Whose problem is it anyway?. Review on Remixes Vs The Original

I love Hindi film music- especially the old songs. As I regularly listen to the old songs, I really get annoyed when I listen to some mediocre singer singing a Kishore Kumar or Rafi song in the worst possible manner. This ‘remix’ thing really makes me angry. Since very few things can actually make a lazy person like me ‘angry’, I was surprised.

Here’s the transcript of my discussion- with myself.

Me 1(The angry young woman)- I hate it when anybody else sings Kishore Kumar’s songs. Or Lata Mangeshkar’s songs.

Me 2(The cool one)- Come on, you sang ‘tere bina zindagi se’ in your college day function. That’s a Lata-Kishore song.

Me 1- But that’s OK.

Me 2- OK because you did it?

Me 1- No, OK because I didn’t make the whole world listen to my song.

I didn’t torture anyone by sending that song on TV and radio. I didn’t sell that song. I didn’t make any money on it.  What this remix brigade is doing- that is just theft.

Me 2- Hey, but what’s your ‘exact’ problem? Do you hate to listen to mediocre songs, or you feel that injustice is being done to your favorite singers?

Me 1- Hmm….Both these things annoy me.

Me 2- How do you know that the ‘original songs’ are actually original?

Our music directors have been copying songs from different sources. Have you heard ‘aate jaate haste gaate’?  And ‘I just called to say I love you’?

By the way, your favorite singers have been singing all these ‘original’ songs. And how about that ‘Shraddhanjali’ album? Even Jagjit Singh has sung Kishore Kumar songs. He is one of your favorite gazal singers.

Me 1- That’s different. You can’t compare these great talented people to the remix people.

Me 2- Who is your favorite singer from the new generation of singers?

Me 1- Sonu Nigam.

Me 2-Actually, the remix trend is very old. For years, Sonu Nigam and Anuradha Pawdwal sang their versions of golden melodies. Nobody took notice.

It has been going on for many decades.

Me 1- Yes, those albums weren’t able to attract any attention. But these days, they make horrendous cheap videos and the albums become big hits. That attracts more people in this new business of remix.

Me 2- ok, so you seem to have problem with the video, not with the audio.

Me 1- Look- I am angry young woman. I have problem with everything.

Me 2- Come on, People who like those videos don’t pay any attention to the song playing in the background. It can be some Lata Mangeshkar classic- or the title song of Kyunki saas bi kabhi bahu thi- doesn’t matter.

And anti-video people like you are in minority. So do what people in minority are supposed to do- Shut up.

Me 1- OK forget videos. Let’s talk about audio. They should at least ban those songs on radio.

Me 2- But the listeners aren’t complaining. Many of the listeners seem to enjoy the remixed songs a lot. Even  you like some of the remix songs.

Me 1- Ok, I agree. A few songs are fine- easy on ears. But-

Me 2-Exactly! That’s my point- if you like the song, just listen to the song, enjoy, why bother about the name of the singer?

Me 1- These people can never be like those great singers of the sixties.

Me 2- Even these new singers have to struggle a lot. They should not resort to making remixes, but they don’t have any option. The competition is high, and they need to survive. Imagine how the singer must be feeling, when the girls in the video get more publicity than her.

Me 1- That’s ridiculous- you cannot justify wrong things as survival attempts.

Me 2- That’s your view. Everybody has different views regarding this. The point is- you do have the freedom to say ‘NO’ to remix. Do not listen to remix, do not buy remix- that’s it!

Me 1- I have better stuff to listen to, and better things to buy.

Me(1+2)- So what do you think about remix?