Revisiting memories

While growing up, i was heavily into the pop music boom in India. I think the pop music hit India when i was young and evolved over time. Many interesting pop bands were formed and soon fade away. This is an attempt to document some of the best videos/songs that i used to listen when i was a child.

Hawa Hawa: It all began with Hasan Jehangir. Released in 1987, i think this was the era of Bappi Lahri's disco dancer, Usha Uthup's claim to fame. This song captured the heart and soul of that era. And so does the video.

Krishna nahi begane: made by the band Colonial Cousins saw classical singer Hariharan teaming up with Leslie Lewis and announcing their arrival with this song. A great video too!

O Sanam: Lucky Ali's debut album provided us with a fresh, different and meaningful music. This was totally different from the rest of the pop culture. Though he didnt get that much popularity as much as he deserved but still there were few of us who were greatly impressed. His follow up albums - ASifar, Aks were also very good.

Many Pop bands emerged during this time of 1994-96, including Euphoria (Remember Dhoom Pichuk Dhoom), offering fusion with pop, Junoon (who can forget the Sayonnee) capturing the restlessness of youth and ofcourse the king of punjabi music - Daler mehendi. But i would like to post here about this song:

Gur Naal Ishq Mita: Remixed by Bally Sagoo with a video that went well with adults too. As far as i can remember, this is the first remix song that i heard and i liked it and so did others. Bally Sagoo started remix era for me and he followed with Mera Laung Gawacha, Aaja Nachle and Noorie. But one thing to note here is that even though with remix, his videos were aesthetic.

I grew up and so did my selection of music. This was a time of one hit wonders. Many bands came up with that one song but soon were never heard. Aryans came up with Aankhon mein, which made Shahid kapoor's career. Jojo came with "Woh Kaun Thi". Baba Sehgal copied Ice Ice baby to "Thanda Thanda Pani". Alisha Chinai led the woman front and came up with Made in India. Alsiha was soon joined by Raageshwari with her bubbly song Duniya..
But the best one song wonder was this one:
Purani Jeans: Ali Haider mesmerized the youth of both India and Pakistan with this song and an equally catchy video.

On the way there were some innovative but not so successful attempts like Sunita Rao's Pari hoon main. Shaan (big name now) started with "Lovology" and Sagarika's Disco Diwane. Remo striked with O meri munni.

But there was one person who came, saw and conquered. His songs are still timeless. He was Nusrat Fateh Ali khan and his best pop song was Afreen.

Along the way, while there were one song wonders, there was an album with every song a hit. This was Sonu Nigam's Deewana with songs like Deewana, Is kadar pyar hain, ab mujhe raat din. But Sonu's later albums were such trash.

With the pop phenomenon catching up, there were many classical singers who joined the party. Like Pankaj Udhas' "Aur ahistha ki gayi batein". Jagjit Singh's Kagaz ki kashti resurfaced with a video but it failed to live up the song. Asha Bhosle also released her album Janam samjha karo but failed to make any impression. And there was Altaf Raja as well somewhere with his "tum toh thehre pardesi"

There were others whom i didnt like but they had their own space in market. These were Hans Raj Hans and the cowboy girl - Falguni Pathak, Mehnaaz and Rishi Rich.

By the end of the millennium, industry saw the fastest piano player in the world - Adnam Sami who introduced himself with Kabhi toh nazar milao. But the best of that year was an unknown voice who came up with two cult songs - Pal and Yarron. Yes KK rocked the pop industry and soon this songs were on everyone's lips. But with all these great songs, there was one song that made everyone stop and listen. It was Euphoria's maeri. Undoubtedly Euphoria was one of the most successful bands of Indie-pop and at their prime, they came up with this song.

Maeri was the last best song from Palash Sen and party. In 21st century, i no longer was the kid who used to listen to all pop songs. Earlier was the time of recording cassettes, finding recording stores. In my town (if not village), recording was done by playing a cassette in one taperecorder and recording the sound by other cassette player. Each cassette recording used to cost about 20-25 Rupees excluding the cost of cassette. With so many albums having only one good song, it was worth it to get those songs recorded. I remained oblivious to English music until Titanic came out - Celine Dion's Go on was the first english song that i understood.

One thing to appreciate in all the videos embedded above is their aesthetic nature. In all Euphoria songs Palash Sen used to chase a model wearing a white or pink suit but it was done in good way. Bally Sagoo's song - AAja Nachle is a classic example.

With 21st century, came the generation of remix, more remix and followed by Reshammiya. God knows what lies in store ahead. But then there was a band that i would not call a pop band but it surely made some cult music. It was Indian Ocean. Kandisa requires no video as no video can do justice to it. They followed Kandisa with Jhini which again is awesome.

Lucky Ali still continues to give some surprises. I end this post with a little unknown video - Tu kaun Hai. It was first released in his album Aks but then was used as an OST in the movie - Bhopal Express. I saw this video before the movie and loved it.