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]

A Song In One Breath

Let me return to some "Indipop" music now. Indipop is the term given to Indian pop music that has exploded in popularity in India over the last ten or fifteen years. I had an earlier post highlighting the Colonial Cousins.

In that same vein, here's an intriguing song by Shankar Mahadevan called Breathless. This song was a huge hit for Shankar several years ago. Through some excellent editing, it appears that Shankar sings the entire song in a single breath. It is a fascinating exercise to listen to this song (you don't have to understand a word). For me, I can actually experience some interesting physiological symptoms when listening to the song. I mean, you almost hold your breath while listening to it. It is unnerving to listen to a singer who apparently is not taking a breath during the song. At the end of the song, you feel a little breathless, almost wishing that he had paused a little during verses.

Shankar is trained in both south indian and north indian classical music. He is a computer engineer who had a successful career with Lotus and Oracle before he turned to singing. He has composed several songs for films and is an ardent fan of jazz. He performs frequently with the Swedish group Mynta.

Fascinating stuff in terms of the music as well as your reaction to it as a listener. Tell me if you reacted in any way physiologically to this song as you listened to it.

If you'd like to watch the MTV video of this song, try YouTube here.

1. Shankar Mahadevan - Breathless (2.82 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Welcome to an IndiPop Classic

I'm going to end the week on a nice intercultural, fusion theme. I have greatly enjoyed the pop music emanating from India over the last few years. The entry of MTV into India a decade or so ago completely changed the music scene there. Many talented musicians got a great deal of visibility and a huge new genre of music "IndiPop" started growing. One of the earliest acts to attain superstar status in India was a group called Colonial Cousins. It's fascinating to realize that this group is now so legendary that they're almost considered an "oldies" act there. There has since been an explosion of Indian musicians who skilfully blend western music styles with a range of Indian styles - from Bollywood to classical Indian music.

I'm planning to feature an entire week of IndiPop on this blog within the next few months, but for now, let me start with the people who started it all - Colonial Cousins. Colonial Cousins consist of Hariharan - a top notch musician trained in both the south Indian and north Indian classical styles, and Leslie "Lezz" Lewis - a long-time fixture on the music scene in India who was known for writing catchy jingles for the advertising industry there.

I think they were astonishingly successful at blending the extremes of classical Indian music with Western music. Many people who have not been to India are surprised to learn of the widespread use of "Hinglish" in Indian colloquial speech as well as in advertising. The mixing in of English words, phrases and sentences in a conversation otherwise conducted in Hindi is common. In the selections I have featured here, there is a great blending not only of musical styles but also lyrics in multiple languages. By the way, they were the first (and so far only) Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged.

Both the songs featured here are from their debut CD. You can actually buy the debut Colonial Cousins CD on Amazon here. If you like this, you can find their other CDs here. I strongly recommend you start with the debut CD and then move to the others. I think the weakest album of the lot is The Way We Do It, but I would recommend their third album, Aatma.

Krishna starts off with a brief religious chant and then an invocation of God in a very south Indian style. Then Lezz Lewis jumps in with his very secular lyrics in English. Spectacular! Sa Ni Dha Pa (the south Indian equivalent of Do Re Mi Fa) also starts with a south Indian chant followed by Lezz Lewis's great blend of western and north Indian melodies. The mix of styles here is quite astounding and brilliantly smooth.

1. Colonial Cousins - Krishna (5.34 MB; 128 kbps MP3)
2. Colonial Cousins - Sa Ni Dha Pa (Never Know The Reason) (4.67 MB; 128 kbps MP3)