'Movie Masala'

BOLLCD2004

MP3s:

TERI RAB NE BANA DI JODI

CHURA LIYA HAI TUM NE

CHOLI KE PEECHE

MEHANDI MEHANDI

Remixes:

TU CHEEZ Baby Kat Mix

DUM MARO DUM Temple of Sound Mix

CHURA LIYA Ph. D. Mix

Track listing:

01 TERI RAB NE BANA DI JODI
A marriage made in heaven from 'Suhaag'

02 CHURA LIYA HAI TUM NE
You have stolen my heart from 'Yaadon Ki Baaraat'

03 TU CHEEZ BADI HAI MAST MAST
You are an enchantress from 'Mohra'

04 AAJ KI RAAT
Tonight from 'Anamika'

05 MEHANDI MEHANDI
Henna pattern from 'Chori Chori Chupke Chupke'

06 CHOLI KE PEECHE
What lies beneath your blouse? from 'Khal Nayak'

07 JAADUGAR QATIL
Mystic killer from 'Kohinoor'

08 DIL TO PAGAL HAI
The heart is crazy from 'Dil To Pagal Hai'

09 MY NAME IS LAKHAN
from 'Ram Lakhan'

REMIXES
01 TU CHEEZ Baby Kat Mix
Produced by Baby P. Additional production by Phat Kat.

02 DUM MARO DUM* Temple of Sound Mix
Alto sax solo - Sarha Moore; dhol solo - Jas Daffu
www.templeofsound.co.uk

03 CHURA LIYA Ph. D. Mix
produced by Philippe d’Amonville

04 CHOLI KE PEECHE Bhangra Mix
produced by Bill Sandher from Mighty B Productions

05 AAJ KI RAAT Pest Mix

06 DUM MARO DUM*
Hackney HiFi Rerub
www.futureworldfunk.com

07 DIL TO PAGAL HAI
DJ Tucker and the A-Train Mix
trombone solo - Dave Jago

08 DUM MARO DUM*
Dum Dum Dub Ya Temple of Sound Mix

* DUM MARO DUM
RD Burman (Saregama plc) - from Hare Rama Hare
Krishna (1971)
Band version arranged and additional material composed
by Kay Charlton

Liner Notes:

There are three types of star in the world of Bollywood: the actors, the singers and the musical directors. In our selection of songs from the last 50 years, three composers have dominated our choice: the duo Laxmikant (1937-1998) and Pyarelal (b. 1940) and the great moderniser of the 1970s – R. D. Burman (1939 – 1994). Indeed, so rich were the pickings from Burman’s peak period, the 1970s,
it was tempting simply to follow up our last CD, ’Rahmania’, with ‘Burmania’.
Burman started his career in films as assistant to his father S.D.Burman, often playing the mouth organ in his father's orchestras. He became famous for bringing the groove into Hindi filmi, particularly in those songs sung by his wife, Asha Bhosle.

In our pick of 10 great songs from the past 50 years of Bollywood, remarkably, Asha Bhosle sang half of them. Her career spans five decades: from the so-called Golden Age of Bollywood in the 1950s, to the present day. The younger sister of the equally wonderful Lata Mangeshkar, Asha is famous for the versatility of her voice: from the coquettish vamp to the romantic heroine; from sad, traditional songs to her cheeky and zany fusion songs.

The classic Chura liya hai tum ne (1973) is a beautiful ballad sung by Asha. On the opening of the original song, Burman came up with the unique sound of a spoon against a glass - such simplicity. This song was remixed in the 1990s by Bally Sagoo and became a hit all over again, being imported back to India via Birmingham.

Aaj ki raat (1972) was danced by the most famous ‘vamp’ of all: the fabulous ‘H-bomb’, Helen. Of Spanish and Burmese parents, she was said to have danced in 1,000 films! This dance sequence is unmissable, if only for the leather mini skirt she is almost wearing…The third of Burman’s oeuvre that could not be left out is, of course, Dum maro dum (1971). This is a classic of the early 70s; Asha is the playback singer for former Miss Asia, Zeenat Aman (‘Zeenie Baby’), in the so, so kitsch denunciation of Western decadence, and its dope-smoking hippy lifestyle. The original song was a huge hit, but at only 1 minute 50 seconds long was too little of a good thing - we’ve given it the extended remix treatment on the bonus CD.

Filmi composers since the 1960s, Laxmikant and Pyarelal are two of the most successful composers of Hindi film music, with hits over the past four decades. The earliest we play here is Teri rab ne bana di jodi (1979), which shows off the talents of our dhol players. The Bhangra style of this song has made it popular in the UK (it was actually filmed here with the Great Indian Dancers), and is often requested when we play at weddings.

My name is Lakhan (1989) takes us back to our wedding band roots: this is one of the first songs we ever learnt from the Shyam Brass band. For this recording we dusted it off, revamped it and let our drummers loose on the arrangement.

Director Subhash Ghai's terrorist drama Khalnayak created a storm because of the song Choli ke peeche (1996). Acted by Madhuri Dixit -the Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood - the moral police objected to its suggestive lyrics. The ensuing hue and cry notwithstanding, the song was a chart-topper. It was seductively sung by Alka Yagnik, whose cross-over appeal led her to be nominated for a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music in 2003.

Madhuri also starred in Dil to pagal hai (1997), scored by Uttam Singh (b.1948).This film was a phenomenal success at the box office, and is the only song in our selection originally sung by the great Lata Mangeshkar. Lata was in the Guinness Book of Records in the 80s for having sung the greatest number of Hindi songs; the original estimate of 30,000 has now been moderated to more like 5,250, but it is still a stupendous amount. Our version of Dil To Pagal Hai has an alaap: a device from Indian classical music used to set the mood for a piece, and moody it is.

The oldest song in our collection is Jaadugar qatil (1959), written by Naushad Ali (b. 1919), who started clocking up film hits as early as the 1940s. Perhaps the most famous film Naushad composed for was the epic ‘Mother India’, filmed in Technicolor; the later ‘Kohinoor’ was rather more modestly in black and white.

There is nothing modest about our take on Viju Shah’s Tu cheez badi hai mast mast (1994). ‘Mohra’ was the biggest opening film of its year, but it is perhaps the version by the legendary qawaali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan that is best known. It has been recorded in several versions by the maestro himself, as ‘Mustt Musst’, and has even been remixed by Massive Attack. Sarha Moore’s soprano saxophone solo is inspired by Nusrat’s vocal improvisations on his many recordings.

To bring us right up to date we have Mehandi mehandi (2000) by Anu Malik, which uses a typical celebratory wedding theme. Don’t confuse this one with Mehndi laga ke rakhna, which we recorded on our first album: different song, same subject.

This has been a voyage of discovery and surprise for us. We’ve listened to hundreds of songs in our quest for our favourites and it’s been a long journey from the first visions of how to make a song our own, to the moment when we can say ‘there, it’s finished’.

I hope you enjoy our selection.

Kay Charlton

Remixes

Our remixers got so inspired we had to give them a whole CD to themselves.
Nick from Temple of Sound added a dub version to his ska/cumbia mix of Dum maro dum, and Russ from Future World Funk (trading here as Hackney HiFi) took the same tune to the 21st century on the back of a bhangra sounding banjo. There’s Bhangra UK style in the tumbi-driven party mix of Too cheez bari hai mustt mustt, created by youthful BBB tabla maestro Bobby (aka Baby P). Bill Sandher took time out from playing dhol with UK/Canadian Bhangra star Jazzy B to give Choli ke peeche the dance floor treatment. Hot Ninja Tune outfit, Pest, tour some grooves with Aaj ki raat; the BBB’s own rhythm doctor takes Chura liya to a Ph D degree in dub drum and bass; and Dave Jago’s trombone tells a story on the A-Train recasting of Dil to pagal hai.

Mark Allan