 Bollywood is Hindi film music and dance; considered an important expression of Indian pop culture and social history  Bollywood has been around and evolving since the 1930s  First Indian sound film was Alam Ara; “Ornament of the World” (March 1931); a love story between a prince and a gypsy girl  The language of Bollywood songs is usually a mix of Hindi and Urdu  Bollywood films typically have 5-7 song sequences, some of which include choreographed dances  Bollywood films are known for being very colorful, radiant, extravagant, etc.

 By the 1950s Bollywood became a very popular film genre  The actors became extremely popular as well  K.L. Saigal ( ) was a legendary singer and actor  Main character in 1936 Hindi film Devdas  Song lyricist and poet, Kidar Sharma  1955 Bengali film Pather Panchali, directed by Satyajit Ray  counted as one of the greatest films of all time  Famous sitar player, Ravi Shankar, composed the soundtrack

 Classic Bollywood..  “Main Yahan Hoon” (“I Am Here”)  From the 2004 film Veer-Zaara  Veer = the male main character; played by Shah Rukh Khan (b. 1965)  Zaara = the female main character; played by Priety Zinta (b. 1975)  Plot: love drama across the Indo-Pakistani/social class divide  Composer, Madan Mohan ( )  Male singer, Udit Naravan (b. 1955) – recorded over 25,000 songs in his career  Lyricist, Javed Akhtar (b. 1945)  (has more than 23.5 million view on Youtube)

 Some actors became extremely popular…but didn’t have the voice for Bollywood  Playback Singers: singers who record film songs in a studio that the main actors lip sync to in the film  Not shown in the film  Famous playback singer: Mukesh ( )  1955 film Shree 420 (“Mr. Cheat”) ; sang the hit song “Mera juta hai jaapaani” (“My shoes, they’re Japanese”)  Sang for legendary actor, Raj Kapoor, the “Charlie Chaplin of Indian cinema”  Melody composed by Shankar Jaikishan – a duo known for their “immortal” film songs in the 50s/60s  Lyricist, Shailendra

 Famous female playback singer…  Lata Mangeshkar (b. 1929); the “Melody Queen” of Indian film  India’s single most famous playback singer  Known for her distinctive innocent, girl-like voice  Began recording in the 1940s; has recorded for more than a thousand Hindi films!  Received the Indian government’s highest civilian honor in 2001  Sang with Mukesh in 1976 film “Kabhi Kabhi” (“Sometimes”)  **Listening Example 12  “Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai”  Heroine has a past love who her family does not permit her to marry… :(  Lyricist, Sahir Ludhianvi ( )  Composer, Mohammed Zahur “Khayyam” Hashmi won 3 awards for this song in 1977  Sister, Asha Bhosle: Guinness World Record 2011 for most studio singles ever recorded… 11,000!!

Quiz: Bollywood? Quiz: Playback singers? Raga – the melodies and the melodic system of Indian classical music o raga Pilu (classic romance), raga kafi (evokes springtime, playful festival Holi, excitement/love), raga yaman (most well-known raga; romantic love) o Ex: [my shoes, they’re Japanese]=NOT raga ; [kabhi kabhi]=raga yaman Melisma – a flow of several notes over a single syllable (common in traditional Indian music) “Masala” films – “spice” films; movies that use various types of plot lines and character types and mix it all up = exciting! mass audience appeal

Indian music INSTRUMENTATION is very eclectic (varying) Early film: traditional instruments like tabla (North Indian classical drum), sarangi (North Indian bowed instrument), harmonium (small hand-pumped organ), and flute After 1940s: studio ensembles became popular; used instruments from all over the world; lots of percussion They refer to modern style as “Western style”/ “Western sound” You may notice….the more recent the song, the more the studio orchestra has been replaced by electronic sounds

 Like Bollywood, Tamil film style is derived from theater and dance traditions  Recent hit Tamil songs…  “Why This Kolavari Di?” from the 2012 movie 3  “Pistah” from the 2013 film Neram  A. R. Rahman, famous composer of Tamil music  “Tracks produced in his state-of-the-art recording studio in Chennai have come to define the modern sound of Indian film music”  Worked with many rock and fusion artists  Diploma in music from Trinity College London  Has won multiple awards, starting in the early 1990s; has now branched out to work in other languages as well  **Listening Example 13  “Enna Solla Pogirai” from the 2000 film Kandukondain Kandukondain (I Have Seen It)  Playback singer, Shankar Mahadevan  Composer A.R. RAHMAN  Lyricist/Tamil poet, Vairamuthu