Tuesday, June 15, 2010

FM in Mumbai

I have fallen into a new habit these days. While driving to work and back, I listen to the various FM radio stations of Mumbai. Despite their perennially talking RJs (a couple of them are good) who sometimes play a few good songs (the quality of popular music has improved a lot in the last couple of years…a subject which deserves a separate post, altogether) here and there, I am beginning to enjoy the experience for reasons more than just music. Perhaps it’s one of those passing phases, but while I’m at it, let me put down ‘more than just music’ parts of it.

FM stations are one of the best ways to know the pulse of Mumbai. Ranging from traffic updates, to the recent auto-rickshaw strike, to the review of a recent movie release, to a political drama; they cover everything under the Mumbai sun (or rains, these days). You feel like you really belong to the city and moving with its superfast pace.

Then there are some RJs who just speak and do all the right things. The most notable one is RJ Malishka of Red FM. The mix of her finesse with the 3 languages (Hindi, Marathi & English), her presence of mind, her sense of humor and her vibrant energy levels creates a potent cocktail full of punch!

But, amidst getting the pulse of Mumbai and Malishka’s humor, I noticed something rather unfortunate. They don’t mention the poet / lyricist of the song anymore unless it’s a Gulzar Saaheb (as they address him). Whether they are worth mentioning (if it isn’t a Gulzar) is a subject for another discussion. The role of a lyricist (good or bad) in making a song is as important as the musician or the singer(s), so it deserves a mention. In fact, all of us would remember how it used to be (I’m sure AIR / Vibhit Bharti must be still following it) the good old days of radio... ‘Bol Sahir Ludhianvi Ke Hain, Sangeet S.D Burman Ka, Aur Gaaya Hai Geeta Dutt Ne. Film Ka Naam Hai, Pyaasa'.(Lyrics by Saahir Ludhianvi, Music by S.D Burman and sung by Geeta Dutt. The Movie is Pyaasa).

5 comments:

ghaza said...

I love bombay ............ I miss bombay ..... already :(

and thus nice posts like these are not good for me

Don bosco said...

I absolutely agree with you. Lot of young and new talent do not get noticed. For example only last sunday I gotta know the lyricist Neelesh who has written famous songs. I think behind the acreen heroes should be celebrated atleast where there is opportunity

Bhaskar Khaund said...

Excellent read , sir ! Radio quality can make the difference between a good commute and a screwed up one ... out here its taken a turn for the worse , i mostly stick to my own music (read cassettes !) now or else tune in to the talk show station which is quite decent esp the business shows ... shall wait for more updates ...

blaiq said...

I agree with you that the quality to popular music has gottten better in recent times - whatever else nostalgic naysayers may say. Looking forward to that post.

meraj said...

@ghaza,
there is something about the city...despite all its adversities

@Don,
are you referring to Neelesh Misra who wrote lyrics for Jism, Rog etc? he writes well...he is also a known writer and journalist

@Bhaskar,
sometimes even i shift to a 'Tango in the Night' or a 'Surrealistic Pillow':) and thats one highly relevant (to Mumbai)subject missing from Radio Stations here...its a major need gap, perhaps...Conversations & Updates on Business

@blaiq,
its getting written in my mind...lets see when it appears here :)