Music is all around us, and some of us cannot go without it for even a day. When it comes to listening to songs, each one of us prefers something different, and that’s called a music taste. Saying what type of sound is good or bad is completely individual and subjective, yet people sometimes end up arguing that their favorite song is better than someone else’s.
Either way, ever since music came up on the radio, people started making all kinds of different songs, in many different genres. This means that a person can choose between very different types of music these days, so if you don’t like reggae, maybe you’ll prefer heavy metal instead. The choices are endless, and there’s so much music in this world that you can’t keep up with it even if you are a hardcore fan.
Today, we are going to talk about a slightly different type of music, something that you’ve probably never heard before, or you did but you are not sure what it was.
Indian Music – Bollywood Music
Bollywood is a very popular film industry based in India. It’s like Hollywood, but just a tad different, one letter to be more exact. This industry creates a lot of movies every year, and for all of those movies, the producers require soundtracks. Some need it for the opening scenes, others need it for the credits, but at the end of the day, every Bollywood film requires at least a few songs in it to be a complete product.
Indian people are known for their musicality, and ever since they appeared as a civilization, they used various types of instruments to produce a very unique and high-quality sound that’s very pleasing to the ear. There are many different genres when it comes to Indian music, such as Tamil, Malayalam and a few others, but to keep things simple, people often refer to this as Bollywood Music.
Today, we are going to talk about some of the most famous and popular Indian Music Directors, so if you are interested in learning some more, feel free to stick around until the end. Here’s what you need to know.
1. Rahul Dev Burman
One of the most notable icons of the Bollywood industry, Rahul Dev Burman was born on June 27th, 1939, in Calcutta. He is known for using very unique ways of producing sound, and all of his songs sounded amazing.
A song that he made back in 1975, called ‘O Manjhi Re’, utilized soda bottles that he filled with water to create a very interesting and unique “phook” sound, and he later used this with the orchestra. He is known for many interesting things such as the one we described above, and another notable thing about Rahul is that he was using his dreams to come up with great ideas for a song. As soon as he woke up, he wrote down the song that he dreamed about, and they say that this was his key to success. Pretty amazing stuff.
Rahul Dev Burman manage to create many wonderful things, but unfortunately, he passed away back on January 4th, 1994 in Bombay. Indian people will remember him for the amazing music that he left behind. You might be able to find some of his work at pagalworld.
2. Naushad Ali
This music artist is considered to be the pioneer of Indian music. He was a composer that left a huge legacy behind him upon passing away back on May 5, 2006, in Mumbai. What was very notable for Naushad is that he was a perfectionist, and until he was completely satisfied with a song, he would spend days and nights trying to correct it. Rumors say that he re-wrote a complete song just because one word didn’t “feel right” for him.
He was immediately accepted by his people because they saw his talent, but he still struggled a bit before getting on the top. At the beginning of his career, his dream was to get his music played in the Broadway theatre in the famous Bombay city, and when he finally made it happen, he burst into tears in the middle of the theatre. A very emotional person but a true artist as well.
3. Madan Mohan
Probably the most respected film composer of all time, in the Bollywood industry, Madan Mohan was known for being able to create a track that fits almost any type of a movie-scene. In his entire career, he managed to bring music to more than 100 films, out of which about thirty became hits, which is very impressive. He wasn’t a perfectionist, such as Naushad Ali, but he created so much music that one out of a hundred compositions had to be perfect.
Madan loved his work, that’s what people say about him, and he showed enthusiasm about this ever since he was very young. The locals knew that he’s going to grow into a much-respected music composer.
4. Roshan – Roshanlal Nagrath
He was born on July 14, 1917, in Punjab, and his real name is Roshanlal Nagrath, although people like to call him Roshan. Nagrath was known for working on Taj Mahal, Raising Helen and Vallah Kya Baat Hai, all successful films that got a lot of positive feedback from the critics.
He doesn’t have a lot of films and compositions under his belt, but he was certain in his skill and almost everything that he produced ended up being liked by the people in the theatres. We cannot say more other than he was a great composer and will be remembered for a long time in the Bollywood Music Industry.
5. A.R Rahman
Last but not least on today’s list of famous music directors, A.R Rahman, a composer that is known for completely changing the Indian music forever. His work is known by people from across the entire globe, and not just in India. Rahman won the Academy Award tow times, and he was nominated five times in total. According to the statistics, he sold more than one hundred million copies of his work, a number that’s mind-blowing because it still increases up to this day.
Rahman produced music for many popular films, and today he has more than a hundred soundtracks not just for the Bollywood industry, but for other film productions from the entire world.