Film Songs Research Articles

Framing the Body and the Body of Frame: Item songs in popular Hindi cinema

University of DelhiThe basic framework of this paper is to deliberate upon the emergence of item songs as a reinstatement of the dominance of the ‘song and dance sequences’ in popular Hindi cinema, and its inferences as a sub-text in contemporary cultural forms. While doing so, the paper argues that the transition in consumption and the circulation/distribution of Hindi film songs, and other visual/ audio media has affectively facilitated the course. In the given context, the paper further attempts to address shifts in the filmic techniques that have consistently regulated the production of such songs, revealing a spectrum of negotiations between and among the ‘body’, ‘performance’, and ‘frame’, with which the spectator becomes familiarized over a series of visual/ audio leaps that have taken place in the traditional media forms like that of television and in newer forms like the internet.

Constructs of Asia in Indian Film and Film Song

Relying on a quixotic blend of catchy tunes, frenetic dances, colourful costumes, and comically elaborate plot narratives, Indian films attract large audiences from across South Asia and around the world. Important in the appeal of this cinematic “masala” has been an idealized depiction of India and an overall disparaging representation of the West. Recently, film-makers, in their pursuit of creating ever more dazzling spectacles, have also become increasingly interested in portraying other world cultures, with non-Indian Asian societies being especially favoured. Using film music as a focal point, this article explores the emergent constructs and depictions of Asia vis-a-vis India and the West. It focuses specifically on representations of Islamic West Asia, especially Turkey, and industrialized East and Southeast Asian urban centres like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Analyses of songs in such films as Mission Istaanbul, Bombay to Bangkok, and Chandni Chowk to China reveal not only how India s...

COSMOPOLITANISM, REMEDIATION, AND THE GHOST WORLD OF BOLLYWOOD

This essay considers the process of remediation in two North American reproductions of the song-and-dance sequence Jaan Pehechaan Ho from the 1965 “Bollywood” film Gumnaam. The song was used in the opening sequence of the 2001 U.S. independent film Ghost World as a familiar-but-strange object of ironic bewilderment and fantasy for its alienated teenage protagonist Enid. But a decade before Ghost World's release, Jaan Pehechaan Ho had already become the lynchpin of a complex debate about cultural appropriation and multicultural identity for an “alternative” audience in the United States. I illustrate this through an ethnographic analysis of a 1994 videotape of the Heavenly Ten Stems, an experimental rock band in San Francisco, whose performance of the song was disrupted by a group of activists who perceived their reproduction as a mockery. How is Bollywood film song, often itself a kitschy send-up of American popular culture, remediated differently for different projects of reception? How do these cycles of appropriation create overlapping conditions for new identities—whether national, diasporic, or “alternative”—within the context of transcultural media consumption? In drawing out the “ghost world” of Bollywood's juxtapositions, I argue that the process of remediation produces more than just new forms and meanings of media, but is constitutive of the cosmopolitan subjects formed in its global circulations.

Evergreens to Remixes: Hindi Film Songs and India’s Popular Music Heritage

Research Article| October 01 2009 Evergreens to Remixes: Hindi Film Songs and India’s Popular Music Heritage Jayson Beaster-Jones Jayson Beaster-Jones Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Ethnomusicology (2009) 53 (3): 425–448. https://doi.org/10.2307/25653086 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Jayson Beaster-Jones; Evergreens to Remixes: Hindi Film Songs and India’s Popular Music Heritage. Ethnomusicology 1 January 2009; 53 (3): 425–448. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/25653086 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressEthnomusicology Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2009 the Society for Ethnomusicology2009 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Popular Hindi Film Song Sequences Set in the Indian Diaspora and the Negotiating of Indian Identity

Many scholars and audiences consistently identify the song sequence and its in terruption of the narrative as the quintessential characteristic that distinguishes Indian popular cinema from other cinema traditions.1 Song sequences form a significant part of musical culture throughout South Asia2 where they indepen dently circulate as the mainstay of programming on Indian music video chan nels, as selections on compilation DVDs or VCDs, and as downloads from video sharing and entertainment-oriented websites. Furthermore, song sequences are often reenacted in professional live touring shows, and more amateur cultural functions and weddings. Although some viewers and critics are thrilled by spec tacularly choreographed song and dance sequences within films, others consider song sequences disruptive and extraneous to the film's central narrative.3 After I anonymously surveyed 46 regular viewers of Hindi films in April 2008,1 dis covered that only slightly more than half of these viewers will always watch the song sequences in the course of watching a film at home.4 The statistics for the other half of the group reveal the range in attitudes toward the song sequence's importance to a film. While approximately another 25 percent usually watch the sequences, 15-20 percent only watch song sequences half of the time or less, and an additional approximately 5 percent state that they always skip the song sequences. The relationship between a respective film's genre and its songs merits more attention. The responses to this survey indicate viewers are more likely to skip song sequences if the film is a comedy, action movie, or thriller, but a few viewers also regularly skip song sequences in the romance genre. The lack of consensus on the song sequences relationship (if any) to its film's narrative may explain why scholars have only begun to explore the film song se quence as a cinematic device that can play an integral role in the construction of a film's narrative.5 In recent years, many popular Hindi films featuring characters based in diasporic locations have been shot outside India, and I argue that the song sequences in these films play a particularly crucial role in the narrative. In

