No singer-songwriter for Bollywood?

The concept of singer-songwriter owes its roots to the bardic culture when poems would be performed as a chant or a song. The Western world has continued with the tradition, what with the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Tracy Chapman, Shania Twain, Dido, Mariah Carey and most recently, Taylor Swift, penning their numbers. Even the recently-announced 53rd Grammy Awards was swept by artistes, including Lady GaGa and Eminem, had a very strong presence of singer-songwriters. Cut to India and the Hindi music industry has never really indulgedin this whole concept. Apart from some songs in private albums of Remo, Shaanand Babul Supriyo, Hindi music has largely ignored this trend. Yet, Kolkataseems to be defiantly inspired by the Western trend. From Kabir Suman toSilajit, from Nachiketa to Anindya Chattopadhyay, from Anjan Dutt to Rupam, thenumber of singer-songwriters are increasing by the day. Samidh-Rishi had alsoplayed the role of singer-songwriter in the hit, “Khokababu”,number. The latest to join the bandwagon is Anupam Roy, who after having writtenand sung “Amake amar moton thakte dao”, is gearing up for an encorewith his compositions in “Cholo Paltai”. So, what is it aboutKolkata that encourages this trend while it doesn’t in the nationalspace?Says Rupam, “I think, we owe it to our rich musictradition in Bengal that has seen the likes of Tagore. Much later, Kabir Sumanbecame a huge inspiration for us. Being so well-read, his entry intoBengal’s music scene has paved the way for singer-song writers likeus.”In the National spectrum, there have been good singer-songwriters too, insists Rupam. “I’d cite the examples of Ali Haider, Baba Sehgal, Remo, Shaan and Palash Sen. The reason why we don’t hear these names as examples is because these songs don’t have a big National market any longer. The Indipop genre is almost non-existent. But, here in Kolkata, the basic albums are going great guns,” he says.Not only are basic albums in Kolkata encouraging this trend ofsinger-songwriters, even Bengali movies are now slowly embracing it. This,however, is not the case in Bollywood. Composers are turning into singers butsingers turning lyricists for movies or vice versa is still virgin territory.Says Anupam Roy, who has written and sung his way up the charts with“Autograph”, “The music scene in Kolkata is very differentfrom that in Mumbai. Independent music thrives here. But, in Bollywood, music isfilm-driven. Various factors dictate the songs written for films. Forindependent artistes, the song is the hero; in Bengali movies,singer-cum-lyricists are a sound investment. Since the songs that I’vesung and penned have been a hit, I’m getting this opportunity to do thesame for other movies. But if I’m not able to repeat the success, I doubtif I’ll get the same opportunity or not. It’s a clear case ofcashing in on one’s USP. There have been cases of Anindya penning songsthat have been composed by Shantanu Moitra and PrabuddhaBanerjee.”So, is it then a case of success being the reasonfor embracing this trend in Tollywood? Could be true. Swanand Kirkire has donehis bit with “Khoya khoya chand” and “Bawra mann”.Vishal Dadlani has penned the lyrics and sung Katrina’s “Sheila kijawani” along with Sunidhi Chauhan. Even if the Indipop scenedoesn’t improve, let’s hope it’s just a matter of time forBollywood to embrace this trend like Tollywood.Follow us on Twitter for more stories