Mixed tunes

Is remix music giving a new lease of life to long-forgotten songs? Yes, feel youngsters. Many veteran musicians feel otherwise

Mumbai: Would you like to listen to and watch a soulful Rabindra Sangeet piece sung and choreographed in Madonna style? If yes, you will be considered to be a part of the cool GenerationNext. If you don't, you will be considered to be a fit case for taking up permanent residence at Jurassic Park.

The menace of remix music has developed roots like Kaantas all over the country and has the fraternity of popular music divided like never before. Matters came to a head a few days back when a delegation of musicians led by the veteran music composer Naushad Ali approached Indian Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and pleaded with him to "do something" about it.

Remix is a new genre of music, which originated in the UK and appeared in India in the mid-eighties. Gulshan Kumar of the T-Series fame pioneered this trend by getting popular songs re-performed by relatively unknown artists. The albums announced that these songs were accompanied 'With Jhankar Beats' meaning that the original song was spruced up with faster rhythms.

These numbers are known as 'version recording' and these types of recordings later morphed in to remix, which involved repositioning an old hit song to suit the present-day musical tastes. Instead of the old traditional musical instruments like the tanpura and the tabla, the instruments used in a remix are digital drums and synthesisers, and even the voice of the singer can be and is electronically manipulated.