Boom Box

As a stream of soundtracks from English films hits the market, music from the movies hits the bigtime.

...in Bollywood, we have had them forever and for some time now. Soundtrack albums have preceded the movies, accelerating or decelerating the success of the latter. But now, it's Hollywood's turn, with its film soundtracks filling up the shelves at music stores and squatting large and fat in the charts.

In India, the first major song from an English soundtrack to hit our hearts and the charts was the Bryan Adams croon "Everything I Do... I Do It For You" from Robin Hood-Prince Of Thieves. After that, the proliferation of soundtracks in the market has acquired the dimension of a marked trend.

PolyGram, which had released the Prince Of Thieves album, has had in its repertoire 45 soundtrack albums in the past year! Including those of

Braveheart to Muriel's Wedding, Flashdance to Metroland, Tomorrow Never Dies to Four Weddings And A Funeral. PolyGram refused to disclose their sales figures, but let's go by some of the other music companies who are not so coy about theirs. Sony Music's Godzilla soundtrack, for instance, sold 20,000 units. But before that, there was the behemoth-Titanic. Driven by Celine Dion's stratospheric hit "My Heart Will Go On", the Titanic soundtrack had sold 2.5 lakhs at last count! Surprisingly, Celine's own album "Let's Talk About Love" (which includes "My Heart Will Go On") sold fewer units-a lakh. And now there's going to be a Back To Titanic album, because listeners want the music which was not there in the earlier album-like the dancehall track where Kate Winslet let her hair down.

The sales of soundtracks but naturally vary from movie to movie-My Best Friend's Wedding sold 50,000 units, One Fine Day, about 15,000. Music Today's Evita and Space Jam sold well, while Phenomenon-despite its line-up of heavy artistry-and Batman & Robin are reported to have not done so well in the market.

...what is interesting is that while in Bollywood, the music of the film precedes the film and more often than not, decides its fate and fortune, at least initially, it appears that the film decides the fate of the soundtrack when it comes to Hollywood-Titanic being a prime example. Of course, it doesn't always work that way-Dil Se being an example of a Hindi film where the music has done better than the film, and Phenomenon being an example where the film could not lift the soundtrack up too much.

Says Mishal Varma, Director, Programming & TAR at MTV, "What's happening is that entertainment is becoming closer knit. The music video of a song on a soundtrack album, which includes footage from the film, is a stand-alone product. You don't have to wait for the film to release it. Plus, it becomes a publicity vehicle for the film." The soundtrack complements the film and vice versa. So you get the benefits of the music and the music video itself-the twice-is-nice selling power of the music artistes and the film itself-and then again when the film is released the music gets a new shelf life.

...there are two kinds of film soundtracks abroad. One is the kind in which all or most of the songs on the album appear somewhere in the film-like, say, The Full Monty (BMG Crescendo), which notched up sales of nearly 6000 with its throwback to Tom Jones, Hot Chocolate, Donna Summer, and Irene Cara (of "What A Feeling" fame). The other kind is that which may have one or more tracks featuring with the credits or as a theme track in the movie (as in Titanic), and the others are 'inspired' by the film, like The X-Files or City Of Angels or Phenomenon.

Talking of phenomenon, the popularity of film soundtracks is not just an Indian one. A random look at the Billboard Top 20, 30, 40s in Rolling Stone magazines of the last six months reveals as many as 9 film soundtrack albums in the charts-Armageddon, City of Angels, The X-Files, Bulworth, The Wedding Singer, Titanic, Godzilla, Public Enemy and Dr Dolittle. Early last month, Armageddon had been in the Billboard 200 for 4 weeks, two of them in the top 4. City Of Angels had spent 16 weeks in the top 20, and Titanic had been ensconced for a whopping 32 weeks, mostly in the top positions!

...james Horner, in a TV interview, called the music of Titanic the 'new classical music' for the younger generation unlikely to lend their ears to Bach and Beethoven. But it isn't only classical music that's finding its way into the soundtrack albums. There's pop, rock, rap and every other genre, along with permutations and combinations.

Almost all the soundtracks are compilations of different genres. Says Malathi Narayanan, National Communications Manager, Sony Music, "Compilations always do well in India." Also, she adds, the music is not by just anyone. It's by top singers and musicians. That's one of the reasons for their success in India. The City Of Angels soundtrack, for example, reads like a who's who of music-U2, Alanis Morissette, Jimi Hendrix, Sarah McLachlan, Peter Gabriel and Eric Clapton.

Says Mishal, "Indian youth wants value for money, and they like a mix of different genres of music-borne out by the mix you see on MTV. If they like a track, they'd rather buy a compilation with that one track on it."

With music becoming bigger than ever, how far behind can musicals be? Someone read the trend and came up with Evita, one of the few contemporary musicals. Now Grease is back-after 20 years! Combine the retro-trend with the musical one and you could witness a number of such musical resurrections!

Who knows what's next with the twin engine of movies and music! We are all ears-and eyes.

mixmaster: cutmaster swift

All that remixing has borne fruit salad, with the 555 DMC World DJ Mixing Championship in B'lore, Delhi and Mumbai for the first time. Former DMC World Champ, Cutmaster Swift was here too.

How did you start DJing?
I started as a bedroom DJ. I liked hiphop, so listened to it. At that time, hiphop was really big in the US, but DJs were not recognised, so they started creating new sounds on turntables and hyped their image by calling themselves stuff like Flash Master, Grand Master. I got inspired and called myself Cutmaster Swift.

Why Djing?
I had a passion for music but couldn't play any instrument. Meanwhile I saw DJs on turntables which struck me immediately. I started practising... I was on! I thought I'm a new generation kid, no matter what anybody thinks about me, I'll do this. I had no formal training in DJing.

What role does equipment play?
A very important role but I never had the money to buy really good equipment-everything was a gift or I won it in competitions. I started off with very cheap turntables. I used to watch DJs, get inspired, come back, practise, try to be more creative.

Is the scene different now?
Very different from when I started off because there was no formal training then, nothing. It used to take a lot of time but now it should take only two years and then you've to keep on developing new styles.

Your thoughts on Indian music?
Indian music has passion. It's very flexible. You can do a lot of things with it. It's soulful, like black music. It has expression because it comes from inside. It is inherited by Indians, like black music is in our soul.

How have you liked India?
I love it. People are so loving, it's like I'm with my family.

Indian club scene in the UK?
It's developing. Indian guys are doing a lot of things on their own. They have their own clubs where they party. I've played in Indian clubs too.

Do you play in a disc?
No, I freelance. That's one reason I can play in different ways and styles.

How did you find Indian DJ's?
They are really good. They just need to practise and they can really make it on the international scene.

How can you help other DJs?
I'm planning a videotape which I'll distribute worldwide where I'll teach basics and then advance things.

Message for new DJs?
Try and be creative, and, first, enjoy your music yourself. Practise for at least two to three hours daily.