Get A Dose of "Hinglish"

One sub-genre of Indipop is those belonging to "remixes." This often involves taking a well known classic song and then "remixing" it with new beats and grooves.

I guess we could regard the Bombay Vikings as a sort of "remix" group. The group was formed in Stockholm, Sweden by a group of Swedes (one of whom was of Indian origin) who loved Indian music. Although they struggled with the hindi lyrics, they hit upon the idea of mixing some of the hindi lyrics with english lyrics and "modernizing" the music with dance beats and euro grooves. This interspersing of hindi phrases and english phrases is very common in India and has been referred to as "hinglish."

Here are a couple of examples. Both the songs featured here, are well known classic bollywood tunes from the sixties that have been re-imagined by the Bombay Vikings. The first is a tune called Hawa Mein Udati Jaaye (which roughly translates to Flying in the Wind) is a version of a tune from a motion picture called "Barsaat" (rain). The second, Woh Chali, Woh Chali (roughly translated into She Went, She Went) which in its original incarnation was from a film called "Padosan" (neighbors), has also been performed in true Bombay Vikings style.

Enjoy ...

1. Bombay Vikings - Hawa Mein Udati Jaaye (3.44 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Bombay Vikings - Woh Chali, Woh Chali (4.11 MB; 128kbps MP3)

[PS: Sorry for the delayed post - I was unable to upload the files to the server yesterday because of a technical problem]

Dance and Feel Sad

One "family" of artists I promise to feature regularly on this blog is the "Finn Family." You can trace this family's musical roots to the groups Split Enz, Crowded House, Schnell Fenster, The Finn Brothers, as well as solo albums by brothers Tim and Neil Finn.

This year has been big news for the Finn folks as we heard that Crowded House had been reformed for gigs around the world. Yesterday, Tim Finn kicked of his U.S. tour with an appearance on KCRW in Los Angeles. Tim Finn is out promoting his new album Imaginary Kingdom which was just released in the U.S. Before I post a song or two from that album, I am going to jump back early to his solo career and post a couple of songs from his first two solo albums.

The first song is from his 1983 album Escapade and features very dated synthesizer-heavy dance music. While it certainly sounds like "an 80's song" Fraction Too Much Friction has the catchy pop melody and reggae-tinged beat to make it instantly likable. The second song is from his 1989 self-titled album and is achingly painful. The story is that Tim went through bouts of depression. Follow the lyrics in this song. There's one verse where he sings "Not even close to pulling through ..." with such feeling that it makes your hair stand on end. You can feel that this is not some meaningless lyric to him. Two very contrasting moods in these selections here.

You can find all Tim Finn CDs on Amazon.com here. Escapade can be purchased here, and the self-titled Tim Finn can be found here. You should buy his newest album Imaginary Kingdom here. And, if possible, catch Tim Finn at a city near you using the news here. Tim even has a MySpace page where you can listen to songs and watch videos.

1. Tim Finn - Fraction Too Much Friction (3.89 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Tim Finn - Not Even Close (3.96 MB; 128kbps MP3)