This seems to be ubiquitous buzzword in our music industry today. With music companies releasing scores of remixed albums, the songs from past have again made way to our TV screens but in a new ‘avtaar’. The melodious tones have been replaced by techno-heats which cruelly camouflage the hidden beauty of these songs. And what to mention about the plight of composers and creators and singers of these songs. Hours and days and even months must have gone into the preparation of their songs which were very obviously created to serve a certain purpose and to portray a definite meaning. Unfortunately the purpose and the meaning both got lost in this zeal for creating “Peppy” and “Jazzed up” numbers and all that the creators can do is merely sit back and helplessly watch. We are all familiar with Lata Ji’s reaction to “Kanta Laga”.
Remixes might have taken over the music market and may have the maximum demand but the reason for their sale is much more ostensible. What is actually pumping the sales of these albums is cheap publicity and obscene videos. The remix business involves little effort but promises a huge return and because of this very market sentiment, boards of companies are investing in launching remixed rather than original albums. After all who would not want to “play safe”.
What is even more intimidating is the realization that the remix business is killing the creativity in the music industry. People are earning their livelihood from others’ creations. There remains absolutely no cope for originality and if this trend continues, very soon our industry shall loose its ‘Maestros’ leaving us at the mercy of imitators and Dise Jockeys.
Some might say that times have changed and in order to cater the demands of today’s generation, the music also needs to be refurbished, and as far as creativity is concerned, remixing is quite a creative job in itself. But why not ask there DJs who boast of such creativity, to create songs exclusively or today’s generation? I’m sure such songs will be more popular than their remixed counterparts.
Yet others might feel that remixes are one way to bring the old buried songs to the fore and let the younger generation be made aware of the richness and the beauty of these oldies. In such a case, what is to be understood is that listening to these songs in such distorted form does little to bring out their inherent beauty.
So let’s give up these hypo critic standards and incline our industry to work towards creating good music. Let us join hands in supporting the creation of good, original music and like their industries, let the music industry grow into a strong, well built industry where the talent is recognized and appreciated. It is very aptly said that ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’; unless the market arouses the need for original albums, there is going to little progress. The effort on our part should be ‘Not to imitate but to create the R. D. Burmans, Latas, Rafis and Ashas of this generation. 


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