Lata Mangeshkar pens an open letter to record companies on the ‘remix trend’

Veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar recently took down the trend of remixes in the Hindi music industry in an open letter. The singer said that she was prompted to write the piece after a conversation with Javed Akhtar.

Lata Mangeshkar recently took down the remix trend of Bollywood

It is the age of remixes, of turning the old into new and creating chart-topping numbers. Be it the remixed version of Ek Do Teen featuring Jacqueline Fernandez or Laila Main Laila featuring Sunny Leone; these tracks have caught the attention of the youth in a big way.

However, not everyone is happy about this new trend. In fact, veteran artist and Bollywood’s revered playback singer Lata Mangeshkar has been so affected by the said remixes that she recently wrote an open letter on the same. The singer took to social media site Twitter to share the link to her piece on remixes. She mentioned that she was prompted to write the article after having a telephonic conversation with lyricist Javed Akhtar on the subject. Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

सच पूछिए तो इस में आपत्ती की कोई बात नहीं है। गीत का मूल स्वरूप कायम रख उसे नये परिवेश में पेश करना अच्छी बात है। एक कलाकार के नाते मैं भी ये मानती हूँ की कई गीत कई धुनें ऐसी होती है की हर कलाकार को लगता है की काश इसे गाने का मौक़ा हमें मिलता,ऐसा लगना भी स्वाभाविक है,परंतु, गीत को तोड़मरोड़ कर प्रस्तुत करना यह सरासर गलत बात है। और सुना है की ऐसा ही आज हो रहा है और मूल रचयीता के बदले और किसी का नाम दिया जाता है जो अत्यंत अयोग्य है. गाने की मूल धुन को बिगाड़ना, शब्दों में मनचाहा परिवर्तन करना या फिर नए और सस्ते शब्द जोड़ना इस तरह की बेतुकी हरकतें देख-सुन सचमें पीड़ा होती है। (Remixing the songs in itself is not a problem. To keep the song’s essence alive and to present a recreated version of the same is actually a good thing. But to upset the very structure and words of the original song is something that is disheartening to see.)

नमस्कार .जावेद अख़्तर साहब से मेरी टेलिफ़ोन पे बात हुई उसके बाद मुझे महसूस हुआ कि मुझे उसपर कुछ लिखना (cont) https://t.co/XhzXrLhX8s

— Lata Mangeshkar (@mangeshkarlata) June 1, 2018

Mangeshkar then went on to cite the names of popular artists, singers, lyricists and technicians, who through their passion and talent, created the golden era for the Hindi music industry. She also urged the record companies to ensure that the classics of the days gone by are not used so carelessly by the young blood of the industry and wrote the following concluding sentences:

हिंदी सिनेमा-गीतों की पवित्रता कायम रखने का और यह मसला योग्य तरह से हल करने का दायित्व रेकार्डिंग कंपनीयों का है ऐसा मैं मानती हूं लेकिन दुःख इस बात का है की कंपनीयां ये भूल गयी हैं।यह कंपनीयां अपनी जिम्मेदारी का निर्वाह करें ,संगीत को केवल व्यावसायिक तौर पे देखने के बजाय देश की सांस्कृतिक धरोहर समझके क़दम उठाए ऐसा मेरा उनसे नम्र निवेदन है। (To maintain the purity and originality of Hindi songs is the responsibility of the recording companies. However, it looks like that those very companies have forgotten their duties. I request these companies in question to look at songs as not only a means of money-making but as something that reflects our culture.)

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