Is it 15 minutes of fame???????????

Page

Next Last

Anita

@ani11

Sparkler

Posted: 18 years ago

Guys i saw this interesting article in the SRGMP section.

An article from Times of India about changing trends in music:

Times of India Online
Printed from timesofindia.indiatimes.com > Deep Focus

Now, singers face the music

Remember the decades when a band of six or seven singers—Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and Manna De—held sway in the playback arena, leaving only crumbs for other contenders?

The next generation—Anuradha Paudwal, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy et al—didn't do as spectacularly but stayed put for at least a decade. In the last couple of years, however, staying power has become as elusive as a tuneful song from a yesteryear singer.

"Playback singing will never see total domination again," says music composer Annu Mallik, who believes that so much talent is being thrown up by reality shows and other sources that new singers will henceforth have only 15 minutes of fame.

"Gone are the days when a singer could notch up 30,000 songs in his or her career like Rafi or the Mangeshkar sisters, or even 5,000 songs like the bunch that came after them. Today's playback singers are unlikely to touch posterity."

With the influx of new kids on the block from Shaan to Kay Kay to Kunal Ganjawala and Kailash Kher, '90s male singers like Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu and Abhijeet have been completely overshadowed and are on the lookout for greener pastures.

Narayan, these days, concentrates on Tamil songs, while Abhijeet lends his vocals to Rabindra sangeet compositions. Kumar Sanu has got into producing movies.

However, given the sheer numbers of new entrants—among the women, there's Sunidhi Chauhan, Alisha Chinai, Vasundhara Das and Shreya Ghoshal—even the current lot is not exactly swamped with work in Bollywood.

Says Ghoshal, "Today's singers may never have a golden period like the one enjoyed by Lataji and Ashaji. There is so much more talent visible and the competition is far more cut-throat."

Ghoshal has been singing more in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati and Bengali—around 800 songs in all these languages collectively—and admits she is lucky to share a fantastic rapport with music legend Ilayaraja and thus get regular songs in Tamil and Telugu films.

Male singers too are journeying to other parts of India to keep themselves occupied—Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh, Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan are big names in South India, and even Adnan Sami and Lucky Ali have sung songs in Tamil for director Shankar's Boys, says the film's producer R Madesh.

And now there's a new threat to the already dwindling opportunities: the music director who's itching to turn singer.

An R D Burman or a Rehman sang their own compositions very rarely, but composer Annu Mallik has sung four of the six songs in Firoz Nadiadwala's Deewane Huye Paagal.

"It was Firoz's idea," he says lamely. "I was only to do one number. But since he felt my voice suited three more numbers, I had to yield to his requests."

Himesh Reshammiya, the new hotshot composer on the block, has also made it a practice to lend his vocals regularly—he has playbacked six songs in this year alone and will be releasing a solo album soon.

"I have a good, trained voice," he says by way of justification. "And since I sang the title track of Aashiq Banaya Aapne, which is the biggest musical hit of 2005, I have been inundated with offers to sing. However, Himesh the music composer decides whether Himesh the singer should be used. I don't impose myself on any producer."

The fight between composers and singers to steal the best song in an album is on for another reason as well. "A hit song can fetch a singer big money and repeat value at shows," points out a renowned music critic.

"Sonu Nigam (Rs 15 lakh per show) and Sunidhi Chauhan (Rs 10 lakh per show) have made a fortune out of stage shows with their solo hits."

Annu Malik candidly accepts that "playback singing is very lucrative today because world concerts are a big money-making avenue. And only those who sing their own songs qualify to do stage shows".

"The time when playback singers called the shots are over," he adds, summing up the current trend. "Today it is the music composer who's in command.

If a music composer comes up with a great tune, he can use any singer to render his song. And while certain singers may have an edge over others, no one has an absolute advantage anymore. People now have no choice but to fight for airwave space."

Quote

Frequent Posters

Manju

@Modesty

Inactive

Posted: 18 years ago

Hi Anita. How r u?

I don't think so. As you say it all depends on one's luck. Tremendous talents like Qazi, RR and Arijit dont fade away so soon. They linger on for long long time.

We see very less of Amit Sana nowadays. However can we forget him? Don't think so?

Just wish them the best for the future.

Quote

Looks like you are new here. Register for free, learn and contribute.

Anita

@ani11

Sparkler

Posted: 18 years ago

hi ,manju I am fine.
I have to agree with wat Annu malik has said,even if these reality show stars are good singers but there are like dozens of them,from SRGMP,FG ,II1 and 2 and these reality shows will keep churning out singers year after year.How many will the movie industry accomodate.I mean there is no lack of singers,where will they go.
All of them have got 1 or 2 songs in the movies but they r forgettable and what after that.Unless and until they really stand out from the rest,its difficult to survive Its cut throat competition.Just being talented does'nt help,u have to have something extra in u.

Quote

Manju

@Modesty

Inactive

Posted: 18 years ago

I think that we should give some more time to these young singers. You know Kunal Gunjawala took almost a decade to reach the present stage. Whereas Shreya Ghoshal was lucky she got noticed so early in her career by SLB. Look at Karunya - his 1st song is such a big hit. I would certainly not dismiss these young singers. They have fresh voices, fresh approach to songs, are ready to experiment. They will make the future of Indian Music even brighter for they come from different parts of the country. The extra something that you are talking about seems to me here is luck. You really need loads of it for it is (in your words) a "cut throat competition".

Originally posted by: ani11
hi ,manju I am fine.
I have to agree with wat Annu malik has said,even if these reality show stars are good singers but there are like dozens of them,from SRGMP,FG ,II1 and 2 and these reality shows will keep churning out singers year after year.How many will the movie industry accomodate.I mean there is no lack of singers,where will they go.
All of them have got 1 or 2 songs in the movies but they r forgettable and what after that.Unless and until they really stand out from the rest,its difficult to survive Its cut throat competition.Just being talented does'nt help,u have to have something extra in u.

Edited by Modesty - 18 years ago

Quote

Anita

@ani11

Sparkler

Posted: 18 years ago

Originally posted by: Modesty
I think that we should give some more time to these young singers. You know Kunal Gunjawala took almost a decade to reach the present stage. Whereas Shreya Ghoshal was lucky she got noticed so early in her career by SLB. Look at Karunya - his 1st song is such a big hit. I would certainly not dismiss these young singers. They have fresh voices, fresh approach to songs, are ready to experiment. They will make the future of Indian Music even brighter for they come from different parts of the country. The extra something that you are talking about seems to me here is luck. You really need loads of it for it is (in your words) a "cut throat competition".

Manju,Srgmp has been running for more than 10 years for now and it has produced quality singers year after year,where r they now?The only names that come to mind is Kunal and Shreya,what about the 100 others who did not make it.I heard one of them in Dallas recently and I am telling u that in no way he is a lesser singer than Kunal but I had never heard his name and now also I have forgotten his name.

Public memory is short and to remain in the lime light u need quantity with quality.Can u tell me where r the II1 singers like vishal kothari,aditi Paul,rahul saxena and then what will happen when II and FG run for 5 years and there are another 50 excellent singers on the block.They will just do stage shows and disappear.Just getting a couple of songs in a couple of movies does nothing,u have to sustain it and with so much of talent around it is difficult to do that.Remember for every 1 kunal Ganjawala there are 50 very talented singers whom we don't know and probably won't know.

see Karunya is an extra ordinary singer thts why he succeded so early but what about amey,meenal,monali,antara mitra,they are good too,where are they.I am not saying that no one will succeed but for 1 success there will be 50 faliures.

Quote

CricFan

@CricFan

Inactive

Posted: 18 years ago

This is the first time I find myself agreeing with Ani11. She is absolutely correct. I've been saying this for a long, long time. In today's cut-throat show-biz world, fame is short lived unless you are extra-ordinary or you are good -- like many others -- but have financial or other backing from someone Ex. Abhishekh Bachchan, Hritik Roshan.

I do not see these talent show winners going too far in the film/music industry, unless someone is just simply amazing. However, they will still be successful on a smaller scale. They will end up singing for commercials, or giving small concerts in small towns and also sing at weddings and other such functions. Later on in life, they might even open up music schools in their respective cities and make a living.

Quote

diksha

@diksha_16

Inactive

Posted: 18 years ago

Aisa mat bolo yaar... 😭 😭 😭
As much as I believe this is true & agree with Ani di, I wanna run away from this truth 😭 😭 😭

Quote

Manju

@Modesty

Inactive

Posted: 18 years ago

Hi All. Vishal kothari,aditi Paul,rahul saxena, amey,meenal,monali,antara mitra- none of them are the winners. They were the finalists of II.

Winners aren't made of stuff that could be easily forgotten. The kind of frenzy Qazi had created was extraordinary. One cannot simply dismiss him.

As far as Kunal Gunjawala is concerned I remember pretty well that he could not get past the first round of SRGM. You can't say when one of the above mentioned singers could make his or her mark. As Anita says destiny is also one of the deciding factors.

[quote=CricFan]Later on in life, they might even open up music schools in their respective cities and make a living. [/quote]

Do you think teaching music is a menial work? There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.

Thanks. Take care.

Quote

CricFan

@CricFan

Inactive

Posted: 18 years ago

Originally posted by: Modesty
Hi All. Vishal kothari,aditi Paul,rahul saxena, amey,meenal,monali,antara mitra- none of them are the winners. They were the finalists of II.

Winners aren't made of stuff that could be easily forgotten. The kind of frenzy Qazi had created was extraordinary. One cannot simply dismiss him.

As far as Kunal Gunjawala is concerned I remember pretty well that he could not get past the first round of SRGM. You can't say when one of the above mentioned singers could make his or her mark. As Anita says destiny is also one of the deciding factors.

[quote=CricFan]Later on in life, they might even open up music schools in their respective cities and make a living. [/quote]

Do you think teaching music is a menial work? There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.

Thanks. Take care.

Where in my post did I say that it's menial work? It wasn't even implied. You're just assuming it. It was a simple statement that said that this line of work was another possibility for them. Infact, I didn't degrade any of the possibilities. I completely believe in the dignity of work. It's another matter that it pays significantly less than singing for movies.

Quote

Huzaifa Kaderbhai

@kothra

Inactive

Posted: 18 years ago

#10

Originally posted by: ani11
hi ,manju I am fine.
I have to agree with wat Annu malik has said,even if these reality show stars are good singers but there are like dozens of them,from SRGMP,FG ,II1 and 2 and these reality shows will keep churning out singers year after year.How many will the movie industry accomodate.I mean there is no lack of singers,where will they go.
All of them have got 1 or 2 songs in the movies but they r forgettable and what after that.Unless and until they really stand out from the rest,its difficult to survive Its cut throat competition.Just being talented does'nt help,u have to have something extra in u.

I totally agree with u ani...😃

Quote

1 2

Is it 15 minutes of fame???????????

Related Topics

Explore Topics