The Concept of Impact Factor in Music with reference to El Condor Pasa

It so happened not so long ago that I was standing in a queue to get my immigration clearance done at the international terminal of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose airport at Kolkata. The two gentlemen standing just in front of me were talking amongst themselves about “Impact Factor” of articles published in scientific journals. The older of the two, a professor in an engineering college, was elaborate in describing the role of IF to the younger gentleman, who also happened to be his student. The queue moved on, so did the gentlemen but I kept on thinking about the impact factor. It was not due to that I did not know about IF, but I kept on wondering about extrapolating the concept to plagiarism in music.

The impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals with higher impact factors deemed to be more important than those with lower ones. The impact factor was devised by Eugene Garfield, the founder of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), now part of Thomson Reuters. In a given year, the impact factor of a journal is the average number of citations received per paper published in that journal during the two preceding years. For example, if a journal has an impact factor of 4 in 2009, then its papers published in 2007 and 2008 received 4 citations each on average.

A = the number of times articles published in 2007 and 2008 were cited by indexed journals during 2009 B = the total number of "citable items" published by that journal in 2007 and 2008.

("Citable items" are usually articles, reviews, proceedings, or notes; not editorials or Letters-to-the-Editor.)

2009 impact factor = A/B

It is to be noted that 2009 impact factors are actually published in 2010; they cannot be calculated until all of the 2009 publications have been processed by the indexing agency.

Now how can we extrapolate this concept to plagiarism in music? Let us term it as Music Impact Factor (MIF). The less the MIF, the more is the originality. The MIF, for obvious reasons cannot be calculated on a yearly basis but it can surely be calculated for a particular song or for a particular album as a lifetime factor. The factor can and should be updated on a constant basis and the previous year’s or the previous decade’s MIF can be calculated as a factor. The MIF can be conveniently subdivided into Forward MIF (FMIF) and Reverse MIF (RMIF). The FMIF will obviously be for the older song from which the new song is copied or is influenced and the factor will always be greater than 1 and the more is this number; the more number of newer songs has the older one influenced. The RMIF, on the other hand, will be calculated for the newer song and will depend on the number of older songs that have gone into the making of the new song. It will always be a fraction of 1 and the lesser the fraction; the more is the number of songs that have gone into the making of the new song. Let me propose, at this juncture, that a blatant lift would be assigned a score of 1, an influence would get a score of 0.75 and barely some notes in common would qualify for a score of 0.5 and just a coincidence will be let off with 0.25.

With this background, let us discuss today’s song and at the end we will try and calculate the MIF. It is to be noted that I shall be calculating the MIF for a song in this post only and shall not be repeating the calculation in any of my future posts as this is of purely academic and scientific interest. Those interested can perform the calculation on their own.

Recently I was watching a Hindi movie “Kites”. I was just about to pass it off as an insipid and uninteresting movie when I noticed something which needs mention. As the end credits of the film were rolling out, the music caught my attention; it sounded familiar.

Here is the tune. Does it sound familiar to you also?

If you hear the song with all your concentration you will come to know that this piece of music used in the prelude of the song “Kites” has a few notes in common from an old folk tune originating from the heights of Peruvian Andes known as El Condor Pasa. The popular folk tune is a bit faster, but Rajesh Roshan has modified the pace of the composition making it much slower and hard to decipher. Actually Rajesh Roshan's composition closely resembles the original notes of the Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles. Robles's composition has its slow and fast portions and it is the notes of the slower part that has the resemblance. Here is that original composition with the sheet music.

Traditionally the tune is played on Peruvian flute and it has been performed and modified over these years by many musicians all over the world.  The original composition consists of three parts: a Yaravi, a Parade or "fox" Inca and leaking Huayno, the three native rhythms of Peru. Now let us concentrate on the original El Condor Pasa before moving on to many versions of the song and the direct lifts and inspirations. As I told previously, El Cóndor Pasa (The Condor Goes by (or Flies by)) is a song from the zarzuela El Cóndor Pasa by the Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles written in 1913 and based on traditional Andean folk tunes. The original words are in Quechua, the language of the Incas, and it was written by Julio Baodouin Y Paz. It is as follows.

Yau kuntur llaqtay orgopy tiyaq
Maymantam gawamuhuakchianqui, kuntur kuntur
Apayllahuay llaqtanchikman, chay wasinchikman chiri orgupy,
Kutiytam munany kuntur kuntur.

Kuzco llaqtapyn plazachallampyn suyaykamullaway,
Machupicchupy Huaynapicchupy purikunanchiqpaq.

Transliterated into English it means:

Oh mighty Condor, owner of the skies,
take me home.
Up into the Andes, Oh mighty Condor,
I want to go back to my native place,
to be with my Inca brothers.
Thats what I miss the most, Oh mighty Condor.
Wait for me in the Cusco, in the main plaza,
so that we can take a walk in Machupicchu and Huaynapicchu.

The scene of this song and the zarzuela is set in a mine in the Peruvian Andes. It describes the exploitations of the workers while the condor flies as a symbol of freedom. Here is that original version of the song in Quechua by a Peruvian group called Wayna Picchu.



It was first brought into mainstream music by a group called Urubamba, formerly known as Los Incas. Here is El Condor Pasa by Los Incas

It is possibly the best-known Peruvian song worldwide due to a cover version by Simon & Garfunkel in 1970 on their Bridge Over Troubled Water album. This cover version is called El Condor Pasa (If I Could). Paul Simon heard a version called "Paso Del Condor" by Jorge Milchberg, who is head of the group Urubamba when the group was touring France. Simon became friendly with the group through this song, and ended up touring with them and producing their first American album. Paul Simon personalized the song by adding his own English lyrics. On the Simon & Garfunkel version, Robles, Milchberg and Simon are all listed as songwriters. Here is the world famous song by Simon and Garfunkel.