Treating Mania in Wilson's Disease with Lithium

Treating Mania in Wilson's Disease with Lithium

Celluloid love songs: musical modus operandi and the dramatic aesthetics of romantic Hindi film

AbstractIn Hindi cinema, love songs comprise the vast majority in an industry in which almost every film contains song and dance numbers. Often incorrectly characterised as narrative interruptions, these celluloid creations contain indigenous aesthetics and self-identifying cultural values, and employ contemporary cinematic techniques which impact film song content and context. How do these cinematic techniques intensify the viewing experience and allow traditional aesthetic ideals to coexist with contemporary codes relevant to a burgeoning Indian middle class and diaspora?Beginning with an examination of traditional sources and contemporary values regarding music and emotion, I address the particularly important notion of displaying heart, often the centrepiece of thematic and dramatic tension as well as the love song soundtrack. As the primary emotional genre, I analyse the use of heart in romantic films and suggest a general typology of romantic film songs and their aesthetics, including commonly used musical motifs and codes.Finally, I compare musical, cinematic and narrative components of the Indian romantic genre with those aspects of the American film musical, particularly in relation to cultural values and ideological differences. The iconic use of a couple-centric narrative is examined in relation to Indian displays of emotion, and love song duets are contextualised through description of several pervasive cinematic techniques used to heighten the emotional impact of songs on the audience. I conclude with a focus on the relationship between the song sequence and the narrative structure, particularly how this serves to intensify the narrative flow rather than interrupt it.

Let a Billion Readers Bloom: Same Language Subtitling (SLS) on Television for Mass Literacy

An estimated 250 million officially ‘‘literate’’ people in India cannot read a simple text. Same Language Subtitling (SLS) of Bollywood film songs on TV is already giving regular reading practice to 100 million weak readers. Informed by more than a decade of research and implementation, a case is made here for SLS as a cost-effective and proven solution for lifelong reinforcement of reading skills. India’s literacy rate experienced a dramatic rise in the last fifty years, from 18.3% in 1951 to 65.4% in 2001, when the last census was conducted. That translates to a country of 562 million literates and 296.2 million nonliterates. The most significant decadal growth of 12.9% was in the 1990s, mainly due to the innovative Total Literacy Campaigns (TLCs) of the National Literacy Mission (NLM). That much is the oft cited good news. What does a literacy rate of 65.4% actually mean? The Indian Census defines a literate as ‘‘A person aged 7 and above who can both read and write with understanding in any language.’’ Relaxing the definition on writing, can 65.4% of the 7+ population in India, at least read a simple text with understanding? Not really. What it means is that households across India reported 65.4% of its members to be ‘‘literate,’’ when the census fieldworker showed up. What if the national census had actually tested for reading ability? We did just that, with a sample of nearly 20,000 people drawn from 3,200 randomly chosen households in four Hindi states – Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar. First we followed the census approach. Then we asked every household member, aged 7 and above, to read a simple text in Hindi, of 35 words, that

Pop Go the Warner Bros., et al.: Marketing Film Songs during the Coming of Sound

The confluence of the American film and music industries began as early as 1927, when Hollywood’s transition to sound encouraged the major film production companies to invest in the business of popular music. In print advertising and on film soundtracks, the studios promoted motion picture songs as discrete, self-contained moments of performance.

From Empire to filmi: a fusion of western and Indian cultural practices in Australian music education

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Indian culture was represented in Australia as part of celebrations of the British Empire. Children were presented with stereotypic representations of Indian culture, which provide a snapshot of contemporary perceptions. Such representations were rarely authentic. By removing music from one culture and presenting it in the symbolic gestures of another we strip away much of its meaning. Encouragingly, contemporary popular culture can incorporate a fusion of western and Indian cultural practices, such as filmi (Hindi: `film song' or `Indian film music'). This article describes early imperialist understandings of Indian culture in Australian school music to contextualize recent attempts to engage with more authentic intercultural understandings. To assist teachers in the presentation of `other' musics, guidelines for the inclusion of authentic materials are offered. By selecting music that is already a fusion of cultures and musical styles, it becomes easier for western music educators to engage with the other.

