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Impression and expression
Is training in classical music essential to become a good playback
singer? Why have singers with little or no classical training become so
successful? Dr. Rajiv Vijayakar finds out.
One of the classic true stories of musicdom concerns a top-notch classical
vocalist, playback singer Mukesh and veteran music director Kalyanji. The
singer was leaving the composer's music room after a sitting when the classical
luminary entered for a social call. After Mukesh departed, this worthy told
Kalyanjibhai, "Look at the irony! What does that man know about classical
raag and sur? And he drives a Mercedes and I have to travel by bus!"
Kalyanjibhai beckoned the man to sit next to him and asked him to sing Chandan
sa badan chanchal chitwan along with the harmonium. The classical singer
sang the line, with excessive
 murki
as per his training.
Kalyanjibhai again explained to him the exact notes. Try as he might, the
classical maestro could not get the requisite straight and heart-touching
rendition needed for this Saraswatichandra classic. Gently, the composer
drove home his point by telling him, Ab aap ko pataa chalaa ke woh Mercedes
main kyoon ghoomte hain? (Do you now realise why he drives a Mercedes?)
The film song, let it be once and for all understood, is meant for a character
and a situation. However far-fetched may be the film concept of a doctor,
a farmer or a crook bursting into songs with an orchestral back-up, the fact
remains that the song is meant to convey the mood of the moment, and if
skillfully used, even to create a mood and drive the story forward.
Thus a foundation in vocal music is but one aspect of the whole picture,
where a playback singer needs to be perfect in timing (especially today when
he or she dubs on a pre-recorded track), microphone training, and above all
in expression.
Mukesh was probably the least classically-accomplished among our master-singers,
but he has an amazing 90 per cent success record among his songs. According
to industry insiders, even K.L. Saigal, Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar were
far from highly-trained.
Veteran Manna Dey, whose classical base is extensive, once bluntly told me
that the could never aspire to overtake Rafi as "Rafisaab was a better singer
than me". And last but not the least, in film playback more than anywhere
else, the voice-quality and throw are of vital importance.
 In
the '80s, Anuradha Paudwal, untrained except for the bare essentials, became
the first female singer to make a breakthrough in the mighty Mangeshkar bastion.
And singers with far greater training had fallen or failed to make a mark
for decades. Today Anuradha's rendition has lost its supple expression, probably
due to her five-year sabbatical from playback singing, during which her only
contact with film music was when she imitated Lata Mangeshkar in cover versions.
In sharp contrasts, Alka Yagnik, has grown in the last decade from someone
who just musically read out the lyrics into a magnificent songstress who
puts in a world of expression in her songs. Her latest numbers from Zakhm,
Soldier, Kachche Dhaage and Kuch Kuch Hota Hain are sheer delight.
Again, this is in vivid contrast to some more classically-accomplished male
and female singer (I won't mention them), who are so flat and monotonous
that they have lost considerable ground in the last year. Only Kavita
Krishnamurthi has mastered the perfect balance between a classical background
and playback expression.
Of course, the music director is also a major factor in the whole affair.
Kalyanji's younger brother, Anandji, would lay primes stress on emotional
expression. So did all our other great composers, old and new.
The stark contrast between what Kumar Sanu sang for Nadeem-Shravan and what
R.D. Burman extracted from him in 1942 - A Love Story is there for all to
hear.
Singers would rave over the way the late Laxmikant taught a song. Rahman
even opts for untrained voices to get an element of natural spontaneity in
some of his compositions. And only Jatin-Lalit can still make Lata Mangeshkar
sound sweet sixteen. But nevertheless, the composer can only take out what
is already there. No one can tap potential which does not
 exist.
And that is why the fine art of playback singing differs from the mere vocalising
of the finer points of classical technicalities. This is the reason why music
directors will always prefer Kumar Sanu to Suresh Wadkar, Alka Yagnik to
Sadhana Sargam, and the Raj Kapoor-Shanker Jaikishan combo to the
musically-weightier Dilip Kumar-Naushad output.
Music is an art first and a craft last, and emotional expression will always
win over attempts at calculated impressions. |