Later that year, Perry Como released a cover of Simon's English version on his album It's Impossible, while Julie Felix took advantage of Simon and Garfunkel's decision not to release their version as a UK single, and had a UK Top 20 hit with it. Here is that song by Julie Felix.



Simon & Garfunkel did release their version as a single in the U.S. and it reached number 18 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the fall of 1970.
Here is a selection of different artists both vocal and instrumental, performing El Condor Pasa. I have deliberately chosen these pieces to give you a feel of how the music sounds when it is sung in different languages and played on different musical instruments. The inspired portion from El Condor Pasa has been used in the Hindi film "Kites" when the end credits start rolling and has also been used as a background music during the movie when Hrithik and Barbara Mori enjoy their glasses of champagne sitting in front of the dancing fountain.

Sur le chemin des Andes - Marie Laforet (French)



El Condor - Placido Domingo (Spanish)



El Condor - Esther Ofarim (Hebrew)



Il Condor - Gigliola Cinquetti (Italian)







Apart from these there are three remixed versions of El Condor Pasa. The first one is by DJ Sami, which has different lyrics (just four words) and the second one is by Russian pop star Valeriy Leontiev with the same lyrics.The third version is a Polish version by Mano Erina and is called 'Nyu Chan Desu' and belongs to a genre called 'Disco Polo'. Many singers all over the world have sung 'If I Could' but I have included only those which are in languages other than English and those which are different in the arrangement & composition. 

 Here is the instrumental playlist.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

We now turn our attention towards film soundtracks and songs having the version by Simon and Garfunkel or inspired by this song.
First in this list is the film called "The Voyage of The Yes" (1973).

The next song is from the Hindi film Jaanam, 'Teri Chahat Ke Siwa'. 

Another song from the Hindi movie Virasat, "Taarein Hain Baaarati". The prelude of the song is definitely inspired by 'El Condor' while the rest of the song has a different tune altogether. Both the Hindi songs are composed by Anu Malik.

There must be many more versions of El Condor prevalent in the world which I am unaware of and therefore I don't claim this list to be an exhaustive one. Having said that lets us now integrate some science into arts as we try and calculate the Music Impact Factor (MIF) of the original Zarzuela composition by Daniel Alomia Robles; to be precise the Forward Music Impact Factor (FMIF) . Readers please refer back to the initial part of this post for details regarding the calculation of the IF.

Robles's original Zarzuela composition inspired the original Quechua version thus getting a score of 1, the Quechua song inspired the composition by Urubamba - again scoring 1. Paul Simon put his English lyrics into the composition of Urubamba making it a worldwide hit thus earning another 1 point. The success of  "If I Could" by Simon and Garfunkel led to a deluge of direct lifts and the French, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew songs came into being giving a score of 4 (1x4). The remixed versions by DJ Sami, Leontiev and Mano Erina earn a score of 0.75 each thus totaling 2.25. The soundtrack from the movie 'The Voyage of the Yes' qualifies for a score of 1. Anu Malik's composition from the Hindi movie 'Jaanam' gives a score of 0.5 (inspiration only) and that from the movie 'Virasat' gives a score o 0.5 (some notes common - prelude only). Rajesh Roshan's composition in the movie 'Kites' gives a score of 0.25 as I think it is just a coincidence. Thus the total combining all the scores in 11.50. Therefore the FMIF for the original Zarzuela composition by Daniel Alomia Robles till 2009 is 11.50. This calculation of MIF is just a proposal by me to scientifically document the impact of a particular composition or song on the world music scenario. 

Keep visiting my blog and keep listening to music as music has so much to offer.

Rebetika & Indian film music - Part III

In this post I continue from where I left you in the last post. During the 1950s and 1960s more than a 100 Indian films were imported into Greece and the music of these films cast an everlasting impression on poor and middle class Greeks. Songs from films like Aan, Mother India, Naagin, Lajwanti, Ujaala, Aurat etc. were adopted with Byzantine overtones and became instant hits in Greece. Quite a number of Greek singers specialized in singing Indoprepi songs, namely Stelios Kazantzidis, Manolis Aggelopoulos, Petros Anagnostakis, Vagelis Perpeniadis, Voula Palla, Marinella, Poly Panou etc. to name a few. The tunes of Naushad and Shankar Jaikishan were the ones which were mostly adopted by the Greek music directors.

1a.  Ulfat Ka Saaz Chhedo - Aurat (1953), Shankar Jaikishan / Lata Mangeshkar

1b. Afti I Nyxta Menei (1959)



This original song was sung by Stelios Kazantzidis and incidentally there was a film with the same name but the title track of the same name has a different tune and was composed by Stamatis Kraounakis.

2a. Sab Kuch Seekha Humne - Anari (1955), Shankar Jaikishan / Mukesh

2b. Gyrise Konta Mou (1962)
Two renditions; one from 1960s and the other as late as 2009. The first one is actually a portmanteau of the same song by two singers - V. Perpiniadis and A. Eteleseis. The second is recorded at Tassos Bougas's performance in Chicago.





