Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Banna nanna olavina banna.....(Looted)...for a few dollars more....

I am very disappointed on a particular thing and yet excited at another both of which are related.

As I had penned down long long ago in my blog dedicated to music……street music is a thing of joy for me! I usually go for long walks in London – the streets of which telling tales of its own (more fun if I have company….. but many a times I do it on my own). You can hear it at many places…..in the tube stations, in alley ways, on the bridges… I was walking down Oxford street yesterday evening, hopping in and out of the many retail shops there. While I was in one of them, I heard this band playing various instruments, went out to watch them play…..they had a few instruments I could recognize which were variations of the flute, mouth organ amongst many which I have just seen but don’t know names of….

I went back into the shop and suddenly I heard their next tune…an instrumental of one of my favourite songs in Kannada banna nanna olavina banna from Bandhana…I went back to see if suddenly it was some Indians playing the music .... but no! It was the same band… it was so melodious, amazing music… I don’t have words – felt like the best thing I had listened to in ages….as you have guessed ….I thoroughly enjoyed it! Then it hit me hard…..I was wondering…. well!!!! Our known Kannada song is actually flicked from somewhere!! And I was sooooo frustrated. I found out that it’s a direct pick from the soundtrack of the movie ‘For a few Dollars more’ – the Spanish Intro .

It is in fact one of the superb compositions of the genius in Ennio Morricone… who has given us other soundtracks like ‘The good, bad, ugly’ , ‘A fistful of dollars’, ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ amongst hundreds of masterpieces….

I feel so disappointed by all these copied music…somehow feels ‘do we lack that originality???’, or is it kind of a tribute that these composers pay to perhaps their Idols?? Is it what they call ‘being inspired'???

I was also excited by the fact that they have the ‘creativity (!!)’ in fitting the music to the scenes of our movies.....I was wound up thinking how a background score from a typical western, cowboy movie fitted in so well as a romantic song in a dream sequence of another movie….

8 comments:

  1. kannada conposer no brains

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  2. Thank you so much for the info. I heard this in one of the Bangalore pub. Initially I too felt the same. Same time I started liking the original song. Thanks you so much for the info

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  3. I heard the tune in the recently released movie, "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl." At first, I was thrilled that they had chosen a Kannada song for the background. But then the more obvious explanation dawned on me and I went, "Oh God, no! Please no!"

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  4. M Ranga Rao the composer acknowledged long ago that it is inspired from the track of for a few dollars more.

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    1. I was not aware of that, Thank you for the note.

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  5. Thanks Pradeep for the note. I agree that it's not fair to call it a fake or copy, perhaps the time I penned this down I was more frustrated than inspired. The depth of our Carnatic and Hindustani classical music is immense and I can relate to and enjoy that form of music the best. Thanks again for dropping in.

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  6. Anyways, it's good to get inspired for worthy tune which can reach rest of the world/music lovers.

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