The Song of Songs

OVER THE HOLIDAYS, I watched the Country Music documentary series made by Ken Burns (2019). There were eight parts of nearly two hours each. Told in a largely chronological framework, it covered the history of the genre and its fluid boundaries. It had interviews with dozens of performers, technicians and business people about the whole genre as well as discussing their own roles, and used archive materials, including stills, newspapers, advertisements, interviews and television shows. Although I don’t follow country music, other than Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, I was fascinated to learn more about its origins and history over nearly a hundred years as it located the music in a wider account of the evolution of the American society in the southern US.

The series looked at the origins of the music in migrants, mostly from Scotland and Ireland, and showed how their music interacted with African-American music. The role of radio in forming audiences was emphasised, along with live performance.

It was shocking to learn that nearly all the musicians grew up in dire poverty, as cotton pickers and sharecroppers, and how many migrated West during the Great Depression. The social background of the audience was also similar and explains the songs of heartbreak, loneliness and family breakdown, which were mostly composed as stories of others or where the performers appeared to be singing about themselves. The idea of a community and a family constituted by music were mentioned in most of the interviews.

As an outsider to the genre, I’m not able to say how much this is the story of country music but it was informative to the novice as well as pleasurable to fans. Of course, I wondered if there would ever be a similar massive documentary about Hindi film songs—or indeed, if there is one that I don’t know about.

I have seen documentaries on film songs, including the excellent Movie Mahal which Nasreen Munni Kabir made for the UK’s Channel 4 in the late 1980s and which includes interviews with key industry personnel, many of whom are no longer with us, as well as having subtitled songs. It was my introduction to Hindi film songs, inspiring me to hear more and to see more.

I also know many excellent books about film songs and biographies of writers and musicians which I have found not only useful but fascinating and good guides. There is outstanding academic research ranging from ethnomusicology of the song to oral histories of musicians.

I would love to see a series on the Hindi film song genre on the scale of the Ken Burns’ documentary, at least equal in size if not longer. It could tell of the origins of the songs in traditional media, in musical performance, and in the urban public culture of the 19th century and the coming of film. It could look at the instruments and musicians. These dynamic interactions in colonial and princely India would look at the complexity of the social changes around them.

While film is, of course, the essential medium here, and has to be part of the discussion, film songs also exist beyond the films. The roles of the recording industry and radio—AIR and Radio Ceylon—could form a key part of the changing ways of consuming the songs. The performance of songs by amateurs and the roles of the record collectors could also be examined as well as looking at the songs within the films themselves where they are tied to narratives, dance and star performances.

We may have seen interviews with highly articulate writers and musicians but we’d like to know more about their backgrounds, training and experience. Who were they, where did they come from, what was their social background and how did they get a break? What role did religious community, gender and caste play? What was it like to be a woman in the Hindi song industry over the century? Why was film music held in contempt for so long and who were the audiences? Are the songs a key part of the culture of India’s urban working class or was it mass culture produced by elites for general consumption?

These are just some of the issues but the songs themselves must be at the forefront of the documentary. Which songs? How would one choose? What is a Hindi film song and what are its genres? Would one define styles and genre by language, by poetic structure, by tune and rhythm or by personnel (poet, composer, singer, director etc)? Is there a definition of the film song or are songs called ‘Hindi film songs’ only because they appear in Hindi films?

Are there major themes in Hindi film songs? Do they depict love in a particular way and how have they shaped the language of love and how much have they been formed by wider language? Have Hindi film songs helped with the formation of a national language or have they undermined it? What is the relationship between Urdu and Hindi centred around the Delhi region and the language formed in the Bombay/Mumbai film industry?

Would it be easy or possible to clear all the necessary permissions for interviews as well as for the songs? If the ownership of the copyright of the songs is disputed, how can this be done?

Is it possible to make a documentary without it being too laudatory? Could it be critical without being negative? Could it locate the songs without being overwhelmed by politics? Would the audience be for those who want to learn more about Hindi film songs or is it for its hardcore fans and aficionados? Would anyone be willing to fund such a project?

Perhaps the over-the-top (OTT) industry might be willing to produce such a massive series that would offer insights into the current state of Hindi film songs. Is there any continuity or are there ruptures between eras? Are people listening to old songs out of nostalgia or love for the music of the old songs or are the contemporary songs no longer an inherent part of people’s culture as they once were? When there is so much music accessible online or downloads to the phones, why are people choosing 1990s film music?

There are so many questions to be answered in a narrative that foregrounds the pleasures of the songs while setting them in a significant wider context. I want to see interviews with people who can reflect on their own work and the wider industry, which in my experience has mostly been the writers. But it would be wonderful to see and hear the musicians and the directors talking about how certain songs were shaped and how certain styles originated, developed and often faded. Which songs do they think are canonical and define the different eras. And of course a documentary maker who knows far better than I ever will on how to make an outstanding documentary.

Amitabh BachchanBollywoodcinemaCountry MusicHindi filmsJoomaKarzKimi KatkarOm Shanti OmRishi Kapoorsongs