3a. Yamma Yamma, Yamma - China Town (1962), Ravi / Asha Bhonsle

3b. Mou Lene Na Min Klaio (1963)



4a. Duniya Walon Se Dur, Ujaala (1959), Shankar Jaikishan / Mukesh; Lata Mangeshkar

4b. Oso Aksizeis Esy (1963). Two versions; the first one in from 1960s and the second one is a remixed version from 2009.





5a. Unchi Unchi Duniya Ki Deewarein - Naagin (1954), Hemant Kumar / Lata Mangeshkar

5b.Osi glyka exoune ta xeili



6a. Gao Taraane Man Ke - Aan (1952), Naushad / Shamshad Begum; Lata Mangeshkar; Mohd. Rafi & Chorus

6b. To Pikrameno Gramma (1960) - Two versions; old & the original song by Manolis Agglepoulos and a new one respectively.






7a. Tere Bina Aag Ye Chandni - Awaara (1951), Shankar Jaikishan / Lata Mangeshkar; Manna De

7b. Ston Ourano Kai Sti Gi (1960)



8a. Ghar Aaya Mera Pardesi - Awaara (1951), Shankar Jaikishan / Lata Mangeshkar

8b. Eisai I Zoi Mou (1959)



9a. Aa Jao Tarapte Hain Armaaan - Awaara (1951), Shankar Jaikishan / Lata Mangeshkar

This was one of the most popular Indoprepi songs and gave rise to many versions. Some of them are listed below.

9b. Irtha Pali Konta Sou (1959) - Marinella



Three renditions of Mantoupala (1959) one after another - Stelios Kazantizidis







10a. Saathi Haath Badhana - Naya Daur (1957), O P Nayyar / Mohd. Rafi, Asha Bhonsle

10b. Gyrise Pali Konta Mou (1962)



11a. Tumhare Hain Tumse Daya Maangte Hain - Boot Polish (1954), Shankar Jaikishan / Mohd. Rafi; Asha Bhonsle

11b. Makari Na Matho Pos Exeis Ploutisei (1962)



12a. Chanda Dhale Pankha Jhale - Pyaar Ki Pyaas (1961), Vasant Desai / Geeta Dutt

Incidentally the same song has also been sung by Lata Mangeshkar in the same film.



12b. Agapi Toso Omorfi (1964)



13a. Jo Tum Toh Royo Piya - Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955), Vasant Desai / Lata Mangeshkar

13b. Agapi Muglekeaw



14a. Yeh Zindagi Ke Mele - Mela (1948), Naushad / Mohd. Rafi

14b. Paidi Mou Gurna Piso (1963)



15a. Aye Chaand Kal Jo Aana - Devta (1956), C. Ramchandra / Lata Mangeshkar

15b. Prin Mou Fygeis Glykia Mou (1956)



After this era of the heydays of Hindi film music in mainland Greece, there was a gradual decline in this trend due to Greece growing economically, modern western lifestyle and preferences including films and many other factors which are beyond the scope of discussion o this blog. Lately, beginning this century, there has been a revival of interest in Bollywood movies and Hindi film songs. Hindi film songs are being increasingly translated and dubbed in Greek. I leave you with one such song from the movie "Chalte Chalte" (the new one with Shahrukh Khan).

Keep visiting and keep posting your suggestions.

Rebetika & Indian film music - Part II

In my last post I gave a brief description about the origin of Rebetika, where and how it thrived and lastly the arrival of Laika and Indoprepi.
I shall be dedicating this post in bringing forward the inspired Greek Indoprepi songs. The Greek music company MBI published two CDs with 30 such Indoprepi songs in 1995 under the names "The Homecoming of Mantoupala" and "The Song of Nargis". Needless to state that Madhubala and Nargis were the two most famous actresses of Hindi cinema in 1950s and 1960s in Greece because the films they acted in and the songs they sang appealed to the Greek psyche, specially the poor and the downtrodden ones. The CDs were published with the original Hindi tracks and did not provide with the inspired Greek songs due to the widespread popularity of the Greek renditions. The Greek songs are difficult to pick from a wide collection of Rebetika, Laika and Indoprepi songs present on the internet. I could, ultimately, collect almost all of them based on the original Hindi numbers that were published, but there are many more Greek songs which have a very familiar tune with a feeling of Dejavu but I am unable to pinpoint them. I have tried to provide you with the original video of the Hindi film song wherever available followed by the audio of the Greek version. I don't have any intention of violating copyright laws by providing the videos in my blog. As you will notice that the Greek songs are almost always the simpler version of the original Hindi ones with a heavy influence of the Bouzouki, the most favored instrument of the Rebetika songs. Some of the songs are a direct lift as far as the tune is concerned and some have only a few notes in common.



1a. Dunia Mein Hum Aaye Hain- Mother India (1957), Naushad / Lata Mangeshkar

1b. Kardia Mou Kaimeni (1960). Two versions, the first one is the original and the second one is a recent recording thus reiterating the fact that the song is still popular in Greece.
This is the earlier version




And this is the new version



2a. Mujhe Kisise Pyar Ho Gaya - Barsaat (1949), Shankar Jaikishan / Lata Mangeshkar

2b. Ti Sou Ftaio Kai Me Tyrannas (1964)



3a. Awaara Hoon , Awaara (1951), Shankar Jaikishan / Mukesh

3b. Avara Mu - Original in Turkish, translated into Greek



4a. O Mere Lal Aaja - Mother India (1957), Naushad / Lata Mangeshkar

4b. Farmaki Kai Maxairi (1960)



5a. Kaun Kahe Unse Jake Ai Huzoor - Paapi (1953), S Mohinder / Lata Mangeshkar

5b. San pouli kynigimeno trigyrno (1967)




6a. Yeh Hawa Yeh Nadi Ka Kinara - Ghar Sansar (1958), Ravi / Asha Bhonsle, Manna De

6b. Perpato kai sfyrizo thlimmena (1963)



7a. Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua - Shri 420 (1955), Shankar Jaikishan / Manna De, Lata Mangeshkar

7b. Kappio Treno (1960)



8a. Mera Joota Hai Japani - Shri 420 (1955), Shankar Jaikishan / Mukesh

8b. An Ton Agapas Paidi Mou (1964)



9a. Gham Ka Fasana Kisko Sunayen - Mela (1948), Naushad / Shamshad Begum

9b. Glukia Mou Agapi (1965)



10a. Mera Dil Ye Pukare Aaja - Naagin (1954), Hemant Kumar / Lata Mangeshkar

10b. Stis agapis mou to disko (1960)



11a. Man Dole Mera Tan Dole - Naagin (1954), Hemant Kumar / Lata Mangeshkar

11b. Poios Sou 'Pe Den S' Agapo (1962)




12a. Umangon Ko Sakhi Pee Ki Nagariya - Amar (1955), Naushad / Lata Mangeshkar

12b. Naifoula Se Stolizoune (1967)



13a. Chhor Babul Ka Ghar - Babul (1950), Naushad / Shamshad Begum.

13b. Unfortunately I could not find the corresponding Greek song. I shall definitely upload it whenever I am able to find the same. Meanwhile listen to another version of this song by Talat Mahmood and Mohd.Rafi.

14a. Ga Mere Man Ga - Lajwanti (1958), S D Burman / Asha Bhonsle

14b. Den Anthizoun Louloudia (1962)



15a. Jhoomta Mausam Mast Mahina - Ujaala (1959), Shankar Jaikishan / Manna De; Lata Mangeshkar

15b. Ligo Ligo Tha Me Synitheseis (1963)



15c. Incidentally there is another one in Serbian with the same tune known as Ostas Ovde.

More songs coming up in the next post. Till then take care.

Rebetika & Indian film music - Part I

Rebetiko (plural Rebetika) and occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko is a form of Greek music which came into existence in the post World War II Greece. It is the other name of Greek Blues music. It was a movement which has lately seen a revival. BBC made a documentary on Rebetika which was narrated by Anthony Quinn. The full documentary has been divided into ten smaller parts for easier viewing. Before I carry on with the topic of the role of Indian (Hindi) film music in the movement let us watch this documentary. It traces the entire history of Rebetika, but sadly does not mention a bit about the Indian influence. It is true that the Indian influence was not there to start with, it only became evident in the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Aptly enough Rebetika was sub-categorized into Laiko, Indoiftika or Indoprepi and the Greek songs with Indian influence were grouped into this new category. This documentary will allow me to speak less because it has every details about Rebetika. I have made a playlist of all the ten parts. Here are they one after another.



But how does Hindi film music fit into this? How does Greek Blues relate to Naushad? To understand this we have to travel back in time, back to the 2nd and 3rd decade the 20th century in relation to modern Greek history. The place is Thessaloniki, the capital city of Macedonia and the period is World War I (1914-19), which brought to Thessaloniki the multinational Army of the Orient, in which the British participated. With this army came a lot of Indians serving the army as soldiers and as auxiliary staff (havildar, naik, lance naik, sepoy, rifleman and driver, dhobi, bhisti, jamadar, laskar). Carried away by the force of the Allies to stop the Germans and Bulgarians, about 520 mainly poor and illiterate Indians ended their lives in Thessaloniki. One wonders if they knew in which part of the world they were when they died. And it is doubtful that many knew why they or their regiments were fighting and for which ideals they died. It is possible that this is period when the first seeds of Indian (Hindi) music were sown in the soil of modern day Greece. A detail description about the Indian cemetery can be found here. 
The actual crop was sown much later, in the 1950s to be precise. Rebetika, the popular music of the Greek working class, the downtrodden and the underworld was already into existence. Dr. Helen Abadzi has been a forerunner in researching on this topic and I quote from her writings below. "The economic condition of Greece was bleak in the early 1950s. Since its liberation from Turkey in 1827, the country had been a poor agricultural nation with high levels of illiteracy, limited life expectancy, and a low status for women. World War II and a subsequent civil war with communist insurgents had destroyed the countryside and killed many inhabitants. An atmosphere of depression and mourning prevailed as people tried to rebuild their lives. One
survival tactic was migration to larger cities (such as Athens) and emigration to countries like Germany, which needed cheap labor. Uneducated orphans and people caring for widowed relatives were forced to leave their homes and become bricklayers or housemaids, living in unhealthy and oppressive circumstances. It was in that climate of desperation that Hindi movies made an indelible impression".
"The years 1945-65 were a golden period in Indian cinema. Though made with limited means, many of the films produced then became timeless masterpieces. Most were dramatic love stories set in a background of tangled family relations, poverty, exploitation, and misery. In a format that became characteristic of Hindi cinema, many songs and dances were included. Frequently during the movies, actors sang, pondering on problems and situations like a protagonist and a responding chorus in a Greek drama.. Many of the songs, composed by the greatest Indian musicians for the films, have become timeless tunes that every Indian knows.
The plots of the movies resonated with the wounded Greek psyche. Suffering women, street children who had to drop out of school, jealous sisters-in-law, vengeful mothers-in-law, interdependencies, betrayals, and frequent unhappy ends resonated with the difficult choices of poorly educated Greek people subsisting in large cities. In particular, the characters appealed to poor women. The maidservants and factory workers saw themselves depicted on the movie screen, hoping for deliverance. Maybe the rich young man would marry the poor beautiful girl who worked at his house. Maybe lost relatives would appear to take care of the abandoned street child who sang so beautifully".

Suffering in the movies was combined with spectacle. There were scenes of palaces, beautiful houses, jungles, elephants, spectacular countrysides, and medieval-period costumes. Though often depicted as poor and unhappy, the Indian actresses were gracefully modest, with bright clothes and much jewelry. They enabled the audiences to see people like themselves improving their conditions, but also to be transported to a reverie far from reality. Thus, India managed to package and export its main problem, poverty, with its main attraction, exoticism. And Greece at that time was a willing buyer. At least 111 movies are known to have been imported in 1954-1968. They were most popular in 1958-1962, when at least one out of the 35 movie theaters of Thessaloniki played one or two Hindi movies in per week. The films were always subtitled in Greek. Their one-word symbolic titles were changed to indicate tragedy: mothers losing children, social upheaval, and other emotional topics. Thus, “Ghar Sansaar”  became “Tears of a Mother”. “Mother India” became “Land Drenched in Sweat”, and “Mela” became “Love Drenched in Tears”. The advertisements contained text that accentuated the dramatic aspects of the movies and declared that the newest import was better than other earlier arrivals. These movies were considered working-class fare. They had much less appeal for the middle class, which looked westward for entertainment, wanted more humor, and was not plagued by the social dilemmas of the poor and the limited solutions available to the heroines. Nevertheless, the Hindi masterpieces were seen by many and it seemed then Hindi movies are there to stay in Greece.
In the next part I shall be dealing with these movies and how these popular Hindi tunes were integrated into Greek popular music.

The untold truth of Indian advertisement jingles - Part II

Picking up the trail from my last post I continue further on the subject. Before coming onto Ilayaraja's compositions which have inspired Indian advertisements, I take this opportunity to thank Dr. Indranil Chatterjee for having pointed out two more 'inspired' Indian advertisements. To give a brief introduction of Indranil; he is presently based in Brisbane, works as the ICU chief in a hospital in Queensland, loves to read on a variety of subjects, plays the sitar to perfection, is a die hard fan of Kabir Suman, has a subtle sense of humor, loves heated debates on any subject, continues to be as moody as he was during our college days and last but not the least breathes; lives and dreams music. Thank you Indranil.
First this commercial of Old Spice aftershave lotion.

One of my all time favorite advertisements. Little did I know that the background score of this advertisement is inspired by portions from 'Carmina Burana O Fortuna' by Carl Orff. Listen to Carmina Burana now.



Now comes the second signature tune, the one from the Titan Quartz advertisements. This tune has portions from Mozart's Symphony 25. First have a look at two of the Titan Quartz advertisements and then listen to Mozart's Symphony 25.

In Mozart's Symphony 25 which follows you can make out Titan's signature tune at approximately 1.35 minutes into the musical piece, the first movement of the symphony in G Minor.



Moving onto Ilayaraja's compositions now.
Listen to this Liril Orange advertisement jingle aired in 1994. I am providing you with both the audio and the video version of the advertisement, unfortunately the video quality is poor but it is the audio which is more important here.



Now here is the video.

Now listen to the original composition by Ilayaraja from the film Geetanjali, Mani Ratnam's first film. This song is called 'Jallantha Kavvintha' and is rendered by S Chithra. The movie and the song dates back to 1989 and the advertisement came much later in 2004.

Now listen to this advertisement of Idea Cellular. There have been numerous advertisements of Idea Cellular with the same signature tune, I just chose one of them.

It happens to be lifted straight out of Ilayaraja's composition 'Naguva Nayana' from the Kannada movie 'Pallavi Anupallavi'. Here is that song.



For the next jingle we'll go the other way round. First we will listen to the original song and then the advertisement because then only you'll be able to appreciate the similarity as the song only plays in the background in the advertisement. The song is titled 'Idu Oru Pon Maalai' from the movie 'Nizhalgal'. The song first.

Now listen to the Kissan Jam advertisement carefully. You can spot the same tune playing in the background amidst all the different voices.

Next is LG Gold air conditioners, the advertisement first with a poor picture quality. Again listen carefully to the background score.

Here is the song from which the background score of the advertisement is inspired. It is called 'Uravenum Pudhiya Vaanil' from the Tamil movie 'Nenjathai Killathey'. Here is that song in video format.

There may be many more advertisements which have been inspired by Ilayaraja's compositions apart from those cited above. I would be grateful if any of the readers of this blog article point them out to me. I am also greatly indebted to Mr. Karthik Srinivasan whose website details everything in a systematic manner.
Leaving Ilayaraja we now move on to other jingles.
Listen to this song by Kishore Kumar from the Hindi film Dost (1974).



Now see this advertisement of Bajaj scooters. Direct lift, isn't it?

I will end today with an advertisement from USA, that of a probiotic health supplement known as Yoplus by Yoplait Inc. USA. See the advertisement and listen to the music playing in the background. You got it, lifted of R D Burman's score from 1942-A Love Story ( at 1.24 minutes and repeated thereafter many times). Both the videos are embedded here for you. The moral of the story is that it is not always Indian advertisements which do the copying; it may also be other way round.

Here is another example; this time from the French mineral water company Volvic. There are actually three advertisements in the series and all have the theme from the Hindi movie Bombay playing in the background. I have chosen only one of them. Listen to both the advertisement and theme from Bombay. Incidentally the same theme was used in the Nicholas Cage movie "Lord of War".

And here is the theme music from Bombay.



It is needless to say that there are many such instances of inspiration both forward and reverse; you just need the time to find them out.
Au revoir, but do keep writing in.
P.S. - Just found another very interesting commercial. This is one of the best commercials that has been ever produced for Nike, Nike Cricket to be precise. It captures the true spirit of Indian cricket. See the commercial first and pay attention to the song playing in the background. It is Konkani song sung by Ella Castellino, written by Angello Dias and (re)composed by Ram Sampat.
The lyrics are
Rav patrao rav (Wait, partner, wait)
Khedong maka di mhunta aao (First let me play)
Khedong maka di na zhalya (If you don’t play, I’ll keep chasing you all day)
Tuzho kortelem patlanv (Our game is like this only)

Khedoch amche oslen (Where we have no time to think)
Kednanch ravonk nosle (It is the game of cat and mouse)
Undir matracho khed yo kosle (That I have begun to love)
Maka bhogta oslen (And in the falling running breaking)
Arre maaroon, dhoroon, phodoon
Saiba noshib mozhe phoslen (My destiny is entwined)

Here is the advertisement first.

This song is inspired by another Konkani song from the 1970s, Bebdo, sung by Lorna and composed by Chris Perry.
Here is Bebdo.

Thanks for your patient reading. See you soon with something new.

The untold truth of Indian advertisement jingles - Part I

Thirty seconds to one minute is the usual time that the advertisers get to convey a message to the customer on television and they want perfection in every department to create an advertisement with a long lasting impression. Musical score of any advertisement is equally important as the visual content. Today's post deals with the musical score of some famous Indian advertisements.
Let us start with two videos of Raymond suitings advertisement. First one is before the tag line "The Complete Man" was introduced and the second one is with the tag line.

Now after you have seen the videos, listen to the original scores one after another. The first advertisement has portions of the tune known as 'Spring' from Antonio Vivaldi's album "Four Seasons" and the second is from Robert Schumann's musical piece called 'Traumerei'. Listen to both of them

Do you remember the Pepsi advertisement "Oye Bubbly" with Shahrukh Khan. For those who are having a fading memory, here is that advertisement.

This jingle was inspired from Vishal Sekhar's composition "Oye Bubbly". Here is that composition with Kareena Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta in the form of two videos in succession.

But the story does not end here. Vishal Sekhar got the idea of this song from track known as "Tokyo Street" by the group "Deep Forest". This track is a part of the Japanese edition of their 2002 album "Music Forever" featuring Japanese violinist Taro Hakase. Here is that original 2002 track.



Interesting, isn't it. Read on.
We all remember that famous jingle of Maggi Noodles, "Bus Do Minute, Maggi Maggi Maggi". Everybody of us can still hum it but unfortunately I could not get that original advertisement. That advertisement has been deleted from all sites due to unknown reasons. What I have managed is a much later version of that tune albeit in a different tempo, nonetheless it conveys the point here.

Now you must be eager to know the original song which inspired this jingle. This is known as "Put another nickel in -- Music Music Music" by Teresa Brewer. Listen to the song.

I will end the part one of this story with a famous jingle from Siyaram Suitings advertisement, "O Siyaram, coming home to Siyaram". The earlier versions of the advertisement used to have much lengthier version of this tune but mysteriously they have all gone missing from all the sites. Nonetheless this clip conveys the point I want to make here.

This particular jingle is inspired by a song "O Moyna" by a German band "Tri Atma". One of the founders of this band is an Indian (Bengali) and therefore the song has some Bengali verses in it and is named after the bird Myna (called Moena in Bengali). Here is that song.



In the second part of this topic I shall be telling you about the compositions of Ilayaraja who happens to be the most copied composer in the Indian advertisement jingles.
Please send in your comments and suggestions as they are my inspiration.

Leotard

This post is a mixture of funda and music. We all know what a leotard is. Leotard is the skin tight dress that trapeze performers and ballet artists wear during their performance. It was devised by Jules Leotard and he used to wear it during performances for unimpeded movement.
Jules Leotard was born in Toulouse, France in 1872. His father was a gymnastics teacher and so it is not too difficult to see why the young Jules showed an interest in gymnastics and, in particular, acrobatics.
Although Jules showed great promise as an acrobat, he followed a more traditional path of education towards a professional career in law. However by the time Jules had reached the age of eighteen years, his interest in acrobatics had extended to experimenting with trapeze bars, ropes and rings.
Fuelled by a real passion for acrobatics, Leotard enlisted into the Cirque Napoleon, and made his debut public performance on the trapeze in November 1859. Leotard became an overnight success largely due to the fact that he performed a number of unique acrobatic tricks; he was the first performer to perform a mid-air somersault and also the first to leap from one trapeze bar to another.
Audiences flocked to see this innovative performer's twelve minute act, which involved Leotard jumping between three trapezes before he finally somersaulted to his safety mat below as a grand finale. Incidentally, Leotard's safety mat was not that safe; in reality it was little more than a few covered mattresses!
Jules Leotard's act was deemed so radical and progressive that his co-artistes sponsored both a commemorative medallion and a banquet in his honour.
In 1861 Leotard took his trapeze act from the circus into the music hall, debuting it at the Alhambra Theatre in London. He became a major star attracting thousands of people (who dined while he performed above their heads) and so became extremely well paid (Leotard earned approximately £5000 per week in today's terms).
Aside from his innovative act, Leotard's name has been immortalized by two other factors; a famous song and an item of clothing.
In 1867 George Leybourne penned the lyrics to the song "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" about Leotard, which became quite the popular hit of its day. Leotard's more famous legacy though is the gymnastic or dance leotard.
Here is the song.

The same song was used in a 1934 movie named It Happened One Night. Here is the song from the movie.


The lyrics of the song are as follows:

Once I was happy but now I'm forlorn
Like an old coat that is tattered and torn;
Left on this world to fret and to mourn,
Betrayed by a maid in her teens.
The girl that I loved she was handsome;
I tried all I knew her to please
But I could not please her one quarter so well
As the man upon the trapeze.

cho:
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease,
That daring young man on the flying trapeze.
His movements were graceful, all girls he could please
And my love he purloined away.

This young man by name was Signor Bona Slang,
Tall, big and handsome, as well made as Chang.
Where'er he appeared the hall loudly rang
With ovation from all people there.
He'd smile from the bar on the people below
And one night he smiled on my love.
She wink'd back at him and she shouted "Bravo,"
As he hung by his nose up above.

Her father and mother were both on my side
And very hard tried to make her my bride;
Her father he sighed, and her mother she cried,
To see her throw herself away.
'Twas all no avail, she went there every night,
And would throw him bouquets on the stage,
Which caused him to meet her; how he ran me down,
To tell you would take a whole page.

One night I as usual went to her dear home,
Found there her father and mother alone.
I asked for my love, and soon they made known,
To my horror that she'd run away.
She'd packed up her box and eloped in the night
With him, with the greatest of ease;
From two stories high he had lowered her down
To the ground on his flying trapeze@e.

Some months after this I went to the Hall;
Was greatly surprised to see on the wall
A bill in red letters, which did my heart gall,
That she was appearing with him.
He'd taught her gymnastics and dressed her in tights,
To help him live at his ease,
And made her assume a masculine name,
And now she goes on the trapeze.

last cho: She'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease,

You'd think her the man young man on the flying trapeze.
Her movements were graceful, all girls she could please,
And that was the end of my love.

Leotard's skin-tight body wear, which he called a maillot, was designed for a two-fold purpose. Firstly it was to ensure that it allowed him unimpeded movement to assist him in carrying out his acrobatic performances. Secondly, in accordance with his showman's wont, it was designed to show off his muscular physique.
Leotard's maillot became highly popular in the circus as other performers emulated Léotard. The virtues of the garment became accepted by others in the performing arts world to the point where its usage also became popular in Parisian ballet studios.
Jules Leotard passed away in Spain in 1870. The cause of his death was likely typhoid or cholera. He was 28 years of age. The word leotard, used to describe what Jules Leotard called a maillot, did not come into use until around 1886, some 16 years after his death. Today the French word maillot means a jersey or swimsuit: it may have tickled Leotard to know that his maillot is no longer a term used in acrobatics.

MJ - The King of Pop

This ain't a biography of Michael Jackson.

Let us first hear him singing "Wanna be startin' somethin'". I have also included the lyrics for those who want to sing along.

I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)



I took my baby to the doctor

With a fever, but nothing he found

By the time this hit the street

They said she had a breakdown

Someone's always tryin' to start my baby cryin'

Talkin', squealin', lyin'

Sayin' you just wanna be startin' somethin'



I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)



You love to pretend that you're good

When you're always up to no good

You really can't make him hate her

So your tongue became a razor

Someone's always tryin' to keep my baby cryin'

Treacherous, cunnin', declinin'

You got my baby cryin'



I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

You're a vegetable, you're a vegetable

Still they hate you, you're a vegetable

You're just a buffet, you're a vegetable

They eat off of you, you're a vegetable



Billie Jean is always talkin'

When nobody else is talkin'

Tellin' lies and rubbin' shoulders

So they called her mouth a motor

Someone's always tryin' to start my baby cryin'

Talkin', squealin', spyin'

Sayin' you just wanna be startin' somethin'



I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

You're a vegetable, you're a vegetable

Still they hate you, you're a vegetable

You're just a buffet, you're a vegetable

They eat off of you, you're a vegetable



If you can't feed your baby (yeah, yeah)

Then don't have a baby (yeah, yeah)

And don't think maybe (yeah, yeah)

If you can't feed your baby (yeah, yeah)

You'll be always tryin'

To stop that child from cryin'

Hustlin', stealin', lyin'

Now baby's slowly dyin'



I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

I said you wanna be startin' somethin'

You got to be startin' somethin'

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)

Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)

You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)

And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)



Lift your head up high

And scream out to the world

I know I am someone

And let the truth unfurl

No one can hurt you now

Because you know what's true

Yes, I believe in me

So you believe in you

Help me sing it, ma ma se,

Ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa

Ma ma se, ma ma sa,

Ma ma coo sa



Now that you know the lyrics, the whole song makes sense to you. Please concentrate on the last four lines -

Help me sing it, ma ma se,

Ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa

Ma ma se, ma ma sa,

Ma ma coo sa



Does it appeal to you. Take a look at the following song







In 1972, Manu Dibango had recorded a hit song called “Soul Makossa” which was nominated for the Grammy awards. Soul Makossa, which was the B side of Mouvement Ewondo, a single composed for the 1972 African Nations Cup in Cameroon, was named after the makossa, a Cameroonian dance, but he stretched the word out, played with it: “Ma-mako, ma-ma-ssa, mako-makossa.

A decade later, it so happened that Dibango was in Paris, listening to the radio at his apartment, when he heard something familiar: those same syllables, more or less, in a very different context. The DJ was playing “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” the unconventional first song from “Thriller.” It is more than six minutes long, and although the music is exuberant throughout, the lyrics aren’t as silly as they first sound: paranoia (“Still they hate you, you’re a vegetable/You’re just a buffet, you’re a vegetable”) gives way to exhortation (“If you can’t feed your baby, then don’t have a baby”) and, eventually, inspiration (“I believe in me/So you believe in you”). The galloping rhythm sounds a bit like “Soul Makossa,” and near the end Jackson acknowledges the debt by singing words that many listeners mistook for nonsense: “Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa.” Soon, Dibango’s phone started ringing. Friends and relatives were calling to offer their congratulations: Michael Jackson was singing his song! But Dibango’s pride turned to puzzlement when he bought the album, only to find that the song was credited to Michael Jackson and no one else.

When contacted Jackson first argued that the refrain consisted of a string of meaningless words spouted in the heat of the moment. Then later, he insisted that they were words in Swahili. Eventually he conceded that he had indeed borrowed the lines from Manu’s Soul Makossa and reached an out of court settlement.

Manu Dibango again sued Jackson in 2007 after the pop star gave permission to Rihanna to use the famous chorus as a hook for her song "Don’t Stop The Music" without contacting Manu.



Here is the song from Rihanna.







Finally I am including a tribute to MJ by Sonu Niigaam.







Please send in your comments.

The Musical Truth of FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014

You might be thinking that I am obsessed with theme songs from FIFA World Cups after you see two consecutive posts on the same subject. Actually while I was doing my research for my last post I came across some interesting facts about theme song of FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil. I then decided to put them forward to you and it finally has resulted in this blog post.

If you perform a YouTube search with the key words "FIFA 2014 Official Theme Song", you will have about 46 hits with all different songs. I found that suspicious but nonetheless decided to continue my investigation. Some of the songs are, no doubt, very melodious and I am including some of them below.

Confused? So was I.
Which one of these is the official theme song then? I decided to check the relevant page on the FIFA site. I could not find any article or video in the FIFA site mentioning any particular song as the "Official Theme Song for FIFA Brazil 2014". I stumbled upon a page mentioning the songs in the recent past.
More confused I decided to Google "Which is the theme song for FIFA World Cup in Brazil 2014". I got 30,400 results in 0.14 seconds similar to the YouTube search. I decided to concentrate on the first two or three entries considering the 180 odd factors that Google employs to list and omit entries during a search (in fact SEO sites are going berserk to find out all of those and haven't been able to till date).I have already included the videos of these songs in this post.
The first entry in the Google search is the song urging us to "Save Galvao Birds". I did not know what Galvao birds were till I decided to Google again and picked up a YouTube video which summarizes everything. Here is the 4.10 minute long video followed by another short one which tell you everything you wanted to know.





This is what Paulo Coelho tweeted for the campaign and this is the relevant page from Wikipedia.

Now lemme share with you some other non musical aspects of FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014, something on logos.



The logo is called "Inspiration", and was created by Brazilian agency "Africa". The design stems from an iconic photograph of three victorious hands together raising the world's most famous trophy. As well as depicting the humanitarian notion of hands interlinking, the portrayal of the hands is also symbolic of the yellow and green of Brazil warmly welcoming the world to their country.
Let us turn our attention to the other aspect of the logo now. A highly analytical and detailed critique of the newly announced logo for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil tells us that it represents a facepalm. A facepalm is a popular online expression referring to the physical gesture known more widely as "smiting one's brow" or "smiting one's forehead;" that is, striking one's own face in a display of exasperation. In Internet discussions, the term is used as an expression of embarrassment, frustration, disbelief, disgust or general woe. There are two ways in which it is used:
Physical gesture
To bring the palm of the hand to the face
To bring the face down to a cupped hand or hands.
Written use
Primarily used in text communication on the Internet, often as *facepalm*, m-( (or similar) or an ASCII picture showing facepalm when it is generally used to show embarrassment or disbelief, but is also used in personal communication.
One of the earliest examples of its online use is by linking to a well-known photograph of Jim Horne, a model, whose use of the brow-smite typified the "disgust" aspect and became an internet meme. Using Facebook or instant messaging, the act of facepalming can be shown with the // emoticon.



I thought it appropriate to write this short note on the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 logo and facepalm here because I was awestruck and stared in disbelief when I deciphered the truth about official theme song of FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014.

Enough of internet memes, pranks and dissemination of knowledge. Lemme now treat you with a playlist of the songs from the previous FIFA World cups. The tradition of an official song dates back to the 1966 FIFA World Cup™ in England with a song for the first Official Mascot, “World Cup Willie”, who was a lion. Ever since, the official music programme and the Official Mascot have become a more and more significant component of the event, providing an excellent opportunity for more than just football fans to identify with the world’s biggest single-sport event.Official songs at recent FIFA World Cup™ competitions have included Un’estate italiana by Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini in 1990, Gloryland by Daryl Hall with Sounds of Blackness in 1994, and La Copa de la Vida by Ricky Martin in 1998. In 2002, the official song was Boom by Anastacia, while Vangelis’ vocal official anthem featured typical Korean and Japanese sonic elements. In 2006, The Time of Our Lives by the Il Divo quartet was a resounding success. In my playlist I have two additional tracks - first one is the song from FIFA World Cup Chile 1962 and the second one is the official anthem (not the official song) from FIFA Korea-Japan 2002.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Sit back and enjoy and keep on writing to me.