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.