Skip to content
What’s going on? Cheers to you for reading our newsletter. We appreciate it and always hope that you find something new and/or cool to you.
As I write this week, it is with a sore arm after getting my Covid booster and flu shot. Hopefully I don’t get knocked down like I did with the previous booster. So far so good, although the symptoms probably won’t kick in until tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll be okay.
With the newsletter coming out on Monday now and our submission deadline on Thursday, we are somewhat writing for the future for our staff picks, particularly if we have anything topical to talk about. Often the holiday or occasion has passed by the time you guys get to read and that is going to be the case this week with my pick. This coming Sunday marks the high point of the Diwali or Divali (each is correct) festival that is celebrated throughout India and the world. The Festival Of Lights is primarily a Hindu religious festival, but variations are celebrated by other faiths. If you are from India or live in a community with folks from that part of the world, you will be more than familiar with Diwali and have seen the lights and decorations that go up and most likely attended a typical feast of food that is served in people’s homes. I was raised with different faith and traditions, but have always tried to appreciate and respect those of other cultures. Certainly not as a cultural tourist, yuk, but as someone who wants to be a world citizen. On our radio show Worldy, Matt and I have dedicated past shows to the festival by playing some of our favorite Bollywood soundtracks and sitar-based music. We plan to do something similar this week.
Rather timely, one of our customers recently sold us some records and amongst them were a few Bollywood soundtrack LPs. Not all were great, and the condition was less than stellar, but I did find a couple that had some cool sounds on them. The pick of the bunch, though, was the soundtrack to the 1981 film Armaan with music composed by the legendary Bappi Lahiri. To even the casual fan of Bollywood and Indian music, he is almost a household name. Entering the industry in the early 1970s, he soon became one of the most prodigious producers and artists in Bollywood, earning himself the nickname The Disco King due to his extensive use of synthesizers and incorporating the current en vogue western disco sounds into his music scores.
Bappi Lahiri was so popular that in the 1980s even the Guinness Book Of World Records acknowledged him for, up to then, having scored over 180 songs for 33 different films. He was quite the character, and was famous not only for his music but also his appearance, always looking flash and wearing lots of gold.
Almost all the music he scored for films was for nightclub scenes and dance numbers. Not too many slow ballads in his repertoire, although there are a couple on the Armaan soundtrack. He was also a singer himself and is often the featured vocalist on many of the songs he wrote for the movies. I haven’t seen this film, but the cover art definitely caught my eye and told me that there might be something cool on here. Two girls dressed sexily, dancing together superimposed over an image of what looks like a desolate snow-covered mountain. That probably makes sense if you have seen the film.
On listening to the record, the first track, Ramba Ho-Ho-Ho, Samba Ho-Ho-Ho is the money cut. A cool mash up of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love and Euro disco hitmakers The Gibson Brothers’ If You Should Go. The latter tune I had to look up and listen to, as someone on Discogs had mentioned it. They were right. Anyway, it’s a fun tune and should go down well mixed in with other similar sounds. On side two, the record begins with another fun cut called Mere Jaesi Haseena, which features some interesting synth sounds and percussion. Unfortunately, this copy has a couple of skips at the beginning of the song, although it does play through. Oddly, for a producer who preferred mostly upbeat productions, the rest of the record is more in the slower ballad territory.
So, not an amazing record and probably not the best example of Bollywood soundtracks or the work of the producer, but a fun find and worth it for the cover and the first songs on each side. Chosen with the topicality in mind. Thanks for reading and happy Diwali to you.
See you next time. Cheers - Dom