‘THEY TREAT US WHITE FOLKS FINE’

Arriving in India in the mid‐1930s seeking performance opportunities and an improved quality of life, African American jazz musicians were active in expanding the presentation and consumption of jazz and Western popular music. Finding appeal in the power and success that African American musicians commanded, Anglo‐Indian and Goan musicians also performed jazz in cosmopolitan centres throughout India. In Bombay, Goan musicians integrated Western popular music into local live performances in cabarets, and eventually into some early film songs. This article outlines the role of African American musicians in increasing the terrain of Western popular music in India beginning in the 1930s, and concludes by speculating on the artists' influence on early Bombay cabaret songs and the ‘hybrid’ music of the early film industry.

Music in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: Drama, Gramophone, and the Beginnings of Tamil Cinema

During the first half of the twentieth century, new mass media practices radically altered traditional cultural forms and performance in a complex encounter that incited much debate, criticism, and celebration the world over. This essay examines how the new sound media of gramophone and sound cinema took up the live performance genres of Tamil drama. Professor Hughes argues that south Indian music recording companies and their products prefigured, mediated, and transcended the musical relationship between stage drama and Tamil cinema. The music recording industry not only transformed Tamil drama music into a commodity for mass circulation before the advent of talkies but also mediated the musical relationship between Tamil drama and cinema, helped to create film songs as a new and distinct popular music genre, and produced a new mass culture of film songs.

India's Music: Popular Film Songs in the Classroom

Is it possible that the most popular music in the world has been left out of most American music classes? While many in the United States have never heard of it, the Indian film industry is the largest film industry in the world, with an output roughly three times that of Hollywood.' It is estimated that 3 billion tickets are sold annually, including 25 million sold to Indians living in Britain, the U.S., and elsewhere.2 This popular world music could easily be an exciting part of a multicultural music education curriculum. Including this music not only exposes students to an entirely new musical genre and cultural industry, but can also change their perception of our own film industry, popular music, and values as students explore how another culture makes and enjoys music. Most music educators are eager to learn about and incorporate the music of other cultures in their classroom. Despite this enthusiasm, teachers' low comfort level with some non-Western music, their unfamiliarity with the music, and the difficulty of accessing authentic examples can make it hard to incorporate music from different cultures.3 While there may be an abundance of materials for some regions, many others, such as India, are underrepresented in the curriculum.4

India's Music: Popular Film Songs in the Classroom

Is it possible that the most popular music in the world has been left out of most American music classes? While many in the United States have never heard of it, the Indian film industry is the largest film industry in the world, with an output roughly three times that of Hollywood.' It is estimated that 3 billion tickets are sold annually, including 25 million sold to Indians living in Britain, the U.S., and elsewhere.2 This popular world music could easily be an exciting part of a multicultural music education curriculum. Including this music not only exposes students to an entirely new musical genre and cultural industry, but can also change their perception of our own film industry, popular music, and values as students explore how another culture makes and enjoys music. Most music educators are eager to learn about and incorporate the music of other cultures in their classroom. Despite this enthusiasm, teachers' low comfort level with some non-Western music, their unfamiliarity with the music, and the difficulty of accessing authentic examples can make it hard to incorporate music from different cultures.3 While there may be an abundance of materials for some regions, many others, such as India, are underrepresented in the curriculum.4

Reading Out of the "Idiot Box": Same-Language Subtitling on Television in India

Same Language Subtitling (SLS) is the idea of subtitling the lyrics of song-based television programs (e.g., music videos), in the same language as the audio. Situated in a literature review of subtitling, this article describes the first-ever implementation of SLS on a TV program of film songs, specifically for first-language literacy. Chitrageet, a weekly 30-minute TV program of Gujarati film songs, was telecast across Gujarat state in India, with the lyrics subtitled in Gujarati. We discuss the results of the pilot study to test the effectiveness of SLS of film songs on the reading skills of out-of-school people. With limited exposure to SLS within a telecast period of 6 months, SLS was found to make an incremental but measurable contribution to decoding skills, across the group that generally saw the subtitled TV program (as compared to those who did not). Viewer testimonies further strengthen the case for SLS beyond quantifiable improvement, as a simple and economical idea for infusing everyday television entertainment with reading and writing (or scriptacy) transactions. The potential of SLS in India and other countries is enormous. The idea is especially powerful in popular culture for scriptacy skill improvement, motivation of non-scriptates, increasing viewers' exposure and interaction with print from early childhood, and increasing media access among the deaf.

Irving Berlin in Hollywood: The Art of Plugging a Song in Film

Irving Berlin in Hollywood: The Art of Plugging a Song in Film

Swaying to an Indian Beat…Dola Goes My Diasporic Heart: Exploring Hindi Film Dance

Today, Bollywood dance has become a term used by film professionals, amateur performers, and audiences to refer to dances choreographed to Hindi film songs. The question of what Bollywood dance is, however, remains debated in both movement and text. In classes, Bollywood dance movement varies in quality and style from song to song, instructor to instructor, and choreographer to choreographer. Costume choices, facial expressions, gestures (as interpretations of sung lyrics), “jhatkas and matkas” (percussive “emphasizing] … pelvic movement”) (Kabir 2001, 189), wrist whirls, and turns, all set to film music could be identified as essential ingredients of “Bollywood dance.” Yet, this definition only begins to skim the surface of what constitutes Indian film dance, as Hindi films make up approximately one-third out of the more than eight hundred films produced in India every year (Nandy 1995). Popular films produced by language-specific regional cinemas include song and dances that often retain a degree of regional specificity. While it is important to recognize the similarities shared by these dance traditions, it is also necessary to acknowledge the definitional slippage underlying the collo quial use of the term “Bollywood Dance.” For the sake of clarity, I limit the term “Bollywood dance” to a description of choreography inspired by Hindi films. This includes combinations taught in dance classes and performed on stages. I use “Hindi film dance” to refer to song and dance sequences contained in the films themselves.

Bokkies/moffies: cinematic images of black sexual identity in Zonk! (1950)

In the late 1940s and 1950s, there was a cluster of films made in South Africa that focused on the black experience. The first of these were Jim Comes to Joburg released in 1949 and Zonk! in 1950, both representing black identity in ways that mark a shift away from earlier fomulations of black people as savages or servile. Zonk! and the later film Song of Africa (1951) both made by African Film Productions are presented as musical revues within a theatrical context, featuring a range of black songs and performance styles. Zonk! is extraordinary in that a small set of songs opens up questions of sexual identity. These songs are enacted by two men as a central couple, with an all-male backing troupe that sometimes mirrors or re-enacts aspects of the central couple's performance. One of the songs, for example, features a routine chorus: Oh Jan tog, squeeze my… (‘Oh Jan please, squeeze me…’) where all the singers dance together as couples, ‘squeezing’ their partners. Later in the film, a detailed narrative display and song-and-dance routine is developed around one of the same all-male troupe cross-dressed as the female manager in a compound ‘restaurant’, and playing the stereotypical heterosexual role of ‘woman’ in relation to the men's sexual advances. Zonk! is an essentially conservative film, both in its production base and the values it expounds overall, yet it embraces what might be seen as a radical crossing of boundaries that questions established perceptions of identity and particularly of black sexual identity in the early 1950s. In this sense it proposes identities, albeit ambiguously, beyond perceptions of national identities at that time. This is the terrain that this paper seeks to explore.

The Sounds of Music: Soundtrack and Song in Soviet Film

In this article, David C. Gillespie explores the deliberate foregrounding of music and song in Soviet film. He begins with a discussion of the structural and organizing roles of music and song in early Soviet sound films, including tiiose by Sergei Eizenshtein, Grigorii Aleksandrov, Ivan Pyr'ev, and Aleksandr Ivanovskii. Gillespie then focuses on the emphasis on urban song in some of the most popular films of the stagnation years, such asThe White Sun of the Desert (1969) and Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears(1979), adding considerably to the appreciation of these films. To conclude, he analyzes folk music in films about village life, especially those directed by Vasilii Shukshin, and explores the role of music in constructing a mythical and nationalistic discourse.

Echoes from Dharamsala: music in the life of a Tibetan refugee community

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface Note to the Reader Introduction: Theory at Home and in the Field 1. Dharamsala: A Resting Place to Pass Through 2. There Is a Tension in Our Hearts: Constructing the Rich Cultural Heritage of Tibet 3. Taking Refuge in (and from) India: Film Songs, Angry Mobs, and Other Exilic Pleasures and Fears 4. West as Surrogate Shangri-La: Rock and Roll and Rangzen as Style and Ideology 5. The Nail That Sticks Up Gets Hammered Down: Making Modern Tibetan Music 6. Little Jolmo Bird in the Willow Grove: Crafting Tibetan Song Lyrics 7. A Peek Through Ragged Tent Flaps and Heaven's Door: Concerts that Rupture and Bond Conclusion: Cycles, Echoes, and Their Implications Notes Glossary Bibliography Index