Music And Changing Times

Who would like to listen to ‘ek bangla bane nyara rahe kumbajis mein saara’ (letthere be a sweet home in which the entire family lives together) these days? It is not because the joint family system is dying. Social order is not our subject today. We are simply talking about the thick nasal voice that Kundan Lai Sehgal uses to sing it. If a survey is held there is every possibility that younger people will not vote for its inclusion among all-time great songs. This is not something unexpected. Tunes and themes of Hindi films songs change with the times. Those who dominate a particular era much like Sehgal had done in the 1940s are categorized as classical and bundled out of the reckoning. Their cassettes if available are given as gifts wrapped in multi-colored papers which may or may not be opened. Immediately after Independence the country's senti-ments found expression in Boot Polish through ‘nanhe mune bache teri muthi mein kiya hat, muthi mein hai taqdeer hamari, muthi mein hai taqdeer hamari, humne kismet kop bas mein kiya hai’ - O little children! What are you holding in your closed hands? We are holding key to our fortunes... We shall determine the course of our fate.

As we made headway through a mixed economy the post-1947 born appeared to feel comfortable and began exploring virtues in teenage love. The 1960s reverberated with ‘ek ghar banoonga tere ghar ke samne’ -I will build a house right in front of the one that belongs to you, ‘sayonara, sayonara’ and ‘mere samne wali khidki mein ek chand ka tukra rahta hai’-there shines a pretty face in the window opposite me. It may not be an exaggeration to see that these melodious attempts by young minds to explore one another were capped by a brash ‘Yahoo! Chahe koi mujhe jungiee kahe, kehne do ji kehta rahe, hum pyar ke tufanon mein ghiren has, hum kiya karen’ - Yahoo! Let people dismiss me as a mad man. Let them say what they want to. I am bewitched by love. What can I do?

This predominantly male-dominated phase has since given way to women being an equal if not more excited partners in matters concerning them. Nothing symbolizes it more than ‘beedi jalaye le’ let us ignite our hearts and souls) which stands out because of sheer energy it exudes even in an age of ‘U, me aur hum’ and ‘Jab we met’. A fascinating aspect of the overall scenario is that patriotism has never taken a back seat. To begin with lyrists and singers have been moved by freedom movement ‘doorhato ae duniyawalo, Hindustan hamara hai’ - Quit India. It is our country. Now they have chosen to be counted against terrorism ‘Bharat humko jaan se pyara hai’ - We love India more than our lives.

The present young generation thus shows its sense of responsibility even as it gives the impression of going berserk: ‘Race is on my mind, race is my soul life, race is in my life, my -heart is racing on... nasha tera ... nasha .... nashila nashila hai’-Your magnetic influence has engulfed me completely. Tunes may be old or new but they do express what we feel. God bless who created music.