WHAT'S the quintessential Bangla melody? It is that tune whose roots can be detected in the composer's coexistence with various forms of Bangla music. This includes ragpradhan (the semi-classical genre), Nazrul Geeti (compositions of Kazi Nazrul Islam), Rabindra Sangeet (Rabindranath Tagore's creations), adhunik (modern songs) and, of course, folk music. In a musically vibrant ambience, an exposure to all these forms, and more, is inevitable. It's a part of growing up.

Melodies with a Bangla soul: a brief look at the history of Hindi film music shows how several music composers created them at will. In the music of Pankaj Mullick known to most modern-day listeners as the singer-composer of "Kab Tak Niraash" (from Doctor), we can sense this quality. We can hear it in the work of Anil Biswas, the two Burmans, Salil Chowdhury, Shyamal Mitra and others.

Many of these melodies, such as the classics of Mullick or Biswas, would be out of place in contempo-

rary mainstream films since cinematic creativity has been redefined dramatically. But the music composer can learn a lot from the history of film music, and explore Bangla idioms that can be made to blend with the texture of modern-day music very easily.

That isn't happening, which is ironic because modern-day film music is marked by more intrepid experimentation than ever before. Ismail Darbar reworked a Manganiyar folk melody to generate "Nimbooda Nimbooda" in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De ChukeSanam. Just when we thought that A R Rehman had peaked with Ashutosh Gowarikar's Lagaan comes the soundtrack of Shankar's Nayak, which may not be as good but incorporates sounds from Rajasthan. Those who thought that Ashok Kumar's "Railgaadi Railgaadi" was the last Hindi rap number will have to revise their perspectives now that Anu Malik has made an innovative song in Rakesh Mehra's Aks. Qawaalis find a place in soundtracks quite often. Bhangra

makes an entry once in a while. Absent is the song with a Bangla feel characterised by a simple tune and thoughtful instrumentation that the lay listener can hum quite easily, murdering the song, pleasing himself.

Missing are tunes like the ones created by Salil Chowdhury who was really popular with Bengali directors like Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. Best known for the haunting soundtrack of Madhumati among his Hindi music forays, he produced several cuts that became popular in both Bangla and Hindi such as "O Sajana Barkha Bahar Aayee" in Parakh whose Bangla version is "Na Jeo Na." Many other Chowdhury numbers have two versions, like "Ja Re Udja Re Panchhi" from Maya which, in Bangla, is "Ja Re Udey Ja Re Pakkhi" and "Kahin Door Jab" from Anand that became popular as "Amai Proshno Korey…" in Bangla.

So vast is their body of work that writing about the two Burmans can fill up an entire encyclopaedia. Blessed with an unmistakably nasal voice, the father Sachin Dev

Burman recreated the spirit of contemporary Bangla music in a song like "Jalte Hai Jiske Liye" from Sujata that only Talat Mahmood could have sung. The favourite composer of many top directors like Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy and Dev Anand, it is SD's folksy compositional forays that highlight the fact of inspiration most notably. Among these are "Mere Saajan Hai Uss Paar" from Bandini, "Safal Hogi Teri Aradhana" from Aradhana and "Wahan Kaun Hai Tera" from Guide.

Unlike his father, RD Burman looked towards the West very frequently. But in his songs as well, the spirit of Bangla music played the trespasser. That produced some marvellous songs such as "Tum Bin Jaun Kahan" (from Pyaar Ka Mausam) whose Bangla version is "Ek Din Pakkhi Urey… ."

For a melody like "Tujhse Naraaz Nahi Zindagi" from Masoom, RD needed the voice of Anup Ghoshal to do an impeccable job in the song's male version. Amar Prem's "Bada Nathkat Hai" sung by Lata Mangeshkar is a modified folk mel-

ody, while Aandhi's "Tere Bina Zindagi Se" has a Bangla original composed by RD that Gulzar happened to like. The director of Aandhi who worked with RD in eight of his films, Gulzar used the tune and his lyrics, giving birth to a classic.

With a style inspired by Pankaj Mullick in his career's initial phases, and a voice cut out for Rabindra Sangeet, Hemant Kumar composed Hindi film songs that could have been set to Bangla lyrics most easily. "Bekaraar Karkey Hamey" from Bees Saal Baad, "Yeh Nayan Dare" from "Kohra", "Ya Dil Ki Suno Duniya Waalon" from Anupama: Hemant Kumar's compositions epitomised the spirit of Bangla music. Even when he sung for others, he did not deviate much, a quality that can be heard in "Hai Apna Dil Toh Awaara" composed by SD Burman for Solva Saal.

Alongside such highly successful composers is someone like Shyamal Mitra, whose body of work for Hindi films is far from huge. Mitra has been responsible for minor classics though, such as "Tere Gaalon

Ko Chumu" in Amanush ("Jodi Hoi Chor Kaanta" in Bangla) and "Saara Pyar Tumhara" in Anand Ashram (Amaar Shopno Tumi" in Bangla). Simple melodies, but hard to forget.

What's surprising, therefore, is why the modern-day music composer isn't experimenting with Bangla musical idioms at a time when novelty is the key to success most often. The industry hasn't had a distinctive music director who has grown up in an atmosphere of Bangla music in a long time. But why should that matter when an A R Rahman, in his quest for uniqueness, can dig into Rajasthani folk music? Should the sounds from Bengal be dexterously used, the results would be refreshingly different. As film music expands its horizons, the soul of Bengal is waiting to be rediscovered.

Source: Internet