Interview in 2day's TOI


THE INTERVIEW


Disco docs



The father-son duo of BAPPI and BAPPA LAHIRI tell Devdulal Das that
they are going to bring hip hop into mainstream Hindi music




• (To Bappi)You were one of the biggest music directors at one time
after which there was a lull. Are you trying to reinvent yourself
with your son this time around?
Reinvention is the crux on which any artiste evolves. Of course, I
have always reinvented myself. The music that is prevalent today in
commercial Hindi cinema was initially my creation. As far as talking
about the lull, it is not true because I don't have to prove
anything anymore. These past few years I have been busy in America
and that's why you did not hear about my music. These days one movie
has five music directors looking at different aspects of background
score. I don't work like that. I work independently and I don't run
after producers to give me a project, something that is the rule of
the industry today.

• (To Bappi) Creating music incessantly right through the eighties,
did you feel that your creativity had been hampered by too much work
and that's where new age music directors crept in? Absolutely not.
Today I have sixty platinum discs in my bungalow. What else do I
have to
prove? I have passed that phase where I would compromise with
everything for working in a film. Talk about any form of music, I
was the one who fused disco and western music as early as in the
eighties in Hindi film music. Nobody had listened to anything like
that then. And today who are the music directors who can be called
my contemporaries. My contemporaries were Laxmikant Pyarelal and R.D
Burman. I don't even consider the new age music directors as my
contemporaries with who I can be compared. They plagiarise my music
when they create songs that are used in films today.

• ( To Bappi)You mean to say that your songs have been plagiarised?
Yes, of course. It is very evident . It's the time to disco was my
song, my creativity. Today, if it is so popular then it is in
reality my music which is popular. I created music that was
definitive and epoch breaking. A glaring example is that of all the
remix hit numbers that are popular today, starting from Kaliyon ka
chaman to Raat baki are originally all my compositions.

• (To Bappi) You brought disco, remix, and pop music to Hindi
cinema. What now?
I am going to bring out a completely hip hop
album in Hindi where the rap sections have been sung by black
artists in America. It is going to be a rage here. Hip hop is a rage
all over the world today and if a balanced fusion of it can be done
with Hindi music it will be a definitive step.

• (To Bappi): Do you believe that it is possible? I mean hip hop has
so much to do with the cultural roots of the African American.
Yes, it is. Ultimately it's music which matters. Hip hop artists are
famous even in India. All that it needs is to be fused with the form
of music prevalent here. One does not require angsty lyrics to make
hip hop. All that is required is innovativeness.

• ( To Bappa): How much influential has been being his son in your
coming up as a music director?
It has got its advantages and disadvantages. People will always
compare me to him. That's a disadvantage. As far as music goes, even
in my debut album
Supermodel Mix , the musical arrangement was done by me. I have the
talent to make it on my own and soon I will be venturing solo.

• ( To Bappa): Have you learnt about hip hop music before you
planned on this venture with your dad?
Yes, while I was in America I met a lot of black rap artists and I
just love the feel and texture of Hip hop. That why I wanted to
experiment by fusing hip hop with characteristic Hindi film music
and the album is going to be released soon

Thanks Jayant da for the interview on my favourite MD

Ahh how I wish we could get the audio version of this.

I remember hearing one, it was u/l long ago by one friend frm SKS (Kamall Mustafa)!

Only his hindi/english diction is ayyo !!!!!!!!

N

Bappi lahiri ke do gaane yaad aate hain:

Aish karo, cash karo....................
Mehman nazar ki ban za ..............

versatility in entertainment. Few things he composed were "Samay se aage ki" jo logon ko samajh na aayi.



chin 2