Your Tune is My Tune

on August 21, 2008

Theme: : : : :

Santa Singh

Many people in India listen to his ‘inspired’ songs at least once a day. Here is a definition of an inspired song.

Definition:

An inspired song is a song that sounds exactly like another song. However, it is not a copied song because the composer only got inspired by it and any similarity between both songs is incidental.

Usage:

Listener: Oh God! Your song has the same music, beats and rhythm of an old song.

Composer: Yes, but I was only inspired by it.

Most of us listen to songs only to pass time and the green ‘vadiyan’ (valley, nature) and red ‘gulab’ (rose) don’t inspire us; we are happy with the fast, fast beats and the loud drum sticks beating ferociously on those poor drums.

But music matters to me. I want to appreciate the musician’s originality and tell the people that the song sent me to a dreamy world.

However, I felt like an idiot (despite being one) after learning that Pritam chacha* is the world’s best ripper, better than Nero Express. He seems so frustrated and unsure of his music that he copies tunes from different parts of the globe (Like France, Korea, China etc…).

He claims that he doesn’t copy the songs and simply uses them as sources. Read this:

“I’ve never denied the sources for my songs. So why should I deny it now? But the fact is, I had never heard Anggun’s song when I composed the song in Jab We Met. I don’t know the song myself. My friend who’s a keyboard player had the groove programmed. I liked the groove and I composed my tune on it. I composed the song in front of so many people. I can guarantee the melody isn’t anyone’s but my own. I must admit the groove is similar to the one in my song. But that’s it. And too to is totally unintentional. Not a note in the rest of my song sounds like Anggun’s tune. And if anyone can prove I’ve copied her song I’m ready to stop composing songs forever. (source: 1 and 2)

I think I know about the ‘so many people’ mentioned by Pritam.

1.    Nepali Watchman:

Pritam: Kaisa laga gaana? (how is the song?)

Watchman: Bahooot ashsha shaabji (Veryyyy gooood shir)

Pritam: You have not heard it before?

Watchman: No shaabji (No shir)

Pritam: Therefore it is original.

2.    Maali (Gardener)

Wah Sir. Kya gaana likhen he aap. Aisa gaana toh humre dada pardaada bhi nahi jaanat hain.

(Wah Sir. What a song you have said. A song like this was unknown to even my grandfather and great grandfather)

Pritam: Therefore it is original.

Pritam’s ‘height of coincidence’ is hard to believe since there are at least 40 more songs that this musician has ‘accidentally’ composed.

Now hear this. A singer from Taiwan called Lee Hom-Wang (imagine his mother saying beta** Wang, don’t bang) is suing Tips Films for plagiarising the song ‘Deep in the Bamboo Grove’ (Chu Lin Sheu Chu) into ‘Zara Zara touch me, touch me, touch me’ (a bad song if you ask me).

Perhaps Pritam chacha heard this song and asked his friends and relatives to gather around him. He then reproduced the song in Hindi and asked everyone if they had ever heard it. Everyone agreed that such music was unknown to them. Pritam then claimed that he had composed the song then and there.

And therefore it is original.

Most Indian music lovers don’t fret much over plagiarised music and most foreigners don’t spend even ten cents over Hindi film music. However, it is important that someone stops this man from minting money and winning awards for ‘original music’.

Just have a look at these sites to know how many songs he has copied (and counting)

1

and

2

Perhaps Wang will bang Pritam, win the case and extract money out of Pritam and Tips. This should serve as a good lesson to these fellas.

Pritam is hurting music fans, people like Wang and most of all, Anu Malik who might sue him for plagiarising his plagiarising ideas.

Pritam with Guitar
Pritam with Guitar

*chacha: Uncle

**beta: son


Share This Story
[del.icio.us] [Digg] [Facebook] [Google] [StumbleUpon] [Technorati] [Twitter] [Windows Live] [Email] More »
All Rights Reserved With Website Owner