that hill', from 1985, was a brand new song, hot off the presses: what happens then? all my notions about music melted right then and there

Enjoying the videos and stuff folks. Thanks

my heart is with the older Bollywood movies from the '70s/'80s--esp. the ones with disco/funk/weird electronic soundtracks--and some from the '60s

Yeah, this is pretty much it for me too (though purely from a musical perspective - as I've said before, I don't really know the films themselves). But then I err towards the aesthetic from the same era in UK/US/European music, too, so it's not that surprising.

I love all eras of Bollywood, but if we're talking strictly music yeah the disco/funk/weird electronics of the 70s/80s is the best

my wife and I have been searching FOREVER, to no avail, for this 70s Bollywood film called "Goonghat" that we caught on TV while we were there. maybe if I spoke/read Hindi I could find it but alas

Isn't there a new thread kinda covering this now...forget what its called

Ah, sorry, I'd missed Rolling Punjab, Hindi/Bollywood, etc. jams from Central Asia... - though I can't see anything in that thread due to YT being blocked in China, and a rolling thread might not be the right place to ask about 90s/00s/etc overview comps.

Feels like the '90s are old enough for this thread. So, what about '90s Bollywood?

I'm hoping in vain that it'll all be like "My Adorable Darling"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4tmeg9me9E&t=4s

(Purists would argue they should've bought fewer guitars and more amps.)

Allegedly Anu Malik's songs did resemble lots of other songs, but not Bollywood ones.

Gurudev (1992)
R D Burman
Asha Bhosle,Shailendra Singh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=dpCrRj0CRKE

he he digging this list: https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWYRTlrhMB12D?si=wIekccu4R2-aoJKNIB7t3w