Shaival Thakkar and
Kartikey Sehgal

In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, ‘Everybody Hurts’, a popular song by the alternative rock music group R.E.M. was used in a fund raising concert for the victims’ families.

In this video, music aficionado Shaival Thakkar talks about the charm of R.E.M. and his love for alternative music. This video also suffices as an introduction to alternative rock music. If you like meaningful lyrics and ‘soft’ music—relatively softer than the strains of hard rock music—then you may like alternative rock music. 

Watch the Video Here

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Kartikey Sehgal

She lit the Diya. It lit her. (Anooradha Patel)

Two short songs sung on Diwali day by Seema Anil Sehgal during the pooja hosted by Anooradha Patel and Kanwaljit Singh. Listen here.

First Song.

a. Namo Namo Durge Sukh karani,
Namo Namo Ambe Dukh harani.
b. Nirakar hai jyoti tumhari,
Teen lok pheli ujayari.

Translated as: (source)

a. Salutations and Salutations to Durga, the giver of pleasure,
Salutations and salutations to the remover of Sorrow.
b. Your radiance is unparalleled,
And you shed light on the three worlds.

Second Song.

a. Jai Ganesh Bolo,
Bolo,
Jai Dev Bolo…
Paap Hriday Ke Dholo.

b. Bhakti Bhaav se Jo Bhi Aaye
Uske Dukkh Nivare,
Sab Devon main Ek Dev Hain
Rama Chandra Hamare,
Rama Chandra Hamare.

Translated as:

a. Say Jai Ganesh,
Say Jai ___ (insert deity name)
And wash the sins of the heart. (As we remember Lord Ganesh or any other deity, leave behind your sins and be honest now as you take the name of the deity)

b. Whoever comes with devotion   
He frees them from sorrows,
One deity among all the deities,
That’s our Rama Chandra,
That’s our Rama Chandra. (Among the many deities we have is one Mr. Rama Chandra who frees us from our sorrows when we remember him, i.e., the example (qualities)of his life.)

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Kartikey Sehgal

[The author visits a pandal during the Durga puja festival and appreciates the effort to make it an artistic event. Certain unconfirmed names have not been mentioned]

Festival is the celebration of culture. You don’t have to be an anthropologist to partake the songs, dances and Gods during the ongoing Durga Puja.

In the last three days, I have listened to Bengali music and listened to Rabindranath Tagore’s idea of music and literature. I have listened to proud references to Bengali filmmakers Ritwik Ghatak and Satyajit ray. All of this in a simple pandal where the decorations are more symbolic than exaggerated; where the richness of clothes matters less than the will to appreciate art; where actor and singer Shekhar Sen‘s style of greeting takes you right into the festivities:

“Hello Kartikey. We have been praying to you. Only we Bengalis pray to you out here. Nobody else does”

The reference is to Lord Kartikey (Kartikeya) who occupies a place among the worshipped Gods.

The crowd was distracted during the performances, children wailed and some ladies discussed shopping. But this didn’t deter Shweta Sen, the event organiser, from reading out a self written commentary on Rabindra Sangeet and singing some Bengali songs. Shekhar Sen mellifluously sang a Bengali bhajan and a children song after explaining its meaning in Hindi.

We listened to paeans to Vitthal in the form of a Marathi song by a classically based singer, which was followed by two film songs by the winner of a music contest.

Today, I saw a classical dance, which was described as classical fusion by an admirer.

The ongoing program may not be exhaustive in terms of content or popular in terms of audience but it is an effort towards imparting meaning to a festival through good art. This is important considering that entertainment programs in the bigger pandals are highlighted mostly by remixed film songs and loud music.

I may visit the pandal in the remaining few days as well.

The pandal hosts artistic performances daily.

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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.

*chacha: Uncle

**beta: son

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