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Why is the music industry in India differs greatly from Europe, USA and Canada...??

Topic started by Theepan (@ 209.197.166.181) on Wed May 7 09:36:25 EDT 2003.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

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Responses:

• From: curses (@ 219.65.109.103) on: Wed May 7 11:19:18 EDT 2003
  
  huh?? everything in India differs greatly from all those other countries!
  
  Alright.. I just dont know how to argue a point. I'll move aside.
  
  
• From: xml (@ 128.148.68.110) on: Wed May 7 21:21:21 EDT 2003
  
  To fill the gap all our MDs(HJ,YSR,ARR,VS,DEVA..)are hardly trying by copying the western music in the name of new trend.Wait for a while.
  
  
• From: Raj (@ 206.97.63.112) on: Thu May 8 00:37:29 EDT 2003
  
  Theepan: The most fundamental difference is that the movies in India are musicals. In the west you do not see musicals any more. They are rare. The days of 'My Fair Lady' are gone. Therfore, music industry in the west thrives on individual or group talent like Madonna,Streisand, Cher,Lopez et al. In their concerts they sing their own compositions/songs. Their albums also sell well. In India,even if a playback singer goes on his own tour he/she has to sing movie songs. I am not sure whether their own compositions/songs will go very far. In the west non-cinema has its place and is primary musical entertainment. In India non-cinema music that sells happens to be classical music-carnatic or Hindusthani and to some extent devotional music. The consumer taste and market are totally different.
  
  
• From: Theepan (@ 209.197.169.47) on: Thu May 8 07:57:00 EDT 2003
  
  will the indian film industry ever move away from making musicals???
  
  if they separate the industry into two,,, i think it will benefit both parties...
  
  the music industry will cherish with new artists,, with new music,,, new talents,,,
  
  will it work out?
  
  
• From: Raj (@ 206.97.63.112) on: Thu May 8 11:00:10 EDT 2003
  
  Theepan: I doubt that it will ever happen. About 50 years back S.Balachander (Veena artist) produced a movie called 'andha naal'. It was a good movie,but a box office flop. It had no songs or dance sequences. It did not run for 3 hrs.It was a detective movie. People complained about lack of songs and short duration. You can look at Satyajit Ray's movies. How many flock to those movies?.
  
  
• From: Theepan (@ 209.197.169.47) on: Thu May 8 11:34:52 EDT 2003
  
  Deepa Mehta has been quite successful doing films without musicals...
  
  Again; its all up to the people..
  
  i think the new generation can adapt to non-musical films...
  
  The cinema scene needs to take the "fantasy" out of its so-called "commercial films"
  
  
• From: Raj (@ 206.97.63.112) on: Thu May 8 15:50:51 EDT 2003
  
  Theepan: I have heard about Mehta,her controversial movie 'Fire', and the threats on her life in India. She is based in Canada and is not concerned about box office success. Actually,she is moving to musical. Cinema is the only affordable entertainment for the poor and the middle class. I am not sure whether they have the time or patience to watch artistic movies with a message or social theme. If the big movie producers want they can produce a low budget artistic movie without all song and dance. May be the younger generation will start the trend. In Madras, they produce about 200 movies for a population of about 60 million. In US they produce about the same number of movies for a population of about 300 million. You can see the impact movies and movie songs have on Tamil population. Changing that is not going to be easy. Hope somebody is bold enough to try!
  
  
• From: Mumbai Ramki (@ 203.197.24.195) on: Thu May 8 16:13:24 EDT 2003
  
  http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/stories/2003050900020100.htm
  
  Read this more guys ,it is the interview of Kamal Hassan !!!!
  
  
• From: Raj (@ 206.97.63.112) on: Thu May 8 17:06:03 EDT 2003
  
  Mumbai Ramki: I have not heard of Kamalahassan making a movie without songs and/or song and dance sequences. The right question to him would be whether he would make such a movie.He blames the voicing majority,whatever that means. The point is that none of the current crop of major Tamil producers have the guts to do it. Those 'certain ingredients', as he calls them are indispensable for Tamil movies which implies that the music industry (except for classical music) will be dominated by cinema music.
  
  
• From: mythila (@ 137.237.13.20) on: Thu May 8 17:34:04 EDT 2003
  
  Raj, Kamal has indeed produced
  'Kadamai Ganniyam kattupaadu' without songs. I think IR scored only the BGM. But the commercial outcome of that movie might have forced Kamal to fall in toto.
  
  
• From: Raj (@ 206.97.63.112) on: Thu May 8 18:00:12 EDT 2003
  
  You said it Mythila! What is puzzling is why Tamilnadu with a high literacy rate has trouble appreciating artistic movies?!!! Even if they produce 10 movies out of the 200 a year, it will be a good start.
  
  
• From: Mumbai Ramki (@ 203.197.24.195) on: Thu May 8 18:15:54 EDT 2003
  
  Raj ,
  After GV 's death ,only movies of DHOOl ,SAAMY kind will come ...
  Even Kamal burnt his fingers with HEYRAM ( it contains songs but not the regular type)...
  The challenge is if it can be made intresting ...ATleast the duets can stop ,the songs can come in the background as in HEYRAM ..
  
  Kamal's Kurudhi Punal and PushPak did not have any songs!!!!!!
  
  
• From: ki (@ 192.138.150.249) on: Thu May 8 19:03:48 EDT 2003
  
  "when mediocrity sets the standard, people like me are mistaken for geniuses" - Well, I didn't :) but Kamal is cool enough to say this.
  Coming back to the topic, how many people in India can afford to buy a tape recorder or CD player ? So till we develop economically, music can be delivered through a mass-medium like cinema..What Raj says is similar and it makes sense..Music lives in the west in bars, jazz clubs and at home where play with real instruments. We are not economically that well-off for a lifestyle like this ..Either go to a movie or if one afford it we'll settle for a TV ..thats about it..
  
  
• From: Theepan (@ 209.197.169.30) on: Fri May 9 21:28:42 EDT 2003
  
  If you guys all remember; back in the days all Hollywood produced was "musicals". But,now they have totally avoided it..
  
  why?? one reason possibly is to cut down on the viewing time; as the "white" people don't like to spend too much time doing one thing...
  
  These people call soccer, cricket and even baseball BORRINGGG....
  
  so; its because of the people in America; Hollywood changed its views on doing movies with musicals..
  
  However; Musicalz are making a comeback to the big screen in hollywood with big OSCAR winners such as "MOULAN ROUGE" and " CHICAGO"
  
  any comment
  
  
• From: ! (@ 65.176.168.31) on: Fri May 9 22:26:47 EDT 2003
  
  Artisitic works are purely based on talent and supply, plus demographic stability. US is a very dynamic country with everchanging demographics. India has a more or less stable demo with very settled tastes in the arts. we need a song, a dance, comedy plus fights plus tears etc... all in one sitting. then there is talent available. you think you can find an MSV or IR in the West. RAJ says Madonna and the likes sing their own compositions? it is not true, many composers or tunesmiths or producers supply for one album and have singers like Madonna sing and packaged as a Madonna album. you can see the limited musical vocabulary compared to contributions from Indian films, even though in the West there are about 500 composers who make tunes while in India it would be all be one guy doing the job of 500 different guys abroad!!! So, hero worship is possible here and composers can scale heights that western counterparts cannot. Musicals cannot come back in the west like in india, because tunes are not based on raagas or situations, Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and few others could only work within parameters or limited number of raagas. By the way, I have not heard a single hit song worth talking about form Moulin or Chicago? The West is also a Visual sensitive ociety, more than auditory or aural sensitivitized, that explains the success of Hollywood surviving on forumlaic stories like XMen, Matrix etc... Soul is missing there, and in India too much soul. We need a new revolution in filmmaking - BALANCED SOULFULNESS, 5 SONGS BY ILAYRAAJA, SPECIAL EFFECTS AND ANIMATED ACTORS OF HOLLYWOOD, COMEDY BY VIVEK AND VADIVELU OR DIGITALLY REMADE CHO AND A LEAD ACTOR FROM THIS FORUM WHO WILL BE WILLING TO WORK FOR FREE AND HELP PRODUCERS LIKE ME TO SURVIVE.
  
  
• From: Thepan (@ 209.197.166.168) on: Sat May 10 08:06:22 EDT 2003
  
  good comments; from the latter. Very thoughtful.. i agree with most of your points. Its funny that you still want to include Ilaiyaraaja to create a masterpiece...
  
  I know he's the master of souls;;; but his time is long gone...Nowadays;; all people ask is good music rather than music with souls...
  
  talking about souls;; why don't some of you post some of the best tamil songs containing a "soul"
  
  
  
• From: Raj (@ 206.97.63.112) on: Tue May 13 00:52:32 EDT 2003
  
  Theepan and ! : Looks like there is a lot of misunderstanding or misinformation about US and its people and culture. I will try to clarify a few at a time. Cricket is not popular in US because it goes for five days (except for one day matches}. Baeball boring ? NOt at all. It is their national game and the most popular entertainment. Madonna does not compose? She does compose some songs for her concerts and sometimes a song or two for the movies she acts in. Being a singer and not a full fledged composer, she relies on other composers for songs. 500 composers? That is what we need in INdia to crush the monopoly of a few. I heard SPB gave up composing because he could not take on the "hero" figures. How does one country with 300 million get 500 and state with 60 million has to be satisfied with a dozen or so. It has to do with the culture and values. In US you can find elementary schools with an orchestra where the kids participate and play instruments like violin,cello and flute. High schools have orchestra,band and choir or a smaller set of these. Colleges have bands and symphony. Now you know why US produces more composers. If a kid wants to study music parents encourage it and do not force the kid into engineering or medicine as we do in India. I understand that it is economic necessity. But, it affects fine arts. It is not uncommon to see high school kid s to form a band or a string quartet and play in wedding receptions or some other functions. That tells you why there are so many individual music groups not dependent on cinema. Anyone like IR or MSV? You gave part of the answer- limited supply of music directors. Obviously you have forgotten Rogers and Hamerstein,Leonard Beernstein and John Williams to name a few. More later...
  
  
• From: MumRamki (@ 203.197.24.195) on: Tue May 13 01:20:29 EDT 2003
  
  Raj,
  If iam right Lenorad Bernstein is more known for conducting than composing!!!!!
  Anyway very good posting .
  
  

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