Saturday, November 27, 2010

Nothing Indian about Airtel's new tune

 
What has happened to A. R. Rahman?His 2010 CWG theme song was trashed by everyone, right from officials to the general public. Even in Robot, they say Rahman was not at his best. And now, it is this Airtel tune. The company earns most of its revenue from India. And yet, it is hard to find anything Indian in this tune!! The lyrics appear from a foreign language.  Now, it is not clear to me, whether they are lyrics or only blabber used to fill up the space. They say India has hundreds of languages (only 17 are scheduled, rest aren't) and each language has thousands of dialects. It would be great to know, what language/dialect do these lyrics belong to. The older Airtel theme song too was shot abroad, but was completely instrumental. An Indian customer would find it hard to connect to this tune. Come on, we have so many instruments and lyricists within India, that can create a tune that would sound more Indian. Then, why rely on such techno stuff? This is beyond my understanding!!
Nothing Indian about Airtel's new tuneSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

7 comments:

  1. Being a trusted customer of Airtel, I went through similar angst seeing the ad. Where has everything gone? I don't much like the logo as well. And this is beyond my understanding too!

    Joy always,
    Susan

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Susan,
    I am not an Airtel customer, but a Rahman fan. And hence the anguish. About the logo, I do not know what to make the Vodafone logo too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, look at it in this way... this is about Airtel's new 3G plans that they are introducing..which means more technology, video calls, TV on mobile, higher speed internet, etc., which the younger generation uses more, along with the same old 2G services.... so this ad is just as techno, uses the same tune but in a more techno version, which kinda the younger generations like, is more funky too... I think the language is not new..cuz even the old tune had African influence to it..so may be just keeping the same thing....just my point of view...In short, this kinda rocks...especially if u have a good phone that plays good bass music..then this as ringtone will be enjoyed at best i think...:D

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Krishna,
    The tabla, flute and mrudang can create all the bass and effects. And they sound so melodious. Today's generation enjoys classical instruments as much as the western ones. And then, being such an influential composer, he is in a position to give visibility to the Indian instruments. Why didn't he do so?

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Krishna, Vinay, Susan.....
    Man why do you always compare and fight against the music has been made out of so much of effort.
    Just enjoy the music and proud of the person who can make such wonderful mmusic and most importantly being an Indian whos recognised by the entire globe.
    Well I feel whatever Rahman sir makes is just a wonder from any where he picks or creates.
    I love this music crazily.............
    Thank you Rahman sir for an Astounding music

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Panku,
    It isn't the case that we are saying Rahman hasn't put any efforts or wasn't interested in the music. Just that, I didn't like the way it has come out. And that too when Rahman has given great music in the past.

    And his CWG song, was definitely not upto the mark.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Vinay
    Do listen to his ad jingle for a US based Bollywood Radio channel called Desibeats.... he has used sitar in that along with a hip-hop beats...

    and regarding using mrudang and all in this case, that would give it a whole lot of, you know, a classical touch, which i think is not required in this case... a more hip-hop or peppy catchy tune does the job here fine...

    whereas in the above case, he has used sitar to give a Hindustani classical touch to it... where it required i think,

    ReplyDelete