Its all about software melodies

Little wonder then that the song sounded so perfect. The song we have heard and appreciated,however,is not a rendition at all,but a series of cut-and-paste words,phrases and bars! Replace Sadhana Sargam with a nonsinger and he or she will find it impossible to render this song at one go if needed on stagewhich,incidentally,is what actually happens a lot nowadays. A few years later,another highly-trained singer,Sonu Niigaam,sarcastically commented on the fact that Today even my dhobi can record a song and they can make it sound as good as one rendered by any of us singers. There are machines nowadays that correct the pitch and allow a non-singer to sound completely in tune. Many of the new breed of voices should actually garland and worship these software,because their very careers depend upon them.

Pritam,as representative of this generation of composers,completely insists on novel voices as his prime reason for casting singers. Quite naturally,their singing expertise does not matter,not at least as the prime requisite. But upcoming singer Amrita Kak states decisively,I have no issues with such software being used to process my voice if a particular enhancement or effect is needed,but I have never needed it.

Ram Sampath,who is in the news for his chartbusting soundtrack in Delhi Belly,reveals that certain experiences made him take a policy decision almost a decade back. I have decided against using any singer who cannot sing! he says meaningfully. But then not everyone is as quality-conscious as Sampath!

On the plus side,however,technology can be an advantage on occasion. For example,we have the novelty of making popular actors sound as competent as playback singers. Actors have always sung in movies as a novelty or a gimmick for decades,but today,their singing can match that of the most competent singer in the business.

Said an awestruck Amitabh Bachchan at the Screen Chatroom,They have these things that can make a besura like me sound good! I am amazed that just by twirling knobs or punching keys even the scale of my voice can be altered. Vishal-Shekhar made me sing three tracks in Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap and in one of them they asked me to imitate 12 instruments that were later processed as well. And all this was done inside a small room! I remember the days when I would attend recordings in huge studios and if just one singer or any of the 100 musicians made a slip,the whole song had to be completely redone. Now its all so simple!

But to me the flipside is worse. For one,it prevents hard work from the composer,musician as well as singer when technology is used to set right wrongs that should not be there in the first place! And while the kind of breed Sonu referred to might be ecstatic that lack of talent or dedication is no longer an impediment to becoming a success,the genuine singer would like a sense of belonging to the song. I dare say that Bachchan himself,who is not looking at a career in playback,feels closer to his earlier songs that were tailored to his limitations and recorded live,like Mere paas aao from Mr Natwarlal,Mera angne mein from Laawaris,Chal mere bhai from Naseeb or Rang barse and Neela aasmaan so gaya from Silsila. The minor musical flaws in some of these songs only enhanced their appeal.

In another recent case,actor Vinay Pathak made no impact in his recorded song O raahi from Bheja Fry 2,but truly impressed when he naturally sang more than 20 old songs in his character as an aspiring singer in the film.

Songs,after all,are a flow of expressions and emotions,not jigsaw puzzles to be fitted together with mechanical precision.

rajiv.vijayakarexpressindia